As I’ve talked about repeatedly over the previous months, life this spring has gone topsy-turvy in central Mexico, as we expertise what has definitely been one in every of our driest years in historical past. So it was with coronary heart in hand that a number of of us drove one hour downhill to the city of Paso Ancho, to inspect one in every of Mexico’s rarest and least-understood birds.
The Sinaloa Martin is a big swallow, which appears to breed solely alongside a slim band of the Sierra Madre Occidental, within the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, and Jalisco. It sports activities the extreme purple again and head of its shut relative, the Purple Martin, which is present in a lot of North America (summer season) and South America (winter). Not like the Purple Martin, nevertheless, it has a vibrant white stomach, with males displaying a pointy and stylish division between the 2 colours. It’s nearly equivalent to the geographically distant Caribbean Martin. Since this latter martin seems to winter in northern South America, and nobody is aware of the place the the Sinaloa Martin winters, it has been urged that the 2 species would possibly winter collectively there.
9 years in the past I sighted a handful of Sinaloa Martins within the small Michoacán city of Paso Ancho. I’ve now seen the species in eight totally different years. Since 2020, after I found out that it solely seems there in July, I’ve managed to see it yearly. As different birders accompany me annually on this pilgrimage, and we every file particular person experiences, nearly 1 / 4 of all of eBird’s present whole 165 listings for this species are from this one little city. I believe that about half of all of the photographs on that platform are additionally from this web site. As we’ve got seen a lot bigger numbers there than have been registered wherever else, I believe that Paso Ancho could also be a spot the place these martins collect, previous to migrating collectively.
We made our 2024 pilgrimage on Monday, July eighth. This time I went with ornithologists Jonathan Vargas and his spouse Fany, botanist Ignacio Torres, and one different newbie like myself. However would we discover our martin buddies, after such a troublesome 12 months?
The same old spot for seeing giant numbers of martins (as much as 50, in 2022) yielded solely three people. Two have been immature, nonetheless begging for meals from a single male:
After observing these people for some time, and chasing these or one other three to a close-by web site, we seen a bigger focus round a communications tower which I had by no means earlier than seen. It took us some time to entry the tower, by means of an open gate and subsequent to a pleasant home. We requested the aged couple that dwell there for permission to go, which they kindly gave. The truth is, I believe that our go to could have been the spotlight of their week; they chatted for so long as we allowed, and invited us again anytime.
This tower appears to be fairly the social heart for the martin season. Kids begged, adults fed them, males manifested their extra testosterone by combating, and grownup females noticed their fight. We counted 12 martins at one time.
Ultimately, we noticed someplace between 12 and 20 people for the day, relying on what number of have been repeats. Not nice in comparison with, say, 2022, however not dangerous, contemplating 2024’s grim circumstances.
In fact, Paso Ancho can be a hotspot for a lot of different stunning species and endemics. We had good sightings of a pair of Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, one in every of central Mexico’s few summer-only migrants.
The Orange-breasted Bunting is one in every of Mexico’s most stunning endemics. However the Black-chested Sparrow can be relatively good-looking, for a sparrow, and has a good smaller vary.
Motmots undoubtedly make up one of many chicken world’s glamour households. Western Mexico affords just one, the endemic Russet-crowned Motmot.
The male Bronzed Cowbird exhibits what a single showy accent, on this case a vibrant crimson eye, can do for an in any other case drab outfit:
It wasn’t a nasty day for raptors, together with good sightings of two Brief-tailed Hawks, and poor views of a way more troublesome Hook-billed Kite.
Though our sightings have been too transient for photographs, it’s at all times a deal with to see a bunch extremely endemic Banded Quails; and the presence of Mangrove Cuckoos so removed from their namesake mangroves is relatively fascinating. The cuckoo’s distinctive name adopted us all through the morning.
A closing deal with for the day concerned the chance to buy a number of bonete fruits, named for his or her supposed similarity to the form of a bishop’s bonnet. I personally assume they give the impression of being extra like aerial bombs. I had questioned about how this fruit tasted ever since I noticed Yellow-winged Caciques and Golden-cheeked Woodpeckers consuming them, after which heard that folks eat them as effectively.
Picture from 2020
Though bonetes are associated to papayas, their taste and consistency seems to be extra like that of a ardour fruit. Not dangerous, so long as you could have a excessive tolerance to spitting out seeds.
As a closing notice, Mexico is gearing up for a really stable wet season this summer season. By no means earlier than have I needed for flooding as on this 12 months.
Autor Paul Lewis
