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Lake Chapala Birders
Observadores de Aves del Lago de Chapala
Your hosts
John and Rosemary Keeling
If you have reports of interesting bird sightings near Lake Chapala, or need information about birding around the lake, email us at:
ChapalaBirders@yahoo.com
or phone 376-766-1801
Website:
ChapalaBirders.org
| | | More Unusual Sightings |
| In February a total of 155 species were seen around Lake Chapala. (The full list is shown below).
Duncan Poole led a hike with John Keeling and Paul Hart above Las Trojes to explore a new route into the oak forests. In addition to finding a relatively easy hiking route we saw a Red-faced Warbler, another new species for this area. This is a higher-altitude bird that summers in northern Mexico and winters in central and southern Mexico.
John Keeling saw a Scott's Oriole in a flowering tree harboring several species of oriole on the southern section of the Rosa Amarilla Loop. This species has not been seen here in many years. Terry Pitzner reports that a Brown Pelican has returned to the north west corner of Lake Chapala.
Anyone iinterested in a birding hike above Las Trojes or a birding day trip to Tapalpa should see the message under Upcoming Bird Walks below. |
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| | Red-faced Warbler |
|  Red-faced Warbler seen in the oak forest above Las Trojes in February. |
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| | Upcoming Bird Walks |
| Wednesday March 14, John Keeling will lead a trip to the Rosa Amarilla Loop on the south side of the lake. We will car pool at 8.00 a.m. at Donas Donuts in Ajijic. It takes an hour to get to the start of the Loop, and we will bird from 9.00 to 12.00, returning to Ajijic by 1.30. Bring snacks and drinks.
Wednesday March 28, John Roynon will lead a bird walk at the Pumping Station starting at 8.30 a.m. This is still the best local place for birding.
How to Get There: Drive from Chapala towards the Chapala Country Club. A mile after passing Santa Cruz on the left you will see the pumping station on the right with its three grey pump towers and a sign "Aqueducto". Take the hidden gravel road on the right immediately after the pumping station; after a mile turn left at the T junction; take the next right and park near the lake.
Those interested in joining a birding hike into the oak forest above Las Trojes, or a day trip birding Sierra Tapalpa with lunch in Tapalpa, in mid-March, should email John at chapalabirders@yahoo.com |
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| | Flossie's |
| Remember that one of the tourist attractions of Ajijic is Flossie's place. Take your visitors there any morning - she always has several hummingbird feeders in action. Be sure to ring the bell hard and take bags of sugar. Flossie lives on social assistance and uses over a hundred pounds of sugar per month when all her feeders are in operation. It's the blue door on the south side of 16 de Septiembre just west of Morelos. |
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| | Bird Walk Reports |
| February 9, nine birders joined Don Bell at El Bajio. They saw 64 species including gray silky flycatcher, tri-colored heron, northern mockingbird, American redstart, Forster's tern and Lucy's warbler.
February 29, twelve birders joined John Roynon at the Cajititlan Marsh seeing 67 species including crested caracara, little blue heron, belted kingfisher, black-backed oriole, Wilson's snipe, roseate spoonbill and pyrrhuloxia.
Ten birders did the four-day trip to El Tuito this year. A total of 125 speces were sighted including bumblebee and cinnamon hummingbirds, white-throated magpie jay, Harris's hawk, common black hawk, ivory-billed woodcreeper, pale-billed woodpecker and gray-crowned woodpecker. |
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| | February List |
| Here are the 155 species observed in February around Lake Chapala:
Groove-billed ani
American avocet
American bittern (Ra)
Red-winged blackbird
Yellow-headed blackbird
Indigo bunting
Varied bunting
Crested Caracara
Yellow-breasted chat
American coot
Neotropic cormorant
Bronzed cowbird
Brown-headed cowbird
Squirrel cuckoo (At)
Inca dove
Mourning dove
White-tipped dove
White-winged dove
Long-billed dowitcher
Mexican duck
Ring-billed duck
Ruddy duck
Cattle egret
Great egret
Snowy egret
Elegant Euphonia
House finch
Ash-throated flycatcher
Buff-breasted flycatcher (Tr)
Cordilleran flycatcher
Gray silky flycatcher
Least flycatcher
Social flycatcher
Vermillion flycatcher
Gadwall
Common gallinule
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Lesser goldfinch
Great-tailed grackle
Eared grebe
Pied-billed grebe
Black-headed grosbeak
Blue grosbeak
Laughing gull
Ring-billed gull
Northern harrier (Dm)
Cooper's hawk
Red-tailed hawk
Black-crowned night heron
Great blue heron
Green heron
Little blue heron
Tricolored heron
Berylline hummingbird
Broad-billed hummingbird
Rufous hummingbird
Violet-crowned hummingbird
White-faced ibis
Northern jacana
American kestrel
Killdeer
Cassin's kingbird
Thick-billed kingbird
Tropical kingbird
Belted kingfisher
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Great kiskadee
White-tailed kite
Eastern meadowlark (Ra)
Merlin (Ac)
Blue mockingbird
Northern mockingbird
Russet-crowned motmot
Black-backed oriole
Black-vented oriole
Bullock's oriole
Hooded oriole
Scott's oriole (Ra)
Streak-backed oriole
Osprey (Ra)
American white pelican
Brown pelican (Sc)
Western wood pewee
Phainopepla (Dp)
Black phoebe
Say's phoebe
Rock pigeon
Northern pintail
American pipit (Ch)
Pyrrhuloxia (Cl)
Common raven
American redstart
Rufous-backed robin
Least sandpiper
Spotted sandpiper
White-collared seedeater
Northern shoveler
Loggerhead shrike
Wilson's snipe
Brown-back solitaire (Tr)
Chipping sparrow
Clay colored sparrow
House sparrow
Lark sparrow
Lincoln's sparrow
Rusty-crowned ground sparrow
Savannah sparrow
Stripe-headed sparrow
Roseate spoonbill
Black-necked stilt
Barn swallow
Northern rough-winged swallow
Tree swallow
Violet-green swallow
Hepatic tanager
Western tanager
Blue-winged teal
Cinnamon teal
Green-winged teal
Caspian tern
Forster's tern
Curve-billed thrasher
Orange-billed nightingale thrush
Canyon towhee
Cassin's vireo
Golden vireo
Plumbeous vireo
Warbling vireo
Yellow-green vireo
Black vulture
Turkey vulture
Black and white warbler
Black-throated gray warbler
Lucy's warbler
Macgillivray's warbler
Nashville warbler
Orange-crowned warbler
Rufous-capped warbler
Red-faced warbler (Tr)
Townsend's warbler (Tr)
Virginia's warbler
Wilson's warbler
Yellow-warbler
Yellow-rumped warbler
Golden-fronted woodpecker
Ladder-backed woodpecker
Bewick's wren
Canyon wren
Happy wren (At)
House wren
Marsh wren
Spotted wren
Greater yellowlegs (Ch)
Lesser yellowlegs
Common yellowthroat
Location codes:
Ac - Ajijic: La Cristina/El Bajio
At - Trails above Ajijic
Av - Ajijic village
Ch - Chapala
Cl - Lake Cajititlan
Cs - Santa Cruz/pumping station
Dm - Dike near Malteraña
Dp - Dike near La Palma
Hv - Hidden Valley oak forest
Jo - Jocotepec
Ld - Lerma & Duero rivers
Pe - Petatan causeway
Po - Poncitlan
Pt - San Pedro Tesistan
Pz - San Pedro Itzican
Ra - Rosa Amarilla loop
Rc - Santa Rosa: Carnero dam
Rp - Riberas del Pilar
Sc - San Juan Cosala
Sv - San Antonio/Chula Vista
Te - San Juan Tecomatlan/Mezcala
Tr - Las Trojes/oak forest
Tu - Tuxcueca
Xl - Ixtlahuacan/Las Campanillas
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