This trip would not have been possible without my lovely wife Tui, who took care of our boys, Charlie and George (and worked a demanding job) while I went to Mexico. I was sorry not to be traveling with Tui. I know she would
love San Cristobal de las Casas, and it would be great to be traveling together again. Unfortunately Tui has not had the covid
vaccine, and travel to Mexico without the vaccine is too risky. Thank you for everything Tui.
In 2013 and again in 2015 I went owling in Mexico. In both trips I searched extensively for Guatemalan Pygmy owl. Typically pygmy owls are not hard to find, but I was unlucky on these trips and spent seven days searching without even hearing one. Guatemalan pygmy-owl used to be considered the southernmost race of the Northern Pygmy owl. Subsequently the southern birds that live in the cool highlands of Chiapas, Guatemala and Honduras have been split as a separate species, based largely on their different song.
I received my first covid vaccine at the end of January, and got my second does 4 weeks later. Immediately I started dreaming of chasing owls someplace far from home. Chiapas was an obvious choice. Most of the world is still closed to travel, or at least challenging to enter. Mexico is completely open to travel. And thanks to seven days of searching for the pygmy owl, I know most of the sites well.
I decided to invite my friend Antonio Robles, a bird guide who had helped me find Mexican barred owl in Nayarit last summer. Antonio agreed to come help me in Chiapas, and boldly decided to ride his motorcycle across Mexico to meet me in San Cristobal de Casas (San Cris). Antonio arrived in San Cris a few days before I left home to reconnoiter for the owl. The day after he arrived Antonio sent me a Whatsapp photo and audio recording of a Guatemalan Pygmy owl that he had found a few kilometers from San Cris. I felt both envious of his luck, and impatient to get out into the forest and search for the owls. (If you would like to hire Antonio he can be reached at Mexican Birding , I can highly recommend him as a really awesome guy to go birding with).
March 3rd I wake at 330am, brew a quick coffee, kiss Tui goodbye and scrape ice off the windshield then drive out to the airport. On the Delta flight to LAX, the airline sends me an email alerting me that I will need a negative covid test to re-enter the states. This is shit news, because I have no idea how to get rapid covid test in Chiapas, and just dealing with this stuff when I want to be out owling sounds like a headache. My plane arrives with just a 45 minute layover. LAX is a big construction site, but thankfully the airport people are kind, and I make it to my gate in time to catch my next flight to Ciudad de Mexico.
Once I arrive at Ciudad de Mexico I have a few hours to figure out the rapid covid test. I message Antonio, who finds the best option, a private clinic in Tutla Gutierrez (Tuxtla), a city in Chiapas. I catch my final flight after dark, and touch down in Tuxtla at 1030pm. While the guy from the car rental company is showing me the KIA I rented, a lovely pale barn owl floats over head. Hopefully this is a good omen for our trip!
I take the toll road up the long climb to San Cris. Huge tractor trailers squeeze over to the verge, so I can weave past them like a real life video game. I make it to the plaza at San Cris, but without cellular I can't figure out where our hostel is. It's midnight, so I give in, and pay a cabbie to show me the way for the last kilometer. I park at Rossco's backpackers, open a huge thick wooden door and enter into a cobbled court yard. Antonio is waiting for me. It's great to see him again. We make quick plans for tomorrow and go to bed around 1am.
March 4th. I lay in bed for ages, until I can calm down enough to sleep. Our room has ancient iron bars across the window, and wooden shutters, but no glass. It is pretty noisy and I wake every half hour whenever a dog barks or truck drives by. We get up at 5am, and sleepily head out. First stop, Oxxo for crappy coffee, then we drive over to a forested valley on the far side of Cerro Huitepec (a small mountain that over looks San Cris). This is the same place that Antonio had found the owl five days earlier. We descend down a steep road that's just two strips of ribbed concrete, and park up where we find a wide verge. It's cold out and our breath condenses. A distant mottled owl sings from across the valley. The forest is mostly intact pine and mature oaks. Antonio plays a recording of the owl, and we wait around for ten minutes. before we get a response from high in the canopy. We wait another 15 minutes, and I am beginning to fear that the tiny owl has slipped away. Then it flies overhead and lands high in a huge oak tree. We are able to watch it sing from the canopy. It is a brown phase bird, the upper parts are grayish brown, the flanks warmer hued brown. The center stripe on the underparts is white. the tail is long and narrow. It sings in four different ways:
1. a slightly chattering alarm call
2. at the beginning of the song a series of fast even toots, not unlike a ferruginous pygmy owl
3. a sustained song of hurried paired notes
4. a sustained song of hurried paired notes, with an occasional missed note, giving a chaotic cadence
Guatemalan Pygmy owl song (recorded by Antonio)
The pygmy owl remains stubbornly high in the canopy before disappearing after about ten minutes. Wow, after seven days of searching, to find the owl so quickly! I am thrilled, but also left wanting better views. We return to San Cris, where Antonio tracks down a vegan place to eat. I order quesadillas drenched in mole and black coffee. (Visually San Cris hasn't changed, but of course society changes). San Cris was the site of the 1994 Zapatizta anti NAFTA uprising. The Femicida graffiti, highlights violence against women. Historic buildings are frequently painted to highlight the contrast between the love shown to old buildings and indifference shown to women in Mexico. I am surprised to see ACAB all over town.
Street graffiti, "ACAB" and "Feminicida"
Bloody hands protesting femicide
At midday we drive a few kilometers towards Comitan, then turn off the main road to Montetik, a mountain biking area. A gravel road crosses the mountains to more remote indigenous communities. We hike the road for several hours and hear a couple more very distant pygmy owls. We also find some fabulous gentian-blue unicolored jays and a golden-cheeked warbler (a lifer for Antonio). The mountains are limestone and quite beautiful.
We return to the car around sunset, and try a small valley for the pygmy owl. Sharp-eared Antonio soon hears one, and we soon get to see the owl at the edge of a clearing. Unfortunately by now it's quite dark and the owl is just a silhouette. We remain in the valley after dark and soon hear an unspotted saw-whet owl.
Unspotted saw-whet song by Antonio
We get close to this fabulous little owl, but once we turn on our flashlights, it stops singing and we loose it. We do see a barn owl in the headlights as we drive by some corn fields. We also hear a bearded screech owl singing and are soon able to spotlight it. It's joined by it's mate and we end up getting good views of these tiny little screech owls. Antonio works hard to photograph the bearded screech owl.
Bearded screech owl by Antonio
It's getting late and I am tired, but we want to try for whiskered screech owl (the Chiapas birds would be a new subspecies for me). We quickly find one in some mature open pine forest, and Antonio is able to get some great photos.
This is a gray phase bird-I am hoping for a red phase, so we try a couple of other stops in the little valley, but are unable to find any more owls. By now it's midnight and we decide to quit. I'm so tired I sleep like a log.
March 5th. We wake at 430am and reluctantly get up. We drive through the quiet streets of San Cris to the same little valley (Montetik), hoping to see the unspotted saw whet. (I have seen one at Volcan Tacana, but Aegolius owls are my absolute favorite and I would love to see one again). Alas we don't hear anything. Instead we freeze our asses off. We wait, hoping that the responsive pygmy owl we found at dusk makes an appearance today in better light. The sunlight slowly descends from the mountain and eventually reaches our cold selves at the bottom of the valley. We bask in the sun like lizards, slowly warming up. Again we are disappointed, and despite a lot of waiting we hear no owls. We return to San Cris for another vegan breakfast, this time enchiladas and hot coffee.
After breakfast we return to the original site, (the valley behind Cerro de Huitepec). It's late morning and the sun is powerful. We soon hear the pygmy owl. It takes some effort scrambling through the dense understory, but we eventually get pretty good views of him. Mostly it sings from the mid level of the forest, doing it's best to avoid the fury of mobbing white-eared hummingbirds. Antonio is able to get some good photos and we leave satisfied.
Our next goal is to get a negative PCR covid test, so that I can get back home. We drive down the long winding libre road to Tuxtla. Its hot and windy by the time we arrive. Thanks to Antonio's navigation skills we find the clinic. I had expected the waiting room to be full of sick people waiting to be tested, but I am the only customer. The A/C blows cold and it's a nice place to be. The test takes just a minute, and I am told to return in a couple of hours for my results. We decide to drive up to El Sumidero, a huge canyon and surrounding tableland that's excellent for owls. Unfortunately at the gate we are told that the park closes at 530pm. We decide to drive into the park and do a little general birding.
We return to Tuxtla in the evening and pick up my covid results in a sealed envelope, grab some hot food and then head out of town to Biosfera Selva El Ocote. There a dirt road leads through some nice forest. Almost immediately we start hearing a pair of mottled owls. We get really nice views of one bird, which Antonio photographs.
We hike further in, hoping for Middle American screech owls, or perhaps some of the lowland rainforest species like crested owl. Several nights of three or four hours sleep are catching up with me, and several times I fall asleep on my feet. We think we hear a very distant striped owl, but the call is so far away it's hard to be certain it's even an owl.
Eventually we decide to call it a night and drive for about half an hour before finding a decent hotel in a small town.
March 6th. I sleep without an alarm and it's a luxury to wake at 8am. Our goal today is to drive East to Oaxaca in search of Oaxacan screech owl. (This is a potential split from the more widespread Pacific screech owl). I had seen this bird in 2013, but am eager to see it again.
We drive down from the mountains to the coastal plain, and then across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, a really hot and windy place populated by windmills. It's so windy that I have to wrestle the steering wheel of the KIA to keep the it on the road. It's a relief to reach the shelter of the hills of Oaxaca on the far side. We drive to the small town of Barra Copalita, where Antonio has arranged to meet with a local guide who knows where Oaxacan screech owl roosts. We arrive a couple of hours early and stop at a roadside cafe for Tlayudas, a big crispy delicious tortilla crammed with quesillo (Oaxacan cheese). It's made on a clay hot plate heated by a fire.
Tlayudas on a clay hotplate
After lunch we walk up the side of a river. We are hoping for Ferruginous pygmy owl, but find none, and have to content ourselves with some water birds and a small group of West Mexican Chachalaca.
We met our guide, Cornelio, Cornelio's facebook page late in the afternoon. We follow him up the road just a kilometer to a small private reserve he owns. The low granite hills are covered in now bare deciduous thorn forest and organ pipe cactus. Cornelio has created a beautiful reserve with good trails and a kitchen/camping area. (I wish I had brought my tent). He shows us a hollow tree with a most beautiful Oaxacan screech owl in it. I just love this bird, with is ochre eyes, big bill and soft delicate colors.
Cornelio starts whistling for Colima pygmy owls, and eventually gets a very distant response, but soon it grows dark and the owls stop singing before we can track them down. Once it's dark we start hearing several Oaxcan screech owls and a lone mottled owl singing.
Cornelio lights a small fire on a clay stove and prepares cafe de olla with delicious fragrant local honey. It's good to slow down and just adsorb this place, the night sounds and starry sky. Cornelio shows us some decorated pottery and a stone axe from 2000 years ago that he found at the reserve. It's impossible not to love this magical place.
We explore the trails again, and briefly spot another Oaxacan screech owl. Antonio hears a distant Middle American screech owl, the call is weak and comes and goes into the night. We commence a long hike across the densely forested hills, hearing more and more owls, until we come to the sad conclusion that we are hearing frogs far away.
Cornelio takes us back to town and shows us the same frogs calling down by the river, and a site where we can look for Ferruginous pygmy owl the next day. We say "goodnight" and head a few kilometers onto Huatulco. We find a pretty nice hotel and crash a little after midnight.
March 7th. I wake at 5am to the sound of a ferruginous pygmy owl singing from a nearby park. We make our way to an Oxxo for some hot coffee, then return to the same reserve that we visited yesterday with Cornelio. Our main goal is to find Colima Pygmy owl. As soon as we get out the car, we hear a distant Colima pygmy owl, calling from high in the granite hills. After a steep hike we find a lovely Colima pygmy owl bathed in the soft light of dawn. We watch it sing for a long time, and Antonio photographs and records it's song. We also return to the roost site for the Oaxacan screech owl, and enjoy beautiful views as it peers at us from it's tree top house.
We drive on to the town Barra Copalita, where Cornelio had recommended a site for ferruginous pygmy-owl. Fortunately the pygmy owl is singing so loudly that we can hear it as we drive by. I stop in the middle of the street, but get moved on by a smiling policewoman before we can locate the owl. We pull off the road and see a local guy (Cornelio's uncle) whistling to a pair of ferruginous pygmy owls. We get fantastic views of these beautiful cinnamon-colored owls with intense golden eyes. Cornelio's uncle runs a road-side restaurant, so we stop for breakfast. His wife prepares beautiful bean and quesillo quesadillas, salad and good local coffee. It's so good we each order a second plate.
Unfortunately we now have a long drive ahead of us across the Isthmus de Tehuantepec to Peurto Arista. There we plan to search for Pacific screech owl. It's a hot windy drive. At least traffic is light and we make it to Tonala by mid afternoon. We stop for a quick coke, the drive down towards Puerto Arista, passing cattle pastures and groves of mangoes. At the first stand of forest, we pull over and park. Antonio really wants to see giant wren. Despite the mid afternoon heat, we eventually find a pair of these fantastic huge white and chestnut wrens. They follow each other closely, and call in unison. A couple of ferruginous pygmy owls start singing, and soon Antonio locates one low in a big tree. We get really beautiful looks of this lovely little owl.
We return to Tonala in search of food and eat mushroom quesadillas and cactus tacos at a busy roadside cactus joint. We return to Puerto Arista at sunset in search of Pacific screech owls. Unfortunately it's windy and traffic leaving the beach is heavy. We soon give up owling at the edge of town and retreat a little further inland hoping for less wind. We park by some mangroves and hike along a sandy track in search of small stands of trees. The wind comes and goes. We see a slinky fox, two dusky opossums and a small snake. I get scratched by a small bush, so decide to turn on my head lamp, which moments later illuminates a Pacific screech owl, perched low in a small tree. Lucky! The owl is really cooperative, and Antonio is able to get photos.
Pacific screech owl song by Antonio
On the hike back to the car we find a second Pacific screech owl and hear a couple more. Driving back to Tonala we pass a relatively dark (female?) barn owl hunting in the tall roadside grasses. We find a good hotel in Tonala a little after midnight.
March 8th. My flight leaves Tuxtla at 2pm so we are able to sleep in. What luxury! We skip breakfast and drive straight to Tuxtla. Antonio makes an observation that "even though Mexicans know many Americans don't like them and don't treat them well, they still help Americans and are kind to them when they meet them." I thought about how Trump had opened his successful election campaign specifically attacking Mexicans. I also thought about how universally well treated I have been in my many trips to Mexico. It's really fucked up.
We make it to Tuxtla and park next to the combi terminal for San Cris. (Antonio left his motorcycle there, and has to pick it up before riding for two long days back to San Blas). It's sad to say goodbye-I hope we get to go owling again soon.
At Tuxtla airport the person who checks me in reads my covid results, they are negative, so I get to go home! The flight home is just fine. I am really excited to get home and see Tui and the boys. I arrive home around midnight, so the boys are asleep. Tui greets me as I walk into our home. It's really wonderful to see her.
