Oaxaca: Birds and Natural History of Southern Mexico

January 6 - 16 (sold out) and 16 - 26, 2009

The state of Oaxaca is wonderfully diverse in flora and fauna, history, culture, cuisine, and scenery.  Our tour is designed to provide us optimum exposure to this richness at a comfortable pace while enjoying unique and superb lodging experiences, great natural history and birds, and fascinating cultural experiences.  While in the city of Oaxaca we'll stay at the charming Hotel Azucenas, a wonderful place with an intimate atmosphere located in a quiet neighborhood. From there we'll visit the arid scrub around Teotitlan del Valle, a Zapotec town well known for its fine weaving.   On past trips we've seen as many as 90 species of birds in the day we spend in this area - some of the specialties include white-throated towhee, Boucard's wren, ocellated thrasher, Oaxaca and bridled sparrows, dusky hummingbird, grey-breasted woodpecker, golden vireo, and white-striped woodcreeper.

To the north, in the Sierra Juarez, we'll enjoy rich cloud forest and have good opportunities to find the endemic dwarf jay as well as gray-barred wren, golden-browed and red warblers, spot-crowned woodcreeper, collared towhee, chestnut-capped and rufous-capped brush-finches, and gray-breasted wood-wren.

We'll trade the color of Oaxaca City for the color of the Sierra Miahuatlan where we'll spend a hotel on a mountain ridge surrounded by pine forest and flowering plants with hummingbirds, cinnamon-bellied flowerpiercer, and hooded yellowthroat.  Fruiting pyracantha bushes may provide close-up views of white-throated robin, brown-backed solitaire, gray-silky flycatcher, and russet nightingale-thrush.  In the nearby forests and on our descent to the Pacific coast, we'll look for common bush-tanager, red-headed tanager, blue-capped and bumblebee hummingbirds, mountain trogon, and golden vireo, as well as some striking butterflies amidst the rich tropical vegetation.  Here we'll also visit a shade grown coffee plantation where we've seen dozens of fan-tailed warblers, double-toothed kite, barred woodcreeper, emerald toucanet, and outstanding butterflies.  The Gomez family, who run the coffee plantation, will be our gracious hosts and tour guides, educating us about the biodiversity, watershed, and community benefits of their organic shade grown coffee.

On the Pacific coast, we'll stay at the lovely and unique Rancho Cerro Largo where white-throated magpie jay, banded wren, russet-crowned motmot, lesser ground cuckoo, orange-breasted bunting, red-breasted chat, and citreoline trogon can be found right on the lodge grounds.  Out over the Pacific, we'll see red-billed tropicbirds and brown boobies soaring with magnificent frigatebirds.  In the nearby forest we should find Colima pygmy owl, happy wren, blue bunting, yellow-winged cacique, golden-cheeked woodpecker and many other avian wonders.  In the Puerto Escondido area we visit the mouth of the Rio Colotepec, which is wonderfully rich in waders, shorebirds, and terns, and also the Laguna Manialtepec, a mangrove-lined lagoon where we should see bare-throated tiger and boat-billed herons, mangrove vireo and mangrove swallow, collared plover, and possibly ruddy-breasted seedeater and mangrove cuckoo.

Our journey combines exciting birding, rich natural history, outstanding food, the warm hospitality of the people of Oaxaca, and a suite of memorable cultural experiences.  These include a visit to a Zapotec village renowned for its fine weaving, a tour of the ancient ruins of Monte Alban, a visit to the Oaxaca Cultural Museum, a tour of Finca El Pacifico (a bird-rich, shade grown, organic coffee plantation), and the trip highlight, a day of botany, culture and cuisine with Susana Trilling of Seasons of My Heart Cooking School.

Detailed itinerary and references available upon request.

~ Custom tours to Oaxaca can also be arranged ~

Last updated: April 12, 2008.