While doing my pre-trip research I looked at the top eBird hotspots for Guerrero state. Number one was a dormant volcano in the interior part of the state, but number two and three were both for the Aztlan Ecological Park, a 4 kilometer bike path sandwiched between extensive thorn forrest and a dense marsh with some open water. We decided to start at the west end, and work our way across to the crocodile viewing area. We got to the start at around 7, and quickly started racking up species. A large water retention pond was right at the start, and a quick scan revealed 15 Black-crowned Night-herons, with a few Yellow-crowned mixed in. There was also a fair number of Black-necked Stilt around the edges as well. Farther up along the trail, we got brief but good looks at an Olive Sparrow, a side by side comparison of a female Black-chinned and Ruby-throated Hummingbird, as well as a scattering of Tropical Parulas.
Night-herons galore! And to think only a couple years ago I greatly struggled to even see one! Well, this is Mexico...
We walked for a few more minutes, and then I noticed something strange on the ground ahead of us- it looked like it was moving! Could my dreams be coming true!?? I ran up a little bit, and I was right! An Army Ant swarm! They weren't quite as condensed as I'd seen in Planet Earth, but it was still quite cool! And another good thing I'd done my research, I knew what Army Ant swarms attracted... birds! Surprisingly, birds don't actually eat the ants themselves, but the things they scare up. As the ants march along searching for food, all of the insects, mammals and reptiles frantically try to get out of the way before the army reaches them. And luck was perfectly playing on my side, because this was the head of the army, where the most stuff gets scared up, and where the most birds are waiting!
Some of the ants, notice all the ones in the background too!
I watched for a few seconds, and sure enough, a flurry of movement caught my attention. A large group of about ten White-bellied Wrens, a harder species of wren in the area were dashing around catching insects! The longer I looked, the more birds I saw! In a super short amount of time I got Nutting's Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo, Brown-crested Flycatcher and Rufous-naped Wren among others! Something else flitted back into the cover of the shade that I didn't recognize. I dashed around to the other side of the tree to get a better look, but the bird was being super skulky. Then it popped up on a slightly more exposed branch. A FAN-TAILED WARBLER!!! A very hard species to get in this area, and although they are recorded about annually, it takes an insane amount of luck, because the only way they end up in this area is by following an Army Ant swarm 20 kilometers or so down from the Sierra Madre, which in Ontario standards is quite small, but for a non migratory species, and in a country where some species entire range is in a space smaller than some of our counties, it's quite large. So in Mexico standards, this was pretty much a vagrant! I was very, very happy with this sighting!
I actually got to watch it use it's 'fan tail', it would open it quickly and expose the white tips, I suppose it was doing it to scare up prey, so it could see it and then catch it.
Beautiful!
After that excitement, I wasn't sure what else I could really expect from the walk! But literally ten minutes later, I'd added Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Roadside Hawk. It just wasn't going to stop! I took a little side path down to the water (not without being warned by an elderly lady walker about the "big snakes and crocodiles" first). The little open patch had Purple Gallinule, Common Gallinule, Common Yellowthroat, Tricoloured Heron, and Northern Waterthrush! No 'diles (Is that even a word? I mean 'gator is, so why not...) or big snakes.
Roadside Hawk- Almost more of a Kite-type beak I think
Between there and the end of the trail, I got more of the same types of stuff, but added quite a few new goodies, such as better looks at a Red-billed Pigeon, Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, Rose-throated Becard, Grey-breasted Martin and one of our migratory Swainson's Thrushes!
Rose-throated Becard
Red-billed Pigeon
An assortment of species, lots of Blue-winged Teal!
An awesome walk, giving me 11 lifers, and 71 species just for those 4 kilometers!
On the drive back to the hotel, I noticed a large amount of shorebirds in one of the ditches that went under the road so we pulled over. They turned out to be mostly Least Sandpipers, but some Black-necked Stilts, Semipalmated Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs and Killdeer were among them, as well as a few Northern Jacanas! This has been a dream bird of mine for a long time, and they sure weren't a disappointment!
How many species do you see in this photo? I can see 5!
Later on, I got lifer Black-vented Oriole at a red light right in the middle of the city!
Lists: Aztlan, Ditch
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