Again in 2016 one very surprising hen appeared within the Mexican highlands: an American Flamingo. It took up residence for a part of annually within the Parque Metropolitano of the town of León, Guanajuato, to the northeast of Guadalajara and properly northwest of Mexico Metropolis. That is an city website with a superb variety of birders, so it is extremely possible that each time it was not reported there for just a few months, it was as a result of they it had moved elsewhere.
In 2019, this lone American Flamingo discovered a good friend: a Chilean Flamingo. Ever since then, the 2 birds would present up in the course of the winter months within the Metropolitan Park, all the time collectively. However they haven’t been seen there since Might of 2023. And the place they go in the summertime months, no person is aware of.
American Flamingos do happen naturally in Mexico, however solely on the Yucatán peninsula within the nation’s excessive southwest. And Chilean Flamingos ought to be discovered, properly, in Chile, in addition to a lot of southwestern South America. So each birds are assumed by many to be escapees from a zoo or a non-public assortment someplace. And but, they appear to have completed fairly properly of their unnatural house. (The identical might be stated for an American Flamingo and (Eurasian) Nice Flamingo pair which have lived for a few years within the remnant Texcoco marshes close to Mexico Metropolis’s airport.)
(I also needs to point out that the male American Flamingo and feminine Chilean Flamingo had been briefly joined by an equally inconceivable male Chilean Flamingo within the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021, however the male has not appeared since then. Life is unusual.)
I’ve been listening to about Leon’s well-known flamingos for years, now. However I had by no means seen them, as I’ve not had the chance to journey to that metropolis in recent times. (Even with not too long ago improved freeways, it’s nonetheless a two and a half hour journey from my house in Morelia.)
However this previous Monday, March twenty fifth, I took my three biologist birding buddies as much as what at present stays of Lake Cuitzeo, to point out them a spot the place our micro-endemic Black-polled Yellowthroat has discovered refuge as a lot of the lake and its reedbeds have dried up in our present drought. The Yellowthroats are astonishingly ample there nonetheless; at one level, my good friend Nacho held out a finger jokingly to counsel that one notably daring particular person may need to perch there.
And right here he’s.
Jonathan was very involved in seeing extra shorebirds, and I knew simply the close by spot. We headed there after getting our fill of Yellowthroats, each Frequent and Black-polled. I’ve seen that my biologist buddies are far more conscientious about counting birds current, but in addition provide you with a lot bigger numbers than I do. This time, they counted 3,000 Northern Shovelers, 1,000 Inexperienced-winged Teals, 2,800 American Avocets, 2,150 Stilt Sandpipers, 820 Lengthy-billed Dowitchers, 1,000 Least Sandpipers, 500 Western Sandpipers, and 150 American White Pelicans, together with lesser numbers for 30 different species. (After birding and passing via a lot of habitats, our whole for the day was 109 species.)
So there we had been, taking on this spectacle, when instantly birding buddy #3 known as out “Flamingos! Flamingos!” Since Jorge is from Cuba, the place these birds are comparatively widespread, all of us believed him. (The truth that he’s an ornithologist gave him additional road cred.) All of us turned to the west, and there they had been, maybe a half kilometer (1/3 mile) away. As they flew, a big group of Avocets took flight round them.
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The closeup above is simply ok to point out the invoice sample of a Chilean Flamingo on the decrease hen, and the invoice sample with much less black, of an American Flamingo. These two birds are virtually actually the identical Flamingos as have been seen for years in León. Our contacts in that metropolis confirmed thie concept, and had been very completely satisfied certainly to listen to that their birds are alive and properly.
After all, when a bunch sees 109 species, there are numerous highlights for the day. This time, there was the White-throated Flycatcher, the rarest of our resident Empidonax Flycatchers. (In case you don’t find out about this devilish group, think about your self lucky.)
Additionally Verdins, which eBird nonetheless doesn’t settle for as a resident throughout the borders of Michoacán. Now I’ve two extra witnesses backing me up.
Marsh Wrens inevitably accompany Frequent and Black-polled Yellowthroats.
And right here’s a kind of Frequent Yellowthroats, which inevitable accompany these Marsh Wrens. Just like the Black-polled Yellowthroats, these two species have been decreased to such a small a part of the lake that you could virtually attain out and contact them.
The cherry on my private birding cake, together with these Flamingos, was a Virginia Rail, which was a brand new Michoacán species for me. I did see it, I actually did, however solely Ignacio Torres achieved photographs. So this stunning shot is his:
Lastly, on this outing I noticed my first European Starlings for central Mexico. They might be stunning birds, however that is one “Michoa-lifer” about which I’ve decidedly combined emotions.
Notice: the photograph on the high of this put up can be not mine; it’s by Mauricio Mena and was taken at a a lot nearer distance, of the identical two birds, within the metropolis of León.
