To start off the second full day on August 3rd in Alamos, we woke up just after 5 A.M. and headed south of Alamos on a drive that lasted for about 20-25 minutes. Our destination was another section of the Rio (River) Cuchijaqui. This section was awesome, and we arrived at a creek (which was flowing) that we would take to Rio Cuchijaqui (a.k.a. the Cuchijaqui River). I believe the name of this creek inflow toward Cuchijaqui is called "Arroyo Mentidero", as the eBird hotspot is titled "Arroyo Mentidero y Rio Cuchijaqui". When we got to the creek as we parked along the paved road we took south of Alamos, we got out and planned to hike the creek for about a fourth-of-a-mile through creekside habitat and Lower TDF habitat. The level of the creek was somewhat high, and we decided to walk though it anyways, getting our feet wet and our boots wet for this day as well as a following day or two. Birds were numerous on our walk toward the river, and when we got to the Rio Cuchijaqui, it was wide and much deeper than the creek. The river valley and surrounding slopes of TDF habitat on both sides of the river was an epic, awesome scene. Minutes after we got to the river, we scanned for birds and in a weedy area along the river, Caleb pointed out a singing male Blue-black Grassquit. This was my first lifer of the day, and the male Grassquit was a very small, metallic bluish-black, bunting-like bird. It sat up for a few seconds before going back into the thick, weedy habitat. For this bird, we were at the northern reach of their range, and they are a widespread tropical species as they range from southern Sonora throughout much of South America. Scott and I looked for the bird for a few more minutes while Caleb scanned the river.
We joined Caleb once he called out that he had a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron flying up the river. Caleb pointed the bird out after it had landed in a tall tree and near the top of the tree. The heron was a speck to me, and I couldn't see anything for myself to feel good about calling it a lifer. Caleb decided to cross the river, and Scott made up his mind that he wasn't going to get in water any further (he wasn't happy with walking the creek to the river to begin with). As Cuchijaqui was up to Caleb's waist when he crossed, I had second thoughts about walking across too. For a second, I decided I would not cross the river as well. "I'll see you guys later then", Caleb said, and he seemed bummed we weren't coming. When he called out he could see the Heron better from where he was standing after he crossed, I changed my mind and yelled to Caleb, "Wait up! I'm coming with you!". After all, I was in Mexico and the chances of me falling in the river and ruining my stuff were up to me. "You guys are freaking crazy", Scott said. Me not going across the river would be a mistake for me, and it was a mistake I didn't want to live with.
The Bare-throated Tiger-Heron stayed at his high perch for a few minutes, and it was an adult bird. Caleb and I got to a vantage point where we could see it much better for a few minutes and glances before it flew downstream. These herons, who are pretty large but short-legged, are striking in appearance and can be found throughout parts of northern Mexico and continuing south to parts of Central America. One of their preferred habitats are rivers that have thick vegetation along the river in parts. The Cuchijaqui is an example of good Tiger-Heron habitat. This is a species that has been a vagrant in south Texas a few times, and it's possible that one could make it to Arizona someday. Once the heron flew, we started walking along the river for awhile, and it was awesome. A female Green Kingfisher was foraging along the river, and when she blew by us and I took pictures, it revealed she was carrying a small fish when she flew by. Walking along this river was awesome, and we had a variety of birds with good numbers. A few Common Black-Hawks screamed along the river, as did 4 Gray Hawks. Things got funner as we saw a few more Tiger-Herons flying up the river and landing in trees. There ended up being 4 more of them, and all 4 ended up being juvenile birds. A few of these birds stayed perched and in the open in trees as we got closer, and they allowed me to get good views and a few photographs I was happy with. The other few flew up higher into the trees. At this point, Caleb and I went about a half-mile along the river, and Scott was back at the junction by himself. Couldn't help but think "what are we seeing that the other isn't, or vice versa?"
The fun continued even further as we looked up to see a pair of large birds flying slowly together, with very long tails and slow wing beats. "Military Macaws!!", Caleb said loudly. The Macaws looked majestic as they flew over, and they stayed very high. Due to their size, it felt like we could still see them well. This was an epic life bird for me to get, one I didn't really know if I'd see one or not. These spectacular and huge parrots have been wiped out a lot from the wild due to pet trade, but in the wild they are found locally in forested foothills, canyons and cliffs, and semi-open areas with big trees. eBird has the Macaws down as "sensitive species", meaning their exact locations don't go to the public eye. Military Macaw ranges throughout West Mexico, and has scattered ranges in western South America. As Caleb and I continued, we got lucky again and even had a second pair of Military Macaws flying over! This time we heard one of the birds calling and this second pair was a lot lower than the first pair and the looks were awesome. "Too bad Scott is missing this", we said a few times after we continued hiking.
As Caleb and I walked along the river and crossed the river a few more times (waist high), we had a few more awesome bird highlights. They included: two Red-billed Pigeons sitting on a bare branch together, a Rose-throated Becard carrying a long line of nesting material, and a few singing male Orchard Orioles. When we got back to the junction with river and creek, we found Scott still right there and birding stationary. To our surprise, he had 7 Military Macaws fly by his location, which included a flock of 5 and then another pair. It was awesome that our group detected 11 Macaws in total. Scott also had more fun birds, including more views of the Blue-back Grassquit as well as a Barn Owl that flew by. Caleb and I laughed, as we realized Scott did better than we did by standing stationary (he didn't get close views of Tiger-Herons though).
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| Red-billed Pigeons |
As we stood at the junction for awhile, we got lucky one more time when a pair of White-fronted Parrots flew by. The White-fronted Parrot was my 4th lifer of the hike, and they have white on their forehead, and in flight they show a big red patch on the leading edge of the wing (which is obvious in flight). The range of White-fronted Parrot falls within West Mexico, southern Mexico and Central America, and a good portion of South America. Our birding at this section of Rio Cuchijaqui lasted for about 3 hours, and 4 life birds: (Blue-back Grassquit, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Military Macaw, and White-fronted Parrot) were eventful. On another note, this section of Cuchijaqui is 3 miles away from the section of Rio Cuchijaqui that we explored the previous day at the Puente location.
As we headed back north towards town, we drove along many weedy areas that held many Blue-black Grassquits. Wanting to get longer looks at them, we stopped and found a few males and females. One of the males was close, and it was fun to watch him sing his simple song. At the delivery note of the song, the bird jumped in the air while delivering the song, which was an interesting behavior to watch. Merlin describes it as "song display".
After our Cuchijaqui exploration, we went into Alamos for breakfast and back to the cabin for awhile before venturing out again to do some exploring. Caleb chose to go to a large reservoir outside town by about 40 minutes of driving. This lake has awesome waterbird numbers, and Caleb took a look at the lake while Scott and I decided to hang closer to the vehicle due to access questions. Caleb had Wood Stork and Roseate Spoonbill among others, and he did find out that we were allowed to look at the lake after all. The drive to the lake featured driving through desert/TDF habitat, and we did have Cassin's Sparrow, Cactus Wren, and several Greater Roadrunners along the entrance road to the lake and small town that is found by the lake. Once back in town, we ate a big meal for dinner in preparation for the huge hike we had planned for August 4th, which would be all day at Arroyo Uvalama and would be a challenging, all-day hike. I had a Mexican plate (similar to a sampler plate) that had a variety of foods on it. For the upcoming hike, I was preparing for it to be the best birding of the entire trip.
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| Tortoise species |
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| The birding brothers |
From the Birding Journal:
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