Again in 2016 one very sudden chicken appeared within the Mexican highlands: an American Flamingo. It took up residence for a part of every year within the Parque Metropolitano of the town of León, Guanajuato, to the northeast of Guadalajara and nicely northwest of Mexico Metropolis. That is an city website with a superb variety of birders, so it is vitally doubtless that at any time when it was not reported there for a couple of months, it was as a result of they it had moved elsewhere.
In 2019, this lone American Flamingo discovered a buddy: a Chilean Flamingo. Ever since then, the 2 birds would present up through the winter months within the Metropolitan Park, at all times collectively. However they haven’t been seen there since Could 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 needs to be discovered, nicely, 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 personal assortment someplace. And but, they appear to have finished fairly nicely of their unnatural residence. (The identical will be mentioned 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 unbelievable 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 lately improved freeways, it’s nonetheless a two and a half hour journey from my residence in Morelia.)
However this previous Monday, March twenty fifth, I took my three biologist birding buddies as much as what presently stays of Lake Cuitzeo, to indicate 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 buddy Nacho held out a finger jokingly to counsel that one significantly daring particular person would possibly wish to perch there.
And right here he’s.
Jonathan was very fascinated about 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 mates are far more conscientious about counting birds current, but additionally 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 by means of numerous habitats, our complete 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 further avenue 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 adequate to indicate the invoice sample of a Chilean Flamingo on the decrease chicken, and the invoice sample with much less black, of an American Flamingo. These two birds are nearly actually the identical Flamingos as have been seen for years in León. Our contacts in that metropolis confirmed thie idea, and had been very glad certainly to listen to that their birds are alive and nicely.
After all, when a bunch sees 109 species, there are various highlights for the day. This time, there was the White-throated Flycatcher, the rarest of our resident Empidonax Flycatchers. (For those who don’t learn about this devilish group, take into account your self lucky.)
Additionally Verdins, which eBird nonetheless doesn’t settle for as a resident inside 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 type of Frequent Yellowthroats, which inevitable accompany these Marsh Wrens. Just like the Black-polled Yellowthroats, these two species have been lowered to such a small a part of the lake that you may nearly 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 images. So this lovely shot is his:
Lastly, on this outing I noticed my first European Starlings for central Mexico. They might be lovely birds, however that is one “Michoa-lifer” about which I’ve decidedly combined emotions.
Word: the photograph on the prime of this publish can also 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.
