Birding the Tuxtlas

At 4:30am on Monday I joined these hardy souls for a two hour van ride from Veracruz to the Tuxtla Mountains for a day of birding.


With four vans of birders, it was a bit of a zoo, but most of us were able to see over 75 bird species, including such beauties as Keel-billed Toucan, Collared Aracari, Montezuma's Oropendola, and Red-fronted Amazon. We also heard Howler Monkeys. Very cool.


Some of us were lucky enough to see such goodies as Black Hawk Eagle and three out of range Black Swifts. The Tuxtla Mountains are an isolated low mountain range on the Gulf Coast just north of the Isthmus of Tehuantapec (where Mexico gets skinny in the middle), and they were pretty birdy. Lots of Olmec ruins in the area, including artifacts with some of the earliest ancient writing in the Americas. Birds, beautiful scenery, ancient ruins...it just doesn't get much better than that.