| The Lazy Birder |
by Larry Abrams
Last month I wrote about two areas for birding for those “hard-core” birders. This month as I promised, I’ll tell you about my “lazy” birding spot…that I really like because I’m very good at being lazy…In early March if the sun comes up a little after 7AM on Puerto Mio, I think birding here at 9AM is OK, that’s about when I start. Of course if you’re in Zih around Xmas then the sunrise might be a little later and you’ll adjust accordingly…Last year (March 2001) was my first time in this area and I went there maybe 6 times.
I want you to go to the top road of Playa Madera. If you’re not familiar with walking to this area, take a taxi to Bahia Suites, a white 4 or 5 story condo. As you get out of the taxi, look up the slight incline and you’ll see a blue building up ahead on the right side of the street, called Casa Azul. Start walking towards the casa, stopping at the empty lot- (unless somebody has built a house there this past year)- on your right that is about 50 yards before the casa. There are some low bushes that need attention, so plan on spending several minutes there. Here you’ll start to see many of our usual birds; ORCHARD and STREAKED-BACK ORIOLE, RUFOUS BACKED ROBIN, LONG-TAILED GRACKLE, YELLOW-WINGED CACIQUE, WHITE-THROATED MAGPIE JAY, and maybe a flycatcher or two. You might also start looking up at the telephone poles and wires for birds. Continue on to Casa Azul where on the second floor porch you’ll see several hummingbird feeders that could be serving breakfast to a BLUE-THROATED, BROADTAILED, CINNAMON, BLACK-CHINNED, or LONG-TAILED HERMIT hummingbird. Continue up the street to Bungalows Pacificos that is on your left side. There are more feeders here including some on the patios that are not visible to you from the street, but there should be more hummingbirds in the area because of them. On you right side is a shady parking area that has a birdbath and many thick bushes. In here I have seen BLUE-GREY GNATCATCHER, NASHVILLE WARBLER, PHILADELPHIA VIREO, GOLDEN-FRONTED and GOLDEN CHEEKED WOODPECKERS, RUFOUS-NAPED WREN, TROPICAL, THICK-BILLED and SOCIAL FLYCATCHERS, INCA DOVE, GROOVE-BILLED ANI, and some of the birds mentioned above.
All of this birding should take you about an hour. If you want to do more, go back down the hill that the taxi took you up on. At the bottom, veer to the right so you’re going back to the main road. On your left is the canal that flows to the bay. There you might see some of Zihuataenjo’s wading birds: egrets, sandpipers, herons, and long tailed grackles doing their morning bathing.
In the last three years that I have been birding in ZIH, I have seen a total of 80 birds. If you see others not mentioned in these articles or in the articles I wrote last year (Nov. and Dec. 2000), please let me know what and where at,
e-mail: lardor@yahoo.com
So I can look for them also…
Larry, La Ropa’s amateur bird watcher, is a regular visitor to Zihuatanejo from Tucson. When he’s here you can find him at Paty’s Mar y Mar eating his daily shrimp cocktail.
December 2001
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