Central Mexico: Monarchs & Mexican endemics

Tour Overview

Certainly one of the greatest ecological spectacles in the world is the wintering of up to 20 million Monarch Butterflies — most of the North American population — in a single area of forest in central Mexico. Along with this wonderful sight, we visit a variety of tropical and temperate habitats in search of up to 40 species of birds endemic to Mexico and 29 nearly endemic species. We look for these endemics in reed and cattail marshes, pine and fir forests, tropical dry forest, oak woodland, subalpine grassland, an abandoned coffee plantation in tropical semi-evergreen forest and a beautiful forest of giant columnar cacti. A portion of our target birds are species that are rarely or never seen on tours.

In the Lerma marshes we seek the beautiful Black-polled Yellowthroat. In pine and fir forests we look for a number of species including the handsome Black-backed Oriole, flashy Red Warbler and elusive Long-tailed Wood-partridge. We listen to one of the most beautiful bird songs in North America, the rich warbling and tinkling of the Brown-backed Solitaire (which we also hope to see). Grassy meadows in the vicinity have Striped and Sierra Madre sparrows; the latter has been seen by few people and is one of the few birds in North America for which a photograph had never been published until recently (it first appeared in Eagle-Eye Tours’ brochure and web site). In this season, the tropical dry forest that we visit is humming with hummingbirds, and we should see among others Golden-crowned Emerald, Dusky and Violet-crowned Hummingbirds. Golden Vireo and Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrows are also more easily seen than at any other season.

An entirely different and very rich avifauna is found in the abandoned coffee plantation at Amatlán, where Sumichrast’s Wren and Fan-tailed Warbler are our principal target birds. Lastly, the unique cactus forest near Tehuacán will certainly produce a different set of species yet again, including Bridled Sparrow and Gray-breasted Woodpecker.

This tour, then, provides a wildlife spectacle, diverse and very interesting scenery and a large number of very sought-after birds.