Tuesday morning we got up early to to take a taxi to meet our guide, Felix Aguilar, at his Ecobiosfera lodge in Dos Amates, outside Catemaco. Felix is an ornithologist. His English is limited, which was not a big issue for us, except that he generally remembers the common bird names in Spanish, not English. We started with introductions and a brief orientation. He said that the region of Los Tuxtlas has 17 different habitat zones, and 575 species of birds. In addition to Felix, he had an assistant, Abram, who lives in the village. We started seeing new birds right away. We hiked around to various locations. The area is so green and beautiful, with valleys, mountains, and a view of the lake and the Gulf of Mexico. The most noteworthy birds that we saw were the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, which we saw up close, and the Bat Falcon, a very small Falcon. We watched both birds for some time. He also taught us to see the differences between the two species of Oropendolas, the Chesnut Headed and the Montezuma. Both have a bright yellow tail with a dark stripe down the middle of the tail, but have a different overall size and beak. At the end of the three hours, he counted up seeing almost 50 different species. Neither of us could count that many, partly since we only got a glimpse at some of them, and partly because Felix was not able to positively identify all the birds, since many species look very similar.
We took the pirata back to town, did a little shopping on our way home, and relaxed for a while. Richard took a nap, and then took the bus to the Bodega (Walmart) to do some shopping.
1 comment:
hello to you. i am trying to pick up on a little spanish while reading the blog. pirata is bus or taxi. ireally liked the snowman with the three of you on the store porch. it sounds fun there. you look great. surgery today at three here at del webb with hand and arm specialist. doc damon adamany of the core inst. he is cautiously optimistic. left hand reigns, huh, molly. exvoto for iknee this time, please.
Post a Comment