I picked up Barry and Kelsey Kinch at their rental unit in Rio RV Park at 7AM, Sunday April 29, 2007. We were across the border into Mexico by 7:20. Birding started immediately in a lake at the crossing. White Pelicans, Comorants, Gulls, Ducks, and Egrets started our bird list. The next 100 miles was through Milo (grain) planted fields yielding some field and electric line birds. Then ranch land started with raptors like vultures, Northern Carcara, and others on top of the Yuca, cactus, and dead scrub trees.

Monday we headed up to the mountains to Alta Cima. We started below the clouds near Gomez Farias with Kelsey, Barry, and Ricardo finding warblers. On to ,Alta Cima, a small village in the El Cielo cloud forest. The fog or low clouds was the heaviest I have seen in ten years of going to this area. The clouds allowed us to get close to the birds.

Up the mountain near Alta Cima the cloud cover burnt off. Some haze was still in the sky. We had great luck in parts of the nine kilometer drive. I would drop Berry, Kelsey, and Ricardo off then drive up a half a mile or so and wait. We did this all the way up and then on the return also but not as much. Anyone using the trucks available for rent could not adjust their timing for the clouds as they come and go. One stop brought a Gray hawk perched and then flying.

Another stop was under a dead tree at the edge of the road with a hole slightly larger than a Golden-fronted Woodpecker hole. A pair of Masked Tityras has made it their home. The male was spotted nearby on a limb watching us below. The male usually perched just above the hole after he brought food back from foraging. He then perched on a branch just above their home. The female then would come in, perched like a woodpecker, to feeding the young also. We watched the pair as they went back and forth to the forest for food and then returned with it to the nest.

A Loggerhead Shrike was spotted on a dead limb of a tree in the valley below. You could see for miles. Ricardo's scope was quick to bring this and other birds into focus for good looks.

Alta Cima was a little quieter bird wise compaired to previous trips this fall during the migration. A surprise bird not seen during migration was singing away. The Black-headed Nightingale Thrushes were all over on this one trail east of town. We were under a canopy that was at least eighty feet up and allowed very little light in. The small bird gave us great looks to go with the song on top of large moss covered boulders.

On the return we made some stop with one to take the pictures of Gomes Farias and Casa de Piedra. The suburban seat, A/C, and battery operated cooler made it a much more comfortable drive on the rough road compaired to the padded wooden benches in the trucks.

Avocets and Stilts 1
Black-necked Stilt

Sandpipers 1
Spotted Sandpiper

Gulls 1
Laughing Gull

Pigeons and Doves 8
Rock Dove
Red-billed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
White-winged Pigeon
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Common Ground-Dove

Parrots 3
Military Macaw
White-crowned Parrot
Red-lored Parrot

Barn Owls 1
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Goat Suckers 2
Common Nighthawk
Northern Potoo

Cuckoos 3
Squirrel Cuckoo
Greater Roadrunner
Groove-billed Ani

Hummingbirds 3
Wedge-tailed Sabrewing
Azure-crowned Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Trogons and Quetzals 2
Mountain Trogon
Elegant Trogon

Kingfishers 3
Belted Kingfisher
Ringed Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher

Motmot 1
Blue-crowned Motmot

Woodpeckers 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Woodcreepters 2
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
Olivaceous Woodcreeper

Typical Antbirds 1
Barred Anshrik