Northeast Mexico / EL CIELO Nature Festival

[sungrebe]

Hi, everyone . . . I'm going to northeastern Mexico next week, to bird the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon while attending a nature festival there. Also birding the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas for couple of days. (Many good birds there now - Crimson Collared Grosbeak, White Throated Robin, Mangrove Yellow Warbler, Roadside Hawk). Anyone been to this area in Mexico? I have the potential to pick up 70 lifers and, I hope, some good photos. If you have any impressions of the birding there, let me know. . . hope to have a trip report soon.
(Should also get my namesake. . not a lifer) :h?:

[RoscoPColtrane]

Hi, everyone . . . I'm going to northeastern Mexico next week, to bird the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon while attending a nature festival there. Also birding the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas for couple of days. (Many good birds there now - Crimson Collared Grosbeak, White Throated Robin, Mangrove Yellow Warbler, Roadside Hawk). Anyone been to this area in Mexico? I have the potential to pick up 70 lifers and, I hope, some good photos. If you have any impressions of the birding there, let me know. . . hope to have a trip report soon.
(Should also get my namesake. . not a lifer) :h?:

I went to Monterrey in February last year and enjoyed a few visits to the Cola de Caballo area (great for warblers in the streamside bushes) and to Chipinque (fantastic variety of birds in the area around the Hotel...lots of feeders put out by the hotel staff attract woodpeckers,jays and grosbeaks/orioles). The mountain areas are beautiful with snow on some of the highest peaks. The drive from Saltillo Bird Museum (excellent) to the Cola De Caballo took ages because we had to stop off to check the birdlife so many times (Northern Harrier,Rufous Capped warbler etc but didn't see the Maroon Front Parrots).
I am from England so not too familiar with the birds out there but could dig out my notes if you are interested. You will have a great time I am sure. I didn't see any local birders at all so you will be conspicuous but everyone we met was curiously friendly and if you are in group with a local guide you will really enjoy the trip.
I saw the Nature Festival advertised on the web. Wish i could go but it's a bit too far for me.
Best Wishes and let us all know what you saw.!!

PS Have you seen the trip report posted by an American birder from a couple of years ago/ i found it on Google by looking for birding in monterrey i think.Its full of the details you need on species and areas to find them.you need an organised mind to create such a thing and this chap does it well.

[njlarsen]

Blake Maybanks trip repository is a must for anyone planning a trip to Mexico (and the Americas generally) http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/maybank/main.htm

HTH
Niels

[sungrebe]

I went to Monterrey in February last year and enjoyed a few visits to the Cola de Caballo area (great for warblers in the streamside bushes) and to Chipinque (fantastic variety of birds in the area around the Hotel...lots of feeders put out by the hotel staff attract woodpeckers,jays and grosbeaks/orioles). The mountain areas are beautiful with snow on some of the highest peaks. The drive from Saltillo Bird Museum (excellent) to the Cola De Caballo took ages because we had to stop off to check the birdlife so many times (Northern Harrier,Rufous Capped warbler etc but didn't see the Maroon Front Parrots).
I am from England so not too familiar with the birds out there but could dig out my notes if you are interested. You will have a great time I am sure. I didn't see any local birders at all so you will be conspicuous but everyone we met was curiously friendly and if you are in group with a local guide you will really enjoy the trip.
I saw the Nature Festival advertised on the web. Wish i could go but it's a bit too far for me.
Best Wishes and let us all know what you saw.!!

PS Have you seen the trip report posted by an American birder from a couple of years ago/ i found it on Google by looking for birding in monterrey i think.Its full of the details you need on species and areas to find them.you need an organised mind to create such a thing and this chap does it well.

Thank you for the reply !! I did read the trip reports of both Monterrey and southern Tamaulipas on the web, and also used Howell's 'Birdfinding Guide to Mexico' as a reference. Got back last week from the aforementioned festival and Lower Rio Grande birding. After years of overseas travel, got my first case of Aztec Two-step after returning to the US, so I couldn't rush into compiling my trip report.
The El CIelo biosphere reserve and surrounding area is a wonderfully birdy area, and the folks who arranged the festival did a wonderful job in intruducing this area to participants. The festival was well attended, as 80 or or so people signed up, far more than the 30 anticipated.
I'm compiling a trip report which I'll post soon. For now, I'd say that birders who want to bird a location with a neotropical flavor that sits within comfortable traveling distance from the U.S. may find the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve and surrounding area to be well worth exploration.