Here is a summary of my 8 night solo trip to the easternmost state of Mexico, Chiapas.
I decided upon visiting here as I have wanted to see Rose-bellied and Orange-breasted buntings and Pink-headed warbler for many years, since picking up a copy of Howell & Webb's ' A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America' as a teenager. The prospect of some winter sun was also appealing!
I finished the trip with 247 species, 66 of which were lifers, plus 5 more heard only. Despite this I had mixed feelings about the trip. Despite visiting some nice spots and seeing many good birds, the poverty of some areas, especially around San Cristobal, and some of the security issues of this area kind of took a bit of enjoyment out of the trip for me. Not being able to speak Spanish didn't help, I learnt a few phrases before I went and this just got me through. If anyone is considering going this needs bearing in mind, going in a group with at least 1 fluent Spanish speaker would be recommended, and I would strongly consider getting a guide for san cristobal to take you to the safer spots. I contacted Francesca Albini for my guide for 1 full day for San Cristobal and she was a very knowledgeable guide, with a strong passion for birds and good company.
The weather was mostly hot, only uncomfortably so around Puerto arista and Arriaga, with rain around san cristobal 1 morning and almost continuously around lagunas de Montebello. Something warmer was required for early morning/evenings around san cristobal due to elevation.
Costs etc...
I flew with aeromexico, heathrow to tuxtla Gutierrez, changing in mexico city, at a cost of just under £530 return including credit card fee. I thought I booked with them direct, via their English website, but it was actually through bravo travel. I had no issues and saved c£200, but have read if any issues arise they can pass the blame between one another. The heathrow - mexico flight was on time and arrived 40 mins early, the flight to tuxtla was 1:15 late, no reason given until after about 45 mins in! This on top of the planned 6 hour layover...! The flight from tuxtla to mexico was also on time, the mexico - heathrow flight was being advertised as an hour early, but we boarded on original schedule, again no explanation, only to sit there for 2 hours due to some incident on the plane!
Car hire was through europcar, prebooked online at a base rate of £250 for a 1.6 Renault logan, not the best car in world, with the gear box and brakes feeling as if they were on the way out, but it got me through. I also paid US$300 for 'fully' comp insurance(which didn't include tire and window damage, in an area with some shocking roads and crime) and a satnav when there, this was about 5500 pesos when paid in cash at the end of trip.
I pre-booked 4 of my 8 nights, 2 separate nights in tuxtla Gutierrez at the holiday inn(£60) and best western(£40), and 2 nights at the fiesta inn in san cristobal(£70 p/n). Hotels were easy to find there and there is something for all budgets, when there I spent 2 nights at hotel parador in Arriaga(750 pesos over the 2 nights), a cabin in lagunas de Montebello for 200 pesos and another night at the fiesta inn san cristobal for 940 pesos.
I paid Francesca US$100 for my guided day.
I took 15000 pesos(cost me £645 in shop at post office, could have saved £20/30 online), of which I spent 12,780. This broke down into c2500 for gas, 1890 for the 4 nights non-booked hotels, 630 on tolls(140 each way between tuxtla and Arriaga, 60 each way between tuxtla and el ocote, and 50 each way between tuxtla and san cristobal) and 293 for entrance fees, plus 5500 for car extras. The rest was on food and water.
Total cost of trip was under £1700, probably do-able for a bit less
Driving
An experience! I visited costa rica last year so had an idea of what latin America is like, but the first day was still a shock! In the cities people are cutting corners, overtaking, undertaking and basically doing what ever they feel like. Staying alert, calm and assertive are essential. Topes are in all built up areas, mostly unsigned, invisible until you are about to hit it, most seemingly just there for no reason and many are just brutal that would do real damage if hit at any speed. Just east of san cristobal there was a blockade where locals were asking for 'donations', tooled up with poles and sticks that looked like they were designed for car smashing for people that didn't pay them. Between san cristobal and comitan there were major roadworks, that seemed like literally between the 2 cities! It took an age to get through on my outward trip, and the road was shut on return, forcing a long unsigned detour via Tzimol and La rosas, that was more pothole than road in many parts! Some of the roads up the mountains around san cristobal were steep and unpaved in parts(cerro tzontehuitz), but drivable with care. Locals can block roads for a full day unannounced around here so be prepared for the possibility. Security checkpoints were encountered between tuxtla and el ocote and just south of comitan. If flagged over just be polite, show them your passport and answer the questions they ask. Driving at night is discouraged but I usually left to get to places at daybreak, would say the road between tuxtla and Arriaga is in the best condition for night driving
Safety
All people I encountered seemed very friendly, even at the blockade! Of the sites I visit, all are 'safe'(usual caution required of course) except around san cristobal. The km2 site mentioned in Howells 'a bird-finding guide to mexico' is a no-go, you run a very a high risk of getting in trouble if you choose to visit here, sites off the chanal road are also supposedly potentially dangerous if you encounter the wrong people, and the trail at moxviquil has recently been closed due to robberies. This is a nature reserve! I am very glad I went for a guide around here as I was planning on visiting all these areas, despite knowing the risks of km2 at least. The political situation here is not good and will probably only get worse
Books etc
Steve Howell and Sophie Webb's 'a guide to the birds of mexico and northern central america' is the main book for the area. It is very bulky, more of a reference guide than a field guide in my opinion. Illustrations mostly good but excludes many north American migrants and a good replacement is long overdue for the area.
Howell's 'a bird-finding guide to mexico' is I guess handy to have at hand, but I didn't open it once whilst there, was published in 1999 so many sites have changed, and covers too large of any area to really describe the sites in real detail. El ocote for one is not in this book
I also took the helm 'birds of costa rica' and national geographic guide for north America
For a map I got the 2015 guia roji road atlas for mexico. The scale is too small, but was invaluable in finding a route back to san cristobal form comitan with the road shut.
For calls I used an app for costa rica bird sounds and selected calls/songs off xeno-canto
Also ebird much used
Itinerary
28/1 - departed heathrow
29/1 - arrive tuxtla Gutierrez c1pm. Tuxtla zoomat 3-4pm. Night tuxtla
30/1 - Sumidero canyon. Night Arriaga
31/1 - Arriaga foothills, Puerto Arista. Night Arriaga
1/2 - El ocote, Sumidero canyon. Night tuxtla
2/2 - El ocote, Cerrito de san cristobal and lake below. Night san cristobal
3/2 - Guided day around san cristobal. Chanal road, moxviquil gardens, cerro huitepec and cerro tzontehuitz. Night San cristobal
4/2 - reserva huitepec, chinkultic ruins, camino cinco lagos(lagunas de Montebello). Night lagunas de Montebello
5/2 - Lagunas de Montebello, chinkultic ruins. Night san cristobal
6/2 - sumidero canyon. flight home(arrive 7/2)
Sites Visited
Tuxtla Zoomat - Entrance 20 pesos. Closed Tuesdays. An afternoon hour or so around the zoo to get an introduction to Chiapas birds. It is a nice shaded zoo, themed on the animals of Chiapas. I didn't have enough time to look for enclosed animals, not really my thing anyway, but it has some nice wild birds too. Nothing rare but I saw my first russet-crowned motmots, velasquez's woodpeckers, green jays and yellow-winged caciques. Other species included my only Louisiana waterthrush and melodious blackbird of the trip, yellow-throated euphonias, streak-backed orioles and 3 other species of warbler(Nashville, magnolia and Wilson's, all common through most of the trip). Also presumably feral great curassows and plain chachalacas seen wandering the grounds
Sumidero canyon- Entrance 31.01 pesos per person. The road up is not open to vehicles til 8am, although you can enter on foot(or bike) whenever. It closes at 5, though I think this is last entry and you can stay inside longer, but never risked it. Apparently closed on tuesdays also. A very scenic area, a winding road heads up with 5 viewpoints to the right, very nice even with my fear of heights! I visited here 3 times and think anyone would do very well to see all targets in 1 visit. On my first visit I birded just through the gates til 8 then drove to straight up to the higher ground, then worked my way down in the heat of the day. Was fairly slow going as I was in 1st-day mode, confused by every sound and admiring everything seen too long, new and old! Second visit was in the afternoon and visited 2 of the better areas, Los Chiapas and El Roblar trails, was going very slow but stumbled upon ant swarms at both these so was very happy in the end! Third visit on last day I concentrated more on the lower part, walking up to km10, then visiting the above 2 trails again before packing and heading off to the airport. The site is a tourist spot so background noise was inevitable, although not as bad as feared, even on my 2 Saturday morning visits.
Entrance area
This was more scrubby than higher up so held a different set of birds. It was very birdy early on with many orioles(mostly streak-backed in various guises, some very like Altamira, either different race or hybrids?? with only a few definite altamiras noted), warblers, canivets emeralds, a red-legged honeycreeper and lesser ground-cuckoo last morning, white-throated magpie-jays, white-lored gnatcatchers, russet-crowned motmots, varied and indigo buntings...
Momotus trail
This is around km14??, there is a building to the left of the road and trails go left(momotus) and right(forgot name) from here. My main stop here was in the heat of the day so was slow, but just passed the open quarry(?) area on the momotus trail I had an imm male red-breasted chat. On return to the car I wandered slightly down the road and had another red-breasted chat(probably also imm male but much closer to adult), varied and painted bunting, ridgways swallows, a male berylline hummingbird of the green-bellied Deville's group amongst commoner species.
Km16
I visited here early afternoon so again slow, but this is 1 of the more reliable spots for belted flycatcher, of which I eventually saw 1 of 2 heard. May have been the only bird I saw here! I parked at the la coyote viewpoint and walked back down. This is also apparently 1 of the better areas for blue seedeater and blue bunting of which I saw neither, the former especially very hard when not singing
El roblar
This viewpoint has a snack shack so is very handy when in need of a cold drink! It is also very birdy. I heard belted flycatcher opposite the parking lot 1 day. The trail to the viewpoint is steep, although paved and with many steps. Just beyond the steps down from the car park is a trail to the right that is unpaved, and this was the best for birds. On my second visit I encountered an ant swarm which had red-throated ant-tanagers, a blue-and-white mockingbird and 3 fan-tailed warbler following it. Other species seen around el roblar included worm-eating warbler, ivory-billed woodcreeper, 3 yellow grosbeaks, black-headed saltator
Los Chiapas
The final viewpoint and end of the road. There is no longer a functional café here. I couldn't find the trail on my first visit, I found it on the second, if you walk between the playground and gift shack, it is straight ahead, left of a tower like structure, though not obvious at all! My first visit along the trail here was quiet until I encountered a swarm, barred antshrike, yellow-billed cacique and fan-tailed warbler with the squirrel cuckoos and and ret-throated ant-tanagers, my first ant swarm and very exciting, even with a limited number of species! On my final visit I stayed within 50 yards of the trailhead, very good for hummers with ruby-throated, azure-crowned, buff-bellied and berylline hummingbirds upstaged by the male slender sheartail that was giving brief and sporadic views
Arriaga foothills - A very enjoyable morning here. Don't think it is an area where a whole day can be spent though as it heats up and most the main birds were easy to get. This is the 'libre'(free) road that winds up from Arriaga towards the main road to tuxtla. I made 5 stops between a river on a bend just beyond an old highway that goes over the road, and a pullout on a wide left hand bend a few kms up from here. Most the pullouts are on the east side of the road and are best approached heading north, as most are on sharp bends and the road has some traffic. Rose-bellied buntings were easy, a conservative guess of 15, seen at each stop. I also saw about half that amount of orange-breasted buntings, including 1 stunning male. Both well worth the 15+ years of waiting to see! Other birds seen were 1 west Mexican chachalaca(of many heard), 4 citreoline trogons, 3 collared aracaris, and finally after giving up on it, a male long-tailed manakin appeared behind me! I had been hearing this bird but it was a long way off and thought I had no chance, but a trogon called behind me and as I looked at that I noticed the manakin behind it! On par with the buntings for beauty! Sumichrast's sparrow is also present but I forgot about it and didnt look for it!
Puerto arista area - My afternoon trip here was very hot, and even noisier! Firstly I drove down the cabeza del toro road hoping for giant wren, saw very little especially no big wren! Then I drove someway down a road immediately north of the gas station, hoping for wetland birds. Views of the mangroves and lagoons were limited, I picked up a few waders and most herons, but no real good vantage points and again very busy. On returning along this road a warbler flock mobbing a roadside hawk included 2 northern parulas and a yellow-throated warbler, and my first tropical mockingbird nearby. A brief look at the beach in Puerto arista only added 2 royal terns, so I returned to the garage at the cabeza del toro road junction, parked up, and walked slowly back and forth 3 times in the afternoon heat to the police/army property, melting away seeing very little and getting many funny looks off locals! On my third visit, walking back as the light was starting to go, I saw 3 white-bellied chachalacas, then an odd call behind me turned out to be from a giant wren! Had good views of it in the scrub south of the road near the junction before it vanished
El ocote - The turn off to this site is c15miles north of the main tuxtla-arriaga road, from the road that heads to Veracruz(145D), about an hour from tuxtla. In the small town of ocosocuautla there is unpaved ramp up to the left, take this, then head right, and then head left just before the road heads under the 145D, towards Armando zebadea. I reset my odometer here. The main target here was the very localized nava's wren. They were hard to see, but eventually had 2 good sightings over my 2 trips, and heard c5 more, between 0.8 and 1.7km is where I recorded them. I only heard the call note so learn this before visiting. The first 3.5km of this road are very good before you reach the small town. Most stuff was in flocks, so long quiet spells were followed by periods of frustratioin where i could here many, many birds, but only got a glimpse of something that usually that was too brief to be identified! But patience paid off and saw over my 2 trips many yellow-winged tanagers, 2 crimson-collared tanagers, 5+ white-winged tanagers, keel-billed toucans, slate-colored solitaire, barred antshrike, buff-throated and black-headed saltators, yellow-billed cacique, blue-diademed motmot, green and brown jays and several warbler species. I didn't do so well for hummers here, 1 azure-crowned and 2 stripe-throated hermits being the only 1s that didn't just flash past!
San cristobal - In parts a nice city, up in the mountains about an hour east of tuxtla. The suburbs were very rough looking and as mentioned earlier the surrounding areas can be very unsafe to bird. If wanting to visit here look very carefully into the current situation, what you want to see, where you can go and if you feel it is worth the risk. My idea of doing it solo without a guide could have gone very wrong, at best not see a fraction of what I did, and at worse...who knows! Don't think the local tribes would really want to kill someone, but many don't like people on their land and violent robberies are far from unheard of, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time could end very very badly. Thankfully I got hold of Francesca Albini at the last minute, and she took me to some very good spots seeing many good birds! I don't know where exactly she took me so probably cant give enough information for anyone wishing to do it solo. FWIW, my plan before contacting her was to leave everything at hotel, just take binoculars, water and passport, and an amount of money I wouldn't have minded getting robbed that much that would make the robbers happy enough to let me leave unscathed if that situation arose.
Chanal road
We spent the morning along here, making 4 stops. The first was in an area near panteon, in patchy woodland and scrub north of the road near some power lines. Star of the show was undoubtably the pink-headed warbler that gave good close prolonged views. A must see bird! Other stuff around here included white-eared, magnificent and amethyst-throated hummingbirds, the latter took ages to get a good look at the gorget, but well worth it! Also an elegant euphonia, hooded grosbeaks, brown-backed solitaire, mountain trogon, rufous-browed wren, grey silky-flycatcher, crescent-chested and golden-browed warblers and Guatemalan flickers. Next was by a school further along the road for siskins, black-headed seen immediately but we didn't linger. Don't know where the other 2 stops were, the 3rd we saw nothing, and at the 4th we saw 4 plain siskins. This poorly understood bird is bizarrely lumped with pine siskin, it is nothing like it! Of the 3 birds we saw well, 2 were like the illustration in Howell in webb, the 3rd was plain grey below, with brighter wings, a pink bill and a dusky cap. My guess is a male with 2 females but apparently no-one really knows (the fourth only noted in flight). The road is meant to be unsafe further along and the side roads that head off into the forest go into communities that are often not open to outsiders in their land, even if you offer to pay them.
Moxviquil - we visited here at lunchtime. the plan was to hit the trail for golden-cheeked warbler(this is the best spot but possible at all oak woods around san cristobal?). On arrival we were told the trail was closed due to recent robberies so had to stay around the gardens. Cinnamon-bellied flowerpiercer is reliable here and we quickly saw 3, not much else around, tufted flycatcher, white-naped brushfinch and magnificent hummingbird the only other birds I remember
Cerro huitepec - we went up the microwave towers side. On the first bend up a flock of swallows included c10 black-capped. Further up we heard a flock that included painted whitestart and a female hepatic tanager, female flowerpiercer plus another small group of hooded grosbeaks. Then we parked further up and walked a steep(er) road for garnet-throated hummingbird, of which we saw 2, but not very close. Also amethyst-throated hummingbird seen here
Cerro tzontehuitz - We finished the day off here. The road up was steep and unpaved but no need for 4x4. It was foggy/low cloud so visibility was not good. 3 highland guans were displaying, 1 close but the visibility meant we had no chance. As it got darker Francesca tried for owls. First 1 she tried was unspotted saw-whet. Almost immediately 1 replied, and after a while we located it, got very good views and left it be. Further back down the road we tried for bearded screech owl. We heard 2/3, 1 very close for ages, the only time we got on it though it flew! Also several Mexican whip-poor-wills calling but I never got a visual, the same earlier for singing quail. Francesca noted new felled areas since her last visit, like the visit before, so was not very optimistic on the future of this good site, as with most sites of the area.
Reserva huitepec - The reserve doesn't open til 9/9:30 am, but can be accessed before then by jumping over the fence left of the gates, the guy didn't seem bothered when I paid him on my way out( I paid 100 pesos but think its 50). I found birding here hard by myself, I encountered several flocks but viewing them was hard, activity died down around 8:30 also. I eventually found a blue-throated motmot, I saw this by heading up the first flight of steps, following the main trail til the end of a grey brick wall, taking a left and then taking a right. Pure luck as they weren't calling. Of the few other birds seen here were mountain trogon, golden-browed and crescent-chested warblers, amethyst- and garnet-throated hummingbirds, but views of these were not as good as the previous day. Apparently they no longer do owl tours here due to disturbance.
Chinkultic - These mayan ruins between comitan and lagunas de Montebello are very birdy and quite interesting ruins, as old bricks go! It is set in a very scenic area and was maybe my favourite site of the trip. I spent 2 1.5 hour stints here early/mid afternoon, I could have spent the best part of the day easily if I didn't have to move on. Best bird was the female slender sheartail halfway up the steps to the main temple sheltering from a shower, good prolonged views. Azure-crowned and ruby-throated hummers were more numerous, migrant warblers were everywhere, black-headed siskins flying about, 2 grey silky-flycatchers briefly... there was something to look at the whole time. No entry fee
Lagunas de Montebello - This national park near the Guatemalan border consists of lakes with steep rocky and pine covered walls, although unfortunately most of the cloud forest has gone. Entry is 30 pesos for the park, and 25 pesos to access the roads to the lakes(1 ticket covered all roads). I was told that the first km of the cinco lagos road is 1 of the best spots for birding, including the 3 special jays of the area(unicolored, black-throated and azure-hooded). I spent about 8 hours along here over an evening and morning and only saw 2 fairly distant unicolored's! The other 2 are meant to be fairly easy, but I just didn't run into them! Almost continuous rain didn't help I think. I did see a female green-throated mountain-gem on this stretch, plus emerald toucanet, yellowish flycatcher, black-headed nightingale-thrush and yellow-backed orioles, and heard a highland guan on my evening visit. Despite not seeing a great deal I reckon this site deserves 2 days at least. My guide said that quetzals still just hang on here
Sites not visited
Volcan tacana - Located in the far south-east of the state, on the border with Guatemala, north-east of tapachula. Union Juarez is the best base for the Mexican side. A safer option for pink-headed warbler, with other species including rufous sabrewing, blue-tailed hummingbird and blue-naped chlorophonia possible. There are reports on ebird of azure-rumped tanager lower down. I was considering visiting here for a while, but it would have required the best part of a days drive to and from there, too much time to lose in a short trip, plus all species are possible in Guatemala, hopefully a future trip for me
Tapalapa - Another area of cloud forest, north of Tuxtla. Didn't look too much into it, looks like it would be a long drive and no idea on accommodation. Quetzal, wine-throated hummingbird, mountain elaenia, black-throated jay amongst possibilities
El triunfo - Sounds like an amazing area, home of horned guan, azure-rumped tanager, wine-throated hummingbird, fulvous owl and quetzal amongst many others that have lost there habitat elsewhere. Couldn't find any info on how to arrange access and would require at least 5 days I think. You have to hike several km in and stay on site
Trip list to follow
I decided upon visiting here as I have wanted to see Rose-bellied and Orange-breasted buntings and Pink-headed warbler for many years, since picking up a copy of Howell & Webb's ' A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America' as a teenager. The prospect of some winter sun was also appealing!
I finished the trip with 247 species, 66 of which were lifers, plus 5 more heard only. Despite this I had mixed feelings about the trip. Despite visiting some nice spots and seeing many good birds, the poverty of some areas, especially around San Cristobal, and some of the security issues of this area kind of took a bit of enjoyment out of the trip for me. Not being able to speak Spanish didn't help, I learnt a few phrases before I went and this just got me through. If anyone is considering going this needs bearing in mind, going in a group with at least 1 fluent Spanish speaker would be recommended, and I would strongly consider getting a guide for san cristobal to take you to the safer spots. I contacted Francesca Albini for my guide for 1 full day for San Cristobal and she was a very knowledgeable guide, with a strong passion for birds and good company.
The weather was mostly hot, only uncomfortably so around Puerto arista and Arriaga, with rain around san cristobal 1 morning and almost continuously around lagunas de Montebello. Something warmer was required for early morning/evenings around san cristobal due to elevation.
Costs etc...
I flew with aeromexico, heathrow to tuxtla Gutierrez, changing in mexico city, at a cost of just under £530 return including credit card fee. I thought I booked with them direct, via their English website, but it was actually through bravo travel. I had no issues and saved c£200, but have read if any issues arise they can pass the blame between one another. The heathrow - mexico flight was on time and arrived 40 mins early, the flight to tuxtla was 1:15 late, no reason given until after about 45 mins in! This on top of the planned 6 hour layover...! The flight from tuxtla to mexico was also on time, the mexico - heathrow flight was being advertised as an hour early, but we boarded on original schedule, again no explanation, only to sit there for 2 hours due to some incident on the plane!
Car hire was through europcar, prebooked online at a base rate of £250 for a 1.6 Renault logan, not the best car in world, with the gear box and brakes feeling as if they were on the way out, but it got me through. I also paid US$300 for 'fully' comp insurance(which didn't include tire and window damage, in an area with some shocking roads and crime) and a satnav when there, this was about 5500 pesos when paid in cash at the end of trip.
I pre-booked 4 of my 8 nights, 2 separate nights in tuxtla Gutierrez at the holiday inn(£60) and best western(£40), and 2 nights at the fiesta inn in san cristobal(£70 p/n). Hotels were easy to find there and there is something for all budgets, when there I spent 2 nights at hotel parador in Arriaga(750 pesos over the 2 nights), a cabin in lagunas de Montebello for 200 pesos and another night at the fiesta inn san cristobal for 940 pesos.
I paid Francesca US$100 for my guided day.
I took 15000 pesos(cost me £645 in shop at post office, could have saved £20/30 online), of which I spent 12,780. This broke down into c2500 for gas, 1890 for the 4 nights non-booked hotels, 630 on tolls(140 each way between tuxtla and Arriaga, 60 each way between tuxtla and el ocote, and 50 each way between tuxtla and san cristobal) and 293 for entrance fees, plus 5500 for car extras. The rest was on food and water.
Total cost of trip was under £1700, probably do-able for a bit less
Driving
An experience! I visited costa rica last year so had an idea of what latin America is like, but the first day was still a shock! In the cities people are cutting corners, overtaking, undertaking and basically doing what ever they feel like. Staying alert, calm and assertive are essential. Topes are in all built up areas, mostly unsigned, invisible until you are about to hit it, most seemingly just there for no reason and many are just brutal that would do real damage if hit at any speed. Just east of san cristobal there was a blockade where locals were asking for 'donations', tooled up with poles and sticks that looked like they were designed for car smashing for people that didn't pay them. Between san cristobal and comitan there were major roadworks, that seemed like literally between the 2 cities! It took an age to get through on my outward trip, and the road was shut on return, forcing a long unsigned detour via Tzimol and La rosas, that was more pothole than road in many parts! Some of the roads up the mountains around san cristobal were steep and unpaved in parts(cerro tzontehuitz), but drivable with care. Locals can block roads for a full day unannounced around here so be prepared for the possibility. Security checkpoints were encountered between tuxtla and el ocote and just south of comitan. If flagged over just be polite, show them your passport and answer the questions they ask. Driving at night is discouraged but I usually left to get to places at daybreak, would say the road between tuxtla and Arriaga is in the best condition for night driving
Safety
All people I encountered seemed very friendly, even at the blockade! Of the sites I visit, all are 'safe'(usual caution required of course) except around san cristobal. The km2 site mentioned in Howells 'a bird-finding guide to mexico' is a no-go, you run a very a high risk of getting in trouble if you choose to visit here, sites off the chanal road are also supposedly potentially dangerous if you encounter the wrong people, and the trail at moxviquil has recently been closed due to robberies. This is a nature reserve! I am very glad I went for a guide around here as I was planning on visiting all these areas, despite knowing the risks of km2 at least. The political situation here is not good and will probably only get worse
Books etc
Steve Howell and Sophie Webb's 'a guide to the birds of mexico and northern central america' is the main book for the area. It is very bulky, more of a reference guide than a field guide in my opinion. Illustrations mostly good but excludes many north American migrants and a good replacement is long overdue for the area.
Howell's 'a bird-finding guide to mexico' is I guess handy to have at hand, but I didn't open it once whilst there, was published in 1999 so many sites have changed, and covers too large of any area to really describe the sites in real detail. El ocote for one is not in this book
I also took the helm 'birds of costa rica' and national geographic guide for north America
For a map I got the 2015 guia roji road atlas for mexico. The scale is too small, but was invaluable in finding a route back to san cristobal form comitan with the road shut.
For calls I used an app for costa rica bird sounds and selected calls/songs off xeno-canto
Also ebird much used
Itinerary
28/1 - departed heathrow
29/1 - arrive tuxtla Gutierrez c1pm. Tuxtla zoomat 3-4pm. Night tuxtla
30/1 - Sumidero canyon. Night Arriaga
31/1 - Arriaga foothills, Puerto Arista. Night Arriaga
1/2 - El ocote, Sumidero canyon. Night tuxtla
2/2 - El ocote, Cerrito de san cristobal and lake below. Night san cristobal
3/2 - Guided day around san cristobal. Chanal road, moxviquil gardens, cerro huitepec and cerro tzontehuitz. Night San cristobal
4/2 - reserva huitepec, chinkultic ruins, camino cinco lagos(lagunas de Montebello). Night lagunas de Montebello
5/2 - Lagunas de Montebello, chinkultic ruins. Night san cristobal
6/2 - sumidero canyon. flight home(arrive 7/2)
Sites Visited
Tuxtla Zoomat - Entrance 20 pesos. Closed Tuesdays. An afternoon hour or so around the zoo to get an introduction to Chiapas birds. It is a nice shaded zoo, themed on the animals of Chiapas. I didn't have enough time to look for enclosed animals, not really my thing anyway, but it has some nice wild birds too. Nothing rare but I saw my first russet-crowned motmots, velasquez's woodpeckers, green jays and yellow-winged caciques. Other species included my only Louisiana waterthrush and melodious blackbird of the trip, yellow-throated euphonias, streak-backed orioles and 3 other species of warbler(Nashville, magnolia and Wilson's, all common through most of the trip). Also presumably feral great curassows and plain chachalacas seen wandering the grounds
Sumidero canyon- Entrance 31.01 pesos per person. The road up is not open to vehicles til 8am, although you can enter on foot(or bike) whenever. It closes at 5, though I think this is last entry and you can stay inside longer, but never risked it. Apparently closed on tuesdays also. A very scenic area, a winding road heads up with 5 viewpoints to the right, very nice even with my fear of heights! I visited here 3 times and think anyone would do very well to see all targets in 1 visit. On my first visit I birded just through the gates til 8 then drove to straight up to the higher ground, then worked my way down in the heat of the day. Was fairly slow going as I was in 1st-day mode, confused by every sound and admiring everything seen too long, new and old! Second visit was in the afternoon and visited 2 of the better areas, Los Chiapas and El Roblar trails, was going very slow but stumbled upon ant swarms at both these so was very happy in the end! Third visit on last day I concentrated more on the lower part, walking up to km10, then visiting the above 2 trails again before packing and heading off to the airport. The site is a tourist spot so background noise was inevitable, although not as bad as feared, even on my 2 Saturday morning visits.
Entrance area
This was more scrubby than higher up so held a different set of birds. It was very birdy early on with many orioles(mostly streak-backed in various guises, some very like Altamira, either different race or hybrids?? with only a few definite altamiras noted), warblers, canivets emeralds, a red-legged honeycreeper and lesser ground-cuckoo last morning, white-throated magpie-jays, white-lored gnatcatchers, russet-crowned motmots, varied and indigo buntings...
Momotus trail
This is around km14??, there is a building to the left of the road and trails go left(momotus) and right(forgot name) from here. My main stop here was in the heat of the day so was slow, but just passed the open quarry(?) area on the momotus trail I had an imm male red-breasted chat. On return to the car I wandered slightly down the road and had another red-breasted chat(probably also imm male but much closer to adult), varied and painted bunting, ridgways swallows, a male berylline hummingbird of the green-bellied Deville's group amongst commoner species.
Km16
I visited here early afternoon so again slow, but this is 1 of the more reliable spots for belted flycatcher, of which I eventually saw 1 of 2 heard. May have been the only bird I saw here! I parked at the la coyote viewpoint and walked back down. This is also apparently 1 of the better areas for blue seedeater and blue bunting of which I saw neither, the former especially very hard when not singing
El roblar
This viewpoint has a snack shack so is very handy when in need of a cold drink! It is also very birdy. I heard belted flycatcher opposite the parking lot 1 day. The trail to the viewpoint is steep, although paved and with many steps. Just beyond the steps down from the car park is a trail to the right that is unpaved, and this was the best for birds. On my second visit I encountered an ant swarm which had red-throated ant-tanagers, a blue-and-white mockingbird and 3 fan-tailed warbler following it. Other species seen around el roblar included worm-eating warbler, ivory-billed woodcreeper, 3 yellow grosbeaks, black-headed saltator
Los Chiapas
The final viewpoint and end of the road. There is no longer a functional café here. I couldn't find the trail on my first visit, I found it on the second, if you walk between the playground and gift shack, it is straight ahead, left of a tower like structure, though not obvious at all! My first visit along the trail here was quiet until I encountered a swarm, barred antshrike, yellow-billed cacique and fan-tailed warbler with the squirrel cuckoos and and ret-throated ant-tanagers, my first ant swarm and very exciting, even with a limited number of species! On my final visit I stayed within 50 yards of the trailhead, very good for hummers with ruby-throated, azure-crowned, buff-bellied and berylline hummingbirds upstaged by the male slender sheartail that was giving brief and sporadic views
Arriaga foothills - A very enjoyable morning here. Don't think it is an area where a whole day can be spent though as it heats up and most the main birds were easy to get. This is the 'libre'(free) road that winds up from Arriaga towards the main road to tuxtla. I made 5 stops between a river on a bend just beyond an old highway that goes over the road, and a pullout on a wide left hand bend a few kms up from here. Most the pullouts are on the east side of the road and are best approached heading north, as most are on sharp bends and the road has some traffic. Rose-bellied buntings were easy, a conservative guess of 15, seen at each stop. I also saw about half that amount of orange-breasted buntings, including 1 stunning male. Both well worth the 15+ years of waiting to see! Other birds seen were 1 west Mexican chachalaca(of many heard), 4 citreoline trogons, 3 collared aracaris, and finally after giving up on it, a male long-tailed manakin appeared behind me! I had been hearing this bird but it was a long way off and thought I had no chance, but a trogon called behind me and as I looked at that I noticed the manakin behind it! On par with the buntings for beauty! Sumichrast's sparrow is also present but I forgot about it and didnt look for it!
Puerto arista area - My afternoon trip here was very hot, and even noisier! Firstly I drove down the cabeza del toro road hoping for giant wren, saw very little especially no big wren! Then I drove someway down a road immediately north of the gas station, hoping for wetland birds. Views of the mangroves and lagoons were limited, I picked up a few waders and most herons, but no real good vantage points and again very busy. On returning along this road a warbler flock mobbing a roadside hawk included 2 northern parulas and a yellow-throated warbler, and my first tropical mockingbird nearby. A brief look at the beach in Puerto arista only added 2 royal terns, so I returned to the garage at the cabeza del toro road junction, parked up, and walked slowly back and forth 3 times in the afternoon heat to the police/army property, melting away seeing very little and getting many funny looks off locals! On my third visit, walking back as the light was starting to go, I saw 3 white-bellied chachalacas, then an odd call behind me turned out to be from a giant wren! Had good views of it in the scrub south of the road near the junction before it vanished
El ocote - The turn off to this site is c15miles north of the main tuxtla-arriaga road, from the road that heads to Veracruz(145D), about an hour from tuxtla. In the small town of ocosocuautla there is unpaved ramp up to the left, take this, then head right, and then head left just before the road heads under the 145D, towards Armando zebadea. I reset my odometer here. The main target here was the very localized nava's wren. They were hard to see, but eventually had 2 good sightings over my 2 trips, and heard c5 more, between 0.8 and 1.7km is where I recorded them. I only heard the call note so learn this before visiting. The first 3.5km of this road are very good before you reach the small town. Most stuff was in flocks, so long quiet spells were followed by periods of frustratioin where i could here many, many birds, but only got a glimpse of something that usually that was too brief to be identified! But patience paid off and saw over my 2 trips many yellow-winged tanagers, 2 crimson-collared tanagers, 5+ white-winged tanagers, keel-billed toucans, slate-colored solitaire, barred antshrike, buff-throated and black-headed saltators, yellow-billed cacique, blue-diademed motmot, green and brown jays and several warbler species. I didn't do so well for hummers here, 1 azure-crowned and 2 stripe-throated hermits being the only 1s that didn't just flash past!
San cristobal - In parts a nice city, up in the mountains about an hour east of tuxtla. The suburbs were very rough looking and as mentioned earlier the surrounding areas can be very unsafe to bird. If wanting to visit here look very carefully into the current situation, what you want to see, where you can go and if you feel it is worth the risk. My idea of doing it solo without a guide could have gone very wrong, at best not see a fraction of what I did, and at worse...who knows! Don't think the local tribes would really want to kill someone, but many don't like people on their land and violent robberies are far from unheard of, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time could end very very badly. Thankfully I got hold of Francesca Albini at the last minute, and she took me to some very good spots seeing many good birds! I don't know where exactly she took me so probably cant give enough information for anyone wishing to do it solo. FWIW, my plan before contacting her was to leave everything at hotel, just take binoculars, water and passport, and an amount of money I wouldn't have minded getting robbed that much that would make the robbers happy enough to let me leave unscathed if that situation arose.
Chanal road
We spent the morning along here, making 4 stops. The first was in an area near panteon, in patchy woodland and scrub north of the road near some power lines. Star of the show was undoubtably the pink-headed warbler that gave good close prolonged views. A must see bird! Other stuff around here included white-eared, magnificent and amethyst-throated hummingbirds, the latter took ages to get a good look at the gorget, but well worth it! Also an elegant euphonia, hooded grosbeaks, brown-backed solitaire, mountain trogon, rufous-browed wren, grey silky-flycatcher, crescent-chested and golden-browed warblers and Guatemalan flickers. Next was by a school further along the road for siskins, black-headed seen immediately but we didn't linger. Don't know where the other 2 stops were, the 3rd we saw nothing, and at the 4th we saw 4 plain siskins. This poorly understood bird is bizarrely lumped with pine siskin, it is nothing like it! Of the 3 birds we saw well, 2 were like the illustration in Howell in webb, the 3rd was plain grey below, with brighter wings, a pink bill and a dusky cap. My guess is a male with 2 females but apparently no-one really knows (the fourth only noted in flight). The road is meant to be unsafe further along and the side roads that head off into the forest go into communities that are often not open to outsiders in their land, even if you offer to pay them.
Moxviquil - we visited here at lunchtime. the plan was to hit the trail for golden-cheeked warbler(this is the best spot but possible at all oak woods around san cristobal?). On arrival we were told the trail was closed due to recent robberies so had to stay around the gardens. Cinnamon-bellied flowerpiercer is reliable here and we quickly saw 3, not much else around, tufted flycatcher, white-naped brushfinch and magnificent hummingbird the only other birds I remember
Cerro huitepec - we went up the microwave towers side. On the first bend up a flock of swallows included c10 black-capped. Further up we heard a flock that included painted whitestart and a female hepatic tanager, female flowerpiercer plus another small group of hooded grosbeaks. Then we parked further up and walked a steep(er) road for garnet-throated hummingbird, of which we saw 2, but not very close. Also amethyst-throated hummingbird seen here
Cerro tzontehuitz - We finished the day off here. The road up was steep and unpaved but no need for 4x4. It was foggy/low cloud so visibility was not good. 3 highland guans were displaying, 1 close but the visibility meant we had no chance. As it got darker Francesca tried for owls. First 1 she tried was unspotted saw-whet. Almost immediately 1 replied, and after a while we located it, got very good views and left it be. Further back down the road we tried for bearded screech owl. We heard 2/3, 1 very close for ages, the only time we got on it though it flew! Also several Mexican whip-poor-wills calling but I never got a visual, the same earlier for singing quail. Francesca noted new felled areas since her last visit, like the visit before, so was not very optimistic on the future of this good site, as with most sites of the area.
Reserva huitepec - The reserve doesn't open til 9/9:30 am, but can be accessed before then by jumping over the fence left of the gates, the guy didn't seem bothered when I paid him on my way out( I paid 100 pesos but think its 50). I found birding here hard by myself, I encountered several flocks but viewing them was hard, activity died down around 8:30 also. I eventually found a blue-throated motmot, I saw this by heading up the first flight of steps, following the main trail til the end of a grey brick wall, taking a left and then taking a right. Pure luck as they weren't calling. Of the few other birds seen here were mountain trogon, golden-browed and crescent-chested warblers, amethyst- and garnet-throated hummingbirds, but views of these were not as good as the previous day. Apparently they no longer do owl tours here due to disturbance.
Chinkultic - These mayan ruins between comitan and lagunas de Montebello are very birdy and quite interesting ruins, as old bricks go! It is set in a very scenic area and was maybe my favourite site of the trip. I spent 2 1.5 hour stints here early/mid afternoon, I could have spent the best part of the day easily if I didn't have to move on. Best bird was the female slender sheartail halfway up the steps to the main temple sheltering from a shower, good prolonged views. Azure-crowned and ruby-throated hummers were more numerous, migrant warblers were everywhere, black-headed siskins flying about, 2 grey silky-flycatchers briefly... there was something to look at the whole time. No entry fee
Lagunas de Montebello - This national park near the Guatemalan border consists of lakes with steep rocky and pine covered walls, although unfortunately most of the cloud forest has gone. Entry is 30 pesos for the park, and 25 pesos to access the roads to the lakes(1 ticket covered all roads). I was told that the first km of the cinco lagos road is 1 of the best spots for birding, including the 3 special jays of the area(unicolored, black-throated and azure-hooded). I spent about 8 hours along here over an evening and morning and only saw 2 fairly distant unicolored's! The other 2 are meant to be fairly easy, but I just didn't run into them! Almost continuous rain didn't help I think. I did see a female green-throated mountain-gem on this stretch, plus emerald toucanet, yellowish flycatcher, black-headed nightingale-thrush and yellow-backed orioles, and heard a highland guan on my evening visit. Despite not seeing a great deal I reckon this site deserves 2 days at least. My guide said that quetzals still just hang on here
Sites not visited
Volcan tacana - Located in the far south-east of the state, on the border with Guatemala, north-east of tapachula. Union Juarez is the best base for the Mexican side. A safer option for pink-headed warbler, with other species including rufous sabrewing, blue-tailed hummingbird and blue-naped chlorophonia possible. There are reports on ebird of azure-rumped tanager lower down. I was considering visiting here for a while, but it would have required the best part of a days drive to and from there, too much time to lose in a short trip, plus all species are possible in Guatemala, hopefully a future trip for me
Tapalapa - Another area of cloud forest, north of Tuxtla. Didn't look too much into it, looks like it would be a long drive and no idea on accommodation. Quetzal, wine-throated hummingbird, mountain elaenia, black-throated jay amongst possibilities
El triunfo - Sounds like an amazing area, home of horned guan, azure-rumped tanager, wine-throated hummingbird, fulvous owl and quetzal amongst many others that have lost there habitat elsewhere. Couldn't find any info on how to arrange access and would require at least 5 days I think. You have to hike several km in and stay on site
Trip list to follow
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