Vera Cruz " River of Raptors" -

Excerpt from field notes, October 7th, 2001

Few trips can ever boast that they have witnessed a raptor migration on such a grand scale as the one we saw today. Though it wasn’t the “big day”, that occurred over a week ago on Sept 28th when northerly winds pushed an estimated 800,000 Broadwings through Veracruz ahead of schedule, seeing what the counters estimated as 120,000 in the hour and a half that it took for them to come through, certainly gave us a good idea of the size and magnitude of what a “big day” must be like. What made this spectacle so special was that is consisted of a mixed group of Broadwing and Swainson Hawks as well as Turkey Vultures. Normally, the end of September signals the end of the Broadwing push, and the beginning of October heralds the arrival of Swainson’s.

Today wasn’t really different from any of our previous days...we left Cardel after lunch, knowing that the easterly winds had pushed any potential raptor flight inland. Before arriving at Chichicaxtle (the inland counting station at the football pitch, 15 kilometers west of Cardel), we were excited to see kettles forming in good numbers, especially within the last kilometer or two before reaching the football field. When Richard exclaimed, “Bloody hell! Look at the numbers in that kettle” we knew that we had arrived at what seemed to be the prefect moment; we climbed out of the vans to be greeted by raptors all around us. Raptors were streaming and kettles numbering in the thousands were forming. The previous day during an hour and a half we had witnessed about 40,000, but this somehow seemed more massive in scale.

Soon it became evident that the raptors were moving further inland and away from us, so we decided to head west. About 3 kilometers from Chichicaxtle, we pulled into a BP station and found ourselves under another kettle and settled for this spot to try our luck. Little did we know…...we were under a steady flow of raptors, that the locals describe as the “Rio de Rapaces”, that make their journey through this narrow 30 kilometer wide flat topography of Veracruz , between late September and mid October, on there way to wintering grounds in Central and South America. Clearly visible to the naked eye, Swainson’s both dark and light morphs made up the bulk of the raptors along with the larger Turkey Vultures while the tail end of migrating Broadwings made up the remainder of the raptors. Due to the distance from the Chichicaxtle counters, it is unlikely that the smaller sized Broadwings were ever counted!

Mesmorized by the large kettle above us, we followed the stream to the next kettle, and then further back along the next stream to the next kettle and further still till the next……and on and on stretching the length of the sky. This continued for nearly an hour as we realized that what we were witnessing was a spectacle of such enormous magnitude that unless you were there it is hard to describe to anyone. Especially the emotions and feelings that overcome you as you see raptor after raptor appearing seeming out of nowhere through the distance clouds….it truly was a “River of Raptors”.

~ Adrian Binns

ITINERARY/ SITES VISITED ~
October 1-11, 2001

Day 1/ Oct 1 - San Julian Freshwater coastal lagoon and scrub forest

Day 2/ Oct 2 - La Catalana Dry thorn and scrub habitat leading to a freshwater lagoon: Cardel Roof Top: Pronatura’s hawk-counting site: La Antiqua River boat ride to the mouth of the Caribbean

Day 3/ Oct 3 - Playa Juan Angel: Coastal scrub, thorn forest, open fields, dunes & beach Cardel Roof Top Pronatura’s hawk counting site Chichicaxtle :The football field, that is the second official hawk-counting site

Day 4/ Oct 4 - Parque Macquiltepetl - 80 acre city park/extinct volcano 4500’ - cloud forest Xico Falls Waterfall, coffee plantation

Day 5/ Oct 5 - Las Minas - High elevation 6500’ Pine forest and canyon La Joya Pine habitat and dense underbrush at 5500’: Museo de Antropologia in Xalapa : Anthropology Museum Chichicaxtle; The football field, that is the second official hawk-counting site

Day 6/ Oct 6 - El Salado Freshwater pond: La Mancha Lowland forest, freshwater lagoon, coastal dune & mangroves: Cardel Roof Top: Pronatura’s hawk-counting site : Chichicaxtle: The football field, that is the second official hawk-counting site: San Vincente Small village

Day 7/ Oct 7 - Playa Chalchiuecan: Low thorn scrub habitat, open fields leading to beach: Cardel Roof Top: Pronatura’s hawk-counting site: Chichicaxtle: The football field, that is the second official hawk-counting site: Cempoala Ruins: Archaeological site of the Totonac Indians

Day 8/ Oct 8 - Las Barrancos Grassland savannah, scattered flooded fields & wetlands: La Tiacotalpan Wetland and river Turnpike Toll Booth - Wet lowlands besides the turnpike toll booth: Alvadora Wetlands: A large wetland and lagoon : Playa Azul at Lake Catemaco: The hotel grounds

Day 9/ Oct 9 - UNAM Biological Station at Monte Pio : 800 acres of Rain Forest: Laguna de Sonte Comapan: River boat ride along large coastal lagoon

Day10/ Oct 10 - Nanciyaga: Remnant patches of Rain forest along Lake Catemaco: La Jungla Remnant patches of Rain forest along Lake Catemaco : Playa Azul at Lake Catemaco : The hotel grounds: Alvarodo Wetlands: A large wetland and lagoon

Birds Seen

Mexican Sheartail

The first number is the highest number of birds seen on one day.
The second number is the total number of days that that species was seen or heard

Pied-billed Grebe – 4/6
American White Pelican – 600/6
Brown Pelican – 35/7
Neotropic Cormorant – 25/6
Double-crested Cormorant – 3/5
Anhinga – 60/6
Magnificent Frigatebird – 21/8
Pinnated Bittern – 4/1
Least Bittern – H/2
American Bittern – 2/1
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron – 1/1
Great Blue Heron –24/8
Great Egret – C/10
Snowy Egret – 100/7
Little Blue Heron – 14/7
Tricolored Heron – 8/7
Reddish Egret – 5/3
Cattle Egret – C/9
Green Heron – 3/6
Black-crowned Night-Heron – 7/4
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – 27/6
White Ibis – 35/7
White-faced Ibis – 40+/5
Roseate Spoonbill – 15/1
Wood Stork – 1,000+/6
Black Vulture – 300+/10
Turkey Vulture – 10,000+/10
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture – 8/1
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck – 25/4
Muscovy Duck – 1/3
Blue-winged Teal – 12/3
Northern Pintail – 10/1
Green-winged Teal – 4/1
Lesser Scaup – 22/1
Osprey – 9/9
Gray-headed Kite – 1/1
Hook-billed Kite – 6/3
Swallow-tailed Kite – 1/1
White-tailed Kite – 1/2
Snail Kite – 4/2
Mississippi Kite – 10/4
Black-collared Hawk – 1/1
Northern Harrier – 6/7
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 100+/8
Cooper's Hawk – 40/7
White Hawk – 1/1
Gray Hawk – 5/7
Common Black Hawk – 8/2
Great Black Hawk – 4/5
Harris’ Hawk – 1/1
Roadside Hawk – 9/10
Broad-winged Hawk – 60,000+/7
Short-tailed Hawk – 10/5
Swainson's Hawk – 50,000+/5
White-tailed Hawk – 1/1
Zone-tailed Hawk – 2/3
Red-tailed Hawk – 3/2
Collared Forest-Falcon – 3/3
Crested Caracara – 14/7
Laughing Falcon – 2/3
American Kestrel – 4/6
Merlin – 2/5
Aplomado Falcon – 12/3
Bat Falcon – 3/1
Peregrine Falcon – 12/9
Plain Chachalaca – 3/6
Bearded Wood-Partridge – H/1
Ruddy Crake – 1/1
Gray-necked Wood-Rail – 1/2
Gallinule sp. – 1/1
Common Moorhen – 1/1
American Coot – 1/1
Limpkin – 2/3
Double-striped Thick-knee – 6/1
Black-bellied Plover – 17/2
Collared Plover – 10/1
Wilson's Plover – 8/1
Semipalmated Plover – 8/2
Black-necked Stilt – 37/4
American Avocet – 18/2
Northern Jacana – 20+/4
Greater Yellowlegs – 11/2
Solitary Sandpiper – 1/2
Willet (Western) – 12/4
Spotted Sandpiper – 15/7
Upland Sandpiper – 2/2
Whimbrel – 1/2
Long-billed Curlew – 9/2
Marbled Godwit – 3/2
American Oystercatcher – 1/1
Ruddy Turnstone – 8/1
Sanderling – 7/3
Semipalmated Sandpiper – 5/4
Least Sandpiper – 10/3
Baird’s Sandpiper – 1/1
Pectoral Sandpiper – 1/2
Short-billed Dowitcher – 3/1
Laughing Gull – C/6
Franklin’s Gull – 1/3
Ring-billed Gull – 1/1
Herring Gull – 1/1
Gull-billed Tern 9/1
Caspian Tern – 21/1
Royal Tern – 25/6
Sandwich Tern – C/4
Common Tern – 8/1
Forster's Tern – 1/1
Least Tern – 2/1
Black Skimmer – 40+/1
Rock Dove – C/9
Red-billed Pigeon – 100+/9
Short-billed Pigeon – 9/2
White-winged Dove – 50+/6
Mourning Dove – 11/3
Inca Dove – C/8
Common Ground-Dove – 6/2
Plain-breasted Ground-Dove – 2/1
Ruddy Ground-Dove – 25/6
Blue Ground-Dove – 1/1
White-tipped Dove – 1/3
Aztec Parakeet – 18/2
White-fronted Parrot – 4/1
Red-lored Parrot – 60+/2
Squirrel Cuckoo – 5/8
Groove-billed Ani – C/8
Barn Owl – 1/1
Mountain Pygmy-Owl – H/1
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl – 5/4
Mottled Owl – H/2
Striped Owl – H/1
Lesser Nighthawk – 3/3
Common Nighthawk – H/1
Common Pauraque – 1/2
Nightjar sp (Yucatan or Whip-poor-will) – 1/1
Chestnut-collared Swift – 4/2
White-collared Swift – 11/4
Vaux’s Swift – 1/1
White-throated Swift – 18/1
Long-tailed Hermit – 3/1
Little Hermit – 1/1
Wedge-tailed Sabrewing – 5/1
Long-tailed Sabrewing – 1/1
Violet Sabrewing – 3/1
Green-breasted Mango – 1/1
Canivet’s Emerald – 4/1
White-eared Hummingbird – 1/1
White-bellied Emerald – 3/3
Azure-crowned Emerald – 5/2
Berylline Hummingbird – 3/1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird – 12/8
Blue-throated Hummingbird – 1/1
Long-billed Starthroat – 1/1
Mexican Sheartail – 3/4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird – 1/2
Black-chinned Hummingbird – 5/1
Bumblebee Hummingbird – 5/1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird – 3/2
Magnificent Hummingbird – 1/1
Black-headed Trogon – 3/1
Violaceous Trogon – 8/2
Blue-crowned Motmot – 6/3
Ringed Kingfisher – 6/6
Belted Kingfisher – 3/5
Amazon Kingfisher – 3/4
Green Kingfisher – 2/3
Collared Aracari – 10/2
Keel-billed Toucan – 8/2
Acorn Woodpecker – 3/1
Black-cheeked Woodpecker – 1/1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker – C/10
Ladder-backed Woodpecker – 3/4
Smoky-brown Woodpecker – 2/1
Northern Flicker (red-shafted) – 3/2
Lineated Woodpecker – 2/3
Bronzed-winged Woodpecker – 1/1
Rufous-breasted Spinetail – 1/1
Olivaceous Woodcreeper – 1/1
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper – H/1
Spot-crowned Woodcreeper – 2/1
Barred Antshrike – 1/1

Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet – 1/1
Northern Beardless- Tyrannulet – 1/2
Common Tody-Flycatcher – 1/1
Eye-ringed Flatbill – 3/1
Stub-tailed Spadebill – 2/1
Olive-sided Flycatcher – 1/5
Greater Pewee – 1/1
Western Pewee – 1/6
Eastern Pewee – 2/3
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher – 1/1
Trail’s Flycatcher – 1/1
Least Flycatcher – 8/6
Cordilleran Flycatcher – 25+/2
Yellowish Flycatcher – 1/1
Buff-breasted Flycatcher – 1/1
Pine Flycatcher – 2/1
Black Phoebe – 3/1
Vermillion Flycatcher – 17/5
Bright-rumped Attila – 1/1
Great-crested Flycatcher – 5/5
Brown-crested Flycatcher – 6/2
Great Kiskadee – C/9
Boat-billed Flycatcher – C/10
Social Flycatcher – C/10
Tropical Kingbird – C/9
Couch’s Kingbird – 1/1
Eastern Kingbird – 2/4
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher – 1000+/8
Fork-tailed Flycatcher – 40/2
Rose-throated Becard – 6/7
Masked Tityra – 8/6
Black-crowned Tityra – 2/1
Horned Lark – 3/1
Purple Martin – 11/3
Tree Swallow – 1/1
Violet-green Swallow – 10/1
Mangrove Swallow – 12/1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow – C/9
Bank Swallow – 5/5
Cliff Swallow – 12/7
Barn Swallow – C/9
Green Jay – 12/1
Brown Jay – C/10
Dwarf Jay – 1/1
Steller's Jay – 8/1
Mexican Chickadee – 12/1
Bushtit – 13/1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 3/2
Band-backed Wren – C/8
Rufous-naped Wren – 8/2
Spot-breasted Wren – 9/3
Northern House Wren – 5/4
Wood-Wren sp
Wh. breast./ Wh. bellied – H/1+
Gray-breasted Wood-Wren – 8/2
Gray-barred Wren – 1/1
Rufous-browed Wren – 1/1
American Dipper – 2/1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 1/1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – C/10
Eastern Bluebird – 6/1
Brown-backed Solitaire – 6/1
Russet Nightingale-Thrush – 1/1
Veery (western) – 1/1
Swainson’s Thrush – 1/1
Wood Thrush – 1/1
Black Robin – 1/2
Clay-colored Robin – 14/5
American Robin – 2/1
White-throated Robin – 1/1
Gray Catbird – 3/5
Blue Mockingbird – 8/1
Northern Mockingbird – 1/1
Tropical Mockingbird – 2/2
American Pipit – 1/1
Gray Silky-flycatcher – 10/1
White-eyed Vireo – 8/8
Brown-capped Vireo – 1/1
Yellow-throated Vireo – 2/1
Cassin's Vireo – 2/1
Blue-headed Vireo – 8/2
Hutton's Vireo – 2/1
Plumbeous Vireo – 2/1
Warbling Vireo – 2/3
Philadelphia Vireo – 20+/2
Red-eyed Vireo – 3/1
Yellow-green Vireo – 1/2
Lesser Greenlet – 2/2
Olive Warbler – 13/1
Blue-winged Warbler – 2/2
Tennessee Warbler – 2/1
Orange-crowned Warbler – 1/2
Nashville Warbler – 6/5
Crescent-chested Warbler – 4/1
Northern Parula – 2/6
Tropical Parula – 1/2
Yellow Warbler – C/10
Chestnut-sided Warbler – 2/2
Magnolia Warbler – 3/5
Black-throated Blue Warbler – 1/1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – 3/4
Townsend's Warbler – 15/2
Hermit Warbler – 12/1
Black-throated Green Warbler – 8/4
Yellow-throated Warbler – 2/5
Palm Warbler – 1/2
Black-and-White Warbler – 9/6
Prothonotary Warbler – 1/1
American Redstart – C/8
Worm-eating Warbler – 8/1
Ovenbird – 4/5
Northern Waterthrush – 10/7
Louisiana Waterthrush – 1/1
Grace's Warbler – 1/1
Kentucky Warbler – 2/3
Mourning Warbler – H/1
MacGillivray's Warbler – 3/1
Common Yellowthroat – 7/7
Hooded Yellowthroat – 1/1
Gray-crowned Yellowthroat – 1/1
Hooded Warbler – 20+/8
Wilson's Warbler – C/9
Red Warbler – 9/1
Slate-throated Redstart – 7/2
Golden-crowned Warbler – 10/2
Rufous-capped Warbler – 6/2
Golden-browed Warbler – 8/2
Yellow-breasted Chat – C/7
Common Bush-Tanager – 12/1
Red-crowned Ant-Tanager – 12/1
Red-throated Ant-Tanager – 3/1
Hepatic Tanager – 5/2
Summer Tanager – 3/6
Western Tanager – 3/1
Crimson-collared Tanager – 4/1
Blue-gray Tanager – 18/9
Yellow-winged Tanager – 12/7
Scrub Euphonia – 13/7
Yellow-throated Euphonia – 5/3
Red-legged Honeycreeper – 2/1
Grayish Saltator – 1/1
Black-headed Saltator – 20+/2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 2/2
Black-headed Grosbeak – 1/1
Blue Grosbeak – 6/5
Indigo Bunting – 10/3
Painted Bunting – 1/1
Dickcissel – 1000+/6
Blue-black Grassquit – 3/5
White-collared Seedeater – 7/4
Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer – 1/1
White-naped Brush-Finch – 1/1
Rufous-capped Brush-Finch – 2/1
Rusty Sparrow – 2/1
Striped Sparrow – 6/1
Chipping Sparrow – 2/1
Lark Sparrow – 4/2
Savannah Sparrow – 1/1
Yellow-eyed Junco – 10/1
House Finch – 2/1
Red Crossbill – 4/1
Pine Siskin – 1/1
Black-headed Siskin – 6/1
Lesser Goldfinch – 2/1
Red-winged Blackbird – 2/1
Eastern Meadowlark – 8/2
Melodious Blackbird – C/8
Great-tailed Grackle – C/10
Bronzed Cowbird – C/7
Black-cowled Oriole – 3/1
Orchard Oriole – 15/9
Yellow-tailed Oriole – 1/1
Audubon's Oriole – 1/1
Altamira Oriole – 21/7
Baltimore Oriole – C/10
Bullock's Oriole – 1/1
Yellow-billed Cacique – 2/1
Chestnut-headed Oropendola – 1/1
Montezuma Oropendola – 13/4
House Sparrow – 8/3

Total Number of Species - 352 Species

Butterflies Seen

Banded Peacock

Great Southern White
Barred Yellow
Mexican Yellow
Orange Sulphur
Dainty Sulphur
Large Orange
Cloudless Sulphur
Great Purple Hairstreak
Mexican Cycadian
Aetolus Stripestreak
Battus Stripestreak
Eastern Tailed Blue
Ceraunus Blue
Marine Blue
Blue Metalmark
Common Mestra
Red Rim Beauty
Bright Metalmark
Phaon Crescent
Anna’s Eighty-Eight
Gulf Fritillary

Mexican Fritillary
Banded Orange Longwing
Monarch
Queen
Soldier
Painted Lady
Orange-tipped Peacock
Rosita Patch
Hyacinth Morpho
Banded Peacock (Fatima)
White Peacock
Tropical Buckeye
Orange-tipped Peacock
Malachite
Carolina Satyr
Funeral Duskywing
Tropical Checkered-Skipper
Common Checkered-Skipper
White-striped Longtail
Dorantes Longtail
Erichson’s White-Skipper

Mammals

Red Howler
Spider Monkey
Variegated Squirrel

Reptiles

Green Iguana
Lizard sp.
Gecko sp.