Northern Bobwhite hanging out in some of my favorite kinds of plants...Agaves and Mother-In-Laws Tongue(or at least a variety of it) |
The minute we arrived into this area, my heart began to beat quickly. Was that a Northern Bobwhite I heard?!!! I scrambled out of the van and was astounded by several of these ground birds casually singing out in the open. This was a bird I thought I would never see and yet here, this "black headed" subspecies hung out singing its' "BOBWHITE!" song. Things were already looking pretty good. So many birds were calling from different areas that I didn't know where to begin.
Boat-tailed Flycatcher |
Martin was with us again on the trip and we set out to explore this AMAZING place! I really liked hanging out with this guy. Both of us had the same ideas about where we should focus our attentions. My life bird at 600 was the Green Parakeet and I still didn't have any decent photo documentation. But here in the sinkhole, I had an opportunity to see several thousand of them! Their voices echoed from within the rock walls.
Couch's Kingbird |
The Elf, Microtia elva |
I ran up the stairs and stood at the edge looking down. It was something special.
"Sinkhole of Parrots" |
Streak-backed Oriole |
Green Parakeets |
A little abstract bird art. I was feeling a bit creative in this magical location |
I felt guilty so I returned back to the van and checked up on our fallen. Two were feeling better, but the other was out stone cold. Please let him be sleeping.
Holcosus chaitzami, Taxa Teiidae, Sauria or common name Chaitzam's Ameiva/Not much is known about this lizard |
I could not afford to get sick. These last two days were my biggest days yet. I had never birded the Pacific lowland habitat and it was the single biggest highlight for me besides this trek to El Ocote. So I'm already organizing a future trek to these areas again with a trip to Palenque and Belize in mind. As for the sick? Well I'm happy to report that everyone is feeling better again. Stay tuned for more....
Hi Chris Oh dear your group were going down like flies. it is terrible to be that far away from home and feeling that awful so I do hope you keep well and area able to continue with this fascinating trip. The butterfly is gorgeous. Seeing the choir of squawking parakeets rise up must have been a wonderful spectacle. Thanks for explainging why you cannot change the balck text to white in comments however here is another suggestion that would not hurt your eyes but would let other =s read them. change the background colour to the paler green and then you can still have black print.
ReplyDeleteGreat post - good to hear that your comrades are recovering - nothing worse! Got wiped out in India once like that - thought I was going to die!!
ReplyDeleteThose Parakeets look great.
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
Hello Chris, Awesome shots of the parakeets. That is a cool sight to see, great post and photos. Happy birding!
ReplyDeleteawww... what a shame that everybody was so sick. All that way for a lovely holiday and then ..whammo. .... down and out. Bummer.... literally...........
ReplyDeleteGlad you go to see some beautiful things..... don't drink the water or even eat an ice cube...or ...maybe ...you are immune to the problem..... you have the correct gut flora and fauna ....
Thank goodness you were spared from that horrible illness. A real vacation-spoiler for those who weren't so lucky. I'm glad you were able to see the parakeets.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to read about so many of the group becoming so ill - must have been awful for them especially so far from home. Pleased to hear they are recovering.
ReplyDeleteThe butterflies are so beautiful and am so glad you got to see the parakeets swirling around in their natural habitat - great photos :)
wow, that´s a wonderful place with lots of gems for animals and birds. Loved to see it.Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteSure glad you didn't get struck down by the plague. Seems a stone cabin for a week here would barely be enough. Loved Palenque.
ReplyDelete