Sunday Birding With San Miguel Audubon Society
Audubon Group in Popular Mexican City Offers Monthly Bird Walks
Jan 21, 2009
San Miguel de Allende, in the state of Guanajuato, is one of several remarkably beautiful colonial cities in the mountains of central Mexico. Nestled into steep hills at 6,300 feet above sea level and bathed in high-altitude light, San Miguel has long attracted artists, photographers and writers. Increasingly, Canadian and U. S. retirees, snowbirds and tourists are finding a home in San Miguel as well.
San Miguel offers an amazing variety of cultural and community events, as well as tours to many nearby places of interest. The area is also of interest to birders, and San Miguel boasts an Audubon chapter that provides a full spectrum of services to local and visiting birders.
San Miguel de Allende's Audubon Society
The Sociedad Audubon de Mexico AC of San Miguel was founded some thirty years ago and now includes nearly two hundred members. The current president is Linda Whynman, from New York. The club maintains an excellent web site, which includes background about the organization, a monthly newsletter and information about upcoming birding trips, other outings and events.
Membership is available to residents and visitors alike, at a cost of thirty dollars per year. Members can enjoy birding and other events at no additional charge. Alternatively, short-term visitors can join the monthly bird walk for a fee of ten dollars or one hundred pesos, which helps support the club's programs and conservation efforts.
The chapter lists 187 species found in the San Miguel area, and also has released a publication, available locally for 50 pesos, of 60 birds found within the city itself.
Although Audubon Christmas bird counts occur in other parts of Mexico, the San Miguel club is the only Audubon chapter in the entire country.
Monthly Bird Walks
The San Miguel de Allende Audubon Society conducts bird walks on the third Sunday of each month. The group gathers outside the Instituto Allende, the city's beautiful center for language and art education, at 8:00 A.M. From there, the group carpools to one of several nearby birding sites, returning to the Institute by noon. Visitors are always welcome (don't forget the ten dollar fee), and details of upcoming walks are always available on the web site.
Two of their more popular Sunday morning sites are the Charco del Ingenio and a riparian area along the Rio Laja.
Charco del Ingenio
The Charco del Ingenio is an ecological preserve of more than two hundred acres in the hills on the perimeter of the city. It consists of a well-maintained botanical garden, a large reservoir (Las Colonias) and numerous trails through mountain scrub and grassland. It also includes an impressive and beautiful canyon (El Charco del Ingenio) that winds down into the primary arroyo that passes directly through San Miguel.
A variety of species are found in the reserve, from water-loving birds such as American avocet, Snowy egret and Black phoebe to birds common to the chaparral including Black-chinned sparrow, Crested caracara and Cassin's kingbird.
The Rio Laja
A second popular birding site for these Sunday walks starts at the bridge over the Rio Laja, near the historic village of Atotonilco. This site is reached by driving about five miles north of San Miguel on the highway to Dolores Hildago.
A recent Sunday walk along the river here was led by Bob Graham, an Audubon member and retired biologist from Parks Canada. Twenty five members and guests recorded nearly thirty species on a January morning, including a large number of Blue grosbeaks, Groove-billed ani, Green kingfisher, Black and white warbler, Northern cardinal, and the ubiquitous (to San Miguel) Vermillion flycatcher.
The Audubon Society of San Miguel de Allende provides a full range of services to local and visiting birders. Their monthly Sunday morning bird walk is a wonderful opportunity to see great birds in beautiful settings, as well as to meet new friends.
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