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The Mexican state of Tamaulipas lies just south of the Rio Grande River bordering the Gulf of Mexico. The city of Victoria is in the center of the state surrounded by the mountains known as Sierra Madre Oriental. The first Victoria Birding Festival was held in February of 2004 and was the pet project of the mayor of the city who has now become the governor of the state. The festival is organized and run by local people to promote ecotourism in the state. Mexico has at least 1050 species of birds and 500-600 are present in the state of Tamaulipas. Tamaulipas is important to the Rio Grand Valley as the source of the rarities which annually stray north of the border into the United States giving North American birders have a stake in the health of the bird populations of Mexico and Tamaulipas.

Birding Festival Information ¹

Reasonable Cost for three days of birding with expert guides.The cost from Harlingen in the valley including bus transportation, Four star hotel, breakfast, lunch, one dinner and three field trips was listed at a very reasonable $269. Since I was a single the price jumped to $394. Even at the single rate, this is a very reasonable price for 3 full days of safe birding in Mexico with expert guides.

Learn to ID birds that may become the next valley rarity. Almost any of the birds you see in Tamulipus could show up in the valley and this is a rare opportunity to learn their identification before they become a hotline bird worth flying all the way to Texas to see.

Military Macaw A very special reason to bird Tamulipas is the opportunity to see the large and endangered Military Macaw in the wild. The macaw is highly prized as a caged bird and the population has been ravaged by illegal smugglers.

Support Ecotourism in Tamulipas The most important reason to attend this festival is to show the people of Mexico that their birds have economic value. The ecotourism effort is the project of a small number of people associated with the university. It needs to succeed. If the citizens of Tamaulipas don't protect their birds, there will not be any rarities in the valley for North American listers.

Warm Welcome Participants were treated like royalty throughout the event and while this can become tiresome it is not something birders are used to. Come and enjoy your moment in the sun.

More Information
The organizers are already talking about next years Birding Festival. Attendance was down this year because of reported problems along the Mexican side of the north border. (There were no security problems or threats on our trip.) For more information go to www.ciudadvictoria.gob.mx or write to victoriabirdingcapital@yahoo.com.mx

Itinerary
You have to stay a little loose to attend this festival. The organizers are just learning about birders and birding in general. It was very interesting watching their introduction to the peculiar behavior of dedicated birders.

The bus was to pick us up at 6:30 AM at the La Quinta Hotel in Harlingen. There were also pickup points in Brownsville and McAllen. It actually picked us up just after 8 A.M. The trip to Victoria took most of the day because there was a long lunch stop at a restaurant associated with a tequila factory. Lunch $8.00 (not included). The food was unexceptional, but the factory tour was interesting.

I stayed at the Victoria Holiday Inn Express. The festival also used the Best Western Hotel. My room was most comfortable, there was free Internet access in the lobby, CNN in english on the tv, a small indoor pool. A free full breakfast was served buffet style each morning at 6 AM. I ate all the food with no stomach problems throughout the trip. The Holiday Inn does not serve dinner, but there is a close McDonalds.

The buses picked us up at 6 PM the first night and took us to a reception at the new city zoo. At the reception there were hor d'ouvres, wine, tequila tasting, handicraft exhibits and some caps and jockey shirts for sale. Royalty has to listen politely to speeches and there were several by the mayor, the governor and festival organizers. This is an important event in Victoria. Television cameras rolled and a group picture was in the paper the next morning. I was interviewed on television. The evening entertainment was a group of young folk dancers.

After the entertainment we were given a special tour of the new aviary at the zoo. Most people made more than one circuit of the large flight cage admiring birds from around the world including: Crowned Crane, Wood Duck, Sheld Duck, Sulfur-crested Cockatoo.

The next three days were devoted to field trips with each participant choosing 3 of 4 trips. Trips started promptly at 7 AM after the free breakfast at the hotel. Field trips were listed from 7 AM until 3 PM but some ran until 5 PM. Flat land trips went in comfortable air conditioned buses with bathrooms. Mountainous trips used vans. The largest trip size was 18. Each trip had an English speaking birding guide and a Mexican guide most of whom spoke fluent English. The Mexican guides were well trained at the University level and some were good birders.

On the second evening there was a seminar at the new museum. The first talk was about the Ducks, Geese and Swans of Tamaulipas and was probably prepared for Ducks Unlimited. The second talk was about the value of Ecotourism and probably targeted at local politicians. It didn't get interesting until the speaker started talking about the specialty birds. We then went to dinner at a fine local restaurant.

1.  Unfortunately this festival was only held two years in a row.  While the festival information is no longer relevant, the field trip description are still valuable.The El Cielo Birding Festival took up the slack.  Unfortunately the recession in the US and the trouble in Mexico has ended most of these efforts. 

Field Trip to Canyon de Tigre, Hacienda Santa Engracia, Rio Corona
Despite a drizzling rain that lasted all day, this trip listed more than 70 birds. A later trip on a sunny day came up with 90 species. We birded two very beautiful riparian areas along two different rivers and also walked through an organge grove to a very large lake. Our guide was American Billy Snider.

Our first stop was a road to the Canyon de Tigre where a Jaguarundi had been seen on the trip last year. We stopped at a summer campground on a small, clear river lined with large Montezuma Bald Cypress Trees. Several flocks of Yellow-headed Parrots and smaller numbers of Red-crowned Parrots flew over. Some of the birds we saw included: Social Flycatcher, Ringed Kingfisher, Belted Kingfisher, Rufous-crowned Brush Finch, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, Altamira Oriole , Squirrel Cuckoo, and various familiar warblers

On the way to our next location the Hacienda Santa Ignacio we had a very close Roadside Hawk. The Hacienda is now a quaint hotel with a beautiful garden, orchard and lake. We had Western Tanager, Scott's Oriole, White-winged Dove, Bronzed Cowbird, Canvasback Duck, Redhead Duck, Tropical Parula, Varied Bunting, Clay-colored Robin, Rose-throated Becard.

Our final stop was the river Corona on a trail built by our guide. Under towering cypress trees we had an active pair of Green Kingfishers and numerous warblers and tanagers. Photograph of Green Kingfisher taken by Victor Martinez Cabrizales and used with his permission. Photograph remains the property of the photographer.

The trip progressed up the canyon road stopping from time to time to get out and bird. Here the group is looking at 3 Elegant Trogans spotted less than 20 feet from the road. Another area produced Yellow-throated Euphonia. We heard Melodious Blackbird and had a Squirrel Cuckoo fly across the road. Cinnamon-collared Grosbeak and of course numerous warblers. I failed to see two warblers Rufous-capped and Crescent-chested. Both would have been life birds. We saw and heard Cordillerean Flycatcher.

Early in the trip, with the canyon walls towering over us, we spotted a Collared Forest Falcon perched in the open with its wings spread. This was a life bird for our expert guide and for me. After the falcon flew we saw 4 Roadside Hawks in the same area. This area is being developed as an Tourist Lodge called La Menta. The owner Jose Haces Guillen has a web page: www.jamenta.com . There is a primitive campground (no hookups) suitable for tenting with flush toilets and running water for $8. Hardy birders will find this a wonderful place to camp.

At the top of the road we entered the Pine Oak Forest where we had a picnic at the newly finished primitive camp. . Some of the birds that can be seen here are Blue-capped Motmot, Lineated Woodpecker, Acorn Woodpecker. By the time we arrived it was noon and we didn't see many birds. We walked down the trail along the this creek and the bus picked us up at the bottom.

This picture of the Blue-capped Motmot was taken by our guide Victor Martinez Cabrizales and used with his permission. Photograph remains the property of the photographer.

The Jaumave trip drives through, a very scenic and smooth driving. It was a beautiful sunny day. The Military Macaws nest on cliffs in the mountains and fly to the village of Jaumave to eat pecans and other fruits from the trees in the village during the winter. They are easy to locate when they fly overhead calling. Once they settle into a tree to feed they can be rather hard to spot. Usually they are found quickly. Our trip had some trouble and didn't locate the birds early in the morning. We returned about noon and found the flock of about 80 birds. Here are two perched in a bare tree.

After strolling around the city we changed to a local chartered bus for a trip to an old ranch house in the desert . We looked without success for Ruddy Ground Dove possible here. We did have Lesser Goldfinch, Summer and Western Tanagers, Kestrel.

Here is the group strolling under the trees in the yard of the old ranch house.

This is a cactus fence which may house owls and woodpeckers. The ranch house was at one time fortified against attack.

Children of the village put on a special dance performance for our visit. They were also selling large flowers made from the root of some kind of plant. Visit, buy something , meet the people and watch the macaws.

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