Adapted from Jim Conrad's online book
A Birding Trip through Mexico

CACTUS-RICH DESERT

November 12: latitude 18º20'N, longitude 97º27'W

MEXICO: Puebla;  ±5 kms SE of Zapotitlán, ±2-0 kms SW of Tehuacán; elev. ±1550 meters (±5,100 feet); small canyon with shallow stream about 2 m across, floodplain about 50 m wide, surrounded by desert with many cactus species

RESIDENCY STATUS:
permanent resident
winter resident
not found in the USA
  1. Black Vulture
  2. Turkey Vulture
  3. Red-tailed Hawk
  4. White-winged Dove
  5. Common Ground-dove
  6. Gray-breasted Woodpecker
  7. Western Kingbird
  8. Vermilion Flycatcher
  9. Brown-crested (Wied's) Flycatcher
  10. Black Phoebe
  11. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  12. Scrub Jay
  13. Boucard's Wren
  14. Northern Mockingbird
  15. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
  16. White-lored Gnatcatcher
  17. Phainopepla
  18. Loggerhead Shrike
  19. Yellow Grosbeak
  20. Towhee
  21. Bridled Sparrow

Unlike the situation with plants, here I find no bird species endemic just to the Zapotitlán Desert. However, three species on the list are more broadly endemic to the highlands of southern Mexico north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. They are

The Gray-breasted Woodpecker is part of cluster of "zebra-backed" species very similar to eastern North America's common Red-bellied Woodpecker. Some ornithologists have lumped two or more of the species in the cluster together, but others insist that they are all separate. In other words, here evolution is at an in-between stage, where races are very well delimited, but it's debatable whether the races are species yet.

A similar case exists with the Boucard's Wren, which is an 18-cms-long bird (seven inches) very closely related to, and sometimes lumped with, the more widely distributed and more northern Spotted Wren, which we saw in the canyon at Bahuichivo. Both of these wrens are part of a cluster of species closely related to the Cactus Wren so common in the northern desert. In fact, some authors refer to the two wrens as the Boucard Cactus-wren and the Spotted Cactus-wren.

Of the three endemics, only the Bridled Sparrow is recognized even by the lumpers as a clearly distinct species. Still, it's obviously related to the Five-striped Sparrow of the Western Sierra Madres, and the Black-chested Sparrow of southwestern Mexico. These are all handsome, dark sparrows with heads boldly streaked with white.