Ordinary, Aimless and Awful

One of my favorite birds of the trip was this Azure-crowned Hummingbird near El Naranjo. It was the only one we saw. My eyeballs fell out when it got too close.....it was just so intense.

Now we're cooking with fire. I own a camera again! Picture me birding. And taking some pictures.

My year list (year lust?) now stands at 323. That has a nice ring to it. I mean, that's a lot of birds...not if I was trying to compete with anyone....but not too shabby. I will begin birding again with renewed vigor, hopefully while avoiding another Mexico Incident. 

Here's another sweet suite of shots from eastern Mexico. God, the birding down there is intense. You pay for it in tick, chigger and mosquito bites.....and Montezuma's Revenge, and terrible, revolting hives.....but its worth it! Well, financially it was a huge loss for me, but you get my drift. Once again, all photos today are courtesy of Nathan Banfield, who was a critical part of our roadtrip from a few weeks ago..

Los Tipis! A bizarre place right outside Xilitla where we spent the night and met Jeromessy, and consequently had the best night of the trip. The Tipis feature tepees (que obvio), a nice kitchen, really loud techno, lots of Montezuma's Oropendulas and a couple Emerald Toucanettes. 

Crested Caracaras are ubiquitous throughout much of Mexico.

A Blue-crowned Motmot. A true exotic (yes its native, you dork). Look at those tail raquets!

A very popular bird on the trip was this obliging immature Great Black-Hawk near El Naranjo. When I had it in the same binocular view as a Linneated Woodpecker, I went into convulsions.

Playing pocket. Pocket is the pretty much field game in the world. The sheer number and variety of humiliating things people have done as a result of losing the game boggles the mind.

This is a Laughing Falcon. It is the weirdest bird of prey I have ever seen. It's huge, almost the size of a caracara, and has a giant box head that makes no sense. This is the only one we saw, and it never moved from this perch over the span of a couple days. Apparently they are the Falcon of Patience.

We found a few Scrub Euphonias mixed in with Yellow-throated Euphonia flocks. 

Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures were up close and personal just outside Tecolutla. Probably because we smelled like death by that point in the trip.