Mexico Bird Conservation

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) lists 12 biosphere reserves in Mexico. These include:

1. Alto Golfo de California
2. El Vizcaino
3. Islas del Golfo de California
4. Mapimi
5. La Michilia
6. El Cielo
7. Sierra Gorda
8. Sierra de Manantlan
9. Sian Ka’an
10. Calakmul
11. Montes Azules
12. El Triunfo

These biosphere reserves provide some of the largest protected areas in Mexico and support much of the diversity of bird species. These are good places to model after for conservation efforts as they show that if large areas can be conserved, so can smaller ones. And if enough smaller areas are conserved, they together make larger ones.

Over time we will be delving deeper into each of these biosphere reserves.

A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America (by Steve N.G. Howell and Sophie Webb) is the premiere field guide to Mexico’s birds. This isn’t your typical bird guide, filled with over 850 pages of information and color plates. This guide covers all of Mexico and the bordering countries of Belize and Guatemala, and parts of Honduras and Nicaragua.

Over 1,000 birds call Mexico home over the course of the year and the majority of these birds are depicted in the color plates. For anyone traveling or doing research in Mexico, this is the book to have. Eventually, it would be nice to have a “traditional” bird guide - one much like Kaufman’s - that has the information side by side with the bird pictures or drawings. This would vastly improve the ability for amateurs to bird across Mexico.

Of course, an even better source for promoting the birds of Mexico would be an online guide, similar to that found at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Mexico has a fine selection of thrushes, birds that fall into the family Turdidae. Some of these are well-known here in the U.S., others are rare finds in the borderlands, yet many still are unique to Mexico and places southward.

There are approximately 26 thrushes found in Mexico, including all three bluebirds - Eastern, Western, and Mountain - Townsend’s Solitaire, American Robin, and the five “brownish” thrushes of the U.S. - Veery, Swainson’s, Hermit, Gray-cheeked, and Wood Thrush. Part of the Wood Thrush’s decline can be attributed to loss of habitat in Mexico, showing how important it is to conserve all their habitat.

The Full List of Mexican Thrushes (26)

• Eastern Bluebird
• Western Bluebird
• Mountain Bluebird
• Townsend’s Solitaire
• Brown-backed Solitaire
• Slate-colored Solitaire
• Veery
• Grey-cheeked Thrush
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Hermit Thrush
• Wood Thrush
• Varied Thrush
• Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
• Russet Nightingale-Thrush endemic
• Ruddy-Capped Nightingale-Thrush
• Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush
• Spotted Nightingale-Thrush
• American Robin
• Black Robin endemic to the cloud forests
• Mountain Robin
• Clay-colored Robin
• White-throated Robin
• Rufous-backed Robin endemic to western Mexico
• Rufous-collared Robin
• Grayson’s [Rufous-backed] Thrush endemic to Nayarit
• Aztec Thrush

We would love to add more information on all these thrush species (or at least the ones that aren’t found in the United States). Any specific information in this post comes from A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Ccentral America by Steve N.G. Howell and Sophie Webb.