Just in case you have not visited lately, I want to let you know that ERP is host to some very rare birds. At the humming bird feeders you can see one for yourself: the Doubleday’s Hummer.

This flying jewel, or joya voladora, as the Spanish explorers called a hummingbird, is indigenous to western Guerrero and Oaxaca with a possible range into western Chiapas. Once thought to be a subspecies of Broadbill, the Doubleday’s (Cynanthus l. doubledayi), male sports an forehead of iridescent turquoise blue, the throat is deeper violet-blue, the under parts are generally more blue than the Broadbill and the under tail coverts are black.

Why not drop by and meet this jewel of Guerrero?

Here are some tips to attract hummingbirds:

1. Plant native species and plants with flowers that attract hummers.

Some possibilities for the Mexican coast are; lantana, all ixoras, caesalpinias flor de mayo, mandavilla, shrimp plants, and more to come in a later post…

2. If your garden is new or doesn’t have many flowering plants, try placing a red plastic table cloth on the ground underneath your feeder. Anchor it with flowers pots or rocks. The hummers will see it from the air and come to check it out.

3. Make sure your humming bird feeders contain clean nectar. When it is hot or when you don’t have many hungry hummers visiting, you may need to change the nectar every day.

4. Use this recipe for hummingbird nectar:

1 part sugar

4 parts water

Mix together and bring to a boil – this helps prevent fermentation of the nectar

Cool before adding to your feeder

Store extra nectar in the refrigerator

5. Want a traveling feeder to see what the hummer traffic is in your vacation destination? Fill a small wine glass with sugar water and place it on top of a red cloth on an outside ledge at your hotel room.

I am off to check out the birds!

Doña Mariposa

El Refugio de Potosi is for the birds! Why just this morning as I sat enjoying the shade of one of the new pergolas at least four snow birds arrived for a tour. Luckily, Avimael, our local eighteen year old volunteer, arrived to give them a tour in English and I was left to enjoy the perfectly balmy morning with Katie, a Yellow Headed Amazon parrot.

Katie likes company.  Katie likes the company of us snow bird types, not the real birds who hang around the palapa bird roosts in front of the visitors center. So if you sit around here in the shade, you can be sure to have a visit with Katie. Just remember that she/he is known to nibble ears and leave greenish calling cards, so take care.

One afternoon not long ago I arrived at the visitors center to find fifteen parrots sitting on the backs of the presentation area chairs, all watching a nature video on our big screen! They were so engrossed in the program they did not even look over to great me! Now that is for the birds!

Seriously, ERP has become home to a great number of birds. Our resident birds include six Military Macaws, twelve Yellow Headed Amazons, six very endangered Lilac Crowned parrots, two White Fronted parrots, two Red Loreds, twelve Orange Fronted parakeets, two Red Crowneds, and a most adorable Emerald Toucanet. You can visit with many of our parrots just outside the visitors center where they roost and play freely during visiting hours. Some of our shy birds stay safely in the comfortable large bird houses and are better enjoyed there.

Our pair of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks love to waddle out in the morning and take their first plunge of the day in Turtle Pond. All four Chachalacas who were released to make their own way stick around and enjoy all the action at ERP.

Since El Refugio Potosi is the one of the only centers that is licensed to receive wild animals for rehabilitation and release we have a changing population of such birds all the time. Today we have two Caracaras, a Road Side hawk and a Grey hawk that came for rehab and who may never be able to survive in the wild.

Our newest resident bird, a magnificent Great Horned owl, came by jet from Toluca. We are not sure of his story, but rumor has it that he worked for some time as a hunting performer in a show. He came to us from a Humane Society and we hope he will be inspired to hunt again and be released to start a new life as a wild bird. Only time will tell, he may decide that the assisted living program of raw chicken every evening is more to his liking than living the wild life. Can’t say as I blame him, after all, life is for the birds at ERP!

Come join us birds,

Besos, Doña Mariposa

Last August an enormous sperm whale carcass floated ashore on the side of Guamilule hill. It had been in the water for a long time and was in an advanced state of decay. Needless to say, the smell was the first thing that brought this new arrival to the attention of the local enramada owners. The carcass was easy to spot, once you knew where to look, it looked like a long white gash on the side of the hill.

New research shows that after extremely deep dives some species of whales appear to “sleep” suspended in the water just near the surface. Sperm whales and blue whales have been observed “sleeping” this way, sometimes in large pods. Biologists suspect that “sleeping” whales are particularly vulnerable in this state and that many are injured or killed by freighters running into them.

Today’s freighters are so large and wide that as they plow the seas, they create a sound shadow so that the normal noise of their giant propellers is blocked in front of the ship, noise that might serve to warn the whales that they are in danger. Additionally, these ships have bulbous protuberances at their prows (they look like Jimmy Durante’s nose) that extend far into the water and could easily strike a fatal blow to a whale.

Perhaps that was the fate of our sperm whale, this species of whale is not common in our waters. Then hurricane Rick sent him on to shore.  Lucky for us.

Laurel and the El Refugio team, along with Semarnat and Porfepa, took a jeep out to take a look. It was a male alright, and had been dead a long time. Take a look a the photo. Long story short, El Refugio received permission to recover the bones, and was successful in saving a number of them. They have been resting in the sun to dry and be picked clean by insects and it is almost time to assemble the skeleton for display.

That is another story for another day…

This week Playa Blanca was visited by Professor Alejandro from UAM, Xochilmilco campus, and 22 of his budding biology students. The Professor brings students once a trimester to study the flora and fauna of our area. They concentrate on birds. Working in teams, they visit the selva corta (the short forest), the coco huertas, and the mangles (the mangroves). They set up mist nets to catch birds for banding, take a census and ultimately compare the data they have collected with the data collected in the past.  One team reported 70 species of birds collected yesterday. El Professor told me they have identified over 150 species and I am hoping to get the census results from this trip after they have been compiled.

Another team encountered a crocodile and everyone reported lots and lots of spiders! One student who came in the past with the study group was so inspired by the area that she applied to do her thesis on the butterflies of Playa Blanca.  Ana Lusia is working here with the support of El Refugio and releases her butterflies into the mariposarium (butterfly house) here. This week she was joined by her good friend, biologist Marisela and is assisted by Marbe from Los Farallones.  They actually captured a Malachite butterfly yesterday – a very rare find, along with several Monarchs, a group of Orange Banded and even a Buckeye. You can visit Ana Luisa’s latest finds at El Refugio.

Did you know that Mexico is home to hundreds of butterfly species? Come and learn more about them at El Refugio.

Professor Alejandro and his students were originally invited to come to Barra by Adrianna Luna (we know her as the owner of Casa LunaBed and Breakfast) in order to establish a record of the incredible biodiversity of this area. The study has been taking place for several years and a good case can be made for the need to protect the environment of this area.

Welcome to El Refugio De Potosí’s blog. Our goals are to increase awareness and appreciation of the life cycle of the tropical dry forest and of native species in the region of Barra de Potosí, Guerrero, Mexico, through preservation, exhibition, reproduction, education and research. So we thought, BLOG, BLOG, BLOG! What better way to get information out there and keep you updated on all the exciting things going on here, and to interact with you!