Military Macaws and Common Mustached Bats

Friday, May 26,2006, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Friday was an early start. We met at 06:00, headed into the mountains, watched the sun rise over the sierra madre; fog crawling along the spine of the mountain. We were in search of blooming agave, but the agave weren’t yet in bloom, so instead we drove past unadorned stalk after stalk. We parked and walked to look for anything in flower. Found a cactus poking out here and there among limestone rocky hillside. Next we went to a small community in search of birds. We found a beautiful flock of military macaws squawking and carrying on. About 48 of them. Feeding on pecans in huge shady pecan trees. That kept us all occupied for a couple hours. Watching and admiring. Afterward we headed back to the room for a siesta. That night we went to a nearby park – the same one arnulfo and I had netted at last year. The net site was parallel to the small river that runs through the park, and just downslope from the vampire cave. We set our nets and captured a Lucy’s warbler with a chestnut cap. Soon after dark we began catching bats. The first, a Common Moustached bat (Pteronotus parnelli). We caught several common vampires (Desmodus rotundus) probably from the cave. We also caught a Sturnira lilium (Yellow shouldered bat). We flew everything through Bruce’s flight chamber while he took premium photos. Then tore down, packed up and headed back to the motel. It was a long day after a long day before. And yet, to think I was getting paid to do the things I had done, not exactly the sort of thing to complain about.

Roadrunner (greater/lesser?)
Military macaw ~ 48 flock eating pecans in giant pecan trees
Common mustached bat (Pternotus parnellii)
Little yellow shouldered bat (Sturnira lilium)
Common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) – in mistnet and cave
Lucy’s warbler - caught in mistnet

Ate cabrito (baby goat) and watched old Spanish movie, which Bruce insisted on narrating and predicting coming scenes

Chunky guacamole, chips
Cara cara