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INSTITUTE FOR FIELD ORNITHOLOGY

2004 IFO Neotropical Avian Ecology Workshop Report

Instructor: John Arvin . May 14-22, 2004 . Northeastern Mexico

The workshop began with a drive from Harlingen, Texas, to Gomez Farias, Tamaulipas, gateway to the various habitats that make up the 400,000 acres of the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve. Upon arrival we spent some time in the latter part of the afternoon becoming acquainted with some of the birds that can be seen right in town, including Masked Tityra, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Yellow-winged Tanager, and White-crowned Parrot. In the evening we discussed the vegetative communities that make up the reserve and some of the characteristic bird species found in these.

We began our four day stay in Gomez Farias with an introduction to the changing bird diversity was altitude, as we climbed up through the tropical semi-deciduous forest at town level to the lower levels of very humid cloud forest at about 1000 m. Later we discussed endemism in birds, what it means, some of the environmental conditions within geographic regions that leads to speciation, and the major centers of endemism in Mexico. A logistical problem on Day 3 forced us to have to absent ourselves from the Reserve and visit the city of Cd. Mante, an hour's drive away. We salvaged part of the day by taking advantage of the opportunity to visit some tropical habitats like marsh and open savanna grasslands that are not available in the Reserve proper. Later in the day we took a cruise on the tropical Rio Frio where such neotropical aquatic species as Muscovy Duck (many), Sungrebe, and Boat-billed Heron were observed. An evening excursion for nightbirds was unsuccessful.

Day 4 found us skirting the southern edge of the Reserve where a paved road provides access to a montane oak forest, a habitat not otherwise accessible to us. Later we discussed the role that topography plays in producing orographic rainfall and how many vegetative communities with associated avifauna could exist within a very small geographic region, which is one of the underlying reasons that tropical environments support much higher species diversities than temperate environments.

On Day 5 we spent part of the morning back along the Rio Frio, and after lunch we met the Associate Director of the Rancho del Cielo Biological Station, located in the cloud forest in the heart of the reserve, and were transported over the extremely rough road to the Station, where we spent the remainder of the workshop. The delightfully cool climate at cloud forest elevations was a pleasant respite from the warm lowlands. We spent the late afternoon settling in and getting an orientation from Larry Lof, station director, on the prehistory and history of the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve and the Rancho del Cielo Biological Station.

We visited various areas in and near the station over the next two days, exploring the avifauna of the world's northernmost cloud forest and discussing the conditions which support such lush conditions and such high biodiversity.

Our sojourn came to an end on Day 6 when we traveled back down to the lowlands (except for Julian who walked all the way), and departed the tropics as rapidly as we had entered just a week before. Now we could but reflect on our experiences and the combinations of conditions which produce such a richness of plant and animal life so different from those of temperate latitudes yet lying so close at hand.

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