As I mentioned yesterday, we woke up in Oaxaca this morning and casually assembled on the rooftop terrace of the fabulous Hotel Azucenas that Anne had found for us. As we sipped our caffeinated beverage of choice and watched the sun come up over the city, this stunning dusky hummingbird (Phaeoptila sordida), a first for all of us, paid a visit to the potted garden growing on the terrace.
After a fantastic breakfast of Huevos a la Mexicana, we headed out for Cerro del Fortín, the hill behind our hotel, where we soon found several more firsts, including this astounding painted bunting (Passerina ciris), which looks like a fake bird, but I can finally attest is very real indeed.
Our first berylline hummingbird (Saucerottia beryllina), which is aptly named after beryl, a green gemstone.
And our first Townsend’s warbler (Setophaga townsendi), which is named after John Kirk Townsend, who, in addition to collecting the native birds he encountered, also collected skulls of indigenous people by stealing them from graves, and who eventually died of arsenic poisoning from the “secret” ingredient in the taxidermy preparations he developed. Sounds like a regular Darwin Award contender, doesn’t he?
Finally, another butterfly granted me a sitting, and this one is a Magnificent swallowtail (Papilio garamas). Nice.
There’s more to write about from today, but I’d like to avoid another late night, so they’ll just have to wait for another day.
