I must get back to my blog entries - I am so sorry for being so distant. I made it home to Houston from the Kingdom, but was there only a few days before I headed out for Mexico; San Miguel de Allende, to be precise. Anyway, Houston was a whirlwind of activities (haircut, credit unions, etc), but while there I realized just how much there is to do there, to get things back in order. That old house is just too much for a single woman, Carolyn, to manage well. When I get back there for a long visit I will have a ton of projects to get into (just on the outside). I do love that old house, though.
At any rate, the trip to San Miguel de Allende, was uneventful. The flight on Continental was delayed about 30 minutes so that the pilot could arrive to fly us :) Once to Leon it was an hour taxi ride to SMA. The driver was a student in architecture (4th year), so he was able to tell a lot about the architecture and the land, as well. He talked the whole way to SMA - which was great! The hotel was the Mirasol -I recommend it - on the edge of the Centro - our friends, the Hickey's told us about it. Stayed at the Mirasol for two nights and tthen moved to an studio apartment in Colonia San Antonio. It was marginable. Paid up until the 17th of October, at which point am heading for a B&B for a few nights, while I look for another short term rental on a studio apartment. Don't know when I will be heading back to the KSA, but I expect sometime in November or early December. I'll be here until it is time to go. Carolyn, on the other hand, is staying in Texas.
Weather here is beautiful - daily highs in the 70's and nightime lows in the upper 40's (although the last couple of nights have been in the low 40's). Days usually start off a little cloudy, but clear off by noon and the rest of the day is sunny. This is the Central Highlands of Mexico. About 5000 feet above sea level. The habitat is largely semi arid with numerous mountain ranges amid a series of flat valleys or plains. This is the bread basket of Mexico - lots of agricultural activities all around this part of Mexico. On the tops of the taller mountains ranges the habitat changes to a conifer forest (small conifers). The valley and plateau are a scruby savanah with numerous different grasses, cacti, and low trees, mostly of the acacia family (mesquite, huisatche, pepper tree, etc.). The density of the brush is greatest along the arroyas (creek beds) and up on the hillsides away from human development. Some of the scenery is quite beautiful and pastoral - wish I had a camera to capture the scenes.
So far my naturalist observations have been from the rooftop of this apartment into the neighborhood, a local park not too far from here, and several walks across some undeveloped fields to the Mega Store on the edge of town about a mile from the apartment; or from the bus on my way to Mexico City. Most of my observations have been focused on bird life - my only sightings of any other wildlife was a six-lined race runner lizard (or something akin to it) - no mammals or other reptiles/amphibians of any kind :(, and some of the native flora mentioned above. So here is a liost of my avian sightings so far: Flycatchers - Great Western Flycatcher, Great Eastern Flycatcher, Kissadee, Vermillion Flycatcher, Gray Flycatcher, and several yet to be identified; himmingbirds - Broad-billed and Rufous are the only two that I have positively identified, but there are many others, particularly the females, that are difficult to separate; doves - White-wing, Inca, and Common Ground Doves; Orioles - Altimira and Bullock's; Curved-bill Thrasher; Tanagers; Barn Swallows; several unidentified swifts and swallows or martins; wrens - Cactus and Benwick's; various inidentified field sparrows and warblers; Pine Siskin; Great-tailed Grackles; Yellow Capped Woodpeckers; Indigo Bunting (caged in a restaurant - sad); egrets - Snowy, Cattle, and American Egrets; unspecified Cormorants; White Pelican; Black Vulture; Raven; Cowbirds; unspecified Grebes and Ducks (too far off to see clearly); Grooved-bill Anis; and the typical human hanger-ons - House Sparrows, House Finches, Feral Pigeons, and Starlings. Interestingly, I have spotted no raptors.
I would like to get out into the countryside - up some of the creek beds and nearby lake and up to some higher elevations on the nearby mountains in the conifer forests; and a nearby ecological preserve. Better yet, I would like to travel down into Oaxaca and Chiapas for some of the true tropical and jungle birds found there. Then there is the Yucatan Peninsula and the Caribbean Coast and the Pacific Coast for seabirds, waders and other passserines. If I stay until January I will most definitely make one or more of those side trips. The busses here are fantastic.
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