July 20, 2007, What’s blooming?, By Richard Cretcher, The delights of birding in San Miguel, By Atención staff

Because of the generous rains this year, the wild flowers are early and abundant. The cat’s claw bush (uña de gato) is blooming now along the highways and in the Botanical Garden (El Charco del Ingenio).

The little pink and white balls easily identify it. This bush is considered by agriculturalists to be helpful in controlling erosion and in enriching the soil, as it is a legume with nitrogen-fixing capabilities in its roots.

The trompetilla is one of the more striking wild flowers blooming now in both the Botanical Garden and Parque Landeta. This flower is very attractive to humming birds and butterflies. Although there are similarities, it should not be confused with the espinosilla plant which has spiny leaves.

Other wild flowers blooming now include mal de ojo, toritos, agritos, ojo de pollo, duraznillo or malamujer, hierba del pollo, alfombrilla, buenamujer and cola de caballo.

All of these can be identified in Flores Silvestres de San Miguel de Allende by Richard Cretcher.

Richard Cretcher has lived in San Miguel for nine years and his passion for nature and photography led to a documentary of the wild flowers of this region, Flores Silvestres de San Miguel de Allende. It is his hope that the Guide will help preserve the local wildflower heritage and will generate additional data, collected by the people, both foreign and local, who use the book. Cretcher received his BA and MA in photography from Ohio University and prior to his life in San Miguel, spent 23 years as Director of Education for Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology and worked on projects for NASA.

The first printing of the Guide has been made available for fund-raising purposes for Audubon, El Charco, the Biblioteca Pública and the San Miguel Garden Club, in recognition of all the people who provided assistance to the work. It can be purchased at the Biblioteca Pública and other locations.

An image of the avid birder springs readily to mind; sturdy shoes, a pair of khaki shorts, dog-eared field guide in hand, eagerly scanning the skies with a hefty pair of binoculars and listening intently for bird calls and songs.

For the dedicated birder all else pales when compared to the thrill of putting a check-mark next to “yellow-bellied sapsucker” or “tufted titmouse” on a list of sightings.

But there are joys to be had even for those less smitten. Mexico has its own spectacle of avian curiosities— scrub euphonies, Inca doves, caracaras and other exotic specimens are easily spotted by the casual observer and with a little help from Peterson’s Field Guide to Mexican Birds, one can soon learn to recognize many of the local varieties.

Birding shouldn’t be limited to children or avid hobbyists with leisure time— it is a pleasure we can all enjoy, however fleetingly, in our daily lives. San Miguel is a treasure chest of bird species, and here is a small sampling of favorites.

Vermillion flycatcher: One of the most eye-catching local birds, called “petirojas” (“little reds”) in Spanish. Although the bright scarlet males are hard to miss (the females are far paler with a pinkish belly), you can learn to recognize their high-pitched call of pseeup or the males’ courtship song of pit-a-see! Like other flycatchers, they often perch on a fence or power line, flutter away and hover while catching an insect, and then return to wait for more.

Great kiskadee: These noisy and territorial birds are also from the flycatcher family and are named for their screaming call of kiss-ka-dee or k-reah! Females and males are nearly indistinguishable; kiskadees hunt for fish, tadpoles, insects and other small creatures in water and on land.

Crested caracara: You are unlikely to see this magnificent bird in the Centro, but if you have the chance to enjoy the countryside around San Miguel or visit the botanical gardens at El Charco del Ingenio, you may get lucky. This scavenger looks somewhat like a vulture, though handsomer; it’s most easily spotted when on the ground searching for carrion and has very distinctive long yellow legs. The sexes are similar, as with most birds of prey.

Black-crowned night heron: This familiar denizen of Parque Juárez has an unmistakable call that you may have mistaken for a person with a nasty cold: both its low, harsh woe and guttural quock sounds are remarkably un-avian. These mostly nocturnal birds roost in trees during the day and hunt at night and are omnivorous.

Great Egret: Another bird who likes to hang out in the town’s parks, croaking vociferously and occasionally targeting innocent bystanders on the paths below with copious droppings. Great Egrets feed during the day, usually outside of town in wet alfalfa fields or around the Presa, where they catch small fish, amphibians and insects. They roost at night in large groups, usually in Parque Juárez or somewhere else with plenty of available treetops. Other egret species inhabit the area, but the Great Egrets are the biggest and are distinguished by their yellow bill and black legs.

So with or without the traditional birding ensemble, take some time to enjoy the colorful birdlife here in the Bajío.