Adapted from Jim Conrad's online book
A Birding Trip through Mexico

OAK/PINE IN UPLAND CHIAPAS

December 7: latitude 17º10'N, longitude 92º55'W

MEXICO: Chiapas; Secondary oak/pine forest, borderline cloud forest, roadside, weedy areas, in and around Yerba Buena Clinic 1 km north of Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacan, elevation ±1800 m (5,900 feet).

RESIDENCY STATUS:
permanent resident
winter resident
not found in the USA
  1. Black Vulture
  2. Turkey Vulture
  3. Squirrel Cuckoo
  4. Black-crested Coquette
  5. White-eared Hummingbird
  6. Mountain Trogon
  7. Acorn Woodpecker
  8. Hairy Woodpecker
  9. Northern Flicker
  10. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
  11. Spot-crowned Woodcreeper
  12. Barred Antshrike
  13. Greater Pewee
  14. Tufted Flycatcher
  15. Green Jay
  16. Band-backed Wren
  17. House Wren
  18. Plain Wren
  19. Gray Catbird
  20. Rufous-collared Robin
  21. Brown-backed Solitaire
  22. Eastern Bluebird
  23. Cinnamon Flower-piercer
  24. Solitary Vireo
  25. Black-and-white Warbler
  26. Black-throated Green Warbler
  27. Hermit Warbler
  28. MacGillivray's Warbler
  29. Nashville Warbler
  30. Red-faced Warbler
  31. Rufous-capped Warbler
  32. Townsend's Warbler
  33. Wilson's Warbler
  34. Painted Redstart
  35. Great-tailed Grackle
  36. Blue-hooded Euphonia
  37. Hepatic Tanager
  38. White-naped Brush-finch
  39. Black-headed Siskin
  40. Rufous-collared Sparrow
  41. Rusty Sparrow

From daybreak until around 8 AM while making the above list, the Brown-backed Solitaire produced a nearly continuous outpouring of its bubbling, echoic, glorious call. My Peterson Field Guide describes the call as suggesting the "cranking up of an old-time motor car; it starts off with wenk, wenk, then catches and takes off at a fast pace with flutelike notes, etc." When the singing finally ends, the landscape suddenly feels empty and less dramatic and meaningful than just moments before. The Brown-backed Solitaire defines this land.