Copper Canyon Birding - World class bird watching expeditions




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	Birding Copper Canyon

	Birding in the Copper Canyon is a world class adventure, where two endemic areas combine to form a eco-friendly habitat for some unique bird Life. The UK conservation group with the world's most complete recorded data on birds, has mapped out 218 endemic bird areas. Biodiversity that has evolved and has become uniquely confined into small areas are known as centers of endemism, and they posses not only a large variety of endemic birds but also other animals and plants not found anywhere else in the world. The natural habitats in most of the endemic bird areas is tropical in the low-land forest and mountain forest, and Mexico is one of the world's countries with most biodiversity with 22 recorded endemic bird areas. There are 7 countries with more than 10 endemic bird areas and only Indonesia and Brazil have more endemic areas then Copper Canyon, Mexico. El Fuerte Sinaloa is in the Northwest Pacific Slope endemic bird areas has a prominent dry tropical mostly deciduous forest, thorn forest, and the tropical riparian habitat of the "Rio del Fuerte" River. Mexican dry forests have the highest level endemism of all Neotropical dry forests and the Sonoran Desert, just to the north, also harbors an impressive array of unique diversity pf animal and plant life. The geographical location of the Sonoran Desert and the Sinaloan forest form a transition of habitats also forms a transition between the Neartic and the Neotropical biomes. This area is now known as the Sonoran-Sinaloan transition tropical dry forest. The Sierra Madre Occidental endemic bird areas is a subtropical coniferous forest with a complex flora. The mountains' biotic communities, descending from the highest elevations, are: fir forest, pine forest with aspen and alder, mixed pine-oak-madrone forest, oak-grasslands and desert grasslands on the Chihuahuan Desert foothills, subtropical deciduous forest on other foothills and on canyon slopes and a cottonwood-willow-cypress riparian habitat at the bottom of the canyons. The sierra has the highest diversity of agave, pine and oak and botanical studies have estimated that the sierra may have up to 3,500 plant species with the discovery of 2,400 species in just one valley. Climatic variations with elevation are best experienced when descending from a snow-clad conifer forest on the canyon rim and in just a few hours arriving at a blooming and fruit laden canyon floor. Birds found in El Fuerte area: Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Common Black Hawk, Gray Hawk, Crested Caracara, Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Elegant Quail, Mexican Parrotlet, White-fronted Parrot, Squirrel Cuckoo, Lesser Roadrunner, Groove-billed Ani, Colima Pygmy-Owl, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Plain-capped Starthroat, Elegant Trogon, Russet-crowned Motmot, Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, Grey-crowned Woodpecker, Grey-collared Becard, Masked Tityra, Social Flycatcher, Black-throated Magpie Jay, Purplish-backed Jay, Sinaloa Crow, Bridled Titmouse, Happy Wren, Sinaloa Wren, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Rufous-backed Thrush, Aztec Thrush, Blue Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, Grey Vireo, Mangrove Vireo, Rufous-capped Warbler, Fan-tailed Warbler, Euphonia, Red-headed Tanager, Yellow Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Varied Bunting, Rufous-capped Brushfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-vented Oriole, Ochre Oriole, Yellow-winged Cacique, etc. Elegant Trogon Grey-crowned Woodpecker Birds found in the Sierra Madre area: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, Band-tailed Pigeon, Thick-billed Parrot, Military Macaw, Lilac-crowned Parrot, Whiskered Screech Owl, White-eared Hummingbird, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Mountain Trogon, Eared Trogon, Acorn Woodpecker, Arizona Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Whitestripped Woodcreeper, Tufted Flycatcher, Steller's Jay, Chihuahua Raven, Mexican Chickadee, American Dipper, Red-faced Warbler, Browned-backed Solitare, Green-striped Brushfinch, Yellow-eyed Junco, etc. Mountain Trogon Military Macaw Prairie Falcon
Tufted Fly catcher

Great Kiskadee		Russet-crowned Motmot

Roosting hummingbird

Tiger Heron		Squirrel Cuckoo

Great Egret


		Social Flycatcher

		Blue Mockingbird

Lilac-crowned Parrots		Fan-tailed Warbler

Russet-crowned Motmot		Tufted Fly catcher
Social Flycatcher		Great Kiskadee



		Sonora Desert Plant Life


	The birds of Copper Canyon

Photographs:	One can only hope to capture a wonderful image like the pictures above. Some of this pictures are taken by professional photographers, and a few by lucky amateurs. Nonetheless most of these photographs are copyright protected and are the property of the photographer. Do not copy any of the above photographs with out the explicit permission of the photographer.

Photographers:	Jacob S Spendelow, Laura L Fellows, Glen Tepke, Beth Kinsey, J.A. Heintz, scanlonrss, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, RealBirder.com, Jugen & Christine Sohns, Martin Meyers, Melanotis Caerulescens, , Paul Huang


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