A MIX OF BIRDS AND BANANAS IN MEXICO (9/14/01)

Everyone knows a few things about birdwatchers. They know that serious birders keep various lists of birds they have seen — anywhere (called the Life List), in their yard, in the state where they live, and so on. There are lists, however, that only the most dedicated maintain, lists that prompt a certain type of behavior that might surprise anyone not already privy to this type of lister, the ones who set goals for a specific region and then pursue that goal.

For instance, when we lived in another state, the object was to see as many species as possible in each of the state’s counties. It was a great way to visit areas we might never have seen otherwise, and often we went with friends for a lovely weekend. Although we no longer do the county listing, that doesn’t stop our urge to work on special lists.

The one of which I write this time belongs strictly to my spouse, Stauffer, but I am a happy go-along as he works on his list of birds he’s seen in Mexico. The American Birding Association recognizes around 1000 bird species in Mexico; Stauffer has seen 650 of them. His goal is to reach 800. So whenever we have a spare 10 days, we make another foray into a new region of Mexico. Also, as some of you may know, I collect those little labels found on bunches of bananas, and no place is better than Mexico for finding these tiny collectibles.

So with Stauffer’s Mexico bird list in mind and my interest in banana plantations, we chose to visit the area around Tapachula, about as far south as you can go in Mexico. The city is in the state of Chiapas, right against both Guatemala and the Pacific Ocean. A lofty mountain range, surmounted by two volcanic peaks, rises to the north and east of Tapachula and imparts a dramatically scenic backdrop to the area.

Since this region is volcanic, the soil in the Tapachula basin at the base of the mountains is very productive. Here grow soybeans, mangoes, corn and papayas. Bananas also flourish, and indeed this is the most important area of banana production in Mexico. The best way to find banana stickers is to visit the packing plants, where the fruit is readied for shipping and the stickers are applied.

You wouldn’t think birders would be drawn to such a place. And in truth, Tapachula is not one of the finer birding areas of Mexico. But, it does have one bird, the White-bellied Chachalaca, that has such a small range in all of Central America and Mexico that it lives only here. It certainly was one we’d never seen. So, here we were in this city in the shadow of the volcanoes after both the chachalaca and banana stickers. And we were about to find out if banana sticker chasing could help us find a life bird, or vice versa. Remember, it takes all kinds to make this world!

Chachalacas are somewhat like turkeys. They have strong legs and feet for getting through brush and running up and down large tree limbs. And for a large bird, they can be very hard to see. They also make a lot of raucous calling that would be quite a stretch to characterize as a song. There are about 15 different species of chachalacas from Texas down into Argentina.

We allotted five days to the Tapachula area this past August to follow our two interests. We had been there four days, visiting a few places suggested by a bird-finding book for the chachalaca, but we’d had no luck at all with the bird. We had had much more success with the stickers, finding some wonderful new ones and fine-looking old ones.

Finally, it was our last day. Several jefes (bosses) at the packing plants had mentioned a place called La Libertad, in the extreme southern tip of Chiapas, a banana plantation area we’d not known of, so on our final day we headed down that way. As we made the turnoff toward La Libertad down a road toward the Pacific Ocean, we found ourselves fittingly enough in a sea of banana fincas, a vastness of bananas we had not heretofore seen during our visit that would provide me with a bonanza of stickers at each stop.

But what might be at the end of the road, besides the ocean? Curious, we kept going. The bananas stopped abruptly at a bridge over a ditch, and there began a small area of mangroves and associated forest, a habitat we had not seen so far around Tapachula. As soon as we entered this type growth we began hearing — you guessed it — chachalacas! There must have been 5 or 10 squawking from deep in the undergrowth.

We drove around as best we could in this place, waited here, paused there, and before too long one of these large birds flew across the road and we had a decent look at a bird we’d never before seen. So, we now knew that birds and bananas did mix, for if it hadn’t been for the bananas, we never would have been on this road and found the chachalacas. Our Tapachula chachalaca chase had had an odd little turnabout. I guess the moral here is that sometimes by looking for one thing, you find something else you hadn’t expected.

GRAPHIC: White-bellied Chachalaca, © Lynx Edicions / VIREO