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The state of Oaxaca is wonderfully diverse in flora, fauna, history, culture, cuisine, and scenery. Our tour is designed to provide us optimum exposure to this richness at a comfortable pace while enjoying unique lodging experiences, great natural history and birds, and fascinating cultural experiences. I've had the good fortune to have been traveling in Oaxaca for twenty years, and it remains my favorite travel destination. While in the
city of Oaxaca we stay at the charming Hotel
Azucenas, a wonderful place with
an intimate atmosphere located in a nice neighborhood. From this
comfortable home base, we visit Teotitlan del Valle, a Zapotec town well known for its
fine weavings. To the north, in the Sierra Juarez, we'll enjoy rich Madrean forest with spectacularly large agaves and numerous flowering plants. We'll have opportunities to find the endemic dwarf jay as well as gray-barred wren, golden-browed and red warblers, spot-crowned woodcreeper, collared towhee, chestnut-capped and rufous-capped brushfinches, amethyst-throated and blue-throated mountain-gems, mountain trogon, russet nightingale-thrush, and gray-breasted wood-wren. We'll also enjoy a superb lunch at a mountain restaurant that serves the best chiles rellenos I've ever had. From Oaxaca City we travel south to the Sierra Miahuatlan where we'll spend a
night at a hotel on a mountain ridge surrounded by
pine forest and flowering plants that attract many hummingbirds as well as cinnamon-bellied flowerpiercer.
We then traverse a spectacular transect as we descend from the high mountains to the Pacific coast. We spend time in the pines and oaks and make stops in the broadleaf evergreen forest of the coffee growing area. Along the way, we've had good luck in finding bumblebee, garnet-throated, and blue-capped hummingbirds, amethyst-throated mountain-gem, chestnut-capped brushfinch, slaty vireo, red-headed tanager, long-billed starthroat, common chlorospingus, golden vireo, fan-tailed and golden-crowned warblers, eye-ringed flatbill, northern emerald toucanet, Audubon's oriole, and many more. On the Pacific coast, we stay at
the lovely and unique Rancho Cerro Largo where white-throated magpie jay, banded
and russet-naped wrens, russet-crowned motmot, lesser ground cuckoo, orange-breasted
bunting, red-breasted chat, and citreoline trogon can be found on or near the
lodge grounds. In the nearby forest we often find these same birds and
more, including Colima and ferruginous pygmy-owls, happy wren, painted and blue buntings, yellow-winged cacique, golden-cheeked
woodpecker, oliv In the Puerto Escondido area we visit the mouth of the Rio Colotepec, which is wonderfully rich in waders, shorebirds, waterfowl, pelicans, and terns, and also Laguna Manialtepec, a mangrove-lined lagoon where, on our beautiful boat trip, we've seen bare-throated tiger and boat-billed herons, common black hawk, northern jacana, up to four species of kingfisher, mangrove vireo, mangrove swallow, and ruddy-breasted seedeater along with uncommon birds such as mangrove cuckoo, aplomado falcon, and russet-naped wood-rail. Our journey combines exciting birding, rich natural history, outstanding food, the warm hospitality of the people of Oaxaca, and a suite of memorable cultural experiences. These include a visit with one of the master Zapotec weavers, a tour of the ancient ruins of Monte Alban and Yagul, a visit to the Oaxaca Cultural Museum, a tour of Finca El Pacifico (a bird-rich, shade grown, organic coffee plantation), a visit to a chocolate maker, and the trip highlight, a day of culture, cuisine, and ethnobotany with the staff of Seasons of My Heart Cooking School.
Detailed itinerary and references available upon request.
Bumblebee Hummingbird by Wendy
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Among the
many bird species possible in these areas are several endemics - white-throated
towhee, 
e sparrow, Nutting's flycatcher, golden vireo, white-lored
gnatcatcher, and many others. Out over the Pacific, we see red-billed tropicbirds and brown boobies soaring with magnificent
frigatebirds. 
