Oaxaca Bird List

On past trips to Oaxaca, we've collectively seen over 400 species of birds, including the following.  As always, some are common, some not so common, and some rare and/or difficult to find.  This list covers the areas visited on our main route - the Oaxaca Valley, the adjacent mountains, and the Pacific slope and coast -  with an additional section for some of the 70-90 additional species that can be found on the Gulf Slope extension.

  • Common loon

  • Least grebe

  • Red-billed tropicbird

  • Cocos booby

  • Neotropic cormorant

  • Magnificent frigatebird

  • Anhinga

  • Reddish egret

  • Tricolored heron

  • Boat-billed heron

  • Bare-throated tiger-heron

  • Least bittern

  • White ibis

  • White-faced ibis

  • Roseate spoonbill

  • Wood stork

  • Osprey

  • White-tailed kite

  • Double-toothed kite

  • Common black hawk

  • Great black hawk

  • Gray hawk

  • Roadside hawk

  • Broad-winged hawk

  • White-tailed hawk

  • Short-tailed hawk

  • Zone-tailed hawk

  • Crane hawk

  • Black hawk-eagle

  • Crested caracara

  • Laughing falcon

  • Aplomado falcon

  • Bat falcon

  • Black-bellied whistling-duck

  • Fulvous whistling-duck

  • Wood duck

  • Muscovy duck

  • Redhead

  • Lesser scaup

  • Ring-necked duck

  • Red-breasted merganser

  • West Mexican chachalaca

  • Long-tailed wood-partridge

  • Montezuma quail

  • Russet-naped (Gray-necked) wood-rail

  • Collared plover

  • Wilson's plover

  • Snowy plover

  • Pink-footed shearwater

  • Royal tern

  • Sandwich tern

  • Caspian tern

  • Elegant tern

  • Gull-billed tern

  • Black tern

  • Laughing gull

  • Yellow-footed gull

  • Red-billed pigeon

  • Band-tailed pigeon

  • White-tipped dove

  • Ruddy ground dove

  • Yellow-headed parrot

  • White-fronted parrot

  • Orange-fronted parakeet

  • Mangrove cuckoo

  • Squirrel cuckoo

  • Lesser ground-cuckoo

  • Groove-billed ani

  • Lesser roadrunner

  • Colima pygmy-owl

  • Mountain pygmy-owl

  • Ferruginous pygmy-owl

  • Burrowing owl

  • Mottled owl

  • Chestnut-collared swift

  • White-collared swift

  • Mexican hermit

  • Mexican violet-ear

  • Turquoise-crowned hummingbird

  • Golden-crowned emerald

  • Sparkling-tailed woodstar

  • Dusky hummingbird

  • Cinnamon hummingbird

  • White-eared hummingbird

  • Berylline hummingbird

  • Green-fronted hummingbird

  • Blue-capped hummingbird

  • Bumblebee hummingbird

  • Amethyst-throated mountain-gem

  • Garnet-throated hummingbird

  • Ruby-throated hummingbird

  • Plain-capped starthroat

  • Long-billed starthroat

  • Mountain trogon

  • Citreoline trogon

  • Elegant trogon

  • Collared trogon

  • Russet-crowned motmot

  • Amazon kingfisher

  • Green kingfisher

  • Ringed kingfisher

  • Northern emerald toucanet

  • Golden-cheeked woodpecker

  • Gray-breasted woodpecker

  • Gray-crowned woodpecker

  • Lineated woodpecker

  • Pale-billed woodpecker

  • Ivory-billed woodcreeper

  • Spot-crowned woodcreeper

  • Olivaceous woodcreeper

  • White-striped woodcreeper

  • Strong-billed woodcreeper

  • Rose-throated becard

  • Gray-collared becard

  • Masked tityra

  • Northern beardless tyrannulet

  • Greenish elaenia

  • Eye-ringed flatbill

  • Least flycatcher

  • Pine flycatcher

  • Willow flycatcher

  • Gray flycatcher

  • Hammond's flycatcher

  • Pacific-slope flycatcher

  • Cordilleran flycatcher

  • Pileated flycatcher

  • Nutting’s flycatcher

  • Flammulated flycatcher

  • Tufted flycatcher

  • Bright-rumped attila

  • Tropical kingbird

  • Thick-billed kingbird

  • Scissor-tailed flycatcher

  • Social flycatcher

  • Great kiskadee

  • Boat-billed flycatcher

  • Golden vireo

  • Slaty vireo

  • Dwarf vireo

  • Mangrove vireo

  • Blue-headed vireo

  • White-eyed Vireo

  • Chestnut-sided shrike-vireo

  • Mangrove swallow

  • Gray-breasted martin

  • White-throated magpie jay

  • Green jay

  • Dwarf jay

  • Mexican chickadee

  • Rufous-naped wren

  • Boucard's wren

  • Gray-barred wren

  • Banded wren

  • Happy wren

  • Gray-breasted wood-wren

  • White-lored gnatcatcher

  • Gray catbird

  • Blue mockingbird

  • Ocellated thrasher

  • Brown-backed solitaire

  • Russet nightingale-thrush

  • White-throated thrush

  • Rufous-backed robin

  • Aztec thrush

  • Gray silky flycatcher

  • Worm-eating warbler

  • Tennessee warbler

  • Crescent-chested warbler

  • Hooded yellowthroat

  • Painted redstart

  • Slate-throated redstart

  • Red warbler

  • Red-faced warbler

  • Fan-tailed warbler

  • Black-and-white warbler

  • Golden-browed warbler

  • Rufous-capped warbler

  • Golden-crowned warbler

  • Red-breasted chat

  • Yellow-winged cacique

  • Streak-backed oriole

  • Black-backed oriole

  • Altamira oriole

  • Audubon's oriole

  • Black-vented oriole

  • Spot-breasted oriole

  • Scott's oriole

  • Melodious blackbird

  • Red-headed tanager

  • Flame-colored tanager

  • Hepatic tanager

  • Cinnamon-bellied saltator

  • Black-headed saltator

  • Orange-breasted bunting

  • Painted bunting

  • Blue bunting

  • Indigo bunting

  • Blue-gray Tanager

  • Blue-black grassquit

  • Ruddy-breasted seedeater

  • Cinnamon-rumped (White-collared) seedeater

  • Cinnamon-bellied flowerpiercer

  • Bridled sparrow

  • Oaxaca sparrow

  • Clay-colored sparrow

  • Grasshopper sparrow

  • Botteri's sparrow

  • Rusty sparrow

  • Rufous-capped brushfinch

  • Chestnut-capped brushfinch

  • Olive sparrow

  • Collared towhee

  • White-throated towhee

  • Common chlorospingus

  • Black-headed siskin

  • Evening grosbeak

  • Scrub euphonia

  • Elegant euphonia

Species found on the Gulf Slope 

  • Ornate hawk-eagle 

  • Black hawk-eagle

  • Plain chachalaca

  • Short-billed pigeon

  • Blue ground-dove

  • White-faced quail-dove

  • Red-lored parrot

  • White-crowned parrot

  • Brown-hooded parrot

  • Olive-throated parakeet

  • Stripe-throated hermit

  • Stripe-tailed hummingbird

  • Rufous-tailed hummingbird

  • Azure-crowned hummingbird

  • White-bellied emerald

  • Wedge-tailed sabrewing

  • Canivet's emerald

  • Collared aracari

  • Keel-billed toucan 

  • Lesson's motmot

  • Golden-olive woodpecker

  • Golden-fronted woodpecker

  • Black-cheeked woodpecker

  • Smoky-brown woodpecker

  • Rufous-breasted spinetail

  • Buff-throated foliage gleaner

  • Olivaceous woodcreeper

  • Plain xenops

  • Barred antshrike

  • Dot-winged antwren

  • Yellow-bellied elaenia

  • Yellow-bellied tyrannulet

  • Yellow-olive flycatcher

  • Ochre-bellied flycatcher

  • Northern bentbill

  • White-collared manakin

  • Lesser greenlet

  • White-eyed vireo

  • Green shrike-vireo

  • Brown jay

  • Unicolored jay

  • Azure-hooded jay

  • Spot-breasted wren

  • White-breasted wood-wren

  • Sumichrast's wren

  • Band-backed wren

  • Slate-colored solitaire

  • Yellow-winged tanager

  • Blue-gray tanager

  • Crimson-collared tanager

  • Black-throated shrike-tanager

  • Buff-throated saltator

  • White-winged tanager

  • Red-throated ant-tanager

  • Kentucky warbler

  • Worm-eating warbler

  • Golden-winged warbler

  • Golden-crowned warbler

  • Blue-black grosbeak

  • Black-faced grosbeak

  • Thick-billed seedfinch

  • Orange-billed sparrow

  • Black-cowled oriole

  • Yellow-billed cacique

  • Melodious blackbird

  • Chestnut-headed oropendula

  • Montezuma oropendula

  • Yellow-throated euphonia

  • Olive-backed euphonia

  • Blue-naped chlorophonia