Day 3 -More Birding and Monte Alban

True to our usual pattern after one days’ practice

, we met for breakfast at 6:15 and left in the van for our morning birding trip to an old abandoned road north of the city.  It had occasional joggers, bicyclists and families just out walking, all locals along with the tdf (temperate deciduous forest) with its many birds.  Our guide Mark’s enthusiasm, expertise and funny stories make the whole experience a great pleasure.  We saw a Greater PeWee, the name being “a Mexican oxymoron” he said.  Flycatchers are notoriously hard to identify.  After spotting several, he expounded at length about the difference between bearded and non-bearded flycatchers. The bearded ones use those feathers around their beaks and their thick big bills to catch large flying insects, while the non-bearded ones, typically glean insects from trees and bushes.  For them to try to catch large insects would be “like me trying to catch butterflies with a goldfish net.”  We learned that in addition to habitat, size, shape, and behavior are better for identifying birds than color markings.  As we walked through this rich bird habitat, some special birds we saw were Bullock’s Oriole feeding on the nectar of the large white flowers of the morning glory tree.  We watched as they pecked a hole in the bottom of the flower to gain better access to the nectar, by-passing the pollen.  Too bad for the flower as it gives up it’s bribe of nectar and didn’t get pollinated.  Other birds worth mentioning among the many we saw were two kinds of hummingbirds, a couple of Green Elaenias, partial sightings of a sulky Elegant Tro and Blue Mockingbird.

From there, we drove to Monte Alban ruins which covers a large area on mountains surrounding the town.  The mountain top was purposefully flattened over a period a 200-300 years before the Zapotecos began to build their pyramids, houses and grand sites on the mountain top.  Benito our guide was passionately proud of his Zapotecan heritage and shared many stories about the society that lived and ruled here from 500 B.C. To 750 A.D.  We learned that it was a very advanced society with medicine, arts, music and complex administration.  Tromping up and down the very steep steps of the pyramids was challenging and hot in the exposed sun.  I photographed wildflowers whenever I saw them.  I was thrilled to find the “bloody nose plant”  (Calliandra) that I know from the Botanical Garden.  I learned from Mark that it is bat pollinated and makes new flowers each night with fresh pollen to attract the bats.  Mark also told us about how the Zapotecos (then and now) soak then cook their corn with a little piece limestone which helps dissolve the seed coat of the corn and releases the vitamin B12 which is essential for good health.  He made the point that there must have been a hugely developed agriculture system because in order to build such a site as Monte Alban was, there had to be many many surplus Calories available for all that work.  

Needing Calories, we had a picnic lunch in the shade and then toured the Museum where the most interesting case was one showing human skulls which had been modified surgically to have the shape of a panther (presumably while the person was alive).  We toured another museum and saw a wedding party outside the Santo Domingo Cathedral.  We were told it costs US$ 30,000 to rent the Cathedral for a wedding.  Some Mexicans have lots of money.  The day was finished with a delicious dinner in a wonderful restaurant.  It was a 13,000 step day with 22 flights of stairs climbed.  I’m tired.