Trip Report - Copper Canyon

October 18 - 26, 2008

by Larry Liese

"AeroMexico?, AeroMexico? - I know it's around here somewhere!"

This trip report is of the Nature Treks & Passages trip to Copper Canyon, with participants Beverly Wagner & Eldon Archer, (plus Ann Holt-Harris in spirit!), new company owner Debra Tranberg, and myself. It samples some of the events we experienced, and hopefully brings a laugh or two in remembrance of our trip. Also included is a full bird list, with notes on the more interesting species. Our trip went quite smoothly (at least after a slight delay for me getting on board the trip!). That snafu was remedied without too much fuss and I was soon with the group after their float trip day meeting up with everyone at the Rio Vista Hotel - we sure were all glad to see each other.

bird in Tree We had wonderful weather for the trip, with clear skies throughout. It was just a tad warm in the lowlands, but quite pleasant near Creel and in Batopilas. Birding results were quite interesting. Though the numbers of individuals seemed very low and our species total (89) definitely on the low side, we ended up with a fairly impressive list of the more special species that are often missed. My personal favorite event was hearing an unknown bird vocalization on our waterfall walk and upon investigation finding it to belong to the Eared Quetzals! I'd heard their two common calls a number of times, but hearing their song for the first time was a real treat. Other bird species that stood out were Crane Hawk and Rufous-bellied Chachalaca on the float trip along with a flock of Mexican Parrotlets, Groove-billed Ani (missed on many recent trips), great views of American Dipper, Five-striped Sparrow, three oriole species in Arroyo Revote in Batopilas, and a nice family of Rufous-capped Warblers on the Aqueduct Trail. Interesting misses were Gray Hawk, Thick-billed Kingbird, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and a total lack of both tanagers and buntings. Recent reports in Arizona were telling of very few birds being seen there too - could it be global warming? Hope not! We might have caught a dip in migrant activity with the warmer weather keeping the wintering birds up north or in the highlands. Regardless, we had some nice views of some special birds to entertain us.

That quetzal family of mom, pop, and junior stole the show in the voting, with the Black-vented Oriole taking second place, and Great Kiskadee getting the bronze. The Streak-backed Oriole males might have gotten some votes if they had stopped long enough for us to get better views, but the Black-vented ones are much harder to run into so I'm glad those were the ones that perched nicely.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the activities. We saw workers refurbishing the inside of the Satevo Mission now that the exterior is done. It really is a pretty sight as one approaches the town and will be nice to see once complete. The outhouse in La Bufa was a hit as always, and Sierra Lodge was enjoyed by all. And ... oh yes, the train ride was as great as always!

Day 1: Getting there. Ann cancelled out at the last minute with a family medical emergency, so Debra met up with Eldon & Beverly on their flights down from Phoenix. Larry, (on the other hand) was searching the lobby of the Tucson airport for a non-existent AeroMexico counter - they had pulled out of operations there between my ticket purchase and the trip. I hadn't bothered to verify my flights, but I've now added that item to my packing checklist! A little waiting on hold proved to bear fruit as they arranged a flight for the following morning from Phoenix. It could have been worse, I guess. The rest of you at least knew what was transpiring, and took it all in stride. After landing in Los Mochis, the group taxied to El Fuerte for dinner and lodging at the Rio Vista Hotel.

Stone Outcropping Day 2: The Float trip day. Chal's brother Phillippe took the group (minus Larry!) on the float trip, with stops to bird along the way and a side-trip to some nice petroglyphs. I was glad to hear of some of the more interesting local birds that the group did manage to see. Crane Hawk is never a gimme, and the Rufous-bellied Chachalacas are sometimes only heard. Northern Jacanas seem to be becoming easier to get as they are reportedly expanding their range northward. Add in a Merlin, Groove-billed Ani and Happy Wren and you've got a nice birding day - and that's without my favorite find the group had! Mexican Parrotlets (when encountered) usually come in a huge twittering batch cavorting this way and that flying up the river. I think Eldon might have related that they went right over the boat - a real treat if so! We hadn't had this species in a number of trips (since March of '06) and it's one that really lets one know that they're in a tropical setting!

Some confusion on directions to the usual afternoon walk along the Camino de Las Aves didn't deter the group and they eventually made it there. We used to get new bird species every time we fit in a visit, but since the town paved the walkway it seems less wild and birds are fewer - progress in one direction since it does look nice, but I liked it better before.

Later on, yours' truly waltzed in and I'm happy to say met with a very nice greeting from the group. I do want to thank everyone for their great attitudes in taking my missing the first day in stride. It was great reacquainting myself with Beverly & Eldon. Though we'd E-mailed about SE AZ birding recently, I hadn't seen them since the NT&P Belize trip. We had a nice dinner at the hotel, and soon enough we were planning our next day's events.

Day 3: The train ride up! Breakfast, a taxi ride, and a little birding at the train station started our day. The train was fashionably late, but soon enough we were situated in our seats and rolling along through the desert thornscrub before getting to the Sierra Madre foothills. It's nice to watch the vegetation zones change as we neared the mountains. We crossed the area where the reservoirs (and all those black View from train bass!) are, over a couple of bridges, then started in on the tunnels. On our trip we go through all but four of the eighty-plus tunnels. The first one is a mile long! Most are short. The train project took ninety years to complete from the start of the first attempt.

The scenery changes gradually from thornscrub through tropical deciduous forest, up though Sierra Madrean woodland where the oaks dominate, into pine-oak and eventually pine forest. Apache pines, with their long needles, are used by the Tarahumara to weave the baskets they are known for, along with sotol yucca for the larger ones. Our first view of these interesting people was at San Raphael, where the train stops a few minutes for a crew change. I like how they dress in very colorful garb, particularly the small girls with their orange socks and brightly colored skirts. Their ancestors were supposed to have come from Asia, and one can see a marked difference from the Mestisos of Spanish descent.

We got our fifteen minutes at Divisidero to take pictures and maybe shop for native indians working souvenirs, then were on to our last leg of the train journey.

The train arrived in Creel and we were met by Roberto, the manager of the Sierra Lodge, where we stayed that night and on our return from Batopilas. His father (also named Roberto) would be our driver for the three days we went down into Batopilas Canyon. It's an intimidating road that drops thousands of feet in a few kilometers - without the benefit of guardrails for us tourists! Participants always feel comfortable with Roberto's driving. He's very capable.

A stop at Lago Arareko was nice but only added a bird or two.

Sierra Lodge, twenty minutes outside of Creel, has no electricity but has a wonderful charm and (more importantly, maybe) delicious food! I like the woodsy feel to the place - basically unchanged since the 1960's when it was built. I did use the pot-bellied stove in my room one night; why not wake up to a toasty room! After dinner we looked at Jupiter in the scope, plus a couple of other night sky objects, then it was time to retire for the night.

Day 4: Down to Batopilas. After breakfast at the lodge, we started down the trail to the waterfall, a mile and a quarter away. A good omen for our outing was American Dipper cavorting up and down the stream right in front of the lodge. Usually we have to work a little harder for those! We falls started the walk and were a little past the bridge when I heard a sound I did not recognize. I stopped the group and got us in 'alert' mode, and sure enough a special surprise was next in store. I think it was either Beverly or Debra that first spied a quetzal flying up and perching on a branch right over the stream. Next was its mate, and soon enough we had mom, pop, and junior in scope views with even a picture through the scope to boot (not very good ones, but still ...). Somewhere along I finally figured out that the new vocalization was the quetzals song. I'd heard its two common calls a number of times, but hearing the song was new for me. Go crew! We're cooking with gas!

With all the time we spent with the quetzals, Roberto was wondering where we were by the time we reached the clearing just short of the waterfall. We hiked the rest of the way and saw the picturesque falls - surely worthy of many a postcard! Another species we saw along the walk was Mexican Chickadee, one that Eldon had been looking forward to seeing.

About half of the drive to Batopilas is on paved roads, curving around and up and down passing through a couple of drainages - including the Urique Canyon drainage. That's one of the main ones visible at Divisidero, though much enlarged at that point. We turn off onto a dirt road still at higher elevations, then passed through Tarahumara farmlands where ranches raise small numbers of cattle and grow corn trip participants and other crops. The State of Chihuahua is now paving a portion of the road. Everyone hopes they don't continue all the way down to Batopilas and ruin its back country atmosphere!
We stopped for a picnic lunch in the forest, then again at the Mirador de La Bufa - a stretch with a breathtaking view of Batopilas Canyon. The landforms are unique with layers of rock from numerous volcanic flows and steep-walled cliffs. Quite a spectacle!
The traditional stop for the La Bufa outhouse provided its usual humor, then on to the km 43 birding stop. We sometimes get really good species of birds here, but on the way down it was quiet.
Soon enough we were rolling in to Batopilas, but not before Debra spied a beautiful Common Black-Hawk swooping across the river to perch in tree. The bold white tail bands looked especially pretty.
We crossed the bridge at the head of town, the supports of which are from the silver mogul Alexander Sheppard's time. The slow progress through the narrow streets led us finally to the Hotel Real de Minas and our rooms. Time to relax! We had a nice meal at Belia's, though it was busy enough that we didn't get to eat on the front porch (we'd remedy that with repeat visits!). Time for bed!

Scenic vista Day 5: A walk up the Aqueduct Trail and the Hacienda Ruins Timing our arrival with care, after breakfast the next morning we had Roberto drive us to the upstream end of Batopilas and partway up the riverbed. A Tarahumara trail starts here, heading up along the aqueduct built by Alexander Sheppard around 1890 or somewhere thereabouts. The waterpower generated electricity to light and ventilate the mines. We arrived at the trail start just as the sun shone there, hoping for the sunlight to wake up the birds. As in some other areas on the trip, the number of birds seen seemed low. We did manage some nice looks at Nutting's Flycatcher, our first of two Greater Pewees of the trip (another one Eldon wanted a good look at), Painted Redstart, and a cute family of Rufous-capped Warblers.

We opted to visit the Hacienda de San Miguel before lunch as it was all the way up on this end of town. This was the home and base of operations of the silver magnate Alexander Sheppard, who brought silver mining in the area to new heights in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Ten thousand miners were employed at the peak. Sixty-three levels of horizontal shafts were dug in the mountain across the river, and a total of thirty million ounces of silver were extracted in this era of mining here. The ruins could use some interpretive signs, but are still interesting.
We returned to the hotel and had lunch at Carolina's, then a nice, full siesta for relaxing; dinner was at La Nevada. I think it was today when we visited the local mining museum. A nice, newly added touch to visiting Batopilas, it displays some interesting mining photos and artifacts.

View with Church Day 6: Walk to Satevo Mission and hike up Arroyo Camuchin Today we took our traditional walk to the next town downstream in the canyon - Satevo and the "Lost Cathedral" mission there. It's a beautiful mission, with a restoration in progress. The outside is complete and looks quite nice; they were replastering the ceiling inside while we were there. The walk to the town is along the dirt road following the river and has nice canyon views and a few birds to watch. We managed to see Green Heron, a few flycatchers and vireos, and a few raptors including our only Cooper's Hawk. We took the obligatory mission pictures from the shrine just before reaching Satevo, then drove down into town to view the mission. Afterwards we visited a small tienda for refrescos - sodas at the store for us gringos! I always like seeing what these little stores have for goods. One never knows what you'll find in them.
We drove back to Batopilas for lunch, then had siesta before taking an afternoon hike up Arroyo Camuchin. Again, not too many birds greeted us, but it is a nice walk up there. We had dinner at Carolina's then rested for our next day's travels up and out of the canyon.

Indian child Day 7: Upward Ho! After breakfast, we packed up all our gear and Roberto drove us to a short side street leading up to an interesting arroyo right in downtown Batopilas - Arroyo Revote. We arrived at a good spot past the few houses there, where fairly large trees grew in the drainage, just about ten minutes before the sun lit them up. It was interesting noting how only a couple of birds were calling before the sun came, then more and more birds started singing and calling. We were treated to a good group, including Greater Pewee, Loggerhead Shrike, and three oriole species. The male Streak-backeds never perched in good view - uncommon for them, but we had very nice scope views of the Black-vented ones. Adding in a Hooded or two to start things off made a nice trio. With a few species "for breakfast", we were ready to head back up towards La Bufa.

Arroyo Bacuseachic, aka km 43, again had very few birds. Never having large numbers of individuals, it usually has at least one "good one", but we only managed a Wilson's Warbler and two Painted Redstarts. We arrived in La Bufa near enough to lunch that we stayed there awhile and had our sandwiches. A leisurely drive up to Sierra Lodge followed, taking our time and enjoying Bird in Tree the scenery.
We took a short walk up towards the Painted Cave, not sure whether the fence blocking the path was intended to maintain privacy for the Tarahumara village beyond (it was only for keeping "the cows out of the corn"). We did get to see a little of the hamlet, but hadn't wanted to intrude.

The lodge was rocking that night with two groups who liked to sing, imbibe, and generally have lots of fun. They were quite nice and ended their campfire sing-a-long at a decent hour - commendable I must say!

We took a short night walk hoping for owls to respond to a recording, but that hit-or-miss strategy was a miss for tonight. Sweet dreams!

Day 8: The Train Ride Back Down. After breakfast at the lodge the next morning we took it easy, enjoying the fresh mountain air and pleasant lodge surroundings. Roberto drove us into Creel, where we did a little shopping at the Mission Store and elsewhere. I wish I would have bought one of those five-dollar baskets that Eldon picked up - what a deal! The train ride down was again relaxing, and soon enough we were back in El Fuerte and our waiting taxi whisked us on to the Rio Vista. We had dinner there and retired for our travel day home.

Day 9: Homeward Bound. With the only flights home rather early in the day, we had to take off early for the airport (but with a light breakfast at least!). A smooth ride to Los Mochis, a short layover in Hermosillo, and just like that we were back in Phoenix. I had a smooth drive back to Tucson and home.
Sure was fun! I'd like to thank you all for making this such a nice trip. Hope to see you all again soon. Hasta pronto!

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