[dropcap]B[/dropcap]rock Huffman is a mostly retired criminal trial lawyer from San Antonio who still takes an occasional case, but for the most part now lives in San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico.
While in Mexico, he has trained several people to serve as guides to English-speaking birdwatchers and now offers birding tours that include visits to sites such as pyramids, museums and handicraft markets.
I very much enjoyed my trip to Chiapas and was rewarded with good looks at scarlet macaws, golden-browed warblers and gray silky flycatchers.
The scarlet macaws were particularly impressive. I had seen these multi-colored birds in zoo aviaries, but to see them in the wild was something altogether different and wonderful. They flew about and made raucous calls, obviously a most social species that loves the company of other macaws.
We also saw a variety of hummingbirds, numerous herons and rails and all sorts of songbirds, including flycatchers, cotingas , vireos, kinglets, warblers and finches.
Climbing the pyramids was good exercise and the food in the area, heavy on rice and beans, was plentiful and delicious. All in all, it was a great trip.
For information, visit www.chiapasbirdingadventures.com.
