El Refugio de Potosi is for the birds! Why just this morning as I sat enjoying the shade of one of the new pergolas at least four snow birds arrived for a tour. Luckily, Avimael, our local eighteen year old volunteer, arrived to give them a tour in English and I was left to enjoy the perfectly balmy morning with Katie, a Yellow Headed Amazon parrot.

Katie likes company.  Katie likes the company of us snow bird types, not the real birds who hang around the palapa bird roosts in front of the visitors center. So if you sit around here in the shade, you can be sure to have a visit with Katie. Just remember that she/he is known to nibble ears and leave greenish calling cards, so take care.

One afternoon not long ago I arrived at the visitors center to find fifteen parrots sitting on the backs of the presentation area chairs, all watching a nature video on our big screen! They were so engrossed in the program they did not even look over to great me! Now that is for the birds!

Seriously, ERP has become home to a great number of birds. Our resident birds include six Military Macaws, twelve Yellow Headed Amazons, six very endangered Lilac Crowned parrots, two White Fronted parrots, two Red Loreds, twelve Orange Fronted parakeets, two Red Crowneds, and a most adorable Emerald Toucanet. You can visit with many of our parrots just outside the visitors center where they roost and play freely during visiting hours. Some of our shy birds stay safely in the comfortable large bird houses and are better enjoyed there.

Our pair of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks love to waddle out in the morning and take their first plunge of the day in Turtle Pond. All four Chachalacas who were released to make their own way stick around and enjoy all the action at ERP.

Since El Refugio Potosi is the one of the only centers that is licensed to receive wild animals for rehabilitation and release we have a changing population of such birds all the time. Today we have two Caracaras, a Road Side hawk and a Grey hawk that came for rehab and who may never be able to survive in the wild.

Our newest resident bird, a magnificent Great Horned owl, came by jet from Toluca. We are not sure of his story, but rumor has it that he worked for some time as a hunting performer in a show. He came to us from a Humane Society and we hope he will be inspired to hunt again and be released to start a new life as a wild bird. Only time will tell, he may decide that the assisted living program of raw chicken every evening is more to his liking than living the wild life. Can’t say as I blame him, after all, life is for the birds at ERP!

Come join us birds,

Besos, Doña Mariposa