Birds and Bird Watching at Lakeside
A few months ago I walked out of the main entrance of LCS on 16 de Septiembre and saw, standing in the entrance of a new gallery on the opposite corner, a man in a floppy hat. A minute later this man, Allen Turner, served me exquisite coffee in his new gallery, Aves. Aves Galería was created to feature children's art, largely produced in the Children's Art Program (started in 1956 by Neill James) which provides supplies and instruction to over 100 local children each Saturday morning at the Lake Chapala Society.
Aves Galería also displays some of Allen's own fine photography-he provided the covers for the October and November issues of Lake Chapala Review and the October issue of El Ojo del Lago-and by his wife and co-owner, Judy Boyd, and collages by Judy's mother and popular local author, Mildred Boyd. They also have a fine collection of Mexican crafts including embroidered shirts, rugs, painted plates, pottery eggs. The theme throughout Aves Galería is, as you have already guessed...aves...birds.
Allen says his mother-in-law, Mildred Boyd, is "the reason we're here." Three years ago Judy and her sister Elizabeth Drummond came to visit their mother. While here, Judy and her sister went house hunting, just for the fun of it, but, Judy found a house in Chula Vista that she loved, only minutes from her mother...bought it, flew back to California on a Monday, told a delighted Allen (who had been ready for a change) that they owned a house at Lake Chapala, and then quit her job as manager of educational products for a software company.
Her sister Elizabeth, and mother Mildred, are both involved in the Children's Art Program and Saturday mornings are likely to be found there helping the children. Allen and Judy wanted to create a sales gallery near the Lake Chapala Society to feature their work, giving the total proceeds of each sale ($150 pesos framed) to the individual child artist. They have also been producing cards, some featuring the children's art, and some with photos by Allen, watercolors by Judy, and work by other local artists.
Allen, a Doctor in Anthropology, after a number of years teaching at Southern Utah State College and Idaho State University, liked Indian law, "where the action was" and so "decided to go to law school (University of Idaho) and graduated at age fifty and went to work for Indian tribes as anthropologist and lawyer." Although he still works with one tribe in California as chief tribal counsel, Allen now sees himself as "retired thinker." "Photography, a lifetime avocation, was "sort of an adjunct to my work as an anthropologist."
Both Allen and Judy have earned Certificates in Field Ornithology from the University of California. After finishing their formal courses they completed their work by documenting birds from this area of Mexico all the way over to the ocean. "We are not obsessive about it," says Allen, "we simply find looking at birds is a nice way of looking at the environment. In our studies, Judy and I rarely found mention of Lake Chapala although it is both a significant habitat and a flyway. We often found no references to this area in the various books available about Mexican birds."
As Allen and Judy began sharing their passion for birds with others, they realized they could put together a lot of people who wanted to study birds at Lake Chapala. "We thought we could find some people who are more knowledgeable than we are, and sure enough we did. When people came into the gallery we'd ask them if they were interested in birding and invite them to join with us. We now have 154 people on our email list and for any particular event-we have birding expeditions every month-we're able to put around 30 people in the field."
"You don't have to know a thing about birds to go with us. On a scale of 1-10, we have people ranging in expertise and knowledge from maybe a minus 3 to a plus 9, so there are some very knowledgeable people here." Allen paused for a moment and then added, "What I recommend is that you find someone who knows more than you do and someone who knows less than you do and stand between them. You can both learn and teach."
On their first annual Audubon Bird Count, held on December 27, thirty-three people participated, identifying 117 species, sighting almost 5000 individual birds, including a flock of about 1000 yellow-headed blackbirds. Allen adds, "We saw lots of coots, and we also had a lot of old coots helping us identify coots."
"We'd like to correct the deficits in these books and we're working on a book of birds of Chapala or a guide sheet to the birds of Chapala. We've developed a list of the birds here; so far we have identified over 200 species."
In Aves Galería, he has, for only $15 pesos, a handy checklist to the "Birds of Jalisco," but Allen encourages people to go online (avesajijic.blogspot.com) to get a free copy with the birds of Chapala highlighted and where you can also add your name to the email list to be informed of the various events. Here you will find various postings, such as a recent expedition led by Judy Greene to study both woodland and shore birds at Cristianía Park in Chapala. The original announcement is included, offering transportation to those who need it, and also "After the walk we will meet for hotcakes and coffee at Paris Restaurant in Chapala." Those 37 birders saw 45 species that day, 8:00 am to 10:00 am, including the Least Grebe, the Neotropic Cormorant, the White Pelican, the Great Blue Heron, the Great Egret, the Cattle Egret, the Green Heron, the Blue-Winged Teal, the American Coot, the Northern Jacana, the Western Sandpiper, the Ring-Billed Bull, the Inca Dove, the Belted Kingfisher, the Violet-Crowned Hummingbird, the Vermillion Flycatcher, the Yellow Rumped Warbler, and the Canyon Towhee.
And in case you think a Yellow Rumped Warber is a night club singer in Tucson or an Inca Dove your long lost Peruvian love, you can look those birds up in one of the books about Mexican birds available at Aves Galería, by far, the best selection of books about Mexican birds in this area of Mexico.
Allen Turner says the most authoritative might be A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, by Steve N. G. Howell and Sophie Webb (Oxford University Press), $480 pesos, with lots of color pictures, but with more than 800 pages it is a bit heavy to carry into the field.
New in 2006, Birds of Mexico and Central America, by Van Perlo, (Princeton University Press), $360 pesos contains 1500 species; and another, less expensive, is A Field Guide to Birds of Mexico and Adjacent Areas... Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador, by Ernest Preston Edwards (University of Texas Press), $220 pesos.
For those used to feeding birds, particularly in the winter in the cold regions, Allen cautions that feeding seeds and grains can attract rats, and that in some areas, even Hummingbird feeders need to be taken in at night because they can attract bats. It is easier, he says, to put in sunflowers or other bird-attracting plants. "Birds also like fountains but use only fresh water with no chlorine."
The informal "Audobonistas," as Allen calls those people on his list, is not a political action group or a group with a mission, like more formal organizations that he respects and which are in some ways complementary, for example, Friends of the Lake, and Lakeside Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation. Vern and Lorrie Geiger, at Lakeside Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, take wild animals, including birds, to help them mend, into their home in Chapala Haciendas where they currently have 10 birds, 16 reptiles, and 6 mammals. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 376-765-4916.
The Lakeside Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation brochure states that Mexico "has 1010 species of birds, one-third more than Canada and the United States combined, and is also the most important destination of migratory birds...."
As it turns out, Mexico and Lakeside in particular, is a terrific place to be if you love birds!
Next time you're over by the Lake Chapala Society, look for the man smiling at you under his floppy hat in front of Aves Galería on the corner of Ramón Corona & 16 de Septiembre. If you smile back, the next thing you know you'll be offered an outstanding cup of mountain grown coffee as you enjoy his exquisite little Galería, largely devoted to birds and to children.
Contact Information: Aves Galería, 376 766-2759, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Birding Lake Chapala: www.avesajijic.blogspot.com; Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 376-765-4916Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Judy King's fine on-line magazine, Living at Lake Chapala.
