1
So many mosquitoes here!
Careful with the rattlesnakes.
AREA BEHIND SIGN IS CLOSED
It seems I'm crossing the bridge now
From Matamoros towards Valle Hermoso
I can see the prairies and my river
And the songs of the beautiful birds
EL CIELO BIOSPHERE RESERVE
TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO
We used to have a lot of bird-watching
tourism from the U.S. here,
but they don't come here anymore
because of the insecurity
throughout Tamaulipas
and all along the United States borders.
So, tourism is scarce.
BIRD GUIDE
I've guided people from England,
from all over the world.
They called me "Blue Mockingbird"
because I imitated the birds.
It's coming closer.
Here at El Cielo we have
216 resident birds
and 170 migratory species.
They come here escaping the bad weather,
the snow and the cold
in the north of the planet.
They escape to the south.
For me, before my training,
they were food. I ate them.
I didn't realize the damage I was doing,
because we have unique species here.
No matter how small, every animal
has a reason to be on this planet.
It may not sing or it may be ugly,
but it plays a role in nature
for its own good, and for our good, too.
LAGUNA MADRE AND DELTA OF THE RIO BRAVO
We obtain many benefits from birds.
If they give us so much,
why not preserve them, protect them?
BIRD MONITORS
Building that wall
will harm nature most of all.
Animals know nothing about borders.
They don't know anything.
This is a very interesting
and important ecosystem
because it is a corridor
for migrant birds.
They feed, rest, and go on their way.
Birds are beautiful,
but they are also indicators
of how our system, our ecosystem, is.
It caught our attention
from the moment we arrived,
but we didn't have this awareness before,
to care for, protect, and preserve.
Once we started knowing and learning,
now we get upset over any actions,
seeing human beings be so thoughtless.
Nature is so wise and so...
-Generous.
-Generous, because it gives us
everything we need.
Now I'm going to cry.
Look at that line over there.
Look at the ducks! Look.
Look over there too!
Black ibis too.
There go the black-necked stilts,
Himantopus mexicanus.
I love how they look!
-Look, there they go!
-Wow! No way!
There are more than 200.
I think there might be 500.
We've never seen so many.
Yeah... I have seen a lot.
-You have. I haven't.
-I have.
I identify myself
with the Fregata magnificiens
because my dad was a fisherman
and we were always migrating.
Until we arrived at this place.
We liked it.
We fell in love with this place
and we decided to stay here.
She's not a migrant, she's a resident.
She was born here.
And she stayed here.
Fifty-four.
Fifty-five, fifty-six.
Who knows? Maybe in the future,
I'll do what my mom does.
You never know.
PLAYA VILLA RICA
VERACRUZ
RIVER OF RAPTORS
CANSABURRO
WELCOME
BANDING STATION
This is a small leather vest,
and it greatly lessens the chances...
RAPTORS BANDER
...that it will be eaten
when the raptor is attacked,
when it's attracted
for its capture and banding.
And later, it can be released.
It's important to check,
or it will leave with its vest.
Right now I'm part of this project,
"River of Raptors" in Veracruz.
I don't know how it happened,
but life brought me here,
VOLUNTEER BANDER
and I became crazy about raptors.
Because of geography,
this is the channel through which
they fly from north to south.
They have no other option.
This is the only project in Mexico
that works closely with and bands
birds of prey.
BIOLOGIS There's some migration in the mountains.
When I was in primary school,
I knew there was an observation site
at my community's sports field.
In the evenings,
I would go there with the birders,
as the locals called them.
I would spend the evenings there...
and now we are part of the project.
That vocalization we're hearing
is a tropical kingbird.
It works for us,
because as soon as it starts vocalizing,
the predator has been detected.
Sometimes we can't see,
but the bird's already detected it.
So, what we do is move the pigeon.
To the right. Over your post.
It's a harrier.
That one ignored us.
Quick!
That's what we want to get,
magic inside this hideout.
RIVER OF RAPTORS
CHICHICAXTLE
It came out of the cloud.
It's there in the blue part,
almost reaching the fuzzy cloud.
-Is it a species?
-It's a species, yes.
Now at around 7:00 p.m., more or less,
the birds fly down to rest.
To rest through the night,
and then go on...
to go on the next day,
starting at around 9:00 a.m.
They get up and continue their migration.
Oh, the hook-billed kite, like this...
EXPERT RAPTOR COUNTER
BIRD GUIDE
VERACRUZ
RIVER OF RAPTORS
-And your line?
-More or less.
-Some 82,000 for the day.
-Approximately.
Yes, there were many broad-wings.
We have around 100,000.
BIRDWATCHER
You have to look up
into the highest parts of the tree.
It seems like that, right?
Can you see them now?
Yes.
They're going in a straight line.
Yeah.
Now count them.
Shall I lend you a clicker
so you can count them?
Count them.
Use the binoculars.
Every time you see one, press it.
Good.
Up by the river
Up by the river I have planted
Saffron and cinnamon
Saffron and cinnamon
Pepper and cloves
Up and up
Up and up and up they'll go
Let the bells toll
Let the bells toll
They will toll, they will toll
When you go to the sea
These are white here and black here.
You can see there are two different ones.
Now look at them and try to identify them.
To see which ones are different.
Here they are, see? Up there, Joshua.
Flying away
With this last verse I'll say
With this last verse I'll say
Because I'm leaving
A good evening to all
A good evening to all
Tomorrow and today
Up and up
Up and up and up they go
To the flowering hills
To the flowering hills
I shall take you
I shall take you
I shall take you
LAS TUXTLAS BIOSPHERE RESERVE
After the migration,
some of the birds stay.
They stay a little longer
because they find refuge, they find food.
Sometimes they're perching
and performing the same daily activities
on the same perch, in the same area.
BIRD MONITOR AND GUIDE
When I went up north,
I crossed the border at Piedras Negras.
But I went through the bush.
It wasn't really desert.
On my way back I used the same route
as the raptors,
down the Gulf Coast region.
And I made it here.
That was the good part.
It was the same as with the birds
when they do well.
I have my family here, my children,
and I've had success here,
as a human being.
I think it's the same with the birds.
They have to return to their perch.
A goldfinch at dawn
Sang on a tamarind tree...