Bird Conservation Region 48
Sierra
Madre Oriental
The Sierra Madre Oriental is a north-south mountain range in eastern Mexico
that passes through parts of the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León,
Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Veracruz,
and Puebla. It divides the Central Plateau from the Eastern Coastal Plains
and is dominated by oak, pine-oak, and pine
forests, cloud forests, tropical semi-deciduous forests, and dry scrublands.
El Cielo IBA, located on the Gulf slope of the Sierra Madre, is covered
by diverse vegetation types that host 400 bird species (56 percent residents,
46 percent winter visitors). Included among these species are 13 endemic
species and populations
of globally important Military Macaw, Maroon-fronted Parrot, and Red-crowned
Parrot. San Antonio Peña Nevada IBA in southwestern Nuevo León
includes desert scrubland and pine and oak forest habitats used by the
Maroon-fronted Parrot. San Nicolás de los Montes in San Luis Potosí
consists of tropical semideciduous
and oak forests and is habitat for the endemic Russet Nightingale-Thrush,
Hooded Yellowthroat, and Crimson-collared Grosbeak, as well as Bat Falcon,
Hooded and Audubon’s Orioles, and Blue Mockingbird. Sierra Gorda
IBA in Querétaro and adjacent San Luis Potosí consists of
a remarkable variety of vegetation types, including tropical deciduous
and semi-deciduous forests, desert scrubland, cloud forest, and oak, pine-oak,
and pine forests. Important species include Military Macaw, Great Curassow,
Crested Guan, Bearded Wood-Partridge, White-crowned Parrot and Emerald
Toucanet, Red-crowned Parrot, Bumblebee Hummingbird, Tamaulipan Crow,
Spotted Wren, and Rufous-capped Brushfinch.
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