July 1999
Zenzontla, Jalisco, México
Enjoying a waterfall in primary vegetation.
Cattle and goat herders would let their animals graze even in this rugged
terrain. Both are destructive to the vegetation. Goats are particularly
destructive because they kill the plant by feeding on the roots and stem
of the plant below the ground I even saw goats consume two to three
centimeter thorns on woody shrubs!
One time a small herd of cattle was approaching one of our mist-nets. We
were scared of their horns and size but we made all but one detour
around our nets. The one cow that did go through one of our nets only
knocked it down and bent the supporting poles slightly.
I saw a Hook-billed Kite, Chondrohierax unicinatus, here!
because they would feed on the parts of plants under the ground