You have to win the game at dawn and, in the shadows, prepare to reach the Laguna de Zoquipan, where several dozen species of migratory birds will spread their wings between trills and squawks to set the sky on fire with their colors and songs that are not heard in another point of the world.
The sun bathes the wings of the white pijiji, the cormorant, the pink spatula, the red-headed aura and as many more birds as there are colors in this rainbow of more than 282 species. The boat that took us to that paradise was commanded by Don Chencho. He crossed the water arms of this mangrove maze with the stealth of a starving crocodile. We left San Blas, that port nestled in Nayarit, at 6:30 a.m. to learn more about the freedom in flight of birds that soar through the skies without fatigue or fear.
Also known as La Aguada or Los Negros, the Zoquipan Lagoon is a natural area of great biological wealth. Together with La Tobara, another nearby wetland, it covers an area of 5,732 hectares belonging to the municipality of San Blas. That is the reason why Nayarit ranks fourth in the nation in mangrove coverage.
And it is precisely thanks to the mangroves that so many birds live here because among their
Rebellious and curved branches, they find shade in the forest, abundance of insects, crustaceans and fish in its fresh and brackish waters, but, above all, it still attracts them
plus the calm wind and the abundant sun to surrender to the processions of love and later the birth.
The Zoquipan Lagoon is where species such as the bucket duck, the teal, the coot, the swallow duck, the tepalcate duck and the masked duck rest and mate after long days of flight, which leave the skies of Canada and the United States to mate. in this sanctuary for traveling birds. Some will travel further afield, such as plovers and sketches, shorebirds that only make a stop on the way here, and then continue their flight to southern Chile.
The residents
Others do not move from here. This is the case of the roseate spoonbill, whose colorful plumage is a haven to behold, as are its habits. With its flattened beak and in the shape of a “spatula or flattened spoon” it filters the water it absorbs to extract small crustaceans from the bottom of the lagoon. If one approaches slowly, you can appreciate in their delicate movements an order that maintains in perfect balance the construction of nests, the different matings and the diverse collection of food that beaks of all shapes carry out at all times. And when they don't eat, they sing. And when they get angry, they hurt.
This is not the case with the osprey, one of the predators in the area, whose wingspan is overwhelming for any of the birds that live here: 150 to 180 centimeters in length, that is, as wide as one can stretch one's arms. It measures 55 cm and when it climbs towards the sky and plummets, it is that it has just started its hunting ritual. Before touching the water, it puts its claws forward to catch its prey, calculating and correcting the effect of the water's own optical distortion. It catches a fish in six out of ten attempts, thanks to two unique adaptations in raptors: it has a reversible fourth finger in the claws, flexing that allows it to firmly grasp the fish with two fingers in front and two in back. In addition, the undersides of their legs are covered in tiny spines that prevent the elusive fish from breaking free from their claws.
Raptors and songbirds, beach-goers and travelers, scavengers or eat insects, the winged species that live here were the main star of the V Festival of Migratory Birds of San Blas, held in January of this year, and where researchers, biologists, ecologists and citizens converged interested in caring for the environment. Everyone wants this paradise to be preserved and to resist the onslaught of modernity.
