By María de los Ángeles Hernández Morales*

Each year the inhabitants of the port of Teacapán celebrate a very important date for the community: International Migratory Bird Day, which was established in 2006 through the initiative of an alliance of conservation groups called BirdLife International.

This year, 2011, is no exception, since for the people of Teacapán, birds represent a very important part of the environment. They play a role in the food chain, and because they are a tourist attraction in themselves, their presence reflects well on the community’s image and leads to an improvement of the port’s economy.

The most common birds that live in  the zone near  the well-known Mazatlan Resort Spa are: common egrets, gulls, pelicans, killdeers, güaquinas, flycatchers, boobies, spoonbills, and orioles. The birds that seasonally migrate during the winter to places like Canada are principally: stilts, geese and gray plovers.

All of these species live within the islets and mangroves found in the bay, where there are abundant nutrients and where for some, the temperatures are adequate for reproduction.

It’s worth mentioning that some birds choose to nest in the trees in town, like palms, and even mango trees. This promotes very close contact between the birds and the people of Teacapán. This promotes appreciation the role of these birds and helps the rest of the population to understand their value and how lucky they are to be able to observe them.

It is because of this that in Teacapan the groups like BirdLife International have been implementing workshops about taking care of these birds in order to avoid their extinction as well as more damage to the ecosystem.  Together with the commemoration of International Migratory Bird Day on May 14 and 15,  these workshops have been presented since the announcement for the Pacific   Coast   Integrally   Planned   Center   deal.    They  fear   that