Over the years I have gone to visit Mexican friends and relatives in the hospital and whenever I have done so, I have always found the patient in the company of a family member.

Once again I am getting up at an ungodly hour of the morning to cover another Bird Count story.

“What is Christmas like in Mexico?” I was recently asked by a friend who had just moved here from the United States.

While the media is filled with chatter about futbol and béisbol, there is another sport dear to the heart of many Tapatios, which rarely ever makes news: pigeon racing.

In December 2009, I participated in the first ever Christmas Bird Count in Guadalajara’s Primavera Forest.

Would you like to escape from urban noise, fumes and blight for an hour or so and commune with nature in the middle of nowhere?