Day 1 We got everybody at the airport on time and quickly were on our way to Punta Mita where put together a much needed sandwich and went looking for a bird or two!  Fortunately both happened.  We ate under a spreading fig tree that offered up our first endemic, a small flock of Yellow-winged Caciques were taking  advantage of the figs and fighting off a couple of Rufous-backed Robins.  Once the sandwiches were inhaled and the last of the awesome sweet peppers eaten, we were off to a little spot not 50 meters down the road that turned out to be great for the birdies! A little Ferruginous Pygmy Owl was certainly our friend, his response to tape brought in a pair of Summer Tanagers, Yellow-breasted Chat, and a Bells Vireo.  Then out of nowhere in came a nice male Citreoline Trogon for scope looks!   Onward we went with Orange-breasted Bunting still our target bird.  I was  a bit worried about time, but it was hard to resist one last attempt for that bird, knowing it would be our last chance.  The stop turned out to be great for all sorts of birds, but unfortunately the Bunting was not one of them.  I typically don't like to mention the arduous elements of tours that sometimes occur...but I would be amiss to not say something about the condition of the road from Punta Mita to San Blas.  The once 2.5 hour drive turned into a nearly 4 hour 'Bhutan death march', complete with bomb craters for potholes and battalions of Day of the Dead celebrators headed to rural cemeteries along our route!  The late summer rains had taken a serious toll on the road condition and it may be months before that is taken care of.  It felt really good to get to the hotel and into the restaurant for dinner. I think the wonderful first night's dinner might have made up for the long drive.   Day 2  Most of the group did a collective moan and groan when I informed them of the 5:30 breakfast time, but I think everyone will agree that it was well worth it.  The darn time time change pushed sunrise way up and in the tropics if your not there early you might as well not go!  From the moment that we stepped out of the vans we were finding birds, and lots of them.  In the first 15 minutes, we had 4 Northwest Mexican endemics, including Mexican Parrotlet, Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Sinaloa Crow, Elegant Quail and Yellow-winged Cacique.  Not a bad start at all!  To aid in the process, the legendary San Blas insects failed miserably to perform, we had only a short stint at the very beginning of the morning.  Fortunately for us, the San Blas 'jejenes, did not live up to the legendary status that you often hear about at any point during the tour, that is one detail I am happy that I over advertised! 

One of Many Scrub Euphonias

We spent the entire morning walking the Singayta road in fantastic conditions and with lots of birds, covering over a couple of miles in the process.  We got good fly over looks at Crane Hawk, Short tailed Hawk and very accommodating Lineated Woodpecker and outstanding looks at two Russet-crowned Motmots.  Warblers were everywhere including Tropical Parula and Lucy’s.  A new San Blas Bird for Mark was the White-crowned Sparrow that was skulking rather out of place in a mango tree.  Butterflies were everywhere, including a near infestation of White Morphos that we learned were escapees from a local breeding program attempting to make bed sheets out of them that went bad!  Just kidding Anita!  Towards the end of our morning we tried unsuccessfully for a White-throated Flycatcher but were rewarded at the same location with decent looks at a couple fo Fan-tailed Warblers that ended up climbing uncharacteristically high in the canopy.  As we pulled out of Singayta on our way back to the hotel, Loretta spotted a Black-throated Magpie Jay sitting in a coconut palm and we all tumbled out of the van to get a look.  Soon 7 or 8 of them were flying around us and we all got great looks.  Our afternoon was spent getting to and then birding around the San Blas black water ponds that were uncharacteristically quiet today.  We did get a quick look at a Sora heard a couple of Collared Forest Falcons calling in the distance.  But the Spotted Rails never showed themselves.  Day 3  What a beautiful morning...Clear and calm when we hit the water for our first boat trip of the tour.  Maybe the best birds of the day came rather early in the trip when we topped to troll for Mangrove Cuckoo.  Well, it didn't take for a very cooperative one to fly across the river. Unfortunately, the other boat was a ways behind us and missed that bird. Fortunately, after a bit of playback we got at least 3 more Cuckoos to show themselves and sing some duets! Awesome!;  Gary was the one to find the first Mangrove Cuckoo, a great job of spotting this often hard to find bird as we were headed up the river. In the end it turned out to be a near Mangrove Cuckoo party as we had two or three birds flying back and forth across the river.

A curious Mangrove Cuckoo

Just after finding the Cuckoos we ran into our first Snail Kites that eventually became nearly a trash bird by the end of the morning.  Other great moments of the morning included some up close looks at Rosette Spoonbills and Woodstorks nesting thanks to the high tide.  Half or the group managed to get their boat up a channel and into a weedy field where they were rewarded by a couple of Ruddy-breasted Seedeaters mixed in with some White-collareds.  On the way back we got great looks at some good sized American Crocodiles.  Unfortunately, even after beating ourselves up in the hot sun we got only a fleeting glimpse and some call back from very elusive Rufous-necked Woodrails.  I think all of us would agree that our boatman (Chencho) is not only an accomplished bird finder he is also a great friendly guy who worked very hard to try and get us a look at that bird!  Tonight, I had the Shrimp and Basil Pasta with Serrano Chilis, simple and delicious...Just to help you remember some of those delicious meals at the Delfin Restaurant!  Day 4  Tecuitata was a place that I had never been to before and Mark had raved about it to me last year.  I figured this would be a good time to do it, so I put it on the schedule.  As advertised, I was not disappointed with the birds that we saw.  Right out of the vans we got quick looks at San Blas Jays and Cinnamon Hummingbird before getting walk away looks at  Colima Pygmy Owl who perched out on a branch for us.  Moving up the road, it seemed like there were Euphonias everywhere and towards the end the Magpie Jays finally showed up!  We did a lot of walking but it was worth it, and the terrain was pretty forgiving except for the very end where it got rather steep!  

Our Restaurant in the sky!

I think all of us would have walked twice as far had we all known that our restaurant in the sky with amazing food was awaiting us at the top of the climb.  Marta and Favian, a young couple from the village of Tecuitata, had driven up the mountain that morning and set up a fantastic lunch for us at one of the most beautiful overlooks I have ever seen.  The view alone would have been enough, but the food was fantastic too!  We were served a local favorite, basically a toasted wheat flour soup with chicken and a beef stew for a second course.  On the side three were steamed vegetables and piles of perfect cut up watermelon.   Day 5  The day trip to Cerro de San Juan requires a bit more organization and an earlier breakfast.  Lunch was packed and breakfast was consumed and we were off to the highest elevation you can reach that is easily accessible from San Blas, a little over an hour away.  Cerro de San Juan rises to just above 7000 feet at a point in west Mexico where the mountains come very close to the sea, and road access allows you to get to just over 5000 feet.  Indeed, you can easily see the Pacific Ocean in a number of locations on the west side of the hill.   We had a major issue with wind which made the birding difficult to say the least, it was very difficult to get things to come out and show themselves.  We dipped on a few birds as the wind continued to be an issue throughout the day.  Later on we made it off the hill and down to the Mirador de Aguila and waited for the Macaws to show up.  It didn't take long at all for Mark to hear the first calls of Macaws way down the valley and eventually we all got looks at the green and blue beauties flying well below us in the canyon.  After suffering the trucks and the smell of garbage long enough, we were on our way home to San Blas!     This evening, we were pleasantly surprised by a visit from Jen and our friend Liliana!   Day 6 La Bajada has always been one of my favorite places to bird around San Blas.  True, the road is steep and long, and the possibility of contracting 'Warbler neck' is quite high due to the 

Gray-crowned Woodpecker

 extensive mature vegetation!  Even with all of those challenges it once again proved to be a great birding location.  With customary stops at the mango packing plant and the football field before heading up the hill, we added a few birds to the trip list.  Pale-billed Woodpecker, Sinaloa and Happy Wrens together on the same branch, and two more cooperative Motmots.  Up the hill we heard a few Rosy Thrush Tanagers and enjoyed the embarrassment of riches that we had in the big fig tree.  The big tree was teaming with Woodcreepers and Citreoline Trogons and was hard to resist.  After a trip up the hill for a Red-breasted Chat that never happened we did get rewarded with scope looks at a very cooperative Gray-crowned Woodpecker.   I think that the La Tovara boat trip is possibly the best night birding boat trip that you can do anywhere in the world.  The locals and Chencho have it extremely well organized and the birding is fantastic.  Not only are there lots of birds, you can get quite close to them with the boat.  The prize of course is the chance of seeing Northern Potoos and getting ready to go out hunting for the evening, we were not disappointed tonight!  I think I counted 11 good looks at Potoos before the trip was over and we all got to see Mottled Owls, Lesser Nighthawks, Parraque and one Greater Fish Eating Bat!   Day 7  For our last full day of birding, we took the short boat ride across the channel to Peso Island.  The birding was great as we walked from the boat "ramp" across the island toward the sea.  We got much better looks at Rufous-bellied Chachalacas, more Ferruginous-pygmy Owls, and the northwest Mexican endemic at the southern end of its range, Purplish-back Jay.  Virgin Rock awaited us at the end of the walk where we got scope looks at the Blue-footed Boobys that we had only seen fly-bys of on our previous attempt.  Later in the morning, we went over to Crocodile Farm road to clean up on some wading birds.  Even for what at this point was nearly mid day we saw lots of birds.  Sora's, Willow Flycatcher, White-throated Flycatcher and Purple Gallinule along with better looks at Ruddy-breasted Seedeater for everyone this time. On our final afternoon, we padded the list at the shrimp farms and the Chacalilla Road, searching for Elegant Quail that never showed up. The crescent moon and beautiful afternoon were a great way to end the trip.  Day 8  Our last wonderful meal at the Garza Canela was a "late" breakfast off the menu that everyone took fine advantage of!  then we said our goodbyes to Diana, Doris, Betty and Josephina, took 

San Blas Sunset

the group photo and were off the Puerta Vallarta.  Thanks goodness we left with plenty of time because the construction on the downed bridge held us up nearly two hours and we had to go straight to the airport for the flight.  We had a hurry up pizza lunch that was not too bad at the airport.  I want to thank Mark and all of you for a great trip, I hope all of you enjoyed San Blas and the birds as much as I do.  I look forward to seeing all of you again soon out on the birding trail!