February 26-March 5, 2013
Day 1 – My good friend Dave Hursh rode with me from the end of the Durango Highway-San Blas tour the previous week and we spent the night in Tequila,
not literally, but in the town that shares the name. Tequila is a wonderful place and it was fun to have a slow breakfast in the beautiful plaza before packing it up and heading for Guadalajara to meet the rest of the group. As usual, I was sweating the entrance into the big city and trying to negotiate all that it brings, but I guess I have done it enough times that I actually pulled it off pretty well… that was up until I figured out that I was at the wrong hotel and had to negotiate a strike by the tow truck union! I guess they did that so I would feel some sort of compassion for them… yeah right!
Eventually we found Lang and Rig and we were off, ever so slowly due to strong traffic, to our next pickup location near the airport. Traffic was hell, but we managed to make it only being a half hour late which really was rather amazing.
Once out of the madness, the drive south is very beautiful and our planned stop in the Sayula marshes was postponed due to a very serious lack of water! The great western drought that has enveloped a good portion of the western United States has extended well south into Mexico. Maybe the most exciting thing that we saw on the drive past the dry wetlands were the up close and personal views of giant dust devils crossing the highway…one time we were actually in one!
We ended up making a stop a Laguna Zapotan which had plenty of water, and where we actually had a lot of fun looking at a beautiful Clark’s Grebe and a number of other shore and water birds, including massive clouds of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and scores of White-faced Ibis along the flooded fields.
We rolled into Manzanillo at about 6:30 p.m. and went to dinner at Agua Chiles where we were treated to an awesome sunset and some even better drinks!
Day 2 – Our first big morning took us to the Playa del Oro road west of Manzanillo. This is an area of really nice tropical deciduous forest that gets progressively wetter as you get closer to the beach. Add to that the treat of arriving at a really nice beach at the end of the road and you’ve got a great birding morning. Bird highlights included good looks at West Mexican Chachalaca, Hook-billed and Snail Kite, Crane Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Short tailed hawk and Zone-tailed Hawk! Other good birds included Citreoline Trogon, Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, White-bellied Wren, Blue Bunting and surprisingly our only Thick-billed Kingbird of the trip!
The other birding stop of the day was at the microwave tower just outside of Manzanillo where we finally got a good look for everyone at an Orange-breasted Bunting, a bird that is typically pretty easy to get on Playa Del Oro road, but not today! This one turned out to be very cooperative, which was a just reward for how hard we looked for them all morning!
Day 3 – We did a bit of a drive this morning to the Barranca El Choncho in the rising foothills outside of Melaque. It is a beautiful canyon that is often very birdy, but this morning was admittedly slower than normal. Eventually it did pickup and we got a few good birds including Orange-fronted Parakeet, White-fronted and Lilac-crowned Parrot and great views of a pair of Lineated Woodpeckers. A really good find was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher that stumped us for a long time but eventually came into playback and called! We also got our only looks of the tour at San Blas Jays, but in good numbers and fine views as well as Red-crowned Ant-tanager and Yellow Grosbeak.
After all that hard birding we made our way into Barra de Navidad for a yummy and wonderful lunch at a little place on the harbor in Barra de Navidad.
Giant shrimp cocktails and excellent dorado filets were had by all while we watched the terns fishing right in front of us!
On the way back to Manzanillo we made one more try at Playa del Oro road looking for that Red-breasted Chat. But once again it was not to be.
The best stop of the day may have been at the PEMEX station on the way back to Manzanillo. Lang mentioned that he saw a couple of birds in a distant tree while we were filling up that all of a sudden became a bird magnet. Soon everyone was out of the van and looking at what was a revolving door of species lighting in the single dried up tree.
Day 4 – Before changing habitats, we made one last run to the Playa de Oro road this morning before hitting the road and up the hill to Colima City. We checked into the hotel early and had an afternoon nap before going out to try for some night birds later in the afternoon. On our way to the Balsa’s Screech Owl spot we stopped at the Rio El Salado and got great looks at an Olive Sparrow and then Blue- black Grassquits. Then it was the long haul up the extremely steep, cobbled road to Microondas La Cumbre where we coaxed out a very cooperative Colima Pygmy Owl and finally reached the top where we waited for dark to try for the Balsa’s Screech Owl. As we were waiting, we heard the distinct chip notes of a Black-chested Sparrow and eventually with help for the tape and a strong spotlight (yes, spotlighting sparrows!) we got good looks at the bird hiding in the weeds.
On the drive down we tried in vain numerous times for the Balsa’s Screech Owl that would just not respond…but were treated by fleeting glimpses of a Buff-collared Nightjar that came up off the road. But the star of the evening was not a bird at all…it was the little girl that magically appeared at the bottom of the hill to open the apparently locked gate for us to leave the mountain! She was amazing, dressed in pink with her blanket all ready for bed. I have to admit that my heart had sunk a bit when we arrived at the gate to see it closed and locked! Boy, was I happy to see that little girl come out of nowhere to help us!
Day 5 – This was our first morning birding the slopes of the volcanos, today being the southern and moister flank of the Volcan del Fuego. Our first stop at the coffee plantation elevation brought in amazing numbers of birds that were easy to see from our perch above the canyon. We had lunch in the town of Suchitlan in the beautiful outdoor setting was awesome…and some of us even got in a quick nap in the comfortable hammocks! We had a short afternoon drive to the northeastern side of the volcanoes which were obviously much drier, but no less birdy. Here we got great looks at Elegant Euphonia and our first Stripe-headed Sparrows before heading to our beautiful hotel in Sayula.
Day 6 – Today was our first full day on the north side of Volcan del Fuego. At our first stop, David found us what appeared to be a pre-nesting pair of Smoky-brown Woodpeckers that we eventually got good looks at, even in the scope. Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo was a great find by Sarah later on in the morning, as was a great mob flock promoted by my playback and included Red-headed Tanager. After lunch we ended up driving all the way to the National Park boundary line, 11 miles up the road and were immediately rewarded with looks at
Cinnamon-bellied Flower-piercer, Collared Towhee, Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush and Blue Mockingbird before things got really interesting! A Colima Warbler! It was hard to pull away from this incredibly beautiful spot but it was time to go before we bumped into dark. Another great dinner was had back at the Casa de los Patios, complete with some nice wine.
Day 7 – We were sorry to leave some of the group behind this morning, but admittedly it had been a pretty ambitious schedule and everyone was a bit tired. But the five of us that did go back up Volcan del Fuego and were rewarded to a very special morning. The big one, maybe of the day, was the small flock of Crested Guans that we ran into just as we hit 7000 feet on our way up the mountain. The best part was that they stuck around long enough for all of us to get a really good look! Then we continued on to the park boundary where we had found so many good birds the day before. Here we got looks at several hummingbirds including White-eared, Blue-throated, Magnificent, Amethyst-throated, Broad-tailed, Rufous, Calliope and Green Violet-ear. Another good find was the Hairy Woodpecker which was new for the tour as were good looks at both Rufous-capped and Green-striped Brushfinch. The ride home was a long one with all of us pretty pooped out after a couple of very early mornings and a fair bit of time at higher elevation. Once again some good food and a glass of wine was a great way to end the day.
Day 8 – The last morning of the tour was mostly a drive back to Guadalajara to drop people off at the airport, but we managed to get a bit of birding in along the way. Driving around the flat crusty desert of the Sayula marshes got us a Bewick’s Wren and a
Clay-colored Sparrow. Larry rode with me to Tepic which might have been faster if he had left me in Guadalajara, or walked! I probably should not have been driving as I missed the turn to Tepic not once, but twice! I ended up in Mazatlan at about 7 p.m., tired and ready for some good food and bed! It was a wonderful tour with a great group of people, thank you all so much for the birds and the laughs….let’s do it again sometime!
Clarks Grebe
Hook-billed Kite
Watching the watchers
Olive Sparrow
Elegant Euphonia
Bewicks Wren