Day One - Len and I caught up on life and birds since the Sonora Audubon trip that he had done with us at the end of April, while waiting for Larry and Andrea's flight to get in. Customs was quick for them and in no time we were on the road and off to try to find the Orange-breasted Buntings at Punta Mita. The first stop was great for everyone because they all got a new birds including Yellow-winged Caciques and Orange-fronted Parrokeets but unfortunately there was no Bunting. The second stop was the new place that I had looked for the Bunting with Mark the week before with no luck. I knew that the Buntings might be there, but even if they were not, it was a super birdy spot and worth a stop for sure. This time, I got out of the van and was shocked to see three female Orange-breasted Buntings right there walking around on the abandon road only 20 feet from the van! They did not stick around long but we all managed to get quick looks, and that was good because that ended up being the only looks that we got!
With the condition of the road to San Blas from Puerta Vallarta not gettting any better, we forged on trying not to spend too much time driving in the dark.
Day Two – Our first full day of birding started out with a quick trip over to Singayta. This morning was great as usual, birds were everywhere from the minute that we got out of the van. Unfortunately, we missed seeing the calling Elegant Quail and the Strip-headed Sparrows were nowhere to be found. But we did manage to get great looks at a distant pair of Bat Falcons in the same tree that one was in the week before. Highlights of the morning included a soar-by of a Crane Hawk, great looks at Black-capped Vireos, nice looks at a very confiding Squirrel Cuckoo, snappy little Scrub Euphonias of the Godman's sub-species and a cooperative Fan-tailed Warbler...a nice start to the week.
After alittle break for lunch and a siesta, we took a drive out to the Crocodile Farm road. Not even out of the van, we got great looks at some very close Rufous-bellied Chachalacas before they vanished into the brush. The flooded fields continued to have loads of water fowl and waders and great looks to be had. Seemingly endless streams of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flew over and Purple Galinules called from the reeds. We eventually got nice looks at White-throated and Willow Flycatchers not 10 yards a part.
It was a great aftermoon that ended on a humorous note. As we walked back to the van to
head back to the hotel a trio of young guys pulled over and were drinking beers on the side of the road. As we walked past their party, one of guys came up from the ditch shirtless and covered in the kind of tattoos that you see on one of those cable shows about prisons in California! He was obviously a current or one time gang member, and I have to admit he was a bit intimidating at first look. Fortunately, he apparently really only wanted to practice his English, and was not very intimidating at all. Just as he was coming out of the ditch, I was attempting to put Jupiter in the scope for the group to take a look at its tiny moons. 'Tattoo Boy' was curious as to what the heck I was doing and asked "What you all looking at in that thing". I replied "we are trying to see Jupiter and its moons", and offered him a look. He was sure we were bullshitting him, and said "Yur f**kin' with me!?" But eventually I convinced him and he did take a look. He was impressed and tried to get his two pals to look but they were too shy to come over. He turned out to be a good guy...Once again proof that first impressions may not be the correct ones.
Day Three – We went to the boat dock for Peso Island and our boatman, Lupe, never showed up, so we
quickly drove out to the sewage ponds as a consolation prize and had fabulous morning of birding. We got great looks at a number of Russet-crowned Motmots and heard dozens of Soras.
When things got slow we hit the road to the north and out to Chacalilla to look for sparrows and anything else tht might be around. Probably the best bird of the trip didn't even require getting out of the van! Right nest to us, not 30 feet from
the van was a perched immature Great Black Hawk! It hung around long enough for us to get awesome looks and some great photos.
In the evening we finally got out to Peso Island for looks at Blue-footed Boobys and a nice walk on the beach.
Day Four – This was only my second trip up to Tecuitata and the place is certainly worthy of adding to any itinerary that I run in the San Blas area. It is also great to have the Ejido on board and interested in protecting the habitat and fixing us a fantastic lunch! I don't mind paying an entry fee into a great birding spot on private land if the owners are conservation minded. One of the big upsides of this particular trip to Tecuitata was the show that was put on bya Rosy-Thrush Tanager! I think I had just describing the skulking behavior of the Rosy-thursh Tanager and how we needed to pay close attention to deep dark bushes where we might get a fleeting glimpse of the bird with a bit of luck. Just about then, I see a dark flash pop up onto a branch not 25 feet in front of me and completely out in the open. It was a fantastic male Rosy-Thrush Tanager singing his brains out! If that was not enough, the bird proceeded to work its way quickly up into the highest part of the canopy, over 40 feet above our heads! By the time the show was over we had all gotten great looks at this very difficult bird and I was reconsidering future descriptions of this bird's habits!
Besides the Tanager we got great looks at San Blas Jays...I'm thinking that Tecuitata may be the best place to find this often difficult bird to see in San Blas. But maybe the most interesting sighting of the morning was the flock of Orange-fronted Parakeets that were feeding on corn still on the stalk in a small field. I had never seen this before. If that was not enough, in flies a Pale-billed Woodpecker and lands on a neighboring stalk and begins to feed on the same corn! I hope Len got some good shots of this.
I would be amiss to not say something about the wonderful lunch that Marta and Fabian put on for us at the top of the climb. Just like the previous tour, Marta out did herself this time with enchiladas cooked over an open fire! Outrageous!
Day Five – Unlike my last visit to Cerro de San Juan the week before, there was no wind this time, but it was even colder, and the road was even dustier, which was hard to believe! We may have arrived an hour too early, as things had hardly begun to wake up. But soon the sun was on the flowers and we were seeing birds.
Our next stop was for the Mexican Woodnymph at a location where I had found a female the week before. Maybe it was the cold but the canyon was super quiet and we left with hardly seeing a bird.
The next stop was the spot where I had found a male Woodnymph on the previous tour and once again things were slow. Eventually, we ran into a flock of Green Jays that were busy in a feeding flock. They were quite confiding and watched them for a long time before we discovered that there were at least three Audubon's Orioles traveling and feeding with them.
We got a number of good looks and Len got one OK photo. It was neat to see this bird that is not that easy to find in west Mexico.
Maybe the best bird of this stop was the Mexican Whip-poor-will that was flying around in the exact location that we had seen it the week before! Once again it was only a flying look, but it was good enough for an ID. We left this spot once again without the Mexican Woodnymph
Then it was off to lunch up La Noria. Lunch was good and the birds, too. We had fine looks at Buff-breasted and Tufted Flycatcher when all of a sudden in dropped a fantastic Pine Flycatcher! The big target were the Spotted Wrens that are almost always at the ranch, but just like last week, the darn Wrens didn't get the invitation to the party! The good news was that in our strong desire to find the Wrens, I thoroughly aroused the anger in a Rusty Sparrow who hurled himself at my speaker as I was playing Mountain Pygmy Owl! I was about to give up on the Wrens when I discovered one sitting quietly in a yucca plant not 20 yards from the van, better late than never.
The last stop was at what is normally the flower filled ditch at KM 14, but today it was still nearly void of flowers. I wa nearly sure that we were going to dip on the Woodnymph again, but low and behold, just as we were about to pull out of there I heard the distinctive call of the Woodnymph. As is often the case with these "trap line feeders" the look was quick and the bird was not to be seen again.
Day Six – This morning found us taking a morning boat trip up the San Cristobal river. Our goal was to get great looks at all sorts of water fowl and waders. Some of the best birdsincluded the Perregrine falcon, pictured here. He had just captured a wayward Short-billed Dowitcher and quite happy with himself!
We were lucky birders this week in San Blas. The Garza Canela is one of the designated restaurants for the Gourmet Food Festival that took place on the Riveria Nayarit. There are 33 restaurants participating in the event and each one has a guest chef who is working with the participant t create some wild and interesting dishes. The guest chef at the Gara Canela was Pedro Ortega who is the executive chef for a chain of very high end restaurants in Mexico City. He is also Betey Vazquez's mentor and former teacher. She worked with him in Mexico City before starting the restaurant at the Garza Canela. We were the first ones to get a shot at the new menu today at lunch. OH MY GOD! I had the best Tomato Soup followed by Scallops in Saffron Sauce. Len had the Seafood Posole.
Our afternoon trip to the Crocodile Farm road was fun but fast. We were in a hurry to get to the fort to try and see the sunset and with luck a "green flash”. We did end up seeing very close
Limpkins and good looks at both White-throated and Willow Flycatchers. We took off in a hurry to make the sunset and did so with time to spare. It was nice to see the Centennial parade start off and orient everyone to San Blas. As the moment approached, I was pessimistic about a green flash, it just looked too hazy out over the ocean. But as the sun sank and the ultimate slice of orange was visible, I put my binoculars up just in time to see more what I would describe as a green ooze than a flash, but it was certainly green! Fortunately, Larry saw it too which did a lot to help convince Len and Andrea that I really did see it!
Dinner tonight back at the Garza Canela was amazing! It is a crying shame that there are not dozens, if not hundreds, of
people here trying out this food. The taste of it is one thing, but the creativity and obvious love that they put into it goes beyond the call of duty. I am so impressed and happy for the Garza Canela, I just hope that many people come to partake in this. We were certainly happy to be there!
Day Seven – Even though it may now play second fiddle in my book to Tecuitata, La Bajada is still a great place to look for birds. Maybe even better is a stop at the soccer field, where it is so easy to see things and the variety is superb!
The La Tovara boat trip produced everything that we had hoped for, with crippling views of Northern Potoos (at least 10), but once again not great looks at Greater fish-eating Bats.
Day Eight – Doing the Singayta Road again was a great idea for a 'clean up' morning . With our two new participants, Rigdon and Mike, in tow, I was a bit unsure how to work the morning. It is a always bit tricky when you have folks that have nearly seen all the birds in an area and new arrivals to the tour that have seen basically none! The good news was that Rig had been to San Blas before and didn't need to see much and any bird that Mike saw was going to be great for him, so that made it easier! Immediately out of the van, we got the Elegant Quail to call and I sent Larry into the woods to get them to come out! Not for lack of him trying, but we just didn’t get a view. As Larry was crawling out of the thicket I found a Stripe-headed Sparrow that everyone eventually got a look at.
After we got the targets, it was nice to sort of let everyone go off and do what they wanted to do. Larry and Andrea went off looking for birds and photos, Len had time to concentrate on photographing birds, Mike got to learn A LOT about tropical birding and Rig re-introduced himself to some old friends...Our last shrimp pond stop yielded a variety of water birds once again, but nothing new for the tour. Rig and Mike got a lot of new trip birds and we got to see a fisherman netting shrimp right out of the water.
We had our last lunch at the Garza Canela and had our long goodbyes with Betty, Josephina, Doris and Diana and the rest of the staff at the Garza Canela...A great way to end a wonderful
week in San Blas and to get realy for a trip into the Sierra Madre!
As we drove to Copala, we made one birding stop at the Acaponeta toll booth, a place where I commonly see Purplish-backed Jays. It was beginning to appear that this was not going to be one of the times when I saw the Jays at the toll booth, when a dark shadow passed between a couple of Mango trees. After playing some tape, Larry produced one of the Jays absolutely “lurking” in the mango trees above us. It turned out to be that there were two of them!
The short days forced us to make a direct run for Copala on the Durango Highway where we arrived at Daniel's to find the restaurant closed!!! I had spoken to Pancho earlier in the previous week, but I guess he forgot! Only in Mexico could I have convinced the entire staff of a restaurant to return and open the place to serve dinner to the six of us! Awesome, really, and super appreciated by all!
For a the continuation of this tour, please click on the "Great Days on the Durango Highway" blog post in 'Latest News'
Godman's "Scrub" Euphonia
head back to the hotel a trio of young guys pulled over and were drinking beers on the side of the road. As we walked past their party, one of guys came up from the ditch shirtless and covered in the kind of tattoos that you see on one of those cable shows about prisons in California! He was obviously a current or one time gang member, and I have to admit he was a bit intimidating at first look. Fortunately, he apparently really only wanted to practice his English, and was not very intimidating at all. Just as he was coming out of the ditch, I was attempting to put Jupiter in the scope for the group to take a look at its tiny moons. 'Tattoo Boy' was curious as to what the heck I was doing and asked "What you all looking at in that thing". I replied "we are trying to see Jupiter and its moons", and offered him a look. He was sure we were bullshitting him, and said "Yur f**kin' with me!?" But eventually I convinced him and he did take a look. He was impressed and tried to get his two pals to look but they were too shy to come over. He turned out to be a good guy...Once again proof that first impressions may not be the correct ones.
Day Three – We went to the boat dock for Peso Island and our boatman, Lupe, never showed up, so we
Lupe our boatman
Great Black Hawk
One of three male Audubons Oriole Photo by Len Boeder
Nice Catch. Unless you were the Short-billed Dowitcher!
The San Blas Sunset
One Example... The Shrimp Salad
One of many Boat-billed Heron's that we saw
The Guest Chef's Scallop Ceviche