The smartly spotted Gray Thrasher is one of several taxa endemic to the Cape region of Baja California. Photo: Steve Mlodinow.
Connected to North America by a 770-mile peninsula, the Cape Region of Baja California is in some ways a familiar place, with many of the area’s plants and animals also found in California or the Sonoran desert of Arizona and west Mexico. Yet there are obvious differences, differences that have attracted natural historians for decades. There are many endemic plants and animals here, among them three currently recognized bird species and a number of distinctive avian subspecies, some of them obvious and likely to be split in the future. The tropical habitats of the southern peninsula are also a major wintering area for birds from western North America, and the nearshore waters are rich and diverse. In our quest for the Cape Region’s specialties, we’ll also be frequently entertained by the spectacles of mixed flocks of wintering passerines, multitudes of shorebirds, and even some seawatching.
This is a complete natural history tour, with a focus on the birds but also with time spent investigating the plants, reptiles, mammals, and insects of southern Baja California.
Day 1: The tour begins this evening at 7:00 in San José del Cabo. Night in San José del Cabo.
Day 2: We’ll pace ourselves as we have all day to bird the estuary of San José and the nearby desert. The estuary is where a shallow, meandering freshwater creek meets the sea in an ever-changing delta only a few hundred yards across. In a region beset by an often very extended dry season, the result is a veritable oasis. Being so close to human population always results in unanticipated changes in the nature of the marsh vegetation, but there are almost always a few Belding’s Yellowthroats in the stands of giant bullrush and cattails; sometimes they can be abundant. The shallows also host numbers of ducks such as Cinnamon and Blue-winged Teal, several herons and egrets, including Reddish Egret, Common Gallinules, Pied-billed Grebes and Neotropic Cormorants. A look towards the ocean is worthwhile, usually resulting in Magnificent Frigatebirds and Brown Pelicans, and Heermann’s Gull is usually also present. Later we’ll visit nearby desert, home to Western Scrub-Jays, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Verdin and possibly Gray Thrasher. In the afternoon we’ll drive to Punta Colorada, stopping at a pond along the way that should have Least Grebe and perhaps add some unexpected water birds to the list. Our hotel for the next two nights is on a secluded bit of desert coastline facing the Gulf of California, and we’ll have a chance to soak up the atmosphere of this lovely location. Night near La Ribera.
Day 3: We’ll depart very early this morning to a road that reaches about 2500 feet elevation in the northern foothills of the Sierra Laguna. This will be our chance to search for several endemic forms (many likely true species) that prefer the oak woodlands and even some that occasionally descend from the pine-oak woodlands in the higher elevations. Among the birds we should see are California Towhee, the pale “San Lucan” American Robin, the dark-eyed Acorn Woodpecker, the Band-tailed Pigeon without a tail band, the very colorful “San Lucan” Cassin’s Vireo, and the not-so-different Warbling Vireo. If we’re very lucky, we could see the Yellow-eyed Junco, usually referred to as “Baird’s Junco,” White-breasted Nuthatch, Oak Titmouse, Spotted Towhee, or even the “Cape” Northern Pygmy-Owl, a local endemic with a higher-pitched and faster-paced song. Wintering Cassin’s Kingbird also occur here, and the woodland is home to a few eastern birds such as wintering Black-and-white Warblers. This is also a good place to spot the highly colorful San Lucan Rock Lizard and the endemic Cape Spiny Lizard if the weather is sunny. We’ll return after lunch to our hotel and spend some time watching the sea for migrating birds, among which might include Brown Booby, Black-vented Shearwater, Black Storm-Petrel or Red-billed Tropicbird. The beaches here also have Snowy Plover, and at night we could bump into Elf or Great Horned Owl. Night near La Ribera.
Day 4: We’ll have a relaxed morning at our Punta Colorada hotel. The desert here has abundant Bursera microphylla trees which provide food for wintering Gray Vireos and Ash-throated Flycatchers, while the resident California Quail, Greater Roadrunner, Costa’s Hummingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Cactus Wren, California Gnatcatcher, and Black-throated Sparrow are further possibilities. Almost anywhere we might stumble into flocks of wintering Brewer’s and Clay-colored Sparrows, and some years Lark Buntings are numerous. After lunch we’ll make a birding stop or two as we continue on to our next hotel on the charming waterfront in La Paz. Night in La Paz.
Day 5: We’ll spend a very full but slow-paced morning in the La Paz area, which includes some of the best shorebird mudflats in western Mexico. Numbers of Least and Western Sandpipers, Willets, Long-billed Curlews, Marbled Godwits, Wilson’s, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers winter here, while both night-herons in addition to a full complement of herons and egrets are possible. Nearby are the sewage ponds and well-watered agricultural fields where Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Crested Caracara, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Vermilion Flycatcher and American Pipit are among many birds that will keep us busy for the rest of the day. As a result of this abundance, Peregrine Falcon and Merlin consider this a great place to spend the winter. This area is also notable for the list of vagrants that have been discovered here, and we’ll make an attempt to see any that have been reported, or perhaps we’ll find our own. In the afternoon we’ll schedule some free time, as the area near our hotel is a lovely place to relax right along the bayside boardwalk. Birders might spot a Blue-footed Booby patrolling the nearshore waters, while a stroll in the shopping district may be on the agenda for some. Night in La Paz.
Day 6: We’ll have the first part of this day to bird the areas near La Paz once more, venturing a bit farther afield to areas north of town where a giant cactus grove is home to both Gila Woodpecker and Gilded Flicker. North of there, the rocky shore should have American Oystercatcher, Yellow-footed Gull and Brandt’s Cormorant while patches of mangrove might harbor Clapper Rail, the lovely Mangrove Yellow Warbler and Northern Waterthrush. The nearby dwarf desert with fascinating plant forms will draw our attention, and Tiger Whiptails and Zebra-tailed Lizards will tease us as they dart away. If there are any flowers, some interesting butterflies could be attracted to them, such as Sonoran Giant and Hepburn’s Metalmarks. We’ll depart right after lunch to make the drive to Puerto San Carlos, a fishing village on Magdalena Bay. Night in Puerto San Carlos.
Day 7: This morning we’ll take a 3- to 4-hour boat trip on the bay to get intimate with the Gray Whales, an experience that you will not soon forget. Birds will be seen along the way with at least Royal Terns, Western Gulls, and Brown Pelicans in abundance. After the boat ride and perhaps some mangrove birding, we’ll head back south, breaking up the drive to check some vagrant traps and the La Paz area once more and end up in the lush oasis of Todos Santos on the west side of the peninsula. Night in Todos Santos.
Day 8: We’ll bird the marsh areas, palm thickets, hedgerows, parks and agricultural fields around town looking for concentrations of wintering birds, such as warblers, sparrows, and orioles, and in the process we might discover some fun vagrants. We’ll also be back in the range of Xantus’s Hummingbird and Belding’s Yellowthroat to reacquaint ourselves with these endemics. After lunch we’ll make the scenic drive along the coast back to our pleasant hotel from the start of the tour. Night in San José del Cabo.
Day 9: The tour ends this morning with transportation to the Los Cabos airport for your flights home.
Updated: 09 March 2012
Notes
Maximum group size 6 with 1 leader, 12 with two leaders
* Tour invoices paid by check carry a modest discount. Details here.