2011 Tour Narrative
In Brief: A very comfortable setting with great food and hospitality – plus fabulous birds, of course – made our San Blas tour “wonderful as usual.” The weather was cooler than normal, meaning warm, sunny, and very pleasant, and the birds put on a fine show – from the primary colors of male Red-breasted Chat, Yellow Grosbeak, and Blue Mockingbird, to a tiny male Bumblebee Hummingbird, cryptic Northern Potoos, and a wealth of flashy woodpeckers. Also memorable were the higher than usual numbers of Painted Buntings and hummingbirds (including the first San Blas records of Costa’a Hummingbird), a stunning male Rosy Thrush-Tanager, superb Black-throated Magpie-Jays, Military Macaws bathed in late afternoon sunlight, lagoons packed with feeding blizzards of waterbirds, numerous Black-capped Vireos, a boldly singing Bright-rumped Atilla, and impressive numbers of crocodiles on our boat trips. Everywhere we went the people were friendly and happy, in refreshing contrast to the doom and gloom of the U.S. media.
In Detail: Some folks arrived in time for a little birding near the hotel the first afternoon, and all present enjoyed a well-deserved sleep. The next day was a travel day, but with some early morning birding near Puerto Vallarta before making the drive to San Blas. Morning highlights included San Blas Jays, numerous waterbirds (including a few Elegant Terns), and simply an appreciation for how “birdy” western Mexico is in winter. After brunch we headed to San Blas, with stops that produced Cinnamon Hummingbird, Sinaloa Wren, and some tasty local fruit. After checking into our rooms we headed to the fort overlooking town for some birding, history, a cold beer, and a great sunset.
For our first morning in San Blas we simply walked from our rooms to areas around town. The great variety of birds around San Blas was typified by groups of Painted Buntings, soaring Great Black and Common Black hawks, an explosion of Mexican Parrotlets detonated by a hopeful Gray Hawk, spectacular Black-throated Magpie-Jays, and numerous waterbirds. After lunch and a siesta we took a boat ride along the Río San Cristobal and then through mangrove tunnels (an amazing experience) to La Tovara, staying out after dark in search of the bizarre Northern Potoo – of which we had point-blank views. Birding from a boat is fun and relaxing, and as well as waterbirds such as Boat-billed Heron and Muscovy Duck we also enjoyed a serendipitous Crane Hawk and a variety of warblers. The next morning we traveled inland a few miles to the village of Singayta, via a lagoon packed with dizzying numbers of waterbirds – an amazing spectacle. Singayta produced a good variety of birds “as usual,” starting with a brazen Elegant Quail and followed by Elegant Trogon, Fan-tailed Warbler, Rose-throated Becard, Plain-capped Starthroat, and very obliging Happy Wrens. After lunch and a siesta we visited the marshes and farmland near town, where numerous waterbirds and landbirds included the poorly known White-throated Flycatcher, stunning aerial ballets of White Pelicans and Roseate Spoonbills, and an intricately patterned Wilson’s Snipe which was spotted preening in the sun.
An early start the next day saw us on the lower slopes of Cerro de San Juan, in beautiful pine-oak forests with very different birds from San Blas. Highlights were many in this bird-filled day, and started with a dapper male Black-capped Vireo and a swarm of Mexican Caciques, followed by Yellow Grosbeaks and Mexican Woodnymph. Other birds on this fabulous day included a Pine Flycatcher, White-naped Swifts, confiding Spotted Wrens, flashy Red-headed Tanagers, and, with some effort, a White-striped Woodcreeper. We pulled away reluctantly and headed to the Mirador del Aguila where spectacular Military Macaws flew below us in a forested canyon while trucks roared by behind us and Coatis foraged in the garbage… ah, Mexico. After a “long day” yesterday we took it easy with a quiet morning boat trip up the estero by the hotel before swinging “offshore” to Virgin Rock and a lone (but much appreciated) Blue-footed Booby. More spectacular was the cloud of 1200+ Magnificent Frigatebirds plunging and pirating all around us. The variety of birds along the river included lots of Common Black Hawks and Ospreys, a much appreciated Mangrove Cuckoo, and Purplish-backed Jays. Lunch and a siesta were followed by the short trip across to Peso Island for a variety of birds and a very pleasant beach walk with good studies of gulls and terns, Bottlenose Dolphins rolling in the surf, and a pair of Black-capped Gnatcatchers.
Our last two days we visited two very different sites in the foothills. The first day we headed inland to El Limon and spectacular tropical deciduous forest where we enjoyed Blue Mockingbird and Blue Bunting, Collared Forest-Falcon, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, a stunning male Red-breasted Chat, and prolonged views of a sunning Squirrel Cuckoo. After lunch and a siesta we took another wonderful boat ride, this time upriver to a wide-open lagoon packed with whistling-ducks, spoonbills, Limpkins, Snail Kites, and on and on… Also notable were Rufous-necked Wood-Rail and a record-breaking number of crocodiles. Our last full day we birded in humid, semi-evergreen “shade-coffee forest” near Tecuitata, where birds included an elusive Colima Pygmy-Owl, a beautiful Citreoline Trogon, Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrows, Russet-crowned Motmots, lots of woodpeckers, great views of kissing Orange-fronted Parakeets and a stridently singing Bright-rumped Atilla. After lunch we headed back by mid-afternoon, with time to relax and pack before a wonderful last night dinner at the hotel. Flight times meant an atypically early start from San Blas, but for some this was compensated by a bit of birding near Puerto Vallarta, where we found almost 100 species in a couple of hours (and 5 species new for the trip!), a fitting testament to the avian richness of western Mexico. But then, all too soon it was time to leave, after a great week of birds, beaches, mountains, friendly people, good company, and fine cuisine.
- Steve Howell
Updated: January 2011