Aztec Thrush & Military Macaw, Mexico January 2007.

Couldn't resist a pic of Aztec Thrush as my parting shot for the Mexico trip, but the Military Macaw shouldn't go unmentioned. The macaw didn't make the "top three birds of the trip" category, but after watching them in the teaming rain is was good to see them in the sunshine on the Panuco Road. The journey down to Mazatlan was very productive as we travelled back to the coast and we picked up Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Rufous Hummingbird and Russet-crowned Ground-Sparrow. Our last birds in Mazatlan were Red-billed Tropicbirds, Blue-footed and Brown Boobies and Mexican Parrotlets. Can't wait to return!

Tufted Jay Preserve, Mexico 24 - 25 January 2007.

Barranca Rancho Liebre is situated below the Mesa de los Alisos. If this place didn't have the jays it would still be worth visiting. The scenery is simply breathtaking with high cliffs and layers of suberb pine-oak forest below. We had to walk a little way down into the Barranca before we came across our first Tufted Jays. We got great 'scope views, looking down on the flock but they passed by a bit quicly. Luckily we came across about 10 more on our way back to the Durango Highway. These were much closer.
There are several flocks of "Tufties" in the area. Apparently only one pair from each flock (comprising of 4 - 16 birds) breeds each season. The other members of the group act as "helpers", bringing food to the incubating bird.

The cabins at the Tufted Jay Preserve have showers with hot water, flushing toilets and are quite comfortable. At the moment there's no electricity but it's planned to install that soon. Some of the local Palmito residents prepared our food (delicious) and Santos was our guide to help us locate the Jays. There are plans to extend the accommodations for bigger groups and the continued involvement of the local communities in this way can only help protect this area and the range-restricted Tufted Jay.

A bit of luck on the Durango Highway, Mexico 24 January 2007.

By now we were on our way up the Durango Highway towards the Tufted Jay Preserve, we'd bought a good stock of beer and we were preparing for our next set of good birds. Aztec Thrush had been in our discussions for sometime as we'd failed to find any on Nevado de Colima (where they are most often seen) and we'd even jested that this enigmatic species would be welcome as it would be a tick for everyone. Imagine our surprise when a small foraging group of birds by the roadside materialised into Aztec Thrushes as we pulled off the road! What a sight - at least 8 of these desired birds feeding at close quarters, including a few cracking males. This turned out to be a good stop as there were plenty of birds feeding around km 216 including Red-headed Tanagers, White-striped Woodcreeper, Arizona Woodcreeper and White-throated Thrushes. On arrival at Mesa de los Alisos we dumped our gear in the cabins and had a quick look around the clearing just as the sun set. Russet Nightingale-Thrush was new to the trip, as was Blue-throated Hummer. There were plenty of Mexican Juncos in the clearing too.

Citreoline Trogon, Durango Highway, Mexico 24 January 2007.

We left the San Blas area ealy this morning with Carolyn Felderhof of Sendero Mexico who would guide us for our Durango Highway section of the trip. On the way we stopped on the lower sections of the highway where we had several Rufous-bellied Chachalacas, Varied Buntings and Black-throated Magpie-Jays. A quick stop at Cerro de Elefante due to some birds over the road in a fruiting tree revealed these Citreoline Trogons and some Rufous-backed Thrushes. Onwards and upwards, we stopped on the Panuco Road where ther was a flock of 11 Grey Silky-Flycatchers amongst a bunch of other birds we had already seen so far this trip.

Painted Bunting at Singayta 22 January 2007.

This morning we visited the Singayta track not far from San Blas. This turned out to be a very "buggy" trip, with loads of biting insects. In truth it was our first disappointing location bird-wise in Mexico. It seems that the hurricane four years ago took out a lot of the good habitat and there has been some clearance too.
The cold front continued to haunt us the next day too. We started at Mirador de Aguila first thing where, despite foul weather we saw several Military Macaws and some Black-throated Magpie-Jays. We visited Cerro San Juan in the pouring rain for the rest of the day which was very productive for Bumblebee Hummingbird, Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrow, Grey-capped Woodpecker and some mixed species flocks that kept us busy. There always seems to be something to look at in Mexico, whether it's migrants like Black-throated Grey Warblers from the north or range restricted endemic birds.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Mexico 21 January 2007.

This afternoon we took the "Jungle Boat Ride" through the La Tovara mangroves near San Blas. Our main target was the Northern Potoo (easily seen afte dark), but there's plenty of other stuff in the mangroves: Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Green Kingfishers, Lesser Nighthawk and Pauraque. The biting insects that San Blas is so famous for weren't too bad either, so a nice finish to our day.

Snowy Egret and White Ibis at Miramar, Mexico 21st January 2007.

Last couple of birds from the creek near Miramar. Great close-up views of Snowy Egret and White Ibis - "digiscoper's birds" as John Hopkins put it!

After this we drove into San Blas for the La Tovara mangrove trip for Northern Potoo.

Royal Tern, Miramar, Mexico 21 January 2007.

There were a few terns around lunchtime too. Some Royals came into bathe with the gulls while Forster's and Caspians could be seen offshore as we took lunch "al fresco" style in the sunny weather. Little did we know how this would change over the next night and the arriving cold front brought some very "un-mexican" weather!

Bonaparte's & Laughing Gull, Mexico 21 January 2007.

It wasn't all doom and gloom on the gull front today as illustrated by the Bonaparte's and Laughing Gulls bathing side-by-side.

Gunning for Glory 21 January 2007.

Now I don't usually punch the air everytime I clap eyes on a Brown Pelican but when a text comes through to say your beloved Arsenal has just beaten Man Utd that's what happens! Anyway I did get back to some birding and attempting to sort out those confusing immature gull plumages later.

Heerman's Gull, 21 January 2007.

This morning we visited La Bajada which was quite good in cloudy conditions. Rufous-backed Thrush, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Fan-tailed Warbler, another 3 Grey-collared Becards, Blue Mockingbird and Golden Vireo were all seen while Rosy Thrush-Tanagers blasted out their song from the dense understory. We headed back to Miramar for lunch stopping nearby where some gulls were bathing. Most were Heerman's like this crisp adult, but others had us guessing for a while. Anyway there were plenty of other birds to keep us occupied as various gulls, waders and other water-associated species cam to bathe.

Miramar (near San Blas), MEXICO 20 January 2007.

We arrived at Miramar after a lengthy drive from Barra de Navidad today. Over the last few days we've birded Navado de Colima where we saw Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo (one of the top three birds of the trip), Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer and Pine Flycatcher, Playa de Oro Road (disappointingly quiet) and Barranca El Choncho where we got a host of good stuff including West Mexican Chachalaca, Orange-breasted Bunting, Sparkling-tailed Woodstar, Golden-crowned Emerald, Lilac-crowned Parrot, San Blas Jay and Ivory-billed Woodcreeper.
We're now situated in Miramar, close to the birding sites around San Blas. As you can see it's a tranquil place with great sunsets but the weather's about to take a turn for the worse. Lucky the enchiladas are good!

Snow Geese 16th January 2007.

No, I'm not still in Lancs. I've made it to Mexico at last! We arrived last night and stayed in the plush Hotel Tapatio in Guadalajara. The grounds were good this morning with a bunch of Mexican birds (Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Inca Dove, etc) plus a Yellow-throated Warbler (apparently a good record for the state of Jalisco). We headed down towards Ciudad Guzman stopping at any wetlands en route (stacks of Least Sand's and American Avocets) before reaching Sayula. These Snow Geese were right by the road. From Ciudad Guzman we birded the lower slopes of Nevado de Colima finding a great mixed species flock including Dwarf Vireo, Grey-collared Becard, Painted Redstarts, Brown-backed Solitaire, stacks of Bushtits, Black-throated Grey and Grace's Warblers and Varied Bunting. We ended the day by finding a Crested Guan going to roost and watching Lesser Nighthawks as we drove back to town. Great start!