Northwest Mexico Birding Trip
This was a great birding tour in western Mexico February 22-March 4 with 5 participants led by Michael Carmody* -- an excellent guide whom I highly recommend. We birded mainly around Mazatlan, San Blas, and the Durango Highway. (Many of the locations are described in Steven N.G. Howell's A Bird-finding Guide to Mexico.)
Some of the most spectacular birds were: Military Macaw; four gaudy endemic jays - the wonderful Tufted Jay on the Durango Highway, and Purplish-backed Jay, San Blas Jay, and Black-throated Magpie-Jay; plus Blue Mockingbird, Northern Potoo, Elegant Quail, Crested Guan; Citreoline and Mountain Trogon; Red-headed and Flame-colored Tanager, and Yellow Grosbeak.
I was really pleased to get great looks at some species I had seen before but longed to see really well - most of all Blue-footed Boobies - close-up on Roca Elefante off the coast of San Blas, where we also saw one Red-footed Booby and Red-billed Tropicbird. Also in this category were Happy Wren, Elegant Euphonia, and Blue Bunting.
Some other great birds included Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Rufous-necked Wood-Rail, Sinaloa and Spotted Wrens; Colima Pygmy-Owl, Collared Forest-Falcon, Eared Poorwill, Bumblebee Hummingbird; 4 species of Central American woodpeckers including the giant Lineated and Pale-billed Woodpeckers (close!); lots of warblers including Rufous-capped, Golden-browed, Crescent-chested and Red; Red-breasted Chat, Streak-backed Oriole, Yellow-winged Cacique, and Varied Buntings galore.
All participants got excellent looks at the vast majority of our 312 species, including about 25 Mexican endemics. I personally tallied 294 species and got 57 out of a possible 69 life-birds! * Michael Carmody, Legacy Tours, 888-754-6186, jigsaw@winstarmail.com