Trip
Information
Tour
Dates: March 8 - 20,
2009
Duration: 13 days
Tour Leader(s): Héctor
Gómez
de Silva
Cost: TBA
Tour starts in Puerto
Vallarta and ends in Guadalajara Highlights:
•
Excellent
birding in a wide variety of habitats, from mangroves and beaches
to mountain tops, amidst spectacular scenery
• Many tropical families of birds represented, along with several endemics.
A great tour for seeing a lot of birds, and many exotic and exciting
species.
• Our leader, Hector Gomez de Silva, is among the foremost birders in
Mexico, and knows the area very well.
Featured Birds:
• Chestnut-sided
Shrike-Vireo
• Fan-tailed Warbler
• San Blas Jay
• Red-breasted Chat
• Golden Vireo
• Russet-crowned Motmot
• Red Warbler
• Northern Potoo
• Boat-billed Heron
Trip Summary:
• Moderate
walking, some hill climbing
• Warm and hot days, pleasant nights
• A couple of cool mornings
• Mainly very good accommodation
• Spectacular scenery
• Includes all meals
• 4 to 8 participants with one leader; 9 to 12 with two leaders |
The
coastal states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit offer a rich and diverse
introduction
to tropical birding. In Nayarit, the area around San Blas is a mix of
lowland habitats of palm and thorn forests, oak woods, mangroves, freshwater
marshes and coastal lagoons, and the diversity of birds reflects this
mix, ranging from Blue-footed Booby and Collared Plover to Bare-throated
Tiger-Heron, Boat-billed Heron and Rufous-necked Wood-Rail and to chachalacas,
parrots and parrotlets, trogons and motmots, the spectacular Red-breasted
Chat and much-sought-after Rosy Thrush-Tanager. The states of Colima
and Jalisco are equally diverse, offering habitats from beaches to mountain
forests on the two peaks of the Volcanes del Colima. We will amass an
impressive tally of species, from shrike-vireos and silky-flycatchers
to such possibilities as Long-tailed Wood-Partridge and “Balsas” Screech-owl.
Our leader, Hector Gomez de Silva, is thoroughly familiar with these
areas, so you are assured of a rewarding and successful tour.
See detailed itinerary
below
Click
here to download a registration form
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Itinerary
Day
1 - Arrival and Orientation
This tour begins with arrival in Puerto Vallarta, where our
tour leader(s) will meet you and the group will be transferred to our
hotel in San Blas,
two hour's drive away. We will do a little birding on the way, depending
on our time of arrival. Night in San Blas.
Days
2 & 3 - San Blas area
During our two days in the San Blas area, we visit the
mangroves and lowland wetlands for wading birds such as Bare-throated
Tiger-heron, Boat-billed Heron, maybe Rufous-necked Wood-Rail, as well
as Northern Potoo, Mangrove Cuckoo, and the plantations, palm and thorn
forests for a wealth of species including several endemics including
Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Fan-tailed Warbler, Rufous-bellied Chachalaca,
Lilac-crowned Parrot, Mexican Parrotlet, San Blas Jay, Golden-cheeked
Woodpecker, Russet-crowned
Motmot, Rufous-backed Robin (the race here is Grayson’s Robin,
a potential split), Golden Vireo, Red-breasted Chat, Yellow-winged
Cacique, Streak-backed Oriole, Citreoline Trogon, Orange-fronted Parakeet,
Black-throated
Magpie-Jay and Stripe-headed Sparrow. Nights in San Blas.
Day
4 - Tepic
We leave the coastal lowlands to bird the upland pine forests near
Tepic, looking for Military Macaws and a large variety of highland
birds including
Tufted Flycatcher, Greater Pewee and Olive Warbler. Night in Tepic. Day
5 & 6 - Barra de Navidad and Playa de Oro
Today we drive south along the coastal plain to Barra de Navidad, Jalisco,
birding on the way. South of Barra de Navidad, we will bird the marshes,
beach and tropical deciduous forest at Playa de Oro and Manzanillo
airport, where we may find Flammulated Flycatcher, Red-breasted Chat
and Orange-breasted Bunting. Night in Barra de Navidad.
Day
7 - Transfer to Colima
We bird on our drive to the city of Colima in the morning, where we
will check in to the hotel where we spend the next 5 nights, In the
afternoon, we bird on the road to Microondas La Cumbre. Night in
Colima.
Days
8 to 11 - Colima
We spend the next four days exploring the many different habitats of
this marvelous area. We bird the twin volcanos of the Volcán de
Fuego (Volcano of Fire, and still steaming) and the Volcán de
Nieve (Volcano of Ice) and the adjacent agricultural lands. The rich,
dense forests along the volcano's lower slopes and the highland of Volcán
de Fuego are home to some great birds, such as Black-capped, Golden and
Dwarf Vireos, Long-tailed Wood-Partridge, Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo,
and Red Warbler. The forests ring to the marvelous song of the Brown-backed
Solitaire, an amazing singer. Mixed-species feeding flocks are often
encountered, holding a rich assortment of goodies, perhaps Gray-collared
Becard, Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer or Golden-browed Warbler. Hummingbirds
are well represented, and we should have an impressive list by the end
of our stay here. In the drier, open pine-oak forest we could find Spotted
Wren, Buff-breasted Flycatcher and Black-headed Siskin. We will bird
the nearby agricultural areas for Banded Quail, White-tailed Hawk and
Crested Caracara, and possibly Lesser Roadrunner. Night birds that are
possible include Balsas Screech-Owl and Buff- collared Nightjar. Nights
in Colima.
Day
12 -
Volcan de Fuego
Driving toward Guadalajara, we make a detour to look for more highland
forest specialties at the base of Volcán de Fuego, and drive
through the extensive, waterbird-filled marshes of Sayula. Night
in Guadalajara.
Day
13 - Departure
Our tour ends after breakfast, and departure from the Guadalajara
Airport. Participants may have the option to return to Puerto
Vallarta.
What To Expect
Our daily travel
schedule will vary to account for weather, bird species and habitat.
We will often want to be out birding early in the morning—we
may have breakfast before dawn or take a box breakfast into the field.
In addition, there will be a few optional late evening expeditions
in search of nocturnal birds for those interested. The tour will involve
generally easy walking and some hill climbing and it may be muddy in
one or two places. There will be a couple of long drives of up to five
or six hours, but we will be stopping at two or three places along
the way to break up these journeys into shorter segments. When we have
two leaders, we sometimes split into “faster” and “slower” groups.
Around noon time we will stop to have a picnic lunch or, usually, for
a sit-down meal at a restaurant. If it is hot, as it can be in western
Mexico, we may rest
for an hour or so during the middle of the afternoon. During dinner we usually
discuss the day’s activities and review the list of birds seen and heard.
We will be visiting in the dry season, but we may encounter showers late in
the
day. During our time in Tepic and on Volcán de Fuego, when we are at higher
elevations, we will encounter cooler weather. For the most part, January is a
season of high bird activity and a lovely time to visit Mexico.
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