Baja California, Mexico May 2013

Transcription

1 Baja California, Mexico May 2013 My wife, daughter and I spent a week in Baja California Sur, Mexico as the conclusion of our extended trip round western Canada and the USA the subject of a separate report. We had spent a lot of time on the road so the main object of our week in Mexico was relaxation: we did not travel far for sightseeing or birding, in fact we didn t need to. We flew in to San Jose del Cabo (also known as Los Cabos) airport from Las Vegas on a US Airways flight and flew out by United Airlines to San Francisco and then by Air Canada to Vancouver before returning to London. We hired a four-wheel drive Ford Escape from private renter Dominic Los Cabos ( It was good to have a hire car that could handle unmetalled roads and blended in with local vehicles. Because we needed to keep baggage to a minimum, I only used Sibley s North American bird guide, having established that it covered most of the birds in this part of Mexico. I reckoned that any Baja California endemics I saw could be identified from the internet. Birds new to me are shown in bold. Monday 13 May We collected our hire car and after stocking up on supplies headed north up the Gulf coast to Buena Vista, near the small resort of Los Barriles, seeing turkey vultures on the way. Tuesday 14 May Casa Wills ( was situated near the beach in a strip of palm trees and lush vegetation with the clear blue sea in front and cactus forest behind. Excellent bird habitat right outside the front door - the garden had native trees and large cacti and was next to an overgrown arroyo (dry river valley). In the early morning the garden and surrounding area was alive with birds calling noisily hooded orioles, white-winged doves, phainopeplas, northern cardinals, house finches, cactus wrens, Gila and ladder-backed woodpeckers, a verdin, an ash-throated flycatcher, and a pair of California quails. We d recently spent a few weeks in southeastern Arizona, seeing similar birds in gardens, but I was very impressed at the abundance of birds here, and also by the beauty of the surroundings. Inland is a lot like the low-lying Arizona of Phoenix or Tucson (the cardon cactus here is even bigger than the saguaro of Arizona) and the coastal strip is green and peaceful, with only low-rise buildings. We didn t go far from the house on the first day, giving me a chance to research the immediately local area more thoroughly. I used Google images to identify a confusing thrasher I d seen in the garden that looked like curve-billed but with a spotted breast: the endemic grey thrasher.

2 Grey thrasher, Buena Vista The arroyo next to the house is a permissive path down to the beach, where magnificent frigatebirds and brown pelicans patrolled and the occasional double-crested cormorant flew past. In the arroyo a tiny hummingbird with a prominent white supercilium on a dark green head confused me until I realized it was another Baja endemic: a male Xanthus s hummingbird. A crested caracara flew along the beach. Phainopepla, Buena Vista In the desert scrub behind the house a jackrabbit, a California quail and a phainopepla vied for my attention but what took over was a plain brown, unstreaked bunting without wing bars and with a large bill surely a female varied bunting. I tried many times to find the same bird or another (preferably male) but without success.

3 Female varied bunting, Buena Vista Wednesday 15 May An early morning stroll from the house added black-throated sparrow; over the next few days I also found Scott s oriole, pyrrhuloxia and common ground-dove here as well as more Xanthus s hummingbirds. Female Xanthus s hummingbird, Buena Vista

4 After breakfast we drove across the peninsula to Todos Santos on the Pacific Coast, seeing on the way more crested caracaras along with red-tailed hawks, American kestrels and western scrub-jays. After looking round the attractive colonial town of Todos Santos (which has the original Hotel California) we drove to the turtle nesting beach, where a male Xanthus s hummingbird and a hooded oriole were at the end of the track and in the ocean were brown pelicans and double-crested cormorants. A short walk southwards along the beach brought us to a small reed-fringed lagoon which lies between the town and the sea. Here were black-necked grebes, American coots, ruddy duck, cinnamon teal, redheads, spotted sandpipers and a snowy egret. A few miles south at Playa San Pedro there were least terns and more frigatebirds and pelicans. Thursday 16 May We decided to climb Table Mountain, a flat-topped hill near La Ribera that we could see from Casa Wills. Following a well-marked trail we saw ash-throated flycatchers, black-throated sparrows and verdins. At the top a patrolling turkey vulture gave us a close inspection before leaving us alone. Elephant tree, Table Mountain Friday 17 May By now we d put out some oranges for the birds, and the species list became impressive. A raucous family party of cactus wrens squabbled over specks of citrus all day long, often joined by hooded and Scott s orioles, grey thrashers and house finches. A ground squirrel also tucked in and narrowly avoided becoming a meal for a ctenosaur that crept down a tree trunk.

5 Scott s oriole, ladder-backed woodpecker and ground squirrel watched by ctenosaur, Casa Wills, Buena Vista In the afternoon we drove inland past the town s rubbish dump to the village of Ramon el Coro, a few hundred metres above Buena Vista. Masses of raptors hung around the dump red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures and crested caracaras - and a roadrunner sprinted across the road. In the roadside cactus forest were some California towhees (actually they looked more like canyon towhees but these do not occur) and a blue-grey gnatcatcher. Watching the sea from the verandah as dusk fell, a lesser nighthawk flew south above the palm trees, twisting to take insects as it flew. Like the varied bunting, I had no further success in seeing this species despite trying on subsequent evenings. Saturday 18 May An hour s drive south along dirt roads brought us to Cabo Pulmo, where there is a coral reef a short distance offshore. As we sat on the beach an osprey flew over but the only other birds we saw were brown pelicans. The turtle-nesting beach in the next bay north was also devoid of wildlife, and extremely hot. We left the area feeling glad we d seen it, but also glad we weren t staying in this rather barren and isolated area.

6 Brown pelican taking off, Cabo Pulmo Sunday 19 May On our last morning I went back to the rubbish dump area, which was even busier with scavenging birds than before. Crested caracaras sat in the tops of low trees making their weird turkey-like gobbling call, ravens and turkey vultures looked on, and some violet-green swallows swooped overhead. Crested caracaras, Ramon el Coro rubbish dump Back at our villa a Gila woodpecker was pecking away at our oranges and as we packed up a couple of magnificent frigatebirds drifted over the house.

7 Gila woodpecker and magnificent frigatebirds, Casa Wills, Buena Vista Our week in Baja California was the perfect way to round off our busy Canada/USA/Mexico road trip. The weather was glorious, there was plenty of bird interest and everywhere we went the people were friendly and helpful. We didn t want to travel far afield - with a little effort we could have seen more birds, for example by making a day trip to the La Paz area but were content to familiarize ourselves with the excellent birds in the immediate vicinity of our accommodation. I d recommend the Los Barriles/Buena Vista area to anyone who wants to combine a relaxing spell in the sunshine with some decent birding. Baja California doesn t have the same degree of species diversity as mainland tropical Mexico. I saw 44 bird species, of which five were lifers. As there were only 11 possible lifers for me I was pleased with this. In addition, 30 of the species were birds I had not previously seen in Central America.

8 Birds seen in Baja California Sur, Mexico, May 2013 Species Buena Vista Todos Santos Elsewhere Eared grebe 4+ Brown pelican 5+ 5+, also 2 at Playa San Pedro 2 Cabo Pulmo Double-crested cormorant 5 3 Magnificent frigatebird at Playa San Pedro Snowy egret 1 Cinnamon teal 2 Redhead 5 Ruddy duck c10 Turkey vulture Common Common 20+ on road to Ramon el Coro Red-tailed hawk 2 en route to Todos Santos 1 on road to Ramon el Coro Osprey 1 Cabo Pulmo Crested caracara 1 5+ en route to Todos Santos 4+ Table Mountain area 10+ on road to Ramon el Coro American kestrel 2+ en route to Todos Santos 2 en route to Cabo Pulmo California quail 3+ Heard elsewhere but not seen American coot 10+ Spotted sandpiper 1 (on beach) 2 Herring gull 1 1 Least tern 6+ at Playa San Pedro White- winged dove Abundant (occupied nest) Common Common Common ground-dove 2 Greater roadrunner 2 en route to Cabo Pulmo 1 on road to Ramon el Coro Lesser nighthawk 1 Xanthus s hummingbird 4+ 1 Gila woodpecker Abundant Common Common everywhere Ladder-backed woodpecker 2 (occupied nest) Ash-throated flycatcher Table Mountain Western scrub-jay 1 en route to Todos Santos 3+ on road to Ramon el Coro Common raven 2 3 on road to Ramon el Coro Violet-green swallow 3 on road to Ramon el Coro Verdin 4 (2 adults with 2 juveniles) 1 Table Mountain Cactus wren Abundant (family parties) Abundant Abundant everywhere Blue-grey gnatcatcher 2 2 on road to Ramon el Coro Grey thrasher 5/6 Starling Common Phainopepla 5/6 Pyrrhuloxia 2+ Northern cardinal 2+ Varied bunting 1 California towhee 5/6 on road to Ramon el Coro Black-throated sparrow 1 1 Table Mountain Hooded oriole 2 1 Scott s oriole 1 House finch Abundant Abundant Abundant everywhere House sparrow Abundant Abundant Geoff Upton, Southern England