The passengers were warned to wear long sleeves and long pants and insecticide. None of that turned out to be needed. Not a bug in sight. We did need our hats.
I had visions of walking through a swamp or a jungle but we walked alongside a golf course. The site was only 10 minutes from the ship and surrounded by condos and upscale hotels.
The golf course was ringed with trees that attract birds. We saw a variety of species but only a few of each. Some of the birds we saw were endemic, meaning they are only found in this area.
We saw a Golden Cheeked Woodpecker--causing one of the gals to be ecstatic.
Here is a better picture of it from tomsap dot com.
I don't remember what this one with the top flare is called.
I don't remember what this one with the top flare is called.
The most spectacular was the Citreoline Trogon. I have never before seen a Trogon to my knowledge. Here is a photo from ebird.
The guide was a real birder. He could recognize birds by song and also make the song and call the birds to us. He carried a telescope on a stand. When he saw a bird that was holding still, he set up the view and we just stepped up to take a look.
When I saw the Citreoline through the viewer, I was so excited. I exclaimed, “Oh!” and stepped away quickly so others could have a look. Unfortunately, I kicked the stand with my foot and knocked it out of alignment. The bird flew away just as
the guide got the scope was repositioned.
I don't recognize this bird, either.
We saw a couple of examples of the Doubleday Hummingbird, another endemic bird.
The West Mexican Chachalaca is endemic and it’s a big bird. Here is a picture from ebird.
It reminds me of a grouse or turkey.
The last endemic bird was the Yellow-Winged Cacique which is like an Oriole. This picture is from Wikipedia.
We saw a Baltimore Oriole which was on migration. The other migrating birds were the Yellow Warbler, the Orchard Oriole, the Hooded Oriole, the Solitary Sandpiper and the Northern Shoveler.
Two of the most colorful birds were the Orange Fronted Parakeet and the White Fronted Parakeet. They are residents in the area. The other resident birds that we saw were the Magnificent Frigatebird, the Snowy Egret, the Grey Hawk, the Cinnamon Hummingbird, the Great Kiskadee, the White-Throated Magpie-Jay, the Rufous-naped Wren, the White Lored Gnatcatcher, and the Great-Tailed Grackle. There were lots of Grackles and they are something of a nuisance.
Our guide was alfonsogabriel@hotmail.com. He
goes by Fonzie or Pancho. He said his mother calls him Panchito. He works for www.avesdemexico.com.
He is a great
guy and gave us a wonderful, if warm, three hours around the golf course.
We also walked a short way near a viaduct. I got a few fuzzy pictures of birds. I was hot and exhausted and took a two hour nap when I got home which is unusual for me.
