Short West Mexico 4
Posted by Brian Gibbons
Brian Gibbons
Brian Gibbons was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He took an interest in all things wild at a young age, but has specialized in birds since age 10. Brian graduated from S...Our first evening on the patio at Rancho Primavera was interrupted by a cooperative, but distant, Laughing Falcon. Perhaps it was part of the welcoming party. Rancho Primavera is a comfortable birding lodge with excellent food, beautiful surroundings, and great birding in a diversity of habitats. Pine oak forest at an elevational range above 650 meters hosted several unique birds, as did each habitat we visited. Tropical deciduous forest along the Bioto Road was in middle elevations, and below that we birded the Thorn forest which hosted many West Mexican endemics, the star of which was Red-breasted Chat. Acacia scrub, freshwater ponds, estuaries, mangroves, and coastal beaches were some of the other habitats we birded. We saw more than 110 species during the day that we spent on the ranch, proving the diversity of Rancho Primavera and its environs. For the week, we saw 230 species, an excellent total considering we never traveled more than 50 kilometers away from the ranch. The scenery of the mountains and coast just added to our experience.
It was difficult to pick the “bird of the trip,” but I tipped the scale to one of my perennial favorites, the Russet-crowned Motmot, which we were able to study in detail on the ranch. This bird is known as pajaro reloj (clock bird) in some parts of Mexico, for its pendulum-like tail swinging. Other ranch highlights included the female Sparkling-tailed Woodstar that briefly delayed one afternoon’s siesta. The hummingbird feeders were always entertaining to watch, with as many as five species zipping around. The Black-vented Orioles kept Pat up to date on the level in the oriole feeder. When it was empty they would become very vocal until the feeder was filled.
We saw a nice variety of raptors. Our best day was in the Cruz de Loreto area where we saw five Roadside Hawks. We also had great opportunities to study the differences between Turkey Vulture and Zone-tailed Hawk. Northern Jacanas livened up the freshwater ponds including those on the ranch. I always enjoy hearing Military Macaws, even distant flyovers. One of our tour highlights came with one of the most widespread birds in the world, the Barn Owl. Who could ever forget the local kids in the churchyard clambering for their turn at the scope? Our enjoyment rivaled theirs. Thirteen species of hummingbirds were tallied for the tour. Mexican Hermit and the Woodstar were definite stars. The scope views of Green Kingfisher along the stream at the entrance to the ranch were great. (I hope you enjoy my digiscoped shots.) One sight I enjoy every year is the magpie-jays with their floppy tails as they fly past.
We counted 21 species of warblers for the tour; many were winter visitors from temperate North America. Orange-breasted Bunting, the favorite among many participants, is another of the long list of amazing Mexican endemics that we saw. Five species of orioles rounded out the bright yellow and orange birds list. We also had six species of buntings?a tour first.
It is almost impossible to pick a single favorite bird or event on this tour. We did, but in actuality we had more than 200 highlights. Nearly all the birds we saw were special. Thank you for choosing VENT. I look forward to seeing you on another VENT tour.