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Trip to San Blas, Mexico in January

If this works, I should like to report a super trip to San Blas, Mexico in
January.

San Blas, Mexico
11-19 January 2002

Tanya came and stayed the night of the tenth and took me to the airport
for an early morning flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where I was met by
Mark Stackhouse and David Wheeler.  Our lodging for the week was the Hotel
Garza Canela which was a delightful place operated by a family that
consisted of a mother, father, brother, and four sisters.  Each had
specific responsibilities. There was a fantastic gift shop.  I purchased a
T-shirt that had pictures of eight beautiful bird.  I waited until the
last day after I had seen all the birds.  We birded along the three hour
trip north to San Blas.  I was able to share a room with Susan Hinde from
Salt Lake.  The room had three beds and she took the single bed on the
other side of a wall so it was semi-private. Birds observed 11 Jan were
Blue-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Brown Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant,
Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great Egret, Snow Egret, White Ibis,
Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture,
Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler,
Green-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck, Gray Hawk, American Coot, Black-necked
Stilt, Northern Jacana, Heerman?s Gull Royal Tern, Rock Dove, Red-billed
Pigeon, Inca Dove, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Violet-crowned Hummingbird,
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, Dusky Flycatcher,
Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Nutting?s Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Bell?s
Vireo, San Blas Jay, Sinaloa Crow, Gray-breasted Martin, Happy Wren,
Sinaloa Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Nashville Warbler, MacGillivray?s
Warbler, Varied Bunting, Orange-breasted Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird,
Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole, Streak-backed
Oriole, Yellow-winged Cacique, Lesser Goldfinch.

12 Jan.  Our trip took us up the Rio San Cristobal to the freshwater marsh
at Las Marismas through the mangrove swamps in the morning and scrub near
the hotel in the afternoon.  Birds for this day included:  American White
Pelican, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron,
Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron,
Boat-billed Heron, White-faced Ibis, Muscovy Duck, Gadwall, American
Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaup, Osprey, Snail
Kite, Common Black Hawk, Great Black Hawk, Swainson?s Hawk, Zone-tailed
Hawk, Collared Forest Falcon, Crested Caracara, American Kestrel, Elegant
Quail, Common Moorhen, Limpkin, American Avocet, Greater Yellowlegs,
Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Curlew, Least Sandpiper,
Stilt Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Common
Snipe, Laughing Gull, Caspian Tern, White-winged Dove, Common Ground Dove,
Ruddy Ground Dove, White-fronted Parrot, Groove-billed Ani, Ferruginous
Pygmy Owl, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher,
Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, White-throated
Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Vermilion Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Social
Flycatcher, Thickbilled Kingbird, Rose-throated Becard, Mangrove Swallow,
Barn Swallow, Tropical Parula, Yellow Warbler, Yellow(Mangrove) Warbler,
Black and White Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, Common
Yellowthroat, Wilson?s Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Blue-black
Grassquit, White-collared Seedeater, Lark Sparrow, Lincoln Sparrow,
Painted Bunting, Brown-headed Cowbird.  On this day we saw 133 species.

13 Jan.  Early morning trip to Singayta jungle Mottled Owl, Lesser
Nighthawk, Common Pauraque, Golden-crowned(Forktailed) Emerald
Hummingbird, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Citreoline Trogon, Brown-crested
Flycatcher, Masked Tityra, Loggerhead Shrike, Black-capped Vireo, Warbling
Vireo, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Northern Mockingbird, Black-throated
Gray Warbler, Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, Grayish Saltator, Blue Grosbeak.
San Blas 2

14 Jan Took a boat to Elephant Rock which was covered with centuries of
whitewash from the birds that frequent the rock.  In the afternoon we took
the ferry to Playa del Rey also called Peso Island because the ferry used
to be a peso.  Birds for day four included:  Red-billed Tropicbird,
Double-crested Cormorant, Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Black-bellied Plover,
Black Skimmer, Rufous-backed Thrush, Rufous-backed (Grayson?s) Robin,
Louisiana Waterthrush.  The list is not so long because I have just listed
the first sightings.  Many of the same birds have been seen but not
listed.


15 Jan Our morning was spent birding the shade-coffee plantations at La
Bajada and the shores of Matanchen Bay.  In the afternoon we birded the
thorn-scrub forest near Crucero San Blas and the Military Macaws at
Mirador del Aguila.  Sightings for this day were: Eared Grebe, Northern
Harrier, Wilson?s Plover, Military Macaw, Elegant Trogon, Russet-crowned
Motmot, Lineated Woodpecker, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Ivory-billed
Woodcreeper, Tufted Flycatcher, Greater Pewee, Bright-rumped Attila,
Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Cassin?s Vireo, Golden Vireo, Black-throated
Magpie Jay, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Swainson?s Thrush,
White-throated Robin, Blue Mockingbird, Red-breasted Chat, Western
Tanager, Yellow Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark, House Sparrow.

16 Jan We arose very early to make a 2 hour drive to the pine-oak forests
on the remnant volcano, Cerro de San Juan.  We started at the bottom and
birded near the top in the afternoon.  Bird sightings included: Red-tailed
Hawk, Squirrel Cuckoo, Mexican Woodnymph Hummingbird, White-eared
Hummingbird, Berylline Hummingbird, Blue-throated Humingbird, Calliope
Hummingbird, Bumblebee Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker,
Arizona (Strickland?s) Woodpecker, Pine Flycatcher, Buff-breasted
Flycatcher, Say?s Phoebe, Cassin?s Kingbird, Green Jay, Violet-green
swallow, Spotted Wren, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown-backed
Solitaire, Gray Silky Flycatcher,, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Townsend?s
Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Painted Redstart, Slate-throated Redstart,
Rufous-capped Warbler, Hepatic Tanager, Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow,
Rusty Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Black-headed Grosbeak, House Finch,
Black-headed Siskin.  There were a few birds I didn?t see and suggested
that we come back on the eighth day which was set aside to find the ones
we missed.

17 Jan This morning we traveled to the upper end of the Singtayta jungle
and adjacent farm land. In the afternoon we took a boat trip to the San
Cristobal Estuary and stayed late enough to see the Northern Potoo.  I
took a late evening swim in the spring at the head of the estuary.  Birds
for the day were:  Reddish Egret, Crane Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Bat Falcon,
Mexican(Blue-rumped) Parrotlet, Northern Potoo (19), Chestnut-collared
Swift, Ringed Kingfisher, Russet Nightingale-Thrush, Fan-tailed Warbler,
Scrub Euphonia.

18 Jan We traveled back to Cerro de San Juan but birded early morning on
top.  We decided to try for a big day and ended up with 174 birds which
was a big day.  Birds sighted included: Pied-billed Grebe, Sharp-shinned
Hawk, Purple Gallinule, Mourning Dove, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Gila
Woodpecker, Hammond?s Flycatcher, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Common Raven,
Eastern Bluebird, Grace?s Warbler, Flame-colored Tanager, Chipping
Sparrow.


San Blas 3

19 Jan This is the last day and we birded again on Playa del Rey to see
what we could get in the morning.  Both trip to the island was memorable
for the ?no-see-ums?, tiny flying creatures much smaller than gnats.
Birds for this day were Purplish-backed Jay, Savannah Sparrow, Plumbeous
Vireo, and Stripe-headed Sparrow.  That made 271 birds for me and 281 for
the trip.  The weather was very pleasant--never did break a sweat--wore my
hat all the time and wore three layers for some days.  I didn?t use enough
insect repellent in the right places. Trip totaled 281 and I saw 271.  I
added 78 lifers to my list.  The only reason that I didn't have a longer
list is that I went with Westwings to Vera Cruz in October 2000 where the
totals were 234 with l06 lifers.  I highly recommend the trip for the
personal care of the guides in their attempts to have everyone see the
"Treasures on Wings".  Flora Duncan