West Mexico: Puerto Vallarta - San Blas

It was nice to wake up to the sound of waves crashing on the shore just 30 metres from our hotel rooms and American Oystercatchers calling away. 

A pretty cool place to wake up to right....

After a huge breakfast we birded our way back to the highway some 40kms away and began with a pair of West Mexican Chachalacas beside the track leading away from the hotel, followed by the first of many Orange-breasted Buntings, Nutting’s Flycatcher, Thick-billed Kingbird and a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet all coming in to our owlet impersonation. And it was really cool to see this fly past us...

Northern Crested Caracara

A few Orange-breasted Buntings from this morning (endemic)

Thick-billed Kingbird

A short way further along the road and more birds came in to our owlet tape including our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird and a showy White-bellied Wren amongst lots of commoner species.

White-bellied Wren

The next stop was great as so many birds appeared in the trees around us, but this time we saw quite a few Lucy’s Warblers, along with a young male Citreoline Trogon, a Yellow-breasted Chat scolded away from a brush pile in the field behind us, a Black-and-white Warbler clambered around the branches of a bare tree right next to us and a Willow Flycatcher called from its perch nearby. 

Black-and-white Warbler

Western Willow Flycatcher

As we drove a few more kilometres we noticed a small pool had lots of birds and my vehicle stopped to scan the area and resulted in 5 species of bunting coming in and pride of place went to the two male Painted Buntings, but there was also Blue, Orange-breasted, Lazuli and Indigo as well. Meanwhile the front van had cripplingly close views of a Red-breasted Chat. Once everyone had seen the buntings, and it was a shame we couldn’t get on to the calling Purplish-backed Jays we returned to see the Red-breasted Chat and this time a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl flew in. 

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Further on a Bat Falcon was spotted by Julie, before a Grey Hawk and 2 Hook-billed Kites flew over, and a Green-crowned Emerald appeared. 

Grey Hawk

Oh and we had a cracking male Citreoline Trogon posing right in front of us as well. 

Citreoline Trogon (endemic)

Our final stop of the morning, and by now it was almost 11am, finally scored with a female Black-capped Vireo appearing amidst a flurry of other agitated birds including Bell’s Vireo and Rufous-capped Warbler.

Black-capped Vireo

Then we drove through Puerto Vallarta and further north towards San Blas, seeing Roadside Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, our first Sinaloa Crow, brief Black-throated Magpie-Jays and a flyover Western Osprey. 

Sinaloa Crow (endemic)

Once at San Blas we checked out some pools and enjoyed an hour’s worth of easy birding, seeing Roseate Spoonbills, American Avocets, Short-billed Dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Least Sandpiper, lots of Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, and lots of American Alligators.

Least Sandpiper

Roseate Spoonbill

Tricolored Heron

Dinner time....

 It was a nice surprise to arrive at such a delightful hotel in the old town.

West Mexico: Volcan de Nieve

Started the day at sunrise on the slopes of Volcan de Nieve, and this time we made it up to around the Km15 marker before stopping. This necessitated a 6am departure from the hotel, with a quick stop to grab some coffee and food for breakfast from a gas station… Literally the first bird of the day was a superb Mexican endemic Russet Nightingale-Thrush posing beside the track and it really didn’t seem to mind being watched and photographed as it remained in the same spot for several minutes. Yes! 

Russet Nightingale-Thrush (endemic)

But we were on a mission to find some new hummers and with just a few hours to spare before the long drive north towards Puerto Vallarta we set off higher up the volcano to an area that had a lot of flowers. Here we had a ‘hummer fest’ with Mexican Violetear, White-eared, a cracking male and several female Rufous, and several Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. 

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird 

I was particularly pleased to catch up with a female Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem which I had missed yesterday. 

Amethyst-throated Mountain-Gem

However, the star bird and after a 21 year wait I finally nailed Colima Warbler – after poor views in Big Bend, Texas when I was just a nipper! It appeared right beside the track at head height, feeding quietly in a dense bush and was on view for just a short while but it was close and in the bag. OH YES! There were also plenty of Gray Silky-Flycatchers, a near-endemic as it just hops over the border into Guatemala. 

Gray Silky-Flycatcher

The other goodie of the morning was a fantastic Red Warbler beside the track and apart from a large warbler flock containing all the usual suspects we had reached the end of our time here as it was 11am. When I tell you we finally reached the hotel on the seashore south of Puerto Vallarta at a little before 8pm, you’ll understand how tired I was feeling having driven for 9 hours to get here! We did see a few birds along the road but nothing new and with the prospect of wifi and field notes to type it was a late night for me! Oh but a calling Common Pauraque was too hard to resist and it gave exceptionally close views and flew around a couple of us repeatedly to round off yet another top day.

West Mexico: Volcan de Nieve

What better way to start another brilliant day’s birding under a cloudless blue sky than with a calling Collared Forest-Falcon? We drove up to over 10,000 feet today along a better track than yesterday, but only just! Our next stop was at an open area where we scanned the opposite slope and discovered Brown-throated Wren, Collared Towhee and Rufous-capped Brush-Finch. I was really pleased to see White-eared Hummingbird this morning, having missed it in Arizona last year as we were too early. Once we reached the first conifers we saw Brown Creeper, another obliging Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo, and a bunch of other common warblers. 

Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo (endemic)

It really is quite phenomenal to see so many warblers every day on this tour. Continuing higher there was Grace’s Warbler, a Green-striped Brush-Finch feeding in the track, Hammond’s Flycatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Rufous Hummingbird, but we only heard a Mountain Pygmy Owl.

Next up was Olive Warbler, Hepatic Tanager, Golden-browed Warbler, Copper-tailed and Mountain Trogons and for a few lucky individuals an Amethyst-throated Mountain-gem. It’s quite tricky getting to grips with hummers here as you have to stake out the lines of flowers in the forest and they don’t stay very long, so be quick! But everyone saw more White-eared Hummingbirds, as well as Rivoli’s (Magnificent) Hummingbird. 

Rivoli's Hummingbird

As we got higher Mexican Chickadees became common although it took me a while to see the first one, and Golden-crowned Kinglets were numerous. A singing Mexican Violetear was scoped at the top of a conifer, and we watched a Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer doing what it does among some red flowers and a Grey-breasted Wood-Wren did its best to distract us. 

We’d been hoping all day for a Red Warbler and after a few brief single observer sightings we finally tracked one down for all to see at 5pm – it had only taken 10 hours to find it! It was unfortunate that only Gary really had a tickable view of a Colima Warbler in a quick-moving warbler flock later in the day.

But we still had time to visit the wetlands again where Sora and Virginia Rails appeared again, plus Black-crowned Night-heron, Tricoloured Heron, Common Yellowthroat and Least Grebe.

West Mexico: Volcan de Fuego

Today we visited the other side of the ‘Volcano of Fire’ and began another cracking day’s birding in Mexico with an Elegant Euphonia singing at the start of the dirt track. 

Elegant Euphonia

A little further up a Hook-billed Kite soared overhead before landing briefly in a nearby tree and in the same area we also saw several Black-headed Grosbeaks, Curve-billed Thrasher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Short-tailed Hawk, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Indigo Bunting and Western Tanager. These lower slopes were mainly being used for agriculture and it was tricky to find some weedy/scrubby slopes but at one of the first ones we checked, a covey of Banded Quail scuttled out from the fence line and out of sight – but straight onto our life lists! 

Banded Quail - another Mexican endemic

Our luck was truly in today as we found another Lesser Roadrunner, this one doing what roadrunners should be doing and running along a dirt road. Fantastic! It came really close towards us and even perched up on a fence post before disappearing. 

Lesser Roadrunner - found from W Mexico to Nicaragua

Continuing up the sunny hillside via a bumpy dirt track we also found a few birds feeding in a fruiting tree including Cassin’s and a Dwarf Vireo, Blue Grosbeak, Greenish Elaenia, White-striped Woodcreeper, Gray Silky-Flycatcher, and some of us saw a Long-tailed Wood-Partridge scuttle cross the track in front of us. 

White-striped Woodcreeper (endemic)

Higher up amidst mixed oak-pine woodland we saw Hermit Warbler, Plumbeous Vireo, Bridled Titmouse, Brown-backed Solitaire, Townsend’s Warbler, Olive Warbler and eventually nailed a superb Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo. 

Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo (endemic)

Our picnic lunch was in a nice location in the forest and during this time we kept ourselves busy with Painted and Slate-throated Whitestarts, Tufted Flycatcher, a gang of Transvolcanic Jays, Crescent-chested Warbler, Red-faced Warbler, and a pair of Grey-barred Wrens. Moving lower we found a pair of skulking Golden-browed Warblers, followed by a pair of Collared Towhees and also a brief Rufous-capped Brush-Finch.

Sora Rail 

Virginia Rail

Leaving here we visited the Ciudad Guzman wetlands and found Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater (split from White-collared Seedeater), Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, Least Sandpiper, Cinnamon and Green-winged Teals and lots of other common species along a quiet side road. Moving on to another nice spot we called in Sora and Virginia Rails before watching 1000’s of Yellow-headed Blackbirds flying through the valley to their roost. It was quite a day!