Winter Mexican Tour Y2K16, Days 3-5: North of San Blas, La Bajada, Cerro San Juan

After winning all morning at Lower Singayta, we decided to go shrimp ponding north of San Blas. There are a large number of shrimp ponds out this way, and since four our of five of us needed Collared Plover, it seemed like a logical place to bird late in the afternoon.

The shrimp ponds were extremely birdy....a nice variety of waders, some gulls, some terns, sandpipers, passerines in the mangroves....great area to wrack up a big species list. However, we dipped on Collared Plover...which we would do for the rest of the time in Mexico. If a nemesis bird exists for me south of the border, it is this goddamn plover.

We came across one pond filled to the brim with wood storks. I've never seen so many in one place.

Wood Storks galore! Here is our best checklist from birding this area, which we visited multiple days.

At different points in the week we ran into local birding luminaries Mark Stackhouse and Francisco Garcia, who both offered good birding advice. They were both pretty stoked on Chacalilla, one of the emerging hotspots in the area. Chacalilla is a short drive from San Blas, and essentially any of the roads leading out of town can offer quality birding (thorn forest, open country and wetland birds). Here is male Orchard Oriole posing pleasantly, south of town.

The view east of Chcalilla; note the pendant cacique nests hanging off the tree. Shortly after this photo was taken, the sky became plagued with Lesser Nighthawks.

There are hella Common Black-Hawks down Mexico way, this one in Chacalilla. We saw several black-hawks that we were never able to ID to species, so there is a decent chance we saw Great Black-Hawk at some point and didn't know it. Birding is hard.

On Day 4 the nerds went to La Bajada, where the birding was not quite facemelting but it ended up being very, very good. Lifers for me this morning were Mexican Woodnymph, Gray-crowned Woodpecker, Rosy Thrush-Tanager (!!!), Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrow, Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, and Yellow Grosbeak. Not bad eh? Another highlight was an enormous fruiting fig (aka "the miracle tree") that was overflowing with Citreoline Trogons and other frugivores...I've never seen a tree overflowing with trogons before, and I highly recommend it. You can see our La Bajada checklist right here.

On Day 5 the nerds went further afield, out to Cerro San Juan. We approached via the traditional northern route (Mark suggested approaching from the south instead, but we got lost). Birding was steady but never overwhelming...gobs of Tufted Flycatchers, some Slate-throated Redstarts, lots of Berylline Hummingbirds. Finally we got to the big open area where the road reached its highest elevation, and things got really interesting here. We started running into lots of nice flocks, and the abundance of hummingbirds was impressive...eventually we found a particular field that was buzzing with Rufous, White-eared and Berylline Hummingbirds...I've never seen anything quite like it, it was heck of intense. More and more trip birds began to appear...White-striped Woodcreeper (lifer!), Pine (lifer!) and Buff-breasted Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird, Eastern Bluebird, Grace's and Crescent-chested Warblers, etc.

The open area around La Noria is known for its accommodating population of Spotted Wrens. They did not disappoint.

The number of Greater Pewees we saw in Mexico leads me to believe that there are far more Greater Pewees in the world than I had previously conceived of. Don't worry, they never got old.

There was a lot of fear and loathing when it came to hummingbirds on this trip. One of the high-priority target birds for all of us was Bumblebee Hummingbird, which we successfully dipped on excessively. We spent a significant amount of time at the right elevation/habitats, but we were empty-handed in the end. Pain. Calliope Hummingbirds like this one offered false hope on several occasions, but hey seeing a Calliope is a lot better than seeing nothing at all.

It turns out that there are a shitload of White-eared Hummingbirds out there in the world. This should not surprise me, yet somehow it does. One would think I would have crippling photos to show for it, but I am putting this questionable one up instead. Blogging works in mysterious ways.

A long time ago, in a county far far away, I saw a Gray Silky-Flycatcher. It was in suitable habitat...suitable habitat in Orange County. It was weird. It was a known bird, and the ruthless Bird Police used their malevolent powers to reject the record based on grounds of uncertain origin. There are those who are still butthurt about this.

Finally, after all those years, I have seen other Gray Silky-Flycatchers. They have eluded me in Mexico before, but not anymore. They are birds impressive in mellowness and plumage. I counted this individual as a lifer. It felt really, really good.

In the afternoon, a random walk in the woods led to one of the best and most mesmerizing flocks of the trip, which was illuminated by this glowing male Flame-colored Tanager. More on those birds next time.

10,000 Oranges

The orange is a fruit of great import to Felonious Jive, the Great Ornithologist. Go to 10,000 Birds and see what the good word is.

And as a side note, for some reason my camera cannot correctly expose a photograph with a male Orchard Oriole in it. I don't know why. Very frustrating.

Steady Birding at South Padre Island and Suffering Through Years of Failure

Worm-eating Warblers absolutely live for dead leaf clusters. I am tempted to say something like "you show me dead leaf clusters and I will show you Worm-eating Warblers" but that's taking it a bit too far. We are getting deep into April but they are still coming through.

I'm starting to fall into a pattern you guys. When I first got here, I would go birding all over the place. This is no longer the case. Now I only really want to go birding at one place; South Padre Island. South Padre is the local migrant trap for birds coming across the gulf, and as I am a big proponent of spring migration, this is the place to go. You have probably figured this out, as every BB&B post for weeks has featured SPI. Hell, yesterday at the convention center I was confronted by three BB&B readers I've never met from Napa/Fairfield (I hope you guys slayed in Corpus), which probably speaks to how predictable I am. The birding is really picking up out there, although nothing truly epic yet.

What can I say? Sure I could go west, up the Rio Grande, and try to hunt down some ABA birds (White-collared seedeater, Red-billed Pigeon, Muscovy Duck), but I've never prided myself on my ABA list and you just never know what you might find on the coast. And since I've never seen Swainson's or Cerulean Warblers, I have no choice but go to the coast.

It is relevant, at this point, to point that out that I would be willing to do horrific, despicable things to get my eyes on a Cerulean Warbler. The bird haunts me. I have heard one many years ago (Quabbin Reservoir, MA), but that's it. I dipped on one at Sheepshead last week, which was subsequently seen the day after. The weekend before, I went up to Corpus Christi and Port Aransas in a pathetic (but otherwise enjoyable) attempt to find this bird. In my signed copy of Dunn and Garrett's Warblers, Jon writes "find a Cerulean for your county"...talk about suffering through years of failure. I have even seen one in a dream. Maybe they are the whole reason I am here...but that is too heavy to think about on a Monday.

I suspect this may be the last Louisiana Waterthrush I will see this spring. Note the blazing supercilium, lightly-marked breast and long bill.

And here are the other desirable field marks; buffy flanks and obviously pink legs. I've found that Northern Waterthrushes are disturbingly variable in appearance, but LOWA are pretty consistent in the field marks they offer.

Having no previous experience birding the Gulf during spring migration, I knew it was going to be a learning experience in terms of how abundant (or rare) different species are. Blue-winged Warbler is pleasantly reliable to find on any given day.

The Blue-winged Warblers here have a special knack for being really easy to see but a total pain in the ass to get acceptable photos of. This is pretty typical. As you can see, some of them wield mighty facemelt, but take their privacy rights very seriously.

Yellow-throated Warbler is another early migrant (and uncommon winter resident) that are tapering off now, unfortunately. Here is a typically fantastic yellow-lored bird, which I'm told is unusual here. However, members of the white-lored group (albilora) can have yellow lores. Don't know why this isn't dominica though. Do you?

This bird is interesting. The forecrown is not solidly black, which points toward being a female or immature. There is a dull yellowish wash in the supraloral area, but when zoomed in (you'll have to trust me) it is confined to the upper half of the otherwise white stripe...I am inclined to think this is a white-lored (albilora) bird with either pollen on its face (many Tennessee Warblers here get this) or a mild yellowish wash (not unusual either), or perhaps a young yellow-lored (dominica) bird, which as I mentioned is unexpected here.

A couple other things are indicative of the bird being albilora...for one, if that is not pollen they often do have yellowish lores (per Dunn and Garrett) and the very top of the bird's chin is actually white (you'll have to trust me again). I also know how horribly dry this all is, but these are the exercises #7 must run through. 

There are many confiding migrants on South Padre on any given day. For example, yesterday I pulled up next to a male Scarlet Tanager that was lying in the middle of a street. I thought it had gotten hit by a car, because I was way too close to it for the bird to be sane. Nope, I was wrong. It had just decided to kill and dismantle a huge insect right there in the median. Anyways, most Black-throated Green Warblers I run into are similarly trusting. 

Do you see? Trust. This is the face of Trust.

I thought fruit was popular with birds in the tropics...well, put some up in a migrant trap around here and see what happens. The orioles, Orchard and Baltimore (above), devour these things with reckless abandon...not to mention Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Tennessee Warblers, Summer and Scarlet Tanagers, and other good 'uns.

Baltimore Oriole is one of the most abundant migrants right now. About two weeks ago, they would get flagged in eBird. Things change quickly when migration is in full spring.

There is no shortage of horrible-looking young male Orchard Orioles that do their best to trick unwitting birders. Their impression of immature male Hooded Oriole is spot on. In Sibley (original version), a 1st summer male is illustrated (useful) but no identifying features are mentioned whatsoever (humorous).

People are a little more familiar and comfortable with identifying female Orchard Orioles (myself included), despite a similarly strong resemblance to their Hooded counterpart. 

Vagrants Become You

Tropical Kingbird. Manila (Humboldt County). Naked eye identification while going 55 mph. The bird wasn't even on the same street. That's why they call me "Number 7".

Unlike last fall, I have not decided to boycott birdwatching this year. This strategy has failed in getting any life birds (the one-day-wonder San Francisco Northern Wheater would have been one), and has succeeded in burning lots of money and gasoline. But most importantly (for me), I've actually been seeing a lot of good birds. Tufted Duck, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-throated Pipit, Cape May Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Red-throated Pipit, Clay-colored, Swamp and White-throated Sparrows, and Lapland Longspur are a few not pictured today. Just remembering them gives me the warm fuzzies.

"Good birds", in birder parlance, just means rare birds. Due to their obvious rarity, it's bloody hard to get pictures of rare birds, and so I find the most fitting shots of rare birds are the worst possible pictures (see Lucy's Warbler below). It's a good thing I am not a photographer, or else I would bring much Shame and Dishonor to my family.

Right. Here are a few decent birds from northern California, a veritable Shangri-la of vagrants. Bird here.

Orchard Oriole. Point Reyes. We walked up and someone pointed to this "Hooded Oriole". But the pictures tell a different story. Unfortunately for you, there is nothing in this image that would allude to either species. I just like the picture.

Tundra Swan. Pomponio State Beach. A rare bird in many parts of the state. Adults, being swans, appear very graceful, but this juvenile seems to be smiling about it's giant, pink, runny shnoz.

Yellow-throated Warbler. San Francisco. The same one as pictured a couple weeks ago. Hella rare. It's still here.

American Tree Sparrow. Point Reyes. Dan and I found this rufous-capped northern beast on the side of the road. 

The infamous Yellow-billed Loon. Sunnyvale. Many photographers got better pictures of it than me, but I never thought I would be lucky enough to get Yellow-billed Loon shots. This is the first one I've seen since the 90's...

Summer Tanager. San Francisco. The best birds to chase are the ones right down the street from your house.

Blackpoll Warbler. Arcata. Rob Fowler pished it in. Not super rare, but it was a Humboldt County bird for me.

Prairie Warbler. Point Reyes. I wonder if the disgruntled birder we ran into ever got to see it. If not, she probably went home and hurt herself. She really wanted to see it.

Ancient Murrelets. Half Moon Bay. While not insanely rare, its safe to say that this would be a life bird for many a birder out there. We were lucky enough to see over 30 birds last week, which is the most I've seen in California.

Lucy's Warbler. San Francisco. I think this is the quintessential rarity shot.

Greater White-fronted Goose. San Francisco. Not very rare, but I had to follow up the Lucy's Warbler with a better picture...

I'm In Another State, Another State Of Mind

Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel. Hella liney. Lostwood NWR, ND.

Between all the coffee, finding my lifer Hudsonian Godwit this morning, and realizing that I will be out of here in one week, I'm feeling pretty damn giddy. I'm even listening to some ancient Social Distortion that I haven't heard in years (Mommy's Little Monster). It's still good.

Mmmmmm....life birds. If only you nonbirders could understand all the connotations of seeing a new bird species, you would stop asking annoying questions like "Why the fuck do you watch birds?". A life bird brings on high levels of Stoke, with many different layers...everything from appreciating the aesthetic beauty of a bird for the first time, having (nerd) pride in finding it yourself, feeling some serious geeky redemption because you've been looking for the damn thing for the better part of your lifetime (as with me and the godwit).

It's an awkward question to give a casual answer to, especially since I don't have a prepared answer. I should just stick to "Birds are fucking sick, that's why"...because this is true, after all. And if someone is confused by what I mean by "sick", then that's even better.

Bobolink flight display. Ah, the halcyon days of...of...a couple months ago. Lostwood NWR, ND.

Even if you really don't give a shit about our feathered friends, it's kind of awkward to ask someone why they chose to pretty much have their life revolve around one thing. It would be like asking a Christian "So, what's the big deal about Jesus? Dude died hella long ago. Get over it." Or asking a business executive, "So....your entire adult life has revolved around nothing but making money? How is being greedy and shallow going for you?". I mean, I get it, birding is super weird, but the benefits it brings to the birder are often hard to describe, aside from the super casual birdwatcher or the most single-minded lister.

Seldom Seen Sedge Wren. Lostwood NWR, ND.

Strange thoughts on this highly-caffeinated Saturday afternoon.

In other bird news, almost all birdsong seems to be coming to an end here. Sedge Wrens are still going for it, bless their little hearts....I think I heard a couple Song Sparrows, Yellow Warblers, an Eastern Wood-Pewee and some American Goldfinches today. Goldfinches, of course, are notoriously late breeders...those other birds will probably be shutting up any day now.

Lastly, I recommend going over to Birdspot and checking out this article, particularly if you are a male birder. After getting bummed and hopefully thinking over that, check out the other posts, there is some facemelting bird art going on over there. Thanks to my compatriots at 10,000 Birds for drawing attention to that blog, its good stuff!

Orchard Oriole. Mmmmmm.....rusty. Lostwood NWR, ND.

This is from June...an immature (not juvenile) Western Meadowlark? I don't know anything about birds. Medicine Lake NWR, MT.

Purple Coneflowers, a common prairie native. White Lake, ND.