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WESTERN MEXICO
Tuesday 9th March - Saturday 27th March 2010
Pete Morris
The amazing Bumblebee Hummingbird was our bird of the trip... (Pete Morris)
Over the years our Western Mexico tour has become a finely tuned endemic hoover-up, and this year was no exception as we once again found our way around this well-trodden circuit with no problems, and recorded a very respectable 406 species, our second highest total for this tour. More importantly though, the quality of the list was high as we found a very high proportion of the special birds (or diamond birds) which is, of course, the main focus of the tour. Highlights amongst these were many and varied but pride of place went to two very special but very different stars, a tiny Bumblebee Hummingbird and a very impressive Stygian Owl. We also did particularly well for various families and groups including New World quails and partridges (four species including excellent views of Long-tailed Wood-Partridge, and Banded and Elegant Quails), parrots (brilliant views of all five possible species including Military Macaw and the rare Lilac-crowned Parrot), nightbirds (16 species including Whiskered and Balsas Screech-Owls, four species of pygmy-owls and Eared Poorwill), hummingbirds (18 species including Mexican Woodnymph and Xantus’s and Violet-crowned Hummingbirds), jays (nine species including the unbeatable Tufted Jay and the splendid Purplish-backed Jay), wrens (13 species including Spotted, Happy and Sinaloa Wrens), American wood-warblers (32 fabulous species including the delightful Red Warbler and stunning male Red-breasted Chat), vireos (ten species including the stunning Black-capped Vireo, Grey and Dwarf Vireos and the superb Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo) and orioles (nine species including ‘Dickey’s’, Black-vented and Abeille’s Orioles). Other memorable sightings included Black-vented Shearwater, some great views of Collared Forest-Falcons, a stunning Rufous-necked Wood-Rail, the subtle Flammulated Flycatcher, some brilliant Aztec Thrushes, gorgeous Blue and Orange-breasted Buntings, and a pair of incredible Rosy Thrush-Tanagers. It was quality birds all the way!
... but the stunning Stygian Owl was hot on its heels (Pete Morris)
