The intrepid group!

It had been a number of years since we had teamed up with Tucson Audubon to run a birding trip to Alamos. We had nothing but fine memories from our past groups that had come from Tucson Audubon, so it was time to do another!  Unlike previous efforts, this one didn't fill up, despite doing a presentation in Green Valley for the TAS Living with Nature Lecture series and lots of  'talking it up' by us and folks at TAS. I think this is partially a result of the media driven hysteria about violence in Mexico, combined with other factors.  All that said, we fortunately got four great and intrepid women to sign up for the trip which put a generous donation in the box for Tucson Audubon!  Beyond the money, I am happy to report that we all had an absolutely rewarding, fun and completely safe experience in Sonora.  Unfortunately, many interested people were scared off by the bad news and missed out on the fun, but will hopefully join us in the future. Day One - The first day's drive took us from Tucson to the Mexican border via Saint David and Bisbee (where we got our first Zone-tailed  Hawk right in town!) and eventually crossing the border at Naco.  I have to say it was one of the smoothest border crossings ever.  Unlike the fiasco that was the crossing on the October tour, where the immigration guys were testing out their new equipment, this time the guys had already figured out that the system didn’t work!  So rather than try to continue scanning passports like the poor guy in October, these guys just made copies of them and had the participants fill in the necessary info on the visa.  The whole process was super quick and painless.  The drive through the Rio Sonora valley was beautiful even with all of the frost damage and the incredibly dry conditions due to

The beautiful Rio Sonora Valley

 the lack of rain, we did do a bit of birding in the oak habitat up north before making our way to lunch in Arizpe. We did have a number of Rufous-winged Sparrows, Bewick’s Wrens, Mexican Jays,  and our only Northern Harrier of the trip.  I got my first big surprise of the tour soon after when we pulled into Arizpe where I wanted to have lunch.  El Rodeo, a place that has been my favorite lunch spot for years, had two serious closed signs on the windows!  After years of dropping in, I finally got burned!  I did some snooping around but could not find anyone anywhere, apparently the whole crew had gone to Hermosillo for the week.  So into town we went to take a look at the church where De Anza’s body lies under a glass floor, and for me to find another place to eat.  I got a recommendation from a nice lady at the hotel directly across from the church and off we went to the gas station café, we were all starving!  Well, the recommendation could not have been better!  She was right!  The food was great and the nice lady cooking it was fast and friendly.  Fresh green corn tamales won the prize for best dish, and we all had bottomless glasses of hibiscus iced tea.  The afternoon drive from Arizpe to Hermosillo was overcast but the birding was good enough at a couple of stops, with Northern Beardless Tyrannulet being the best bird of the afternoon. We rolled into Hermosillo just before dark and had a good dinner at the Holiday Inn. Day Two - Today was pretty much another travel day, but we made a number of stops before arriving in Alamos in the late afternoon.  The first good stop was actually at the Pemex at La Pintada where we had made pit stop.  I pulled out the scope while folks were in the bathroom and immediately found a Bendire’s Thrasher and a couple of Curve-billed’s for comparison.  We also had Brewer’s Sparrows and a Costa’s Hummingbird.  Not bad for a pee stop!  Our next birding stop was at the small boat harbor in Empalme just south of Guaymas .  Here, we got to do some serious shore bird identification which may have been a bit too much too soon for some in the group, but a good introduction for sure!  Some of the goodies at the lagoon included Wilson’s, Black-bellied and Semi-palmated Plover, Marbled Godwits, Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew and least and Western Sandpipers nearly all in breeding plumage.  Then it was off to Obregon and the gravel pits that have been excavated in the original channel of the Rio Yaqui.  Here we got good looks at Least Grebes and both Night Herons as well as the attendant Coots and Moorhens.  We stopped in Ciudad Obregon for lunch at La Tarraya,  one of my favorite seafood places not only in Sonora, but just about anywhere!  After a great lunch and as the food coma set in we were off to Navojoa a quick tour of the lagoons in the original channel of the Rio Mayo.  This area is almost always alive with bird activity no matter the time of day, and this time was no different.  There were numerous Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, more Least Grebes, great looks at a Green Kingfisher, lots of Social Flycatchers and loads of Kiskadees, we also had our first of many Happy Wrens that we would see on the trip. Then it was the quick run up to Alamos and a relaxing afternoon at El Pedregal.  Jen made us a fantastic dinner of stuffed hicken breast with roasted poblano sauce, red rice and vegetables followed by 'blondies a la mode' ...and we had a chance to catch up on the bird list before heading off for some much deserved rest. 

Elegant Euphonia at El Pedregal

Day Three - Our first morning of tropical deciduous forest birding started before we ever got in the van!  As we were loading up I heard the quiet gurgling calls of one of the most beautiful birds anywhere, an Elegant Euphonia.  I promptly got everyone out of the van and on the bird forging around in a Randia bush!  Just as we got our fill on the Euphonia, a Blue Mockingbird flew in and we got fantastic looks at it, a bird that is hard to get just about anywhere.  Eventually, we got to our intended birding location in the Aduana Arroyo, just a few short miles from town.  Here, we got our first looks at the ever impressive Black-throated Magpie-jay, a female Trogon, two Five-striped Sparrows, Nuttings Flycatcher, a rather unusual Indigo Bunting, and a nice Rose-throated Becard! Our afternoon outing took us to the bridge crossing of the Cuchujaqui river which was rather blown out by a big afternoon wind, but the scenery was nice and we had a good walk down to the river. We were treated to a delicious Mexican feast at El Mirador for dinner followed by flan. No one went to sleep hungry! Day Four - The following morning we needed to be back in town at 10 a.m. for a Home and Garden tour (proceeds of the tour go to the local scholarship fund) of some of the restored mansions in town, so once again we opted to go to the Aduana area due to its close proximity, but this time

A nice male Yellow Grosbeak in Aduana

 with the help of a couple of local bird guides we went up a side drainage that I had never birded before.  Rafa and Mario found us a bunch of cool birds, including  Yellow Grosbeak, Rose-throated Becard, Thick-billed Kingbird and a Sinaloa Wren!  After the tour, Jen took everyone to lunch at her old restaurant, now known as Cafe Luz del Sol, where we enjoyed a great lunch followed by a bit of shopping in town and a visit to the museum. This afternoon we made a trip out to the sewage ponds to try and find a couple of birds that area very difficult to get in other locations.  It is not my first choice of places to bird from an asthetic perspective but there are tons of birds to be seen especially this time of year when water is at a premium everywhere!  There is always water at the sewage ponds, or at least something like water!  It is also the best bet for finding Russet-crowned Motmot which we indeed did find not only one but two!  Other birds included fleeting looks at Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, fly over White-fronted Parrots and a heard only Brown-backed Solitaire.

A great bird for Alamos - Solitary Sandpiper

Day Five - Our last morning of birding in Alamos took us to the far more beautiful MentideroArroyo on the south east side of the Sierra de Alamos.  After a couple of months, the results of the frost damage are impressive with dozens of fig trees knocked back to their main trunks, or dead and hardly a green leaf except for the Cypress trees right along the river.  We birded the entire morning on foot and got a number of good birds.  Here we had our only Black Hawk of the tour a few more green Kingfishers, several MacGillivray’s Warblers and a Solitary Sandpiper, a rather rare bird for the Alamos area and the first one I have ever found in the spring. We got back to the Pedregal just in time for lunch under the Palapa and due to the intense bird activity at the feeders and water features,  we could not pull ourselves away for a couple of hours!!  The list of species was probably over 30, but the highlights were a very confiding Blue Mockingbird, a beautiful Tropical Parula, Green-tailed Towhee, several Elegant Quail, Varied Bunting, Plain-capped Starthroat, Streak-backed and Hooded Oriole, and lots of White-crowned Sparrows. This afternoon we once again went to the sewage ponds because we still had not gotten looks at Purplish-backed Jay.  Well we never did see the Jay but this time we did get good looks at the Brown-backed Solitaire that we had only heard the day before, an unusual bird for this low elevation at this time of year. Back at El Pedregal, Jen prepared barbecued arrachera steak accompanied by potatoes au gratin, green beans and a mushroom leek saute, followed by salad and a banana cake with coffee icing and vanilla ice cream! Not bad at all! Day Six - This morning we said goodbye to Alamos and El Pedregal, but not before getting more good looks at the Elegant Euphonias in the

Another great bird for Sonora - Black and White Warbler

 yard and a small flock of Mexican Parrotlets that flew into the giant fig tree, a great parting gift indeed.  We proceeded down the hill towards Navojoa for another tour of the Rio Mayo lagoons before heading off to the coast.  This time the lagoons held a large number of migrant Warblers led in numbers by Nashvilles.  We also had a good number of Bells Vireos and Laura found what may have to be the bird of the trip, a Black and White Warbler!  It had been a number of years since I have seen this bird in northwest Mexico. Then it was off to the coast through the massive agricultural fields to the west of Navojoa which held surprisingly few raptors for the time of year, although we did see a number of Harris’ Hawks.  Unfortunately the tide was a bit far out for really close looks at birds, but we still managed to get most of what I expected to see.  We had both Dowitcher’sworking nearly sideby side, Rossette Spoonbills, Ruddy Turnstone, Mangrove Swallows and American Oyster Catchers.  On the way out of the causeway, we found a pair of Burrowing Owls that seemed to have little interest in us. We ended up at the grand Hotel Playa de Cortez on the Sea of Cortez where some of us did a little birding on the dock prior to dinner.  There were fleets of Eared Grebes and our first Yellow-footed Gulls of the trip, but no Blue-footed Boobies.  We had dinner at “Los Arbolitos” and everyone got to try to raw scallops (callo de acha), some loved them and some did not!  But the dinner was awesome and a lot of fun.

Mangrove Warbler by Len Boeder

Day Seven - After a quick stop for coffee in the morning we were off to Estero Soldado outside of San Carlos to see if we might get a look at a Mangrove Warbler, a bird nearing its northern limit in this part of Sonora.  We were in luck, we were not even all out of the van when I heard the whistling little call of the warbler, I turned around to look for it and was shocked to see a beautiful male perched up on a mangrove stick and it gave all of us great scope looks!   It doesn’t always happen like that!  Also at the Estero we got our only Cassin’s Vireo of the tour and a rather retiring Yellow-breasted Chat. After birding we hit the “Fiesta” for breakfast on the beach and our first Heerman’s Gulls of the trip.  Breakfast was wonderful with the sea for a back drop and a pod of dolphins passing thorough a feeding frenzy of gulls. After breakfast I delivered on the shopping spree at Sagitario in downtown San Carlos where everyone had a chance to relive their pent on shopping ambitions before our drive back to the border and Tucson. Just as I remember, another great Tucson Audubon tour, I look forward to another one next year!

Our last nights hotel at Playa Miramar