Sonora tour Oct 2010 final listThe following is a narrative and some photos from our October 2010 Yecora Alamos tour.  DAY ONE – Tucson to Hermosillo 

The Church in Arizpe

I picked up the intrepid participants for the Yecora-Alamos starting at 7:00 a.m. in Green Valley and then in Tucson.  As I left Tucson with all of the folks, we were 15 minutes ahead of schedule! The drive to Naco was uneventful and comfortable, clear blue skies all the way.  At the border, I was surprised to get the third degree including the complete big rooftop luggage inspection from a Homeland Security guy of red, white, and blue colors.  He was nice enough, but asked me for the keys before he jumped up on the roof and looked in a few bags. Good for him…hell, most of those guys wouldn’t climb up there if I told them there were guns up there!  Soon we were moving on to the Mexican side and got the RED light complete with the new and exceptionally loud car alarm type announcement and a rather thorough customs inspection.  Then, it was over to Immigration and things slowed down quickly! What is normally a quick and cursory transaction turned into a 2 ½ hour event.  Apparently, Mexican immigration is in the process of changing all of the border entrances over to a computer system, and the Naco station had just begun the process. The poor immigration guy, a guy who has been there for years, was given equipment to scan passports that must have been left over from the “Pac Man” days and never should have been used in the first place!  Not only was he new at the computer process, the scanner that he had broke down after the first five visas that he completed and was unable to process the paperwork for the following four people. It was a lesson in patience, to say the least.  After way too long, we were finally on our way to the Rio Sonora valley,  which unfortunately was now reduced to a driving tour due to the delay at the border. Fortunately, everyone was understanding and had a good sense of humor about it all. The Rio Sonora is such a beautiful drive that it was not all bad just to be passing through and not doing a whole lot of birding.  We stopped for a wonderful lunch at “El Rodeo” in Arizpe. Ramon made us a fine lunch of beef and potato soup, quesadillas, beans and salsa…outstanding!  He had a great musical group playing on the stereo from Matape, Sonora (on the road to Yecora). Their name was Hermanos Otone. Really fine Mexican orchestral music! (note to self: I need to get a CD for Becky!).  After lunch, we took a short tour of the downtown of Arizpe and the church where De Anza lies in state under glass in the floor.  As usual the church was locked up tight, but the whole plaza area is pretty cool.  The rest of the drive was uneventful with no time for decent bird stops.  I think the highlight for most was the military inspection at Montezuma.  It appeared that the boys in uniform were more than a little bored as they gave us more than the normal inspection with lots of questions.  Never mind that the impatient dump truck driver behind us was about ready to run us over!  We Arrived in Hermosillo just as it got dark. We were all pretty tired, but we had a light dinner at the hotel, followed by some much needed rest!   DAY TWO – Hermosillo to Yecora 

Picnicing along the Yaqui River

Breakfast entertainment at the Holiday Inn was watching the staff hacksaw a lock off the wrought iron doors at the entrance to the restaurant.  Not exactly sure why that had to happen but we were fortunate enough to get to watch it and also fortunate to have breakfast in a timely manner!  As we drove to Yecora, we made the obligatory stop at the shrine which was good!  We got nice looks at Bendire’s Thrasher and a secretive Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. Then on to San Jose de Pima arroyo, where we had lots of Lark Sparrows and late female Painted Bunting and a Yellow-breasted Chat.  We also heard Happy Wren, but we never got a look at him. Lunch at the Rio Yaqui was sweet…always a great place to get out of the van and take in the perpetual breeze. We picked up a couple of birds, including Osprey and Spotted Sandpiper. We made a couple of more stops on our way up the mountain towards Yecora. The big fig tree was pretty quiet this time, but the river just before the Nuri military inspection was awesome. We had more Painted Buntings, and very cooperative Painted Redstart, Gray and Dusky Flycatcher, Buff-breasted Flycatcher at a very low elevation, and four species of Vireo’s including Cassin’s, Plumbeous, Warbling and Bell’s.  We made a cursory stop at the Barranca just as it was getting dark and COLD!  We saw the usual Hummingbirds including Berylline, White-eared, Broad-tailed and one lost Broad-billed (thank you Dan!). We also got great looks at Rufous-capped Brush-finch which is not typically an easy bird to see!  We rolled into Yecora and the Hotel King just before dark.  Armando showed up just in time for a great dinner at Octavio’s, which was served up by his ridiculously cute daughter Ana. The highlight of the evening, aside from the food, was Octavio’s bottomless “Bacanora” bottle and some chugging out of town birders who apparently really liked the stuff!  DAY THREE - Yecora  Even though I say so myself…I think I out did myself with the breakfast buffet in my room!  Cereal, bagels, english muffins, sweet rolls, yogurt, fruit, cream cheese, jam and a bottomless cup of Peet’s coffee.  Doing breakfast in the room is really the way to go in most of these out of the way locations.  In Yecora, there is really only one option for good food and as good as a customer as I am, Octavio just can’t seem to get up to do breakfast before 8 am! The room option is good and fast and gets us out to the birds sooner. 

Yecora Black Water Ponds

Our first stop was the Yecora sewage river.  What a wonderful introduction to the area!  In reality, as you can see from the picture to the left, it is really not that bad. It is a beautiful spot and is loaded with bird activity at first light.  We had Mexican Ducks, Coopers Hawks, Vermillion Flycatchers and White-faced Ibis.  Then we were off for a few stops in the pine and oak as we climbed back out of the valley to the west and heading up the hill on the never improving road to Mesa Campanero.  Birds did not come that easily for us this morning and it was not because we didn’t try hard.  There just was not much moving.  We surmised that it was due to the weather change and the at times very dense fog that would come in and surround us.  It seemed more like summer weather than October.  We eventually got good looks at White-striped Woodcreeper, Mountain Trogon that came into tape, Crescent-chested Warbler, tons of Bridled Titmice and a heard Mountain Pygmy Owl 

Mountain Togon

We went back at the Barranca after lunch to try and pick up a few missing birds.  Once again the Hummers were in full force and not much else.  Some folks got a fleeting look at a Blue Mockingbird and we were all entertained by a very cooperative Slate-throated Redstart.  The Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush messed with us for most of the afternoon and never did show itself.   Dinner was once again at Octavio’s, and as usual he put on a great feast complete with an amazing giant bowl of vegetable soup!  DAY 4 – Yecora to Alamos 
After another fantastic bedroom breakfast in the guides room, we went straight to the Barranca this morning with a few big holes in the list, with Aztec Thrush being the big one.  Once again, things seemed slow to me when we got out of the van, but better than the previous day.  Once again we had the Pygmy Owl calling early on and the usual suspects of Warblers and Kinglets greeted us with each play of the Pygmy Owl tape!  It didn’t take long for Jerry to mentioned that he saw a ‘black and white bird’ fly up the canyon with a couple of American Robins. Right away I knew we had the Aztecs, no other bird looks like that! Sure enough after much searching in the heavily fruiting madrone trees below us, we found at least four Aztec Thrushes, including two males and at least one juvenile.  Our work was done and we were off for one last stop at the Barranca before heading on to Alamos.  On the way to the van from the thrushes I am certain that I heard a Red-headed Tanager with its distinctive “chink” call note, but neither Armando nor I could locate it.  I felt good enough about it to list it as a heard bird on the list.  I had seen a female at the Barranca once about 5 years ago.  Certainly it is a rare bird this far north, but they are around.
We stopped for a picnic lunch just outside of the town of Nuri, a place that feels like it is stuck in an earlier time.  It is a great spot to do lunch under the shade of an ancient mesquite tree and the flowing river with lots of habitat that is typically full of birds.  This time was no exception.  One added bonus to this visit was the nice interactions we had with a number of locals.  It cost me a few sodas and a plate of leftover food from lunch, but it was a lot of fun to catch up on life in Nuri and to buy “chiltepine” chiles (both red and green!) right from the source! 

Armando's Crane Hawk

Not 15 minutes out of Nuri, Armando calls out Crane Hawk as we are hurtling down the road at 60 miles an hour!  Eventually I got the van to stop and backed up toward the bird that I was sure had flown by then.  Nor was I sure that Armando could have seen a Crane Hawk at this location.  We were about 100 miles north of what is (was) considered their normal range. To my surprise, not only did the bird remain perched for all of us to get great looks and photos, it indeed was a Crane Hawk well north of its range!     We pulled into Alamos and El Pedregal about 4:30, plenty of time to enjoy a relaxing afternoon before a wonderful dinner served up by Jen and Angela that included a grated root vegetable salad, chicken breast stuffed w/ local ricotta cheese and spinach with chipotle cider cream sauce, rice and kolache (a local squash and panela cheese dish). That awesome food paired up with a nice glass of wine was a hard thing to beat!  Dessert was a honey cake w/ caramelized pears and whipped cream! A great end to a great day!  DAY 5 – Alamos and Aduana  The Aduana arroyo had at least one fruiting fig tree that seemed to be attended by nearly every Rufous-backed Robin in the surrounding area.  Joining them were a pair of Gilded Flickers and a whole mess of Gila Woodpeckers.  Other finds along the way were a couple of Gray Flycatchers and scope looks at a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl.  Once we got to town, the ladies went a little nuts in the women’s artisans co-op and another local shop before heading over to the general store for a cold soda.  On the drive out I was lucky enough to hear the distinctive chatter of dozens if not hundreds of Mexican Parrotlets in the big chalate fig tree just at the entrance to La Aduana.  Although it took us a while to locate them in the huge expanse of the fig, we eventually found one that was asleep and we were able to get him in the scope for all to see.  We had lunch back in Alamos at Jen’s old café now run by our former employee and friend, Luchy Arias. We had a great lunch complete with carrot cake and big cookies. 

Picnic on Mesa Campanero

For dinner we went up the hill to El Mirador and a Mexican feast put on by our friend Herkulano.  He does the best Mexican food in town if you ask me and I love it when he does it buffet style with the bottomless pots!   It was a beautiful night and we got great looks at Lesser Nighthawks and a few lucky ones saw a Buff-collared Nightjar.  We all got great looks of Alamos from above at night…a sweet sight to be sure.  DAY 6 – Alamos Sewage Ponds and El Pedregal  The morning was spent at the Las Cabras sewage ponds, where it started out rather slow. For some reason, it seemed to take forever to get there and by the time we hit the sand it seemed late to me, like everything had just ended. But little by little, things began to pick up and we

Ovenbird at El Pedregal

 ended up with a great morning. The big surprise was the pair of Yellow Grosbeaks still hanging around and a bit late in season that Jerry found. That was cool because that was a bird that he really wanted to see! Then came the Motmots!  Just as I thought it was impossible that we would find the Motmots, I decided to play a little tape just to make it look good.  Low and behold, at least two began to call back across the river from us nearly immediately and within seconds Mario had one in the scope!  We all got protracted views of this wonderful bird a year round resident of the Alamos area at its very northern limit, but often times hard to find outside of the summer months.  Lunch was back at El Pedregal under the palapa. Jen made a tasty Tarascan bean soup with quesadillas and a cilantro coleslaw, followed by maybe the most dangerous lemon bars I have ever had! 

A Merlin at El Pedregal

After a nice afternoon rest, we cruised the trails at El Pedregal which turned out to a wonderful excursion! Dan had been out all during the break and had photographed a Rose-breasted Grosbeak male, a rare bird for this part of the world and the first I have seen at El Pedregal in the fall. Later, while playing some Pygmy Owl near the arroyo on the property, a strange little thrush looking thing popped up…it turned out to be an Ovenbird!  The third one that I have found at El Pedregal in five years, but the first one to be photographed, once again by Dan.  Then we walked just off the property where we found a beautiful Merlin perched in the dead tree back inside the Pedregal!  We ended up back in the palapa at El Pedregal where we had a casual ‘carne asada’ dinner….tacos of corn or flour tortillas filled with arrachera steak, a couple kinds of salsa, guacamole, beans, cabbage and grilled green onions. Traditional Alamos food! Dessert was a rich brownie a la mode with homemade Mexican chocolate and cajeta ice cream and chocolate sauce!  DAY 7 – Alamos Mentidero and La Luna 

The curious Happy Wren

Today, we did a big walk in the beautiful El Mentidero arroyo…otherwise known as the Bhutan death march!  The birds we saw were certainly worth getting our shoes wet and walking in the sun for a few hours. Our first great bird was the snappy little Happy Wren that you see here on the left.  Finally we got one to come out and give us a great show! Other birds included great looks at a juvenile Bare-throated Tiger-heron, Common Black Hawk, Elegant Trogon, Purplish-backed Jays and Nuttings Flycatchers.   After a refreshing lunch that included a chicken and chopped vegetable salad with chili cumin vinaigrette, along with chips and salsa.  After a short break, we went out to La Luna Microwave tower, but the birds forgot to show up!  Dinner was once again at El Pedregal tonight. We enjoyed a cream of celery soup, roasted pork loin stuffed with prunes and caramelized onions, scalloped potatoes and steamed broccoli and carrots followed by a really nice lime mousse with a lime vanilla syrup and shortbreads! We all sang ‘happy birthday’ to Cookie, who got a pink candle in her lime mousse! 

The guides Birthday Bird; a Northern Parula!

DAY 8 – Cerro Prieto, Navojoa and the “Golden Gate” Bridge and a trip to the coast at Isla Huivulai  After our farewell breakfast at El Pedregal, we said goodbye to Jen and the dogs and headed west.  Our first stop was a hard attempt to see Five-striped Sparrows at Cerro Prieto, but it just didn’t work out this morning.  We did get up close a personal looks at Saguaro cactus very close to their southern limit, but not much to report on the bird end of things. Then it was on to Navojoa and what the locals call “El Golden Gate”, referring to the color of the bridge that crosses the Rio Mayo.  This area is a great migrant trap and can often times produce surprises.  Today was no exception.  For my 48th birthday I was treated to this beautiful Northern Parula pictured at right.  I have seen a few in Sonora over the years but I think this was an early record for me.  The drive through the agricultural fields gave us looks at Harris Hawks and White-tailed Kites while searching agricultural drain ditches for anything that might be around.  Then came the final haul to the coastal estuaries of the Sea of Cortez and Isla Huivulai.  As usual, the causeway was full of birds, thousands of them.  Everything from Gull-billed Terns to Snowy Plovers made for a banner day at the coast.  I ticked 131 species for the day, a near high count for me on this day’s route.  It was an awesome day for Terns at the causeway.  Not only did we clear the list of the normal species, we had a late Least Tern and a Black Tern along with may be 75 Black Skimmers! 

The Elegant Yellow-footed Gull

As we left the estero for Playa Miramar and Guaymus, we found a pair of Burrowing Owls hanging out in their den and got some good pictures (notice the one hiding behind the standing bird). The rest of the drive to Guaymus was rather uneventful, but we did get our first Frigatebird as we rolled into town  Our final Dinner was at “Los Arbolitos” in Guaymus for Dave’s 48th birthday.  We put on the dog with lots of yummy appetizers including probably too much cheese!  I had the chili rellenos stuffed shrimp, which was out of this world!  Being that there were only two or three other guests at the hotel, l we had a very nice quiet evening at the Playa de Cortes.  DAY 9 – Estero Soldado and on to Tucson 

Burrowing Owls along the road to Huivulai

We did some early morning birding off the pier in front of the junior suites at the hotel. The Tern show was great and  we got good looks at both Brown and Blue-footed Boobies, as well as our first Eared Grebes of the trip.  We made one stop at the jetty in Miramar before going over to San Carlos, mostly to get scope looks at the feet of a Blue-footed Booby, but also to look at a family of a dozen or more Groove-billed Anis that have apparently taken up residence in Miramar, far north of their range in Howell and Webb. 
After breakfast in my room again, for old time’s sake, we packed up and headed off to Estero Soldado and a search for Mangrove Warbler.  It turned out not to be so hard of a search. Once we all got out of the van, most of us were drawn to a little singing bird that was, indeed, a beautiful male Mangrove Warbler!  The look was brief, at best, as it dove into the mangroves soon after we saw it.  Fortunately, a bit later on we got another one to respond to playback and it gave us protracted views and well photographed at right.

Mangrove Warbler

The view from our rooms at the "Playa de Cortez"

Our final meal of the tour was Lunch at the ”Elba” in Santa Ana and it was fast and good as usual.  We made one last birding stop in Imuris where we got great looks at Rufous-winged sparrows a great bird, and new for the trip.  Our border wait was 1 hour and it seemed to fly by as we laughed and bargained with the curio venders as they accosted us with their wares!  Once at the border, I got to unload and reload the bags one last time… wonderful.  That made for the third time in one day!   Thank you all for a lot of laughs and a great tour!  I hope you all had as good a time as I did! We look forward to crossing paths with you all on another trip in the future!