Dates and Costs
No scheduled dates at this time. Please contact us for more info on this itinerary.Images
About This Trip
As you look at great birding locations around the world, the western coast of Mexico is a place of great temptation to birders. Nearly 50 Mexican endemic bird species can be found in a stretch of coast and nearby mountains of less than 500 miles, indeed many of which are extremely range restricted to small areas! Our tour of West Mexico is the most complete exploration available. We have taken two of our most popular tours a combined them into one 15 day Mexican bird odyssey that should produce around 400 species. We begin our trip in Mazatlan, where we will spend time in the tropical deciduous forest, searching for birds like Happy and Sinaloa Wrens, Mexican Parrotlets, Citroline Trogon, Purplish-backed Jay Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Elegant Quail, Crane Hawk, Yellow-winged Cacique, and Yellow Grosbeak. Heading into the mountains on the famed Durango Highway, one of only two paved routes over the vast and wild Sierra Madre mountain range, we will focus primarily on exploring the higher elevations in search of the incredibly showy and very regional endemic, the Tufted Jay. These highlands also offer an amazing number of other great birds, including Eared Quetzal, Green-striped Brush-finch, Red-headed Tanager, Golden-browed and Red Warblers, to mention a few. Our final morning on the Durango Highway will be spent at lower elevations, where we might find Red-breasted Chat, Blue Bunting, Black-capped Vireo, Golden-crowned Emerald, Rusty-crowned Ground-sparrow, and Russet-crowned Motmot. This area is also a very good place to see Military Macaws very closely, which nest in the area and are often seen flying from their night roost to their feeding grounds! From the mountains, we’ll head south to the relaxed coastal town of San Blas, long recognized for its plethora of bird diversity. San Blas is a comfortable place to view cool tropical birds at their northern limit, as well as a large number of neo-tropical migrants at their wintering grounds. Combine all this with one of the most birder-friendly hotels in Mexico that serves up amazing gourmet meals, and it becomes a perfect destination for a multiple day stay! Some of our goals will be to find the Collared Forest-falcon, Lilac-crowned Parrot, Colima Pygmy Owl, Fan-tailed Warbler, Blue Mockingbird, Golden Vireo, Black-vented Oriole, and Godman’s (Scrub) Euphonia. One day, we will visit some excellent humid pine and oak forest, looking for high elevation specialties like Gray-collared Becard, Crescent-chested Warbler, White-striped Woodcreeper, Black-headed Siskin, Gray-crowned Woodpecker and Spotted Wren. This area is also excellent for hummingbirds, including the endemic Bumblebee Hummingbird and the Mexican Woodnymph. From San Blas, we drive to Ciudad Guzman. This is mostly a travel day but we'll stop for birds in good habitat along the way. Possible birds are Orange-breasted Bunting, Red-breasted Chat, Blue Bunting, Lilac-crowned Parrot. At the marshes near Sayula we will look for migrant shore and water birds, but in incredible numbers…it can be quite impressive. Other possible birds include Ruddy Crake, Spotted Rail, Black-backed Oriole etc. Ciudad Guzman is a bustling city situated in central volcanic belt of Mexico. This entire range of rugged mountains has allowed for a fantastic variety of avi-fauna to evolve, in a myriad of micro habitats at varying elevations. The western limits of the volcanic belt offer another component of bird life, that being the southern limit of Pacific Mexico and the Sierra Madre Occidental. The impact of the melding of these habitats is impressive, and makes for a large number of interesting Mexican endemic birds. Views of the twin volcanoes known as Volcan de Colima (Fuego or fire, often smoking!) and snow-mantled Nevado de Colima (Nieve or snow), reach elevations of 12,500 and 14,235 feet respectively, provide a picturesque backdrop. Some species include Long-tailed Wood-Partridge, Banded Quail, Balsas Screech-Owl, Bumblebee Hummingbird, Trans-Volcanic Jay, Aztec Thrush, Amethyst-throated Hummingbird and Eared Poorwill. A night in Colima City allows us to go out looking for the Balsa's Screech Owl at night followed by a day of birding around Laguna La Maria. We spend a night at the coast at Barra de Navidad and a night in the small city of Autlan de Navarro, surrounded by humid cloud forests. We’ll be looking for Singing Quail, Mexican Woodnymph, Gray-crowned Woodpecker, Black-chested Sparrow, Orange-breasted and Blue Bunting, Black-capped, Golden, Dwarf and Slaty Vireos. The area around Autlan is more dry and consists of good tropical dry forest. Our last day is spent birding in the cloud forest above Autlan before heading to Tlaquepaque for our last night. This tour is an excellent opportunity to experience the diversity and richness of Mexico, both for the serious lister and for anyone new to tropical birding. Birders new to the tropics can expect to see an exciting, but manageable, number of new species.Accommodations
During the trip, we stay in a few different kinds of hotels – from a unique older tourist hotel in Mazatlan, to simple mountain accommodations in Copala and very nice family run hotel in San Blas. In Ciudad Guzman and Autlan we stay at a nice business hotel with good service. In Colima City and Tlaquepaque we stay at comfortable colonial hotels and at the coast we stay at a laid back beach hotel. These locations allow easy access to a complete range of habitats typical of western Mexico, from the arid coastal plain to cool fir forests high in the Sierra Madre. This one-way trip starts in Mazatlan and ends in Guadalajara.To book your trip or for more information, please contact us by email or call 888-383-0062.
