Birding Colima's Two Volcanos

During the first week of February, I accompanied Laura Kaltenstein of Sitka, Alaska, to the volcanic region of Colima. We visited a number of sites listed in Howell's guidebook and, thanks to Wayne and Susan Colony of San Miguel de Allende, we thoroughly enjoyed Agua Dulce.

Plumes erupted fairly often during our three-day stay

Such beauty! It aches to be climbed.

Laura is in this hedge, really

We didn't have to move far to see birds at Agua Dulce.

As dusk arrived, we drove toward the village of Agua Dulce simply to check it out. On our way back down the hill, we spotted a nightjar along the road. Our look at the bird was curtailed when a car approached. Luckily, Laura was a sport and didn't mind going a ways further and turning around to try to relocate the bird. We did find the bird and had ample time to study it until another car disturbed us. Back in my car, we drove a bit and turned around for another try. We spotted the bird again and had really good looks at it. That's when we discovered that we'd been looking at two different species, not the same bird: a paurauque and buff-collared nightjar. What a double treat for us!

136 species seen:

Least grebe

American white pelican

Neotropic cormorant

Great blue heron

Great egret

Little blue heron

Snowy egret

Black-crowned night-heron

White-faced ibis

Blue-winged teal

Cinnamon teal

Black vulture

Turkey vulture

Osprey

Sharp-shinned hawk

Gray hawk

Short-tailed hawk

White-tailed hawk

Red-tailed hawk

American kestrel

Peregrine falcon

Crested guan (what a racket they make!)

Long-tailed wood-partridge (another lifer for me)

Common moorhen

American coot

Spotted sandpiper

Caspian tern

Inca dove

Thick-billed parrot

Lilac-crowned parrot

Squirrel cuckoo

Groove-billed ani

Paurauque

Buff-collared nightjar

Green violet-ear

Broad-billed hummingbird

White-eared hummingbird

Cinnamon hummingbird

Violet-crowned hummingbird

Berylline hummingbird

Magnificent hummingbird

Citreoline trogon

Mountain trogon

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Ladder-backed woodpecker

Hairy woodpecker

Gray-crowned woodpecker

Tufted flycatcher

Greater pewee

Least flycatcher

Hammond'd flycatcher

Cordilleran flycatcher

Buff-breasted flycatcher

Black phoebe

Vermilion flycatcher

Dusky-capped flycatcher

Great kiskadee

Social flycatcher

Tropical flycatcher

Cassin's kingbird

Rose-throated becard

Violet-green swallow

Northern rough-winged swallow

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Gray silky-flycatcher

Gray-barred wren

Spotted wren

Canyon wren

Happy wren (finally I got to see this bird - a loud one at that)

Bewick's wren

House wren

Blue mockingbird

Eastern bluebird

Brown-backed solitaire

Swainson's thrush

Rufous-backed robin

Blue-gray gnatcatcher

Bushtit

Mexican chickadee

Pygmy nuthatch

White-breasted nuthatch

Loggerhead shrike

White-throated magpie-jay

Mexican jay

Common raven

House sparrow

Dwarf vireo

Cassin's vireo

Hutton's vireo

Warbling vireo

Golden vireo

House finch

Pine siskin

Lesser goldfinch

Olive warbler

Orange-crowned warbler

Nashville warbler

Crescent-chested warbler

Tropical parula

Yellow warbler

Yellow-rumped warbler

Black-throated gray warbler

Townsend's warbler

Hermit warbler

Black-and-white warbler

Northern waterthrush

Common yellowthroat

Wilson's warbler

Red warbler

Painted redstart

Slate-throated redstart

Rufous-capped warbler

Golden-browed warbler

Yellow-breasted chat

Hepatic tanager

Summer tanager

Red-headed tanager

Rusty-crowned ground-sparrow

Collared towhee

Stripe-headed sparrow

Chipping sparrow

Lark sparrow

Lincoln's sparrow

Yellow-eyed junco

Black-headed grosbeak

Blue bunting

Blue grosbeak

Lazuli bunting

Indigo bunting

Varied bunting

Painted bunting

Yellow-headed blackbird

Great-tailed grackle

Streak-backed oriole

Bullock's oriole

Yellow-winged cacique