Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Another Trip to Colima Area, March 2011

Hazel and Ryon are birders living in Jocotepec on Lake Chapala and Winnipeg, Canada.  I really enjoy birding with them and especially appreciate their significant financial contribution that allowed Hugo to participate in last year's Long Bird (Ontario) Bird Obervatory program for Latin American birders. 

They met me and Hugo in Colima for a 3-day birding trip from March 14-16, 2011.  We chose not to bird Ciudad Guzman but concentrated our efforts at Volcan de Fuego (all the way to the microwave towers), the road to Laguna La Maria, and Agua Dulce, which is northwest of Colima on the road to Minatitlan.  We stayed at a B+B in Comala. 

All locations were very dry, tinder box dry, as you can see in these photos.

Although we missed Long-tailed wood-partridge, Crested guan and any nightjars, we saw many other birds, especially some new woodpeckers.  I even added some birds (marked below with *) to my life list!

Birds seen/heard:

Great blue heron
Cattle egret
White ibis
White-faced ibis
Black vulture
Turkey vulture
White-tailed kite
Sharp-shinned hawk
Gray hawk
Crested caracara
American kestrel
West Mexican chachalaca
Banded quail
American coot
Rock pigeon
Inca dove
White-tipped dove
Lilac-crowned parrot:

Photo by Dave Bezaire and Susi Havens-Bezaire from Wikimedia Commons

Squirrel cuckoo
Groove-billed ani
*Colima pygmy-owl (heard)
Ferruginous pygmy-owl
Golden-crowned emerald
Broad-billed hummingbird
Cinnamon hummingbird
Violet-crowned hummingbird
Berylline hummingbird
Broad-tailed hummingbird
Allen's hummingbird
Mountain trogon (heard)
Elegant trogon
Acorn woodpecker
Golden-cheeked woodpecker
Golden-fronted woodpecker
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
Ladder-backed woodpecker
*Smoky-brown woodpecker:

Photo by Michael Woodruff from Wikimedia Commons


Gray-crowned woodpecker
Linneated or pale-billed woodpecker (bad light prevented positive ID for me but Hugo got a better look and added it to his list as a Pale-billed)
*Ivory-billed :

Photo by Dominic Sherony from Wikimedia Commons

Tufted flycatcher
Greater pewee
Pacific-slope flycatcher
Cordilleran flycatcher
Vermilion flycatcher
Dusky-capped flycatcher
Brown-crested flycatcher
Great kiskadee
Social flycatcher
Tropical kingbird
Cassin's kingbird
Gray-collared becard
Rose-throated becard
*Masked tityra:
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Tree swallow
Barn swallow
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Spotted wren
Happy wren
*Sinaloa wren
Northern mockingbird
Curve-billed thrasher
Blue mockingbird
Brown-backed solitaire
Swainson's thrush
White-throated robin
Rufous-backed robin
American robin
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Mexican chickadee
Bridled titmouse
Loggerhead shrike
Common raven
Dwarf vireo
Plumbeous vireo
Cassin's vireo
Hutton's vireo
Golden vireo
House finch
Lesser goldfinch
Orange-crowned warbler
Nashville warbler
Tropical parula
Yellow-rumped warbler
Black-throated gray warbler
Black-throated green warbler
Townsend's warbler
Black-and-white warbler
American redstart
MacGillivray's warbler
Wilson's warbler
Red-faced warbler
Painted redstart
Slate-throated redstart
Yellow-breasted chat
Summer tanager
Western tanager
*Scrub euphonia
Elegant euphonia
Olive sparrow
Canyon towhee
Stripe-headed sparrow
Chipping sparrow
Lark sparrow
Black-headed grosbeak
Blue grosbeak
Lazuli bunting
Indigo bunting
Varied bunting
Great-tailed grackle
Bronzed cowbird
Brown-headed cowbird
Streak-backed oriole
Bullock's oriole
Yellow-winged cacique

Lunch stop with Dwarf vireo nearby

2 comments:

john said...

Sounds like a great trip. There are several birds on your list that I would love to see. No Red Warbler on Volcan de Fuego?

Georgia Conti said...

No, we didn't see a Red warbler. I've birded the area twice now and no sightings of this splendid bird. I will still keep looking! We have it hereabouts so it's not a must-see bird for me.