[obol] San Blas MX

[Charles R. Gates]

Steve Shunk and I spent the last week in San Blas Mexico with our wives and
a bunch of very cool birds.  We spent two days in Puerto Vallarta and 4 days
in San Blas.  This is my third trip but I still managed to see 15 life birds
and we're still studying a couple of hummers that are currently causing us
some problems (if anyone wants to offer up some opinions, I'll send you some
photos).  Birding with Shunk is always a joy and an education. We saw a
total of 195 species.  We found a LIMPKIN that was seen well on the famous
mangrove river trip.  This bird is was out of range and will be reported to
the local birding folks as a rare bird.

If you have not been to San Blas but you are thinking about an exotic
birding location, you need to go.  It's got everything a person would want.
The weather is outstanding, the accommodations run the gambit, and the
birding is top of the line.  Paradise Birding (Steve's company) is planning
a winter tour there next December.  Check out their website for more details
(paradisebirding.com).

Below you will find our complete (so far) list of species.  Spring is
probably not the best time to come.  It's very dry now and there are more
birds, especially hummers, in early winter after the rainy season.

Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Fulvous Whistling Duck
Green-winged Teal
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Crested Guan
Elegant Quail
Horned Grebe
Least Grebe
Brown Pelican
Blue-footed Booby
Brown Booby
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
Anhinga
Magnificent Frigatebird
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Little Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
Boat-billed Heron
Wood Stork
White-faced Ibis
White Ibis
Limpkin
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Osprey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Gray Hawk
Common Black-Hawk
Great Black-Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Kite
Crested Caracara
Laughing Falcon
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Clapper Rail
Purple Gallinule
American Coot
Common Moorhen
Northern Jacana
American Oystercatcher
Semipalmated Plover
Wilson's Plover
Collared Plover
Killdeer
Black-bellied Plover
American Avocet
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Marbled Godwit
Surfbird
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Dunlin
Stilt Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Heerman's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground Dove
Ruddy Ground Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Red-billed Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Orange-fronted Parakeet
Squirrel Cuckoo
Groove-billed Ani
Barn Owl
Least Pygmy Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Black Swift
Vaux's Swift
White-eared Hummingbird
Berylline Hummingbird
Cinnamon Hummingbird
Citreoline Trogon
Elegant Trogon
Russet-crowned Motmot
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-cheeked Woodpecker
Gila Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Gray-crowned Woodpecker
Lineated Woodpecker
Pale-billed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Acorn Woodpecker
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
Greater Peewee
Western Wood Pewee
Vermillion Flycatcher
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
Pacific Slope Flycatcher
Social Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Cassin's Kingbird
Tropical Kingbird
Thick-billed Kingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Masked Tityra
Gray-breasted Martin
Mangrove Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-throated Magpie Jay
San Blas Jay
Green Jay
Mexican (Sinaloa) Crow
Bar-vented (Sinaloa) Wren
Spotted Wren
Happy Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Hermit Thrush
White-throated Robin (Thrush)
Rufous-backed Robin
Brown-backed Solitaire
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
Gray Silky Flycatcher
Bell's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Lucy's Warbler
Tropical Parula
Yellow Warbler
Mangrove Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler
Macgillvray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Black & White Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Western Tanager
Summer Tanager
Grayish Saltator
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Varied Bunting
Painted Bunting
Rusty-crowned Ground Sparrow
Blue-black Grassquit
White-collared Seedeater
Stripe-headed Sparrow
Lincoln Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Hooded Oriole
Streak-backed Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Yellow-winged Cacique
Black-headed Siskin
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow


Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.21.8/1339 - Release Date: 3/22/2008
4:43 PM