COLLARED FOREST-FALCON: heard many times, but typically hard to see. We did the Sewage Pond road in San Blas early one morning, and found a calling juv. sat in good view on a large isolated tree. This may be your best strategy for seeing one, as the scattered nature of the habitat on this road means that if you hear a calling bird, you have a good chance of finding it in one of the few large trees there.
GOLDEN EAGLE: on the Durango Highway at KM 207.5 there is a pull-out with a 100m trail into the forest; while standing there one afternoon an adult Golden Eagle swooped down and landed in a pine quite close by (photos) This species is not on Howell lists for this area.
BAT FALCON: one seen on a bare snag close to H200 just north of the Mita Peniinsula, north of Puerto Vallarta.
SHORT-TAILED HAWK: Found a nesting pair of dark-morphs about 2kms along the Panuco Road, off the Durango Highway. The nest site was almost at the top of a large leafy tree on the ridge line above us.
SOLITARY SANDPIPER: one along the Shrimp Ponds road in San Blas
MILITARY MACAW: We tried three times at the Mirador del Aguila site north of San Blas, with no luck. See notes on Petaca Road above for what seems a reliable site on the Durango Highway.
PARROTS: We saw/heard no Amazona parrots on the entire trip – do they relocate at this season, or have the numbers dropped?
possible THICK-BILLED PARROT: at Barranca del Libre we heard birds flying nearby and calling that sounded like muted macaws. They were not Amazona calls, and did not sound quite right for Military Macaw (which we head every day up there at Petaca road)
FLAMMULATED OWL: at Cerro San Juan east of San Blas in the evening we played a Whiskered Screech Owl tape and had two respond from the north. I saw a movement in the tree above the entrance road light and was able to spotlight a very small owl. I got it in my telescope at an angle where there was no eye-shine, and was surprised to see dark brown eyes and a blackish bill, with very small tufts and a more mottled than streaked upper breast – it was a Flammie. The caretaker told me that there was a small owl that hunted moths at the entrance gate light most nights.
EARED POORWILL: before dawn at the same spot as the Flammie above (Cerro San Juan), we had a pair of Eared Poorwills calling (a sharp “waik!” or “wick!”) We had good looks in the spotlight. A number of Mexican Whip-poor-wills called briefly at dusk and dawn.
CHESTNUT-COLLARED SWIFT: a large flock over the river at San Blas just after a downpour.
WHITE-NAPED SWIFT: in the late afternoon on the Panuco Road ( Durango Highway) we saw a number of swifts high-up that were hard to ID – I presumed them to be White-throated Swifts on shape/size. soon after, a huge lone White-naped swift glided around fairly low for about a minute – what a corker!
SWIFT SP: At the clearing near km 212 on the Durango Highway we saw a large group of swifts fairly high: the higher birds looked like chaeturas, but the ones below them were much larger, with long thin wings and long pointed tails, and on each of the five birds I was able to track, I could see small white flank patches and a clean white throat sharply cut-off against a solid blackish chest/underparts…. There were at least 30 such birds….. I know that they ought to have been White-throateds, but they sure looked like Geronimos…..?
HUMMERS: we struggled a bit as there were no concentration points. At Rancho La Noria on Cerro San Juan there were a couple of large oaks with massive outbreaks of flowering honeysuckle, and among a few Beryllines, Violet-crowns and Broad-bills I saw one female Selasphorus-type that might have been a Bumblebee – but at the distance I could not rule out some other Selasphorus or a calliope… :-(
EARED QUETZAL: About half-way up the Barranca del Libre trail – between the two spots on the trail where water bubbles up – at 10.30 one morning a bird swooped down from high in the uphill pines, nearly taking my head off, and glided into the deciduous trees over the stream – it was an Eared Quetzal. We got crappy looks as the bird saw us immediately and started to retreat up the stream into thicker cover. I think this bird was coming down to drink, and maybe this is a good place to find them?
EMPIDS: the lowlands/foothills were stuffed with calling Pac-slopes. A couple of Least and Hammonds were seen at mid elevations (along with fewer Pac-slopes). Up in the Barranca del Libre area we did not hear any Pac-slopes, and had two Pines and one Buff-breasted.
GREENISH ELAENIA: the only one of the trip was on the Petaca Road on the Durango Highway – out of range (I have pics, showing the yellow in the crown) – we saw it in the same spot three days running.
MIGRANT VIREOS: we had four Black-caps, three Bell’s, 6+ Warblings, one Hutton’s, and numerous Plumbeous and Cassin’s. Also a few Goldens at higher elevations. Two of the Warblings on the Durango Highway had obviously dark (almost smoky) crowns – ?
JAYS: Black-throated were fairly easy to see (at a distance – they were quite shy) in many spots in the lowlands/foothills; San Blas were tough and only seen at La Bajada; Purplish-backed were only seen at the new spot we found near the Mirador del Aguila (see 7) above); Tufted were easy between Km 208 and 201 on the Durango Highway, plus the Barranca trail – we saw then five times in four days. Also saw Green at Cerro San Juan and a few Steller’s with the Tufteds.
NOTE: without using tapes we would not have seen San Blas or Purplish-backed, and Tufted would not have been seen so well.
SPOTTED WREN: they nest in a short palm next to entrance cabin at Rancho La Noria, Cerro San Juan.
MANGROVE SWALLOW: a few at various shrimps ponds near San Blas.
CATHARUS SP: one bird seen fairly well at La Bajada looked awfully like Grey-cheeked…? saw a couple of Swainson’s, plus one Orange-billed at Cerro San Juan and a few Russets on Durango Highway.
WARBLERS: Surprised by the numbers and diversity for September:- loads of BTGrays, Townsends, Wilsons, Yellows, B&Ws, MacGils; a few Red-faceds, Hermits, Graces, Nashvilles, Lucy’s, N. Waterthrushes; one or two Louisanas, Orange-crowns, Audubons, Am Redstarts, BT Greens. Lots of both kinds of Whitestarts, and a surprising number of Crescent-chesteds (12 in one flock) and a few gorgeous Reds. Golden-browed were common in the low thickets along the stream at the Barranca del Libre trail. Quite a few Rufous-caps but only one pair of Golden-crowns – on the lower part of Cerro San Juan,
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER: one found by Sheridan in the mangroves near the river mouth north of Puerto Vallarta but south of the river (thus Jalisco State) on September 22 2005 – I have three photos of it . A vagrant this far west, with the four previous records listed in Howell and Webb being Spring birds.
EUPHONIAS: we found them hard to come by, with one sighting of Godman’s/Scrub at La Bajada, and one family group of Elegants feeding on mistletoe at the KM 212 clearing on the Durango Highway.
RUSTY-CROWNED GROUND-SPARROW: this is fairly easy at La Bajada and especially at Cerro San Juan – listen for their high-pitched squeaking. Very responsive to pishing.
BRUSH-FINCHES: tough to find in the upper parts of the Durango Highway: we found Green-striped above Las Palmitas, a bit after entering Durango state, at a right pull-out with a sign showing a map of the state. Rufous-capped is in the dense brush by the stream on the opposite side of the road from where you park at the entrance to the Barranca Del Libre trail.
HOODED GROSBEAK: only found one, in a mixed flock near the top of the Barrance del Libre trail.
BLACK-HEADED SISKIN: we struggled for them: one male at Rancho La Noria, Cerro San Juan, and one male down low with a feeding flock at the far end of the Barranca del Libre trail.