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Birding near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (Nuevo Vallarta) (1 Viewer)

v_harriman

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I will be taking a trip to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico in February. We won't have a rental car. I was wondering if anyone could suggest some decent places to bird in the nearby area. Thanks!
 
Neuvo Vallarta Birding

We spend two weeks each November in Neuvo Vallarta. We leave again in three weeks time and stay for 2 weeks (our 5th trip). There is some excellent birding in the area that can be done by walking the back trails adjacent to the beach. We stay at the Royal Decameron complex and walk into the village of Bucerias a couple of times a week, approx. 25 minutes, excellent for Humminbirds. Walking in this areain the day time is very safe.

In 2000 we went down in January and took an organized day bus trip to San Blas. It was the trip that goes by boat to the crocodile farm - superb birding and photography from the boat. If I managed my first upload correctly the picture of the Anhinga drying out was taken from the boat.

Here is a list compiled over the last 5 years of local birding - other than the bus trip all accomplished in and around the hotel complex.

American White Pelican; Allen's Hummingbird; Anhinga; Audubon's Oriole; Blue-black Grossbeak; Blue-footed Booby; Brown Pelican; Bank Swallow; Bare-throated Tiger Heron; Black Vulture; Black-chested Sparrow; Blue Ground-Dove; Boat-billed Flycatcher; Botteri's Sparrow; Brewer's Sparrow; Bronzed Cowbird; Brown Jay; Buff-bellied Hummingbird; Buff-collared Nightjar;
Cattle Egret; Cave Swallow; Cerulean Warbler; Cinnamon Hummingbird; Cinnamon-bellied Flower-piercer, Common Black-Hawk; Common Ground-Dove;
Common Potoo; Crimson-collared Tanager; Dusky Hummingbird; Dusky-capped Flycatcher; Giant Cowbird; Golden Eagle; Golden Vireo; Golden-cheeked Woodpecker; Grassland Yellow-Finch; Great Egret; Great Kiskadee; Great-tailed Grackle; Green Jay; Green Violet-ear; Groove-billed Ani;
Heermann's Gull; Magnificent Frigatebird; Mangrove Vireo; Melodius Blackbird;
Mexican Woodnymph; Neotropic (Olivaceaous) Cormorant; Northern Harrier;
Orange Oriole; Orchard Oriole; Piping Plover; Plain-breasted Ground Dove;
Plain-capped Starthroat; Purplish-backed Jay; Roadside Hawk; Royal Tern;
Ruddy Ground-Dove; Ruddy-breasted Seedeater; Rufescent (Lineated) Tiger Heron; Rufous Hummingbird; Rufous-collared Sparrow; Rufous-crowned Sparrow; Rufous-sided Towhee (Spotted); Rufous-winged Sparrow;
San Blas Jay; Sanderling; Short-tailed Hawk; Sierra Madre Sparrow; Snowy Egret; Snowy Plover; Social Flycatcher; Streak-backed Oriole; Stripe-headed Sparrow; Thick-billed Kingbird; Tree Swallow; Tropical Kingbird; Tropical Peewee; Turkey Vulture; Vaux's Swift; Vermilion Flycatcher; Violet-crowned Hummingbird; White-collared Seadeater (Cinnamon Rump); White-naped Brush-Finch; Willet; Wilson's Warbler; Yellow Warbler; Yellow-backed Oriole;
Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet; Yellow-winged Cacique.

The books I use are:

Mexican Birds (Peterson)
The Birds Of Mexico and Adjacent Areas (Ernest Preston Edwards)
A Bird Finding Guide to Mexico (Steve Howell)
A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America (Steve Howell & Sophie Webb)


We manage 8 - 10 new species each year but for once I put birding secondary to relaxation, etc.

Hope this helps,

Mike
 

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I'll add a little to Mike's post and I'll second his recommendation on the following two books:'A Bird Finding Guide to Mexico' (Steve Howell)
'A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America' (Steve Howell & Sophie Webb) (only shortcoming of this book is that it lacks shore birds so you need something else if you want them, otherwise it is heads above the rest).
The Bird Finding Guide covers this area pretty well so would be quite useful.
Might need to taxi or take a bus to a few of the sites but well worth while.

Also if you have a full day for birding, we used a bird guide (Jorge) that we arranged through a small tour operator in PV. They were very good and quite reasonable. Here are the details for them:

"[email protected]
Altamira Birdwatching
Come and join us in a wonderful experience exploring this semitropical route where you will be able to see a lot of different species of migratory and resident birds like Macaws, Orioles, Trogons, Pewees, Doves, Hawks, Jays, Tangers Woodpeckers, Martins and much more!! Schedule:. Meeting at 6:45 a.m. at Open Air Expeditions Headquarters. . Departure 7:00 a.m. Arrival around 3:00 p.m.Tours Includes:. Specialized Bilingual Guide. . Medical Insurance. . Continental Breakfast. . Ground transportation to El Tuito and back to the hotel by Ram Vagon 2000. . Binoculars and Telescope for Clients Use. . Energetic Snacks, Fruit and Purified Water. . Checklists and Guide Books. . Lunch (Grilled beef, Hamburger, Cheese Quesadillas or Club sandwich, 1 drink Public Price: $700.00 Pesos per Person.
Tropical Regards

Oceanologist Isabel Cardenas
Director
Open Air Expeditions / The Whale Watching Center
Guerrero 339, colonia El Centro
tel. (322) 22 233 10
tel.fax. (322) 22 324 07
www.vallartawhales.com
[email protected]
 
Check those ID's...

Mike -

You should be a little more careful about your identifications. Unless you confused your Yucatan or Belize lists with your Puerto Vallarta list, I can count at least TWENTY birds (marked in bold in the quote block) that you've listed that don't occur anywhere near the PV region. Most of these are south/central american birds that only appear in the southern parts of Mexico or the Yucatan, or are strictly eastern Mexican birds (Brown Jay, Buff-Bellied Hummer, Cave Swallow).

Rufescent Tiger-Heron and Common Potoo don't even occur in MEXICO, let alone Puerto Vallarta!!

Several others, like Sierra Madre Sparrow or Black-Chested Sparrow occur close enough that I suppose they COULD have been seen in Nuevo Vallarta, but are pretty unlikely.

This should be a lesson to utilize the RANGE MAPS included in a field guide in addition to the color pictures when determining the identity of a particular bird. Knowing what's SUPPOSED to be there is an important factor in bird ID's. In many cases, you've obviously confused similar-looking species that would NEVER be confused if you had looked at the maps (for example, Hooded Oriole vs. Yellow-Backed Oriole; Northern Potoo vs. Common Potoo; Blue-Black Grosbeak vs. Blue Grosbeak; or any of the Ground-Doves, blackbirds/cowbirds, or flycatchers/tyrannulets). If you only look at the pictures -- especially with a confusing field guide like the Edwards book -- it can seem like you've just seen a Tropical Pewee, but it is important to utilize all of the information available to you.

Not trying to rain on your parade, but you will become a better birder and get more out of the hobby (not to mention avoiding needlessly alarming various local birdwatchers!) by paying attention to all the factors in an ID.

Good luck and happy future birding!



Mike Pearson said:
Here is a list compiled over the last 5 years of local birding - other than the bus trip all accomplished in and around the hotel complex.

American White Pelican; Allen's Hummingbird; Anhinga; Audubon's Oriole; Blue-black Grossbeak; Blue-footed Booby; Brown Pelican; Bank Swallow; Bare-throated Tiger Heron; Black Vulture; Black-chested Sparrow; Blue Ground-Dove; Boat-billed Flycatcher; Botteri's Sparrow; Brewer's Sparrow; Bronzed Cowbird; Brown Jay; Buff-bellied Hummingbird; Buff-collared Nightjar; Cattle Egret; Cave Swallow; Cerulean Warbler; Cinnamon Hummingbird; Cinnamon-bellied Flower-piercer, Common Black-Hawk; Common Ground-Dove; Common Potoo; Crimson-collared Tanager; Dusky Hummingbird; Dusky-capped Flycatcher; Giant Cowbird; Golden Eagle; Golden Vireo; Golden-cheeked Woodpecker; Grassland Yellow-Finch; Great Egret; Great Kiskadee; Great-tailed Grackle; Green Jay; Green Violet-ear; Groove-billed Ani; Heermann's Gull; Magnificent Frigatebird; Mangrove Vireo; Melodius Blackbird; Mexican Woodnymph; Neotropic (Olivaceaous) Cormorant; Northern Harrier; Orange Oriole; Orchard Oriole; Piping Plover; Plain-breasted Ground Dove; Plain-capped Starthroat; Purplish-backed Jay; Roadside Hawk; Royal Tern; Ruddy Ground-Dove; Ruddy-breasted Seedeater; Rufescent (Lineated) Tiger Heron; Rufous Hummingbird; Rufous-collared Sparrow; Rufous-crowned Sparrow; Rufous-sided Towhee (Spotted); Rufous-winged Sparrow; San Blas Jay; Sanderling; Short-tailed Hawk; Sierra Madre Sparrow; Snowy Egret; Snowy Plover; Social Flycatcher; Streak-backed Oriole; Stripe-headed Sparrow; Thick-billed Kingbird; Tree Swallow; Tropical Kingbird; Tropical Peewee; Turkey Vulture; Vaux's Swift; Vermilion Flycatcher; Violet-crowned Hummingbird; White-collared Seadeater (Cinnamon Rump); White-naped Brush-Finch; Willet; Wilson's Warbler; Yellow Warbler; Yellow-backed Oriole;Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet; Yellow-winged Cacique.
 
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