The destination for the morning was a couple city blocks in downtown Ixtapa, a slightly different habitat than what was surrounding our hotel. More mature thorn forrest, and someone I'd emailed with previously had had several high quality species here, such as San Blas Jay, Greyish Saltator and Lineated Woodpecker. The first stop, we wandered around a semi urban road, turning up several good species such as Happy Wren and Yellow-breasted Chat. I also stirred up a very large, hairy spider from the ground, which I would be interested to know what species it was. If all Tarantulas look like how I picture them, then I don't think it was a Tarantula. An equally large wasp did actually chase it off, which I guess would be a Tarantula Wasp... but unfortunately I'm just a birder, so I don't know much!
The Happy Wren sure made me happy!
We drove up to another spot where the San Blas Jays had supposedly been frequenting, but by then it was already well after 9, so the birds had started winding down. We got to the little woodlot, and immediately got on a male Lineated Woodpecker! We walked around it's perimeter, with no Jays. On the way back around, I decided to cut through the middle, which proved to be a fantastic decision. In about two minutes, I'd picked up Greyish Saltator, MacGillivray's Warbler, Bell's Vireo, Spot-breasted Oriole and very good, but also very brief views of another Motmot. A very, very productive stop, which knocked many of the harder species!
Lineated Woodpecker, one of the closest living relatives of the great Ivory-billed Woodpecker
A real Spot-breasted Oriole, not like those introduced ones in Florida
Greyish Saltator- Unlike any other species I know, if I had to, I'd probably put them in with grosbeaks or cardinals I guess, but they are actually more closely related to tanagers
Bell's Vireo, probably one of the drabber birds of the trip if I'm being honest
The rest of the day was designated for "touristy" things. We checked out the marina, which boasted it's own selection of species, including Mangrove Swallow and Peregrine Falcon. The birds there were also very tame, and used to the crowds of tourists milling around by the water and shops, which proved well for photography.
White-winged Dove, really pretty up close!
Mangrove Swallows in flight show off their white rump, something quite unique, as no swallows in North America have a field mark quite like this, although I think there is some South American swallows that also have this
A closer view of the Mangrove Swallow, quite similar to our Tree Swallow from this viewpoint!
After the marina, we decided to spend a few hours on Playa Linda (Playa means beach in Spanish). The water was surprisingly warm, I had expected the Pacific to be colder! I did a bit of a seawatch, and I managed to get two Blue-footed Boobies in with the large flocks of Brown Boobies! There was also plenty of accommodating Royal Terns, Neotropic Cormorants and Chachalacas. Nearby on the beach a Reddish Egret was catching stuff in the surf, and I heard and saw a Belted Kingfisher flying inland with some fish. Darn, the only Kingfisher I have, and according to eBird, the third most uncommon of the four! I decided to follow it inland, to see if I could find some Kingfisher habitat. Right next to the road, there was a pretty polluted estuary filled with Crocodiles which we had seen earlier, simply called "Cocodrilario" (Just means Crocodile in Spanish). I didn't think I'd find much here in the way of Kingfishers, as it was quite small, and literally every single tree- had a nesting wader in it. That's not an over exaggeration. Hundreds of herons, ibis, and storks filled the trees, calling, building nests, and pretty much just crapping everywhere. The water was disgusting, and covered in poop, and where there wasn't poop, there was a crocodile. So not the best for Kingfishers I decided. But just as my parents pulled up with the car and said it was time to leave, something caught my eye- A Green Kingfisher! Sitting on the least crap covered branch of them all overhanging the water. It didn't appear very impressed, and sat very still.
I did a good job of hiding the poop in the photo, and also the chain link fence in front of me keeping the Crocodiles from "escaping".
I stared at it for a bit, and then hopped into the car. What an absolutely beautiful bird! And although there was lots of poop and tourists, the Storks, Spoonbills and others were also quite amazing as well. It was quite interesting to watch the Wood Storks fight over nesting material, and vibrate their bills to make a vibrating sound. For such an urban spot, it was really quite cool!
More coming! So many photos to go through, trust me, I could've added a lot more!
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