16 March 2009

Mazatlan - 10 Mar. 2009

We went birding first thing in the morning today.  We checked out some of the lagoons further south and were greeted by many new species for the trip.  Considering my new camera gear and the fact that I didn't really wanted to get robbed, I decided NOT to haul it through the city hence the lack of photos from the morning.

However, like yesterday, most of the time today was spent going to talks for the conference.  However, I continued to bird the gardens at the hotel in addition to walking some on the beach.  

About 1/4 mile south of the hotel was a rocky outcropping of rocks along the beach.  These rocks provided numerous shorebird species throughout the week.  Pictured below are Surfbirds.  Initially there were a couple, then 8, and then over 50!  



Back at the hotel, I finally caught up to a Cinnamon Hummingbird, pictured below:



Along the beach at the hotel, gulls were never hard to find.  The below Heerman's Gull was one of the species that would frequent the area:



By far the most common species at the hotel, White-winged Doves were easy to photograph:



A little less common than the White-winged Doves but still quite common, Ruddy Ground-Doves would frequent the feeders at the hotel:


With the early morning birding we were able to squeeze in, today yielded many new species for the trip:

(*) = west Mexico endemic

Ani, Groove-billed 
Avocet, American 
Chat, Yellow-breasted 
Coot, American 
Dove, Inca 
Dowitcher, Long-billed 
Duck, Ruddy 
Egret, Snowy 
Flycatcher, Vermilion 
Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray 
Grebe, Least 
Grebe, Pie-billed 
Grosbeak, Blue 
Ground-Dove, Common 
Gull, Bonaparte's 
Gull, Herring 
Gull, Laughing 
Heron, Green 
Heron, Tricolored 
Ibis, White-faced 
Killdeer 
Mockingbird, Northern 
Moorhen, Common 
Night-Heron, Black-crowned 
Oriole, Hooded 
Oystercatcher, American 
Saltator, Grayish 
Sandpiper, Least 
Shoveler, Northern 
Sparrow, Lark 
Spoonbill, Roseate 
Surfbird 
Swallow, Mangrove 
Swallow, Northern Rough-winged 
Tanager, Summer 
Tattler, Wandering 
Teal, Blue-winged 
Teal, Green-winged 
Vireo, Bell's 
Warbler, Wilson's 
* Wren, Sinaloa 
Yellowlegs, Greater 
Yellowthroat, Common