Leaving Ames at about 5:00 AM this morning, we drove through the rain down to the airport. Before we knew it, we had landed in Mazatlan, Mexico!
Below is a photo of the beach in front of our hotel, the Playa Mazatlan:
Here is a view from one side of the hotel:
It didn't take long to start tallying some fun tropical birds. For example, the below picture is a Great Kiskadee on the hotel grounds:
Somewhat similar, the below bird is a Social Flycatcher:
We started our trip list as soon as our plane had landed. Before the day was over, I had tallied the following species:
(*) = Endemic to Mexico
Blackbird, Red-winged
Caracara, Crested
Cormorant, Neotropic
* Crow, Sinaloa
Dove, White-winged
Egret, Cattle
Egret, Great
Flycatcher, Social
Frigatebird, Magnificent
Grackle, Great-tailed
Ground-Dove, Ruddy
Gull, Heerman's
Gull, Ring-billed
Heron, Great Blue
Kestrel, American
Kiskadee, Great
Oriole, Orchard
Pelican, Brown
Pigeon, Rock
Sandpiper, Spotted
Seedeater, White-collared
Sparrow, House
Swallow, Barn
Tern, Caspian
Vulture, Black
Vulture, Turkey
Warbler, Orange-crowned
Willet
Willet
