Birding in Mexico

Birding in Mexico With around 350 species of birds, Puerto Vallarta is called El Paraiso de aves or Paradise of Birds. We do manage tours also for guests arriving by cruise ship.

Please inquire for our special schedules.

October 26, 2024... more details of Nazca B***y in flight; a pair on flotsome with a dolphin's bill visible between them...
29/10/2024

October 26, 2024... more details of Nazca B***y in flight; a pair on flotsome with a dolphin's bill visible between them; and a pair on the water with a marine turtle (either Green or Hawksbill) juxtaposed.

Credit goes to Mauel Grosselet and the phenomenally skilled captain and mate of the vessel we used (I will post the name and company as soon as I can)... who knew just how, not only to approach the birds without undue disturbance, but they did so at the correct lighting angle for the many avid birders and bird photographers who participated on this expedition.

Another ocean wanderer well off the coast of Oaxaca... The Wedge-tailed Shearwater (light morph).These pan-tropical seab...
28/10/2024

Another ocean wanderer well off the coast of Oaxaca... The Wedge-tailed Shearwater (light morph).

These pan-tropical seabirds range over nearly the whole of the tropical Pacific and beyond, nesting on remote coraline atolls and some inhabited granitic and basaltic islands, like Hawaii, though they are threatened by introduced rats and other mammalian predators introduced by one species: Homo sapiens.

It's hard to say where the birds we encountered nest... as the species is highly migratory and nomadic.

I'm just glad we encountered them, albeit in limited numbers, on this very successful voyage.

Credit goes to Mauel Grosselet and the phenomenally skilled captain and mate of the vessel we used (I will post the name and company as soon as I can)... who knew just how, not only to approach the birds without undue disturbance, but they did so at the correct lighting angle for the many avid birders and bird photographers who participated on this expedition.

From a pelagic trip on steroids off the tropical Pacific coast of Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico, October 26, 2024:  Behold th...
28/10/2024

From a pelagic trip on steroids off the tropical Pacific coast of Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico, October 26, 2024: Behold this amazing face detail of an adult Nazca B***y taken during the now completed... and very likely only pelagic birding outing to reach the 50 nautical mile point in the region.

Most pelagic outings do not result in top-quality imagery of the ocean wanderers encountered, but this one was an exception to this "rule".

Never before have I had such opportunities to photograph this species in vibrant detail and excellent lighting conditions... even while at sea around the birds' natal Galapagos Islands, in Ecuador!

Credit goes to Mauel Grosselet and the phenomenally skilled captain and mate of the vessel we used (I will post the name and company as soon as I can)... who knew just how, not only to approach the birds without undue disturbance, but they did so at the correct lighting angle for the many avid birders and bird photographers who participated on this expedition.

Many thanks also go out to my new and established bird photography friends Danial Garza Tobón, Darío Cantú Quintanilla, and seven others who's correct name spelling will be posted shortly, along with more excellent images from this exciting trip.

Stay tuned for more exciting imagery from this fabulous trip, while also contacting me in a private message if you would like to participate in future expeditions like this in Oaxaca and other rich pelagic trips off Mexico's Pacific, Gulf of California, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean waters.

I'll be organizing them in tandem with Manuel Grosselet through Natural Encounters Birding and Wildlife Photography Tours and Birding in Mexico.

A beautiful Orange-breasted Bunting makes an appearance in the dry tropical forests of Huatulco National Park, Oaxaca, y...
28/10/2024

A beautiful Orange-breasted Bunting makes an appearance in the dry tropical forests of Huatulco National Park, Oaxaca, yesterday, October 27, 2024, the morning after our exciting Birdinet pelagic expedition, organized by Manuel Grosselet, that extended to 50 nautical miles off the coast of Oaxaca.

This species is endemic to the Pacific slope of Mexico, from Nayarit south to Chiapas... where it can be fairly common... though its colors are anything but ordinary.

With bird photography friends Danial Garza Tobón, Darío Cantú Quintanilla, and other new friends who participated in this exceptional expedition.

Another endemic hummingbird found in West Mexico and photographed concurrently with the endangered Blue-capped Hummingbi...
26/10/2024

Another endemic hummingbird found in West Mexico and photographed concurrently with the endangered Blue-capped Hummingbird, today, September 24, 2024, is the glittery Golden-crowned Emerald.

I've always wanted to capture the bird's golden crown (which is only visible at certain angles, and then only when the bird wants to display it... and that dream came true today.

Seeing is believing, and It proves that at least sometimes bird names really do match their description:-)

Mexico is full of endemic treasures and colorful avian gems.  Today, October 25, 2024, near Pluma Hidalgo, in the beauti...
26/10/2024

Mexico is full of endemic treasures and colorful avian gems.

Today, October 25, 2024, near Pluma Hidalgo, in the beautifully verdant Sierra Mihuatlan, the limited-range endemic Blue-capped (or Oaxaca) Hummingbird dazzles with metallic colors.

Here, behold a spectacular male sporting its namesake blue-purple cap.

This is an endangered species due to increasing habitat destruction for agriculture... particularly but not limited to coffee cultivation.

Today, October 23, 2024... on the final day of Natural Encounters' Bird Specialties of Puerto Vallarta, Photographic Exp...
24/10/2024

Today, October 23, 2024... on the final day of Natural Encounters' Bird Specialties of Puerto Vallarta, Photographic Expedition... this beautiful Squirrel Cuckoo was captured taking flight from its hiding place in the tropical dry forests here... revealing its striking undertail pattern.

This race of Squirrel Cuckoo is endemic to western Mexico, north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and may very well one day be recognized as it's own endemic species... The "Mexican Squirrel Cuckoo" or "West Mexican Squirrel Cuckoo".

Remember... as with the now specifically distinct West Mexican Euphonia... you heard it first here.

Thanks to the extreme speed and new-age autofocus technology of my Canon R5 Mk II, in combination with the remarkably able, and very lightweight Canon RF 100-500 f:4.5-7.1L lens, this image and many others in the sequence was made possible... and now you can vicariously see the "unseeable" in vivid detail as the bird darted quickly into the sky, then out of view into another canopy tree.

I've been profiling a number of neotropical specialties from Amazona and beyond lately... but yesterday afternoon I took...
18/10/2024

I've been profiling a number of neotropical specialties from Amazona and beyond lately... but yesterday afternoon I took a late-day walk in low light in the Nuevo Vallarta region... and captured this beautiful, high-speed Eurasian Collared-Dove image as the birds took flight at the approach of a trio of walkers at a public path leading between the beach and Bucerias.

The effect was pleasing, even though I used my Canon R5 II, with RF100-500mm f:4.5-7.1 lens at 1/6500 sec at 12800 ISO, in gray overcast light that suddenly enveloped the scene after a cloud bank came ashore from the eastern Tropical Pacific here (even though it had been sunny with no clouds just a half hour before).

A beautiful pair of Blue-and-Yellow Macaws in juxtaposition, taken at one of the clay licks at Tambopata Nature Reserve,...
15/10/2024

A beautiful pair of Blue-and-Yellow Macaws in juxtaposition, taken at one of the clay licks at Tambopata Nature Reserve, Madre de Dios, Peru, using my Canon R5 II, and Canon RF1200mm f:8L on October 1, 2024.

These spectacular "great macaws" are monogamous and very social. Seeing them against the blue Amazonian sky is a sight to behold (and photograph).

With Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉
14/10/2024

With Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

A striking pair of Black-capped Donacobious in song, replete with their mustard-colored gular sacks inflated, seen in di...
14/10/2024

A striking pair of Black-capped Donacobious in song, replete with their mustard-colored gular sacks inflated, seen in display during the early mornings at Lago Solidad, Amazonian Peru, September 23, 2024.

These spectacular birds have confused ornithologists and birders alike, as to whether they are wrens (as believed when I first saw them in the 90s), mockingbirds, and thrushes... but now they are thought to represent their own family, Donacobiidae...

They are monogamous and very territorially vocal, so are often heard during the crepuscular hours... though they can still be stubbornly difficult to see in the dense marsh vegetation they inhabit from the Oronico Basin, to Amazonia, and the Pantanal of northern and central South America, east of the Andes Mountain Range.

This pair posed beautifully for my Canon R5 Mk II paired with the Canon 1200mm f:8L. And the rest is history.

A wonderful aggregation of Scarlet, Blue-and-Yellow, and Red-and-Green macaws at CCollapa Ocho Gallinas, Tambopata Natur...
08/10/2024

A wonderful aggregation of Scarlet, Blue-and-Yellow, and Red-and-Green macaws at CCollapa Ocho Gallinas, Tambopata Nature Reserve, Peruvian Amazonia, in September 2024.

The banana bill of the Amazon's waterways:  Large-billed Tern, as seen in flight using the new Canon R5 Mk II and my Can...
08/10/2024

The banana bill of the Amazon's waterways: Large-billed Tern, as seen in flight using the new Canon R5 Mk II and my Canon RF 1200mm f:8L, hand-held, from a moving boat at on the ### River, near La Solidad Lodge, Amazonian Peru, on the latest, joint Natural Encounters Birding and Wildlife Photography Tours/SouthWild excursion to the region.

I will be leading several birding and high-speed photography excursions to the region in the coming months. Send me a private message if you would like more information.

One of the most beautiful sights in the mysterious swamps and tropical waterways of Latin America is a female  Sungrebe ...
06/10/2024

One of the most beautiful sights in the mysterious swamps and tropical waterways of Latin America is a female Sungrebe in alternate (breeding) plumage.

This image was taken at Lago Sandoval, Tambopata Nature Reserve, about a week ago... and the bird was in exquisite plumage, and perfect light, which see.

Usually, the species is seen in its more somber basic (nonbreeding) plumage, but I hit the jackpot this time around.

The last time I saw one of these beauties in such ornate dress was on the Amazon River near Leticia, Colombia, around six or seven years ago.

A pair of spectacular Red-and-Green Macaws sparring in the treetops near one of the culpas (clay licks) along the Tambop...
04/10/2024

A pair of spectacular Red-and-Green Macaws sparring in the treetops near one of the culpas (clay licks) along the Tambopata River, Madre de Dios, Peru.

The extreme reach of my Canon RF 1200mm f:8L in combination with the speed of the new Canon R5 Mk II, allowed such an image capture of this spectacular species.

Don't miss our next Natural Encounters Birding and Wildlife Photography Tours excursion to the region. Please private message me and if you are interested seeing the upcoming itinerary.

A pair of Blue-and-Yellow Macaws frolic and play in the rainforest canopy above Ccollpa Ocho Gallinas, Tambopata Nature ...
03/10/2024

A pair of Blue-and-Yellow Macaws frolic and play in the rainforest canopy above Ccollpa Ocho Gallinas, Tambopata Nature Reserve, Madre de Dios, Peru.

The image was made possible using my RF 1200mm f:8L paired with a 1.4x Extender, for an incredible 1680mm of reach.

The ingenious construction of this tac-sharp lens is its hand-holdable character... meaning I could react with lighting fast reflexes to the action on hand, which see this pic.

October 2, 2024:  I'm just returning from a great Peruvian Amazonia photographic odyssey with my good friends from South...
02/10/2024

October 2, 2024: I'm just returning from a great Peruvian Amazonia photographic odyssey with my good friends from SouthWild Peru.

I'll be posting some of the most memorable images from this expedition after I have time to sort through the wealth of incredible captures obtained.

Here is an example of a stunning action image of a primordial Hoatzin pair, one taking flight, from about a week ago at Lago Solidad, near Lago Solidad Lodge.

More to follow.

Be sure to private message me if you would like to participate on the next Natural Encounters excursion to Peruvian Amazonia and the extensive Tambopata Nature Reserve.

September 25 2024:  A frenzy of color.  Red-and-Green Macaws dangle and frolic at a clay bank on the Rio de la Piedras, ...
26/09/2024

September 25 2024: A frenzy of color. Red-and-Green Macaws dangle and frolic at a clay bank on the Rio de la Piedras, near Lago Solidad Lodge, Peruvian Amazonia.

Note the red and blue retricie (or tail feather) cast aside in the playful tussle, seen to the upper righthand side of the photo above the birds.

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