Tropical Birds of Sonora, Mexico

		Tropical Birds of Sonora, Mexico March 22-27, 2009 Tour package will include: *transportation from Bisbee* *five nights' lodging* *meals & non-alcoholic beverages* *field trips into a variety of habitats* *the services of expert local guides* *a float trip down the Río Mayo (water levels permitting)* *a multi-column traveler's checklist of the birds of northwestern Mexico*
The Wildlife:		Early spring in Sonora offers a spectacular combination of fabulous birds and possibility of 20 species of raptors and much more. Bird highlights of previous spring trips include Common Black-Hawk, Gray Hawk, Crane Hawk, Blue-footed Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird, Yellow-footed Gull, Mexican Parrotlet, Squirrel Cuckoo, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Plain-capped Starthroat, Russet-crowned Motmot, Social Flycatcher, Nutting's Flycatcher, Bright-rumped Attila, Happy Wren, Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Mangrove Swallow, Brown-backed Solitaire, Blue Mockingbird, Yellow Grosbeak, and Streak-backed Oriole. If the winter rains are generous, there may also be a good variety of butterflies and flowers as well.

*The* *Leader:*		Sheri Williamson, co-founder and co-director of the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory, has extensive experience in tropical birding, including conducting tours and workshops in northwestern Mexico. Her well-rounded natural history knowledge, enthusiasm, and good humor has earned her a loyal following among birders and other nature lovers. Sheri will be assisted by experienced local guides.

*The Destinations:*		Our tour will begin and end in Bisbee, a mining-town-turned-artist-colony just a few miles from the Mexican border. We'll spend our first night at Navojoa, a bustling agricultural and business center on the banks of the Rio Mayo. Alamos, a charming colonial town founded in the 16th Century, will be our home base for three nights. On the way back to Arizona we'll spend a night in the scenic resort city of San Carlos on the Gulf of California (a.k.a. Sea of Cortez).

$1295 per person for SABO members, $1340 per person for non-members. Tour package includes transportation from Bisbee, five nights' lodging, all meals, non-alcoholic beverages, and local guide services; Tourist fees, snacks, alcoholic beverages, guide and lodging gratuities, and other personal expenses are not included. Add $235 for single occupancy. These tours are limited to 5 to 8 participants. For more information, contact SABO at sabo@sabo.org or 520-432-1388.

Tentative Itinerary:

March 22	Bisbee to Navojoa: We'll board SABO's tour bus at 6:00 a.m. and head south, stopping at the Naco border crossing for customs inspection and tourist permits. Our route takes us through rolling grasslands and the oak and pine forests of Mexico's "sky island" mountains As we descend into the lowlands, we'll watch for Harris's Hawks and Crested Caracaras using Saguaros and other giant cacti to survey their desert domain. We'll also check a few lakes and ponds along our route for northbound waterfowl and shorebirds. As the sunset fades over the Gulf of California, we'll settle in at the Best Western Hotel del Rio in Navojoa for dinner and a good night's sleep.
March 23	Lower Rio Mayo and Alamos: It may be hard to get everyone inside for breakfast this morning, because the huge cottonwood trees and ornamental plantings around the hotel will be bustling with birds. We'll fortify ourselves for a busy day with a hearty buffet, then pack up the bus and head toward Alamos, with a short detour into the floodplain of the Rio Mayo where southbound migrant birds mix with tropical residents such as Least Grebe, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, White-fronted Parrot, Great Kiskadee, and Sinaloa Crow. Pools in the riverbed attract Neotropic Cormorants, Green Kingfishers, and waders of many species. Another side trip on the way to Alamos will take us up a scenic and birdy arroyo and through the old mining town of La Aduana. We'll look for fruiting fig trees that attract Elegant Trogon, Purplish-backed Jay, Rufous-backed Robin, Brown-backed Solitaire, and Streak-backed Oriole. We'll settle in at El Pedregal, a new ecotourism lodge on the edge of Alamos, in time for some late afternoon birding at a park where we've seen Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Mexican Parrotlet, and prehistoric-looking Sonoran Spiny-tailed Iguana. Around the lodge this evening we may hear (and even see) Buff-collared Nightjars.
March 24	Alamos and the Rio Cuchujaqui: After an early breakfast, we're off to the Rio Cuchujaqui in search of birds and other wildlife of the tropical deciduous forest, riparian forest, and thorn scrub habitats. We may see noisy flocks of Black-throated Magpie-Jays and Rufous-bellied Chachalacas, Bare-throated Tiger-Herons fishing in sluggish eddies, Plain-capped Starthroats and Violet-crowned Hummingbirds hawking insects over rippling pools, and Black-capped Gnatcatchers and Sinaloa Wrens working streamside thickets. It was here that the 2008 group discovered a Bright-rumped Attila, one of only a handful of records from Sonora of this bizarre flycatcher. Though the chance of an encounter with a Margay is extremely slim, this is the only place in our tropical travels that we've ever seen one of these feline phantoms. After lunch in town, we'll explore other interesting habitats nearby. A relaxed dinner in a restaurant just off the plaza in Alamos will round out a full and exciting day.
March 25	*A Leisurely Float Down the Río Mayo* (water levels permitting): This morning we'll be up before daylight to get to a dam on the Río Mayo, where our guides from Solipaso Tours will help us into inflatable rafts and ease us out into the stream. Depending on water levels and releases from the dam, there may be hundreds of herons, egrets, and cormorants fishing in the deep channel below the spillway. It will be hard to keep count of all the Vermilion Flycatchers, Green Kingfishers, Common-Black-Hawks, and Gray Hawks as we scan the trees and skies for less common species. Most of our birding will be done from the rafts, but we'll break up the float with a gourmet lunch beside the river, a walk up an arroyo famous for Spanish colonial ruins, rock art, and the elusive Russet-crowned Motmot, and a stop at an old mission church. We'll be picked up and brought back to Alamos in time for a short siesta before dinner.
March 26	Alamos to San Carlos: This morning we'll spend a couple of hours at birding and butterflying hot spots close to Alamos before heading out on the 5-hour drive to San Carlos. This scenic resort on the Gulf of California (a.k.a. Sea of Cortez) is popular with anglers, boaters, and scuba divers and also appeared in the movies Catch-22 and The Mask of Zorro. The towering crags of Cerro Tetakawi dominate the landscape, while its smaller counterparts are popular gathering places for seabirds such as Brown Pelicans, Blue-footed and Brown Boobies, Heerman's Gulls, Elegant Terns, and Magnificent Frigatebirds. We'll check into our hotel just yards from the beach before doing some exploring of the area's varied habitats. Estuaries and tidal flats around the bay should be teeming with ducks and shorebirds, and a pod of Orcas has been sighted recently out in the bay.
March 27	Nacapule Canyon, return to Bisbee: We'll spend the early morning hours birding in Cañon de Nacapule, in the mountains just outside San Carlos. The permanent springs and lush subtropical vegetation of this sheltered oasis support a spectacular diversity of fauna and flora, including species known from nowhere else in the world. The canyon's palm and fig trees should be magnets for a variety of migrating songbirds. From here, it's about an 8-hour drive to Bisbee, including a little more roadside birding and a stop for lunch in Hermosillo.

Some birds of southern Sonora:

Least Grebe
Blue-footed Booby
Brown Booby
Neotropic Cormorant
Magnificent Frigatebird
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
Reddish Egret
Tri-colored Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
White-tailed Kite
Crane Hawk
Gray Hawk
Common Black-Hawk
Great Black-Hawk
Solitary Eagle
Short-tailed Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
Laughing Falcon
Rufous-bellied Chachalaca
Elegant Quail
Heerman's Gull

Yellow-Footed Gull
Elegant Tern
Red-billed Pigeon
Ruddy Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Mexican Parrotlet
White-fronted Parrot
Squirrel Cuckoo
Lesser Roadrunner
Groove-billed Ani
Mottled Owl
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Pauraque
Buff-collared Nightjar
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
Plain-capped Starthroat
Elegant Trogon
Russet-crowned Motmot
Green Kingfisher
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Nutting's Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird
Thick-billed Kingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Mangrove Vireo
Black-throated Magpie-Jay
Purplish-backed Jay
Sinaloa Crow
Mangrove Swallow
Sinaloa Wren
Happy Wren
Black-capped Gnatcatcher
Brown-backed Solitaire
Rufous-backed Robin
Blue Mockingbird
"Mangrove" Yellow Warbler
Flame-colored Tanager
Yellow Grosbeak
Varied Bunting
Blue-black Grassquit
White-collared Seedeater
Five-striped Sparrow
Rufous-winged Sparrow
Black-vented Oriole
Streak-backed Oriole

Black Vultures on the Río Mayo

Black-throated Magpie-Jay

Rafting the Río Mayo

Caracara on a prickly perch

Gray Hawk

Sierra de Alamos

White-fronted Parrot

Fig and palm trees in
Cañon de Nacapule

Great and Snowy egrets on the Rio Mayo

Heerman's Gull

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Tropical Birds of Sonora, Mexico

March 22-27, 2009