Well our final full day had finally arrived and oh so quickly. It was yet another opportunity to wake the group up early, but by now they were used to it. So we ate breakfast at 6:30am and boarded our nice air-conditioned bus at 7:15am.
It took an hour to drive a few kilometres to Hacienda Solima because the track was very bumpy and we stopped to look at few birdies. We had frequent sightings of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, we stopped to watch a pair of Double-striped Thick-Knee and we added Eastern Meadowlark to our list.
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| The elusive Lesser Ground Cuckoo |
Hacienda Solima is a huge privately owned working cattle ranch of some 20,000 hectares, of which approx. 30% is set aside as nature conservation areas. Much of the land is open pasture which is fed by canals and wet ditches, there are many pools and larger flooded meadows at this time of the year. The whole area is a magnet for birds and some of the pools were literally covered in wildfowl.
We arrived at 8am and after checking in at the hacienda and collecting a guide we were able to take the bus all over the ranch, with the aid of the resident bird guide and Roy, our own guide, we saw a tremendous number of species.
The first official stop produced a list as long as your arm, but the highlight had to be both the Jabiru and the Lesser Ground Cuckoo. The Jabiru sat out in the marsh with hundreds of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Wood Storks, White Ibis, Limpkin, Northern Jacana and hundreds of egrets and herons. It was nice to see so many Bare-throated Tiger-Herons out in the open like that.
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| Spectacled Owl |
The Lesser Ground-Cuckoo was special for most of the group and well appreciated, it was hard to find in the scrub but eventually it sat out and posed for our cameras and scopes.
Next we went for a short walk
into a small patch of dry forest, the approach path wound its way through some
long grass and scrub where we disturbed a couple of Coyotes, my first ever
sightings of this species made it special.
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| Turquoise-crowned Motmot |
Our local guide took us on a
narrow trail into the dense forest and led us directly to a roost-site of
Spectacled Owls, amazing how he could see them from where we stood. We all had
great views in the scope of two of the owls. We then walked a little further
and the guide called another fantastic bird by mimicking its call, a
Long-tailed Manakin, this bird blew us away with its beautiful plumage and long
tail feathers. During our spell in the woods we also saw Black-headed Trogon
and Turquoise-browed Motmot.
After that excitement we boarded
the bus and continued our tour of the ranch, we passed many pastures with
hundreds of cows and bulls feeding in them. We searched the flocks of ducks for
Fulvous Whistling Duck without success but the many egrets and herons kept us
happy. It was also excellent for raptors, Snail Kites were common, a couple of
Harris Hawks were seen and a great number of vultures circled above us with
Wood Storks.
Our next stop was in a sheltered
area adjacent to a canal with some mangrove swamp on one side. Our guide
pointed out a roosting Lesser Nighthawk, which sat just above the track, super.
We stood and watched the area of water where mangroves hung over the edges.
Within a few minutes we had listed some excellent species; American Pygmy
Kingfisher, Ringed Kingfisher, Boat-billed Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Bare-throated
Tiger Heron, Anhinga, Common Ground-Dove and we heard a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
calling.
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| Pacific Screech Owl |
Our journey continued with the
same pattern, which consisted of short stops where we stepped out into the heat
for a short scan or to watch a particular species. An American Kestrel was nice
to see as was Eastern Meadowlark, Plain Breasted Ground-Dove, a flock of some
25 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and much, much more.
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| Lesser Nighthawk |
It was now nearly lunchtime so we
made our way back to the hacienda where we stopped along the driveway to look
for another roosting owl. This time we found a Pacific Screech Owl what a
lovely little chap. We then found a Tree Porcupine sleeping in the next tree,
now that was an ugly little critter but nice to see, a tame Bush Buck was also
walking around the gardens at the hacienda.
We ate a very welcomed lunch before
saying goodbye to our guide and the staff at Hacienda Solima, we had had a
great morning’s birding with some special memories to cherish. We drove back to
Ensenada lodge and took a break before meeting up again for our afternoon
birding session, this time we were going for our first waders-watch at the
Salinas de Ensenada.
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| Mexican-Hairy-Dwarf Porcupine |
These salt pans lie very close to
the ocean and provides a haven for hundreds of roosting and feeding shorebirds.
The pans looked empty as we drove in but on closer inspection we could see many
birds, and as time went by, more and birds flew in until it was packed, we had
chosen a good time to visit just before high tide.
I will list the waders seen approximately
tallest to shortest: Black-neck Stilt, Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Willet, Lesser
Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Spotted
Sandpiper, Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper and Western
Sandpiper. Some of these gave us ID problems of course, but we got there in the
end.
Other birds around were Osprey, Wilson’s
Phalarope, Roseate Spoonbill, we searched for Collared Plover and Killdeer
without success.
The light was beginning to fade
so we decided totals a short walk in the nearby mangroves to look for other
species and our last new bird often day was found when a nicely coloured, male,
Indigo Bunting turned up.
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| Juvenile Bare-throated Tiger-Heron |
A last minute search back at the
lodge for Crested Bobwhite produced only a small flock of Striped-headed
Sparrows, the gorgeous White-throated Magpie-Jay and a few spot Breasted
Orioles.
A beautiful sunset ended this
superb birding, which was rather fitting as we had travelled throughout a beautiful
country and see some exquisite birds.
At dinner we all listed our top 6
species in order starting with the favourite first, after totting up the scores
the top 3 came out as; Resplendent Quetzal, Golden-browed Chlorophonia and
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
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| Boat-billed Heron |
The total number of species listed
was 448 with 5 more heard but not seen, this impressive total was due to the keen
eyed participants and their untiring, sometimes relentless pursuit of target
species and of course most of the credit goes to Roy. His expertise and outstanding
knowledge of hummingbirds and flycatchers was phenomenal, because of this we listed
44 out of 51 possible hummers and over 30 different Flycatchers.
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