Photo ABCs

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Welcome to my photography blog!

Here I share photos of birds, travel, sports and people (mostly birds).

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I will have another (my fifth) solo show of bird photography at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center Gallery in Santee, California, from October 22 through December 2 of 2022. Details will follow when the time approaches.

Thanks for visiting, do come back, a new post appears almost daily.

Laguna Santa Maria del Oro Birds, cont.

I treated myself to a nice stay at the Santa Maria Boutique Resort for my last night of my birding trip. It was well worth it. The lovely and birdy grounds:

The idyllic room with Zen-like simplicity and harmony:

The infinity pool overlooking the volcanic lake:

A few more birds seen on my last morning:

Rufous-bellied Chachalacas are common (and noisy!) in their limited range in western Mexico:

Yellow-bellied Caciques have hanging nests similar to orioles:

A Rufous-backed Robin:

A toast for a birdy trip!

Laguna Santa Maria del Oro Birds

My last stop on my May 2022 birding trip through Sinaloa and Nayarit, Mexico, was Laguna Santa Maria del Oro. (The posts for this trip begin on July 2 if you wish to read them in order).

This volcanic lake is one of the most picturesque spots in all of Mexico, and one of my favorites!

I had one short morning to look for birds, and came across these:

The Masked Tityra ranges through much of Mexico, Central and South America. It is usually found in tropical and subtropical forest and adjacent semi-open areas with taller trees, which is exactly where this bird was found.

Though I was no longer in Sinaloa, it was here that I caught a glimpse of my life-bird Sinaloa Wren before it flew away:

The Red-billed Pigeon can be seen in the Rio Grande Valley, but is otherwise found only in Mexico and Central America. According to the Merlin app, it "tends to be fairly shy." I had seen them before during a previous trip to Laguna Santa Maria del Oro, but had not managed a photo. This bird perched high atop a tall tree, so I managed a distant photo:

The Lineated Woodpecker is a spectacular woodpecker of Mexico, Central and South America:

Berylline Hummingbird

The Berylline Hummingbird occasionally strays into southeast Arizona but is mostly found in Mexico and Central America.

Here is one in the town of El Palmito, Sinaloa:

Greater Pewee, Cordilleran Flycatcher

The Greater Pewee can be seen in southeast Arizona in breeding season. It is found year-round throughout mountainous forests of Mexico.

Here is one at the Tufted Jay preserve in May of this year:

After an afternoon of birding at the Tufted Jay Preserve, there was little light left. There was a bit of light, though, in the meadow where the cabins are located.

I had noticed that various birds had visited an agave plant in the middle of the meadow, so I sat near the agave, hoping for a bird to come.

After fifteen minutes I gave up, and stood up to leave.

Immediately, this Cordilleran Flycatcher made a beeline to the agave, and posed just a few feet away from me. I was more than happy!

The Cordilleran Flycatcher is virtually identical to our Pacific-slope Flycatcher, but has slightly different vocalizations and a more eastern range.

 

White-eared Hummingbird

The White-eared Hummingbird is one of the more common hummingbirds in Mexico.

Here is a female, photographed at the Tufted Jay Preserve in El Palmito, Sinaloa, in May of this year:

Mountain Trogon, Red-headed Tanager

Both of these birds were very high in the treetops and difficult to see or photograph, so the shots are not the best.

I'm posting these pictures because they are two more life-birds!

Thanks to Don Santos for finding these birds, it would have been unlikely for me to see these without his assistance.

There are seven species of trogon which can be found in Mexico. With the Mountain Trogon, I'm up to four. Looks like I'll need another trip to the Yucatan to find the three that I'm missing...

Mountain Trogon:

The Red-headed Tanager is found only in Mexico:

Thrushes

Here are two thrushes found at the Tufted Jay Preserve.

Photographed in May of this year.

The Aztec Thrush, as its name implies, is found only in western and central Mexico.

A life-bird!

The White-throated Thrush is found in Mexico, Central America and the northern tip of South America.

Another life-bird!

Brushfinches

There are forty species of brushfinches, the great majority having extremely limited ranges in various South American countries.

They are small sparrow-like birds which typically forage on or near the ground.

Four brushfinch species reside in Mexico, two of which can be found in the Tufted Jay Preserve in El Palmito, Sinaloa.

Here is a Green-striped Brushfinch, which is found only in Mexico with a limited range:

The Rufous-capped Brushfinch is also found only in Mexico:

 

Blue Mockingbird

The Blue Mockingbird has been perhaps my #1 nemesis bird in my travels through Mexico.

It's a Mexican endemic, and a common bird through most of central Mexico, but I only remember seeing one, in Oaxaca, but it was too obscured by bushes for a decent photo.

The Merlin app states the bird is "skulking and heard far more often than seen," which might explain why I have seen so few!

There were quite a few Blue Mockingbirds at the Tufted Jay Preserve. Most of them seemed to vanish just as I aimed my camera.

Luckily this one held still just long enough.

Slate-throated Redstart

The Slate-throated Redstart is a gorgeous warbler of highlands and foothills of Mexico, Central, and parts of South America.

It looks a lot like the very similar Painted Restart which can be found in Arizona, but without the large white wing patches.

This bird comes in three different color varieties! The ones in Mexico look like this, elsewhere they may have or orange-red or yellow underparts.

This bird was found all over the Tufted Jay Preserve, but rarely held still for a decent photo.