After I returned from my previous trip to Baja, a combination of work commitments and a pelagic trip ate up most of my time. The pelagic trip gave good looks at a nice selection of birds, including Black-footed Albatross, Flesh-footed and Buller’s Shearwaters, Long-tailed Jaeger, South Polar Skua and Sabine’s Gulls. However, nothing was new for my county list and bad weather caused our last trip to the Santa Barbara Island booby colony to be cancelled.
Birding around Santa Barbara County remained distinctly dull
but I had already arranged a nine-day trip to Baja. Wes Fritz joined me and we
drove down Friday evening to Bajamar to meet up with Kurt Radamaker. Kurt is a
multi-decade veteran of Baja birding and was going to take us down to the
legendary Vizcaino Peninsula where the proximity of the arid desert to the
coast maximizes concentration of vagrants.
There are numerous good spots on the way down. Saturday
morning started with a check around Bajamar and Rio Descanso, but only a few
western migrants were present. We then headed down to Parque Riviera in
Ensenada. Unlike my visit there a couple of weeks prior, this time we had
better luck and found both a Tennessee and a Chestnut-sided Warbler. We also
met up with Logan Kahle here who was returning from one of his regular runs
down to the Vizcaino. Logan offered some advice on the spots he likes and confirmed
that the recent hurricane had “greened-up” the inner part of the peninsula but
not the outer part.
A couple of months earlier, Logan had found a Pacific
Golden-Plover about two hours to the south, just north of Camalu. Since this
would be a Mexico bird for me, we decided to search for it that afternoon. We
eventually arrived at beach area where Logan had seen a large flock of
Black-bellied Plovers, along with the Pacific Golden. Much to my dismay, there
were just a few Black-bellieds visible. Scanning the beach, we could see more
in the distance, so we began to work our way south. As is often the case, there was always one more
promising looking area or small flock in the distance and soon we were a couple
of miles to the south, where we began to find small lagoons behind the beach
that were attracting some shorebirds. We suspected that these had probably
never been birded before. We ended up spending over two hours checking this area
of the coast. Despite seeing over 200 Black-bellied Plovers, there was no sign
of a Pacific. There was a decent spread of other shorebird species, but nothing
of special interest, with the best being seven Ruddy Turnstones scattered among
the Blacks.
We ended up spending the night at San Quinten and the next
morning birded various tamarisk rows around the hotel, including the famous
“Double Row”, which is no longer as birdy as it used to be, due to the removal
of wet, weedy ditches. Migrant numbers and diversity were pretty poor with the
best being a single Black-and-white Warbler.
Leaving San Quinten, we headed south to El Rosario, arriving
in the late morning, enjoying excellent looks at an adult Golden Eagle en route.
Logan had seen a good spread of rarities a few days earlier and we began to
check out promising gardens and parks with trees, especially fruit trees or
ones covered in grape vines. The afternoon proved to be one of most frustrating
birding experiences I have had. At the first stop, a Yellow-green Vireo popped
out for Wes and then Kurt, but I missed it. A hour later we were spread out
birding a ditch with water just behind our hotel. Although we were no more than
30m apart, we each managed to see a rarity that none of the others did –
Yellow-green Vireo, Chestnut-sided Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak! We later
headed out to El Rosario Abajo where I got quick partial views of a bird that
was almost certainly a Grace’s Warbler. We spent over a hour trying to refind
it and had a Palm Warbler and an American Redstart in the same Tam row, but
other than another quick probable view, we unable to confirm the Grace’s. We
did all see two Tennessees and a Nashville and the day ended on a high note
when we found a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a species that is probably not even
annual in Mexico and usually found in eruption years.
The next morning started off in a similar vein back in Abajo
with Kurt finding a Chestnut-sided Warbler that neither Wes nor I could catch
up with. Back at the tam row though persistence finally paid off when I got
definitive views of the Grace’s Warbler. Wes and Kurt were also able to see it
but despite a half-hour effort, Wes could not get a photo, as the bird stayed
high up in the treetops. Even better for me, while relocating the Grace’s, I
found a Blackpoll Warbler up in the tams, a new bird for Mexico for me,
although it did not hang around for Wes or Kurt.
While Wes was trying to photograph the Grace’s, Kurt and I
headed back to area nearby where Kurt had had a fair bit of bird activity
earlier. While birding an area of bushes with grape vines and scattered eucs, a
tanager with all black wings popped up – a Scarlet Tanager. This was the first
time I had found one of these as a vagrant, although this species certainly
occurs relatively more frequently in Baja compared to California.
I then headed a few hundred yards inland to check some additional yards but just found a few birds of minor interest such as a Black-throated Gray Warbler. I then got a text from Wes that they had found an interesting oriole while looking for the Scarlet Tanager. I rushed back there and we soon had good looks at a Baltimore Oriole. Even better, while viewing and photographing it, the Scarlet Tanager reappeared for Wes to see.
Heading back into the main part of town we stopped at a yard
that had had a nice selection of warblers the previous afternoon and were
thrilled when a Painted Redstart popped into view. The next stop was for a
lunch of fish and shrimp tacos. We could reflect on one of the best mornings I
had ever had for finding vagrants. The long drive to Guerrero Negro proved
fairly uneventful except for a Zone-tailed Hawk and a quick Gray Thrasher stop.
Catavina was quiet except for a Summer Tanager.
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