Baja: The Northbound Return

 

The next morning we exited Guerrero Negro at dawn and headed over the state line to its airport, which lies in Baja California (BC) rather than Baja California Sur (BCS). Wes was anxious to get photographs of the local race of Bell’s Sparrow as he is trying to photograph as many subspecies of North American birds as possible. We found a track that led to some low vegetated dunes, suitable for both the sparrow and the local race of LeConte’s Thrasher, the latter bird being a potential addition to my BC list.

Once we reached the correct habitat, we found both species fairly easily and got excellent views and photographs. I have seen LeConte’s Thrasher less than 10 times in my life, so it is always a treat to see them, although I have seen all three populations this year!

Bell Sparrow's

We then moved on north to Villa Jesus Maria, a farming settlement known as a good location for grassland species such as longspurs, pipits and Horned Larks. Although we found several good-looking fields, we were unable to get good looks at the pipit and lark flocks we found and had to be content with a Ferruginous Hawk as the best species.

Swainson's Thrush

Driving further north, we stopped briefly at Mauricio’s, which is more-or-less the last settlement before you reach El Rosario. Wes found a couple of Swainson’s Thrushes that eventually showed well. As a bonus, while waiting to get good looks at the thrushes, I found a Dickcissel that Kurt and Wes got to see, although it proved a challenge to get a good photograph.

Gray Catbird

After a further longish drive, we reached Catavina. Kurt got the ball rolling by finding a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but a ‘nature break’ delayed my arrival and I just saw it flying away. The combination of the fruiting date palms and a little water in the creek bed attracted a large flock of Cedar Waxwings along with several Western Tanagers and two each of Summer Tanager and American Robin, the latter somewhat uncommon this far south. We staked out the drinking area for a bit and before long a Gray Catbird appeared, followed soon after, incredibly, by a second one. A Wilson’s Snipe was also feeding in the creekbed.

Orchard Oriole

We ended up in El Rosario for the evening, hoping for a repeat of our earlier visit. It was not to disappoint! The next morning we headed back to El Rosario de Abajo and started at the west edge where we had seen the Scarlet Tanager and Baltimore Oriole last time. On this occasion, the star bird was an Orchard Oriole, a nice start to the day. We worked our way a little more inland and I staked out the tam row that had been so productive on our previous visit. There was no sign of the Grace’s Warbler, but both the American Redstart and Palm Warbler were still present, along with a cracking male Summer Tanager. However, the real excitement came from a female Hooded Warbler that popped up in the lower levels of the tam row. Unfortunately, it quickly moved further inland before Wes and Kurt could come over to see it. Checking another yard, slightly further inland yielded a Black-and-white Warbler and a second Painted Redstart in a different location to the one we had found (apparently a returning wintering bird) on our previous visit, while nearby a Green-tailed Towhee and Warbling Vireo kept things interesting.

Yellow-green Vireo

Wanting to check out some areas we had missed during our first visit, we headed inland to the east end of town. We got permission to view a very lush yard from a large fenced gravel yard. After a long session of mobbing playback, we eventually got good looks at a Yellow-green Vireo, which has had a bumper year as a vagrant along the Pacific Coast of North America, and Wes even got a decent photograph. Another leafy yard produced a Summer Tanager and a Baltimore Oriole.

Baltimore Oriole

After lunch, we started on the three-hour drive to Bajamar. After a relaxing evening there, we birded Bajamar the next morning for a couple of hours and were rewarded with a Chestnut-sided Warbler that actually had chestnut sides! Our fourth of the trip, although only the second one I had laid eyes on.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

It was time to say goodbye to Kurt and thank him for his hospitality. We crossed the border at Otay Mesa, with Wes taking the pedestrian path as he couldn’t accompany me through the Sentri lanes. The run up through San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles proved relatively traffic free and we were home by 6 PM. Certainly a Baja fall trip that lived up to our hopes. 

All  photos in these three Baja posts are by Wes Fritz.