Baja: The Vizcaino

 

We spent a few hours in the morning checking various areas in Guerrero Negro. This proved to be fairly dull although we saw our first Northern Waterthrushes of the trip, along with some gulls, shorebirds and herons. We next headed out towards Vizcaino Junction, where we checked out the sewage ponds. Once we averted our gaze from all the floating diapers, we found several birds of interest, including a flock of 19 Aleutian Cackling Geese, 3 Pectoral Sandpipers and a few Yellow-headed Blackbirds as well as all three species of teal.

We next headed out into the Vizcaino proper. It was very evident that the desert had received a fair amount of rain from the hurricane and when we stopped at the pumping station at Bombeo, Kurt remarked that he had probably never seen so much water there. The small pool there was alive with drinking White-crowned and Brewer’s Sparrows and Wes turned up a couple each of Green-tailed Towhee and Clay-colored Sparrow, which eluded me. We then headed out to Bahia Asuncion on the coast, arriving in the late afternoon.

The next morning started off with a motley group of hybrid oystercatchers that had everything from almost pure Blacks to almost pure Americans. We then proceeded to work the gardens and parks in the town for migrants. These were mostly Yellow and Orange-crowned Warblers, with the best being a Tennessee and a couple of Black-and-whites. Leaving town, we drove towards Bahia Tortugas near the tip of the peninsula. As we headed northwest, the scenery became more arid as we escaped the path of the hurricane. We eventually reached the isolated ranches famous for Asian strays such as Arctic Warbler and Little Bunting. These proved to be fairly birdless with Rancho San Miguel being the best with a Gray Flycatcher, Swainson’s Thrush and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet – a rarer bird here than further north and a Baja California Sur tick for Kurt. Wes and I were getting numerous state birds as our birding in BCS has been fairly limited.

Broad-winged Hawk

In the afternoon, we arrived in Bahia Tortugas. After finding a hotel and having a excellent lunch featuring a local fish filet, we did some exploration of the town to determine potential birding areas. We didn’t see much of interest in the hot and windy afternoon, but hoped for better in the morning. A thorough check in the morning turned up two each of Tennessee and Black-and-white Warblers and a Warbling Vireo, but nothing of real note. As we headed out of town, we noticed a draw with a number of pepper trees growing in it and decided to look it over. As we reached the edge of the draw, a raptor flew out and began to thermal up – a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk! Finally a (little) bit of quality.

Heading back towards Guerrero Negro, we checked out the isolated ranches again. This time we had a little more luck when a Gray Catbird came into a mobbing tape, although there were again very few migrants present. As we approached closer to the base of the peninsula, we checked out a couple more ‘oasis’ in the barren desert. We asked to enter “El Eden” and were given permission to bird. We had very little for the first 20-30 minutes and I decided to try a mobbing tape in one last group of trees, which turned out to be next to some fruiting date palms. After two to three minutes of playing the tape, I realized a few birds had come into the palm tree directly over my head. These were two Orange-crowned Warblers – the commonest warbler out in the Vizcaino – and a Northern Parula, another eastern vagrant, albeit one that I see pretty much annually in Santa Barbara. Fortunately, better was to follow when a male Black-throated Blue Warbler appeared. I rushed back to get Wes and Kurt, who had already headed back to the car. Fortunately, both birds hung around and Wes got some cracking shots of the BT Blue. This is a bird I have seen only about 20 times in my life and the last time I saw a male was almost 10 years ago on Cozumel. A few miles further along, we stopped to check out another oasis, known as Hugo’s Ranch. A Red-shouldered Hawk seemed pretty out of place, while a Summer Tanager provided some minor interest.

Lonely Black-throated Blue Warbler looking for a date

We headed back into Guerrero Negro for the night to prepare for the long drive back north.