May 6, 2008

Terns at every Turn 5/2/08

Today we went to Rio Lagartos and went on one of the boats that tours provide with a guide that really knew his birds. I ended up seeing 7 lifers and 49 species overall. Here is how it all turned out.

6:45AM: I grudgingly got out of bed, had a quick breakfast (cereal), and got ready to go.

7:45AM: We got in the car and headed for Rio Lagartos (listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as dad drove).

9:15AM: We arrived at RL and looked for a good boat launch.

9:30AM: We found a good bird guide (named Eddie) to drive the boat and headed out into the rio.

9:30-1:00PM: We wove through mangroves and I saw 4 species of terns, Sandwich, Royal, Gull-billed, and the beautiful Black Skimmer (all of these being lifers for me). Terns were everywhere! At one place there was Caspian and Royal flying together and a Gull-billed and Sandwich on a sandbar! The Black Skimmers I saw where on a dock mixed with Laughing Gulls and a Sandwich [Tern]. I also saw my first Laughing Falcon perched right next to the waters edge! It looked at us for a while and then took off when we got too close. The Greater Flamingos were pretty fun to watch and I saw 2 Western Sandpipers (my first ones). Our guide taught me how to identify Westerns from Least (there very similar). Western Sandpipers have black legs while Least have paler legs. Also, in breeding plumage Western has some reddish blotches on its head and other parts of its body.
Aside from those 7 life birds and the 49 species I saw, I didn’t see that much. I was aiming for 30 so I guess I passed that mark. I heard a Mangrove Vireo but couldn’t find it. Here is the whole list from Rio Lagartos:

Bird List for Rio Lagartos

1. Sandwich Tern*new
2. Black Skimmer*new
3. Magnificent Frigatebird
4. Brown Pelican
5. Laughing Gull
6. Black Vulture
7. Lineated Woodpecker
8. Barn Swallow
9. Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
10. Turkey Vulture
11. Double-crested Cormorant
12. Snowy Egret
13. White-winged Dove
14. White Ibis
15. Reddish Egret
16. Wood Stork
17. Yellow Warbler
18. Common Black-Hawk
19. Great Egret
20. Great Blue Heron
21. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
22. Tropical Kingbird
23. Osprey
24. Tropical Mockingbird
25. Laughing Falcon*new
26. Spotted Sandpiper
27. Little Blue Heron-White Morph
28. Boat-billed Heron
29. Anhinga
30. Tricolored Heron
31. Common Ground-Dove
32. Least Tern
33. Greater Flamingo*new
34. American White Pelican
35. Western Sandpiper*new
36. Least Sandpiper
37. Caspian Tern
38. Royal Tern*new
39. Gull-billed Tern*new
40. Bobolink
41. Dunlin
42. Savannah Sparrow
43. American Avocet
44. Black-necked Stilt
45. Roseate Spoonbill
46. Long-billed Dowitcher
47. Mangrove Vireo (heard)
48. Cattle Egret
49. Common Moorhen

List of Tern Species I saw in Rio Lagartos

1. Black Skimmer
2. Caspian Tern
3. Gull-billed Tern
4. Least Tern
5. Royal Tern
6. Sandwich Tern

1 comment:

Matt! Brooks said...

Cool blog! Hope you are able to move to Tucson. Though I'm from New Mexico and love that state, I must say that the birds are better here. =)

Matt! Brooks
Tucson Audubon Society

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