Tag Archives: Huatulco

White-throated Magpie-jay (Calocitta formosa)

Posted on by
Reply

The White-throated Magpie-jay (Calocitta formosa) is a large Central American species of magpie-jay. It ranges in Pacific-slope thorn forest from Jalisco, Mexico to Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Magpie-jays are noisy, gregarious birds, often traveling in easy-to-find flocks, mobbing their observers.

The first 2 pics are taken in Huatulco, last 2 were near Granada, Nicaragua.

IMG_4992a IMG_4991a IMG_5203a IMG_5204aGiven their large range from southern Mexico to mid Costa Rica, the chances are good to see these beauties.  On our cruise, we saw them in Huatulco and Granada, near San Juan del Sur.  In some resorts in Costa Rica, apparently they seek out tourists for free food (see video below).

Magpie-jay

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BIRD

Wikipedia

Birdlife

CornellLab

VIDEOS

Cookies aren’t the best thing to be offering to wild birds but I was really surprised at how aggressive this guy was after seeing the shy birds in Huatulco and Nicaragua.

Nice close up of a more wild bird, you also hear the call.

 

Orange-breasted Bunting (Passerina leclancherii)

Posted on by
Reply

The Orange-breasted Bunting (Passerina leclancherii) is a species of bird in the Cardinalidae family.

IMG_4975 IMG_4984

It is endemic to Mexico, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It is more abundant in second growth than in undisturbed forest.  We found them easily on our shore excursion in Huatulco.  Oaxaca is also popular according to Xeno-canto.

Bunting HuatulcoLEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BIRD

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Xeno-canto

VIDEO

Orange-fronted Conure (Eupsittula canicularis)

Posted on by
Reply

The Orange-fronted Parakeet or Orange-fronted Conure (Eupsittula canicularis), also known as the Half-moon Conure, is a medium-sized parrot which is a resident from western Mexico to Costa Rica.

The first photo was taken in Huatulco and the 2nd photo which is in better light shows 2 released Orange-fronted Conures hanging around the still captive birds at El Manatial Sanctuary near Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

IMG_4851IMG_5656aOrange-fronted Conures have a large range down the Pacific coastal strip between roughly Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  The black dot is Huatulco which is a popular cruise ship port where we saw them.

OFC HuatulcoLEARN MORE ABOUT ORANGE-FRONTED CONURES

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

CornellLab

VIDEO

 

Bird Watching Shore Excursion In Huatulco

Posted on by
4

We were up bright and early to join the Princess shore excursion for bird watching in Huatulco.  Princess no longer offers this excursion (they do have an eco-tour though) so I will show you a similar one from Holland America as it is likely the ships use the same tour operators.

Those interested in wildlife and tropical bird watching will discover a rich diversity in the estuary of the Copalita River and/or in a small mangrove and park and the unspoiled low-growth caducifolia jungle beauty, including cedar, mahogany, ficus, mocambos and almond. You will likely spy several of the region’s 227 bird species including orioles, woodpeckers, egrets, seagulls, falcons, sparrow hawks, parrots and eight varieties of hummingbirds. You will likely also see lizards, iguanas, deer, armadillos and squirrels. Enjoy a beverage while you take some great photos. During the journey, your guide will offer several stops to observe and comment. The total walking distance covered in this tour is approximately one mile.

The black line below indicates where the ship docks.  I wasn’t sure where they took us but we didn’t drive more than 15 minutes so I am reasonably sure it was in that big green area to the left!

HuatulcoBird List with images for Huatulco

Here are some of the birds we saw on just a 4 hour trip.  Our first stop gave us a nice look out over the bay and some Orange-fronted Parakeets who popped by to check us out.

IMG_4839 IMG_4840 IMG_4844 IMG_4847 IMG_4851 IMG_4866

Here’s a bright Altamira Oriole.IMG_4871a IMG_4874

We then drove to another place, might have been near the university.

IMG_4879 IMG_4882 IMG_4891

Another Altamira Oriole.

IMG_4920a IMG_4925

Citreoline Trogon

IMG_4933

Golden-cheeked Woodpecker

IMG_4943 IMG_4944a

Orange-breasted Bunting – what a beautiful little bird!

IMG_4975 IMG_4984 IMG_5012 IMG_5000

Here’s a stunning Black-throated Magpie Jay!

IMG_4958a

Shots not clear enough for me to find them in the book.  Any help appreciated!

IMG_5013 IMG_5022a

Black Vulture

IMG_5029a

Blue-winged Teals

IMG_5042a IMG_5051 IMG_5057 IMG_5068a IMG_5072 IMG_5074

If anyone knows those birds I missed, please comment below!  We were brought back to the small market just outside the wharf for some shopping.  I am still kicking myself for not buying this.  It was out of my budget, don’t remember how much but I now regret not buying it.

IMG_5077 IMG_5081 IMG_5075 IMG_5082 IMG_5080 IMG_5084 IMG_5085That evening on the ship was a formal night but we didn’t have formal clothes so stuck to the buffet.  I did get my fair share of free champagne though!  As with most cruise ships, there is some kind of show each night.  They are all included so why not check them out!

IMG_5096 IMG_5097 IMG_5101 IMG_5095a IMG_5103 IMG_5108 IMG_5117

How I Planned A Birding Cruise

Posted on by
Reply

The cruise I will be blogging about in this series took place in 2011 on the beautiful Coral Princess by Princess Cruises.  It remains to this day as the best cruise we have ever taken out of about 6 so far.  It was the perfect itinerary – birding at almost every port and not too many sea days.  Unfortunately Princess no longer does this itinerary, probably due to American passengers being afraid to travel to Acapulco and the cruise was only just over half full.  Good for us, not so good for Princess!

GETTING THERE

This cruise was done during what I call the Golden Age of Miles & Points – when there were lucrative promos and fewer people who had the expertise to exploit them.  I did the US Airways Grand Slam promo on both mine and my husband’s accounts to get over 120k miles in each our accounts.  The whole itinerary was in business class!

SINGAPORE AIRLINES:  BNE-SIN

ASIANA:  SIN-ICN-LAX

US AIRWAYS:  LAX-PHX-MEX

Open jaw for cruise, then drive to Orlando to see friend.  Fly to LAX and drive to see family using separate ticket on AA.

ASIANA:  LAX-ICN-SIN

SINGAPORE AIRLINES:  SIN-BNE

As I stated in the previous post, we arrived in Mexico 3 days prior to the cruise and spent 1 day in Mexico City at the Hampton Inn Centro Historico, saw the pyramids, took a bus to Acapulco and spent 2 nights at the Crowne Plaza on points and were upgraded to a corner suite.  We had a great view and even saw our ship the Coral Princess come in!

THE CRUISE ITINERARY

This map shows the ground transport (red) and cruise (blue).

Cruise & Flights

Here we have the cruise itinerary with timings.  Timings are always important as you see way more birds in the early morning.  We were really good about being downstairs ready to dis-embark the minute they started allowing people off.

Cruise ItineraryOUR SPECIFIC PLANS FOR EACH PORT

Huatulco – Princess actually had a bird-watching shore excursion so we did that.

San Juan del Sur – I couldn’t find anything for birding at the time so we did a Masaya Volcano/Granada shore excursion hoping to see birds incidentally.

Puntarenas – I booked a private day trip to visit Carara National Park and a bird sanctuary

Panama Canal – The ship provided commentary throughout the transit of the canal.  When we reached Colon, they only gave us a few hours to see the shopping centre at the port.

Ocho Rios – I booked a private birding tour.

FUN FACT:  I got to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on the big screen at the swimming pool during the cruise even though I had to get up at 4am to do it!