Squirrel Cuckoo

Of the larger birds we encountered on our trip to Jalisco, Mexico, the Squirrel Cuckoo had to be on of the hardest to photograph and I never did get a good ventral photo of this species. They don’t like sitting in one place especially when someone is starring at them and pointing a camera lens their way. This individual was unusual because it stayed still for more than a couple of seconds.

Streak-backed Oriole

Floy and I have recently returned from an eleven day trip to Western Mexico. We started in the quaint old mining down of San Sebastián del Oeste which is about an hour and a half drive from Puerto Vallara. The town was founded in 1605 and it has the appearance of a Spanish colonial village. The second half of our trip was in the El Tuito area which is about an hour and a half south of Puerto Vallarta. We stayed at a nature preserve called Rancho Primavera, a beautiful semi-isolated place about a ten minute drive west of El Tuito.

The next several blog entries will be from both of us more or less documenting this trip. We will take care to add the category “Mexico 2020” so that you can search for them and view them as a group.

I thought I would start the series by posting a photo of the Streak-backed Oriole, a beautiful bird that was very common around the El Tuito area.

Enjoy!

Kestrel Sketch

Kestrel Sketch

Kestrel Sketch

Kestrels seemed to be everywhere on our recent birding trip to the California central valley and I plan to work on several paintings. Here is one sketch.

Long-eared Owl

Long-eared Owls are widespread over the North American continent. They eat small mammals and roost in dense trees. This one was seen in a vast open area in the Panoche Valley of California in a rare stand of trees in an oasis area.

Black Skimmer

While birding in Florida early in 2016 we came across a boat harbor. On one of the floats there were several Black Skimmers. They let me get surprisingly close. I put my camera down on the float and took this photo.

This bird has a shorter upper beak and uses its longer lower beak to skim the water for fish as it flies in long straight lines.

Black Oystercatcher

A fairly common oystercatcher of the West Coast of the United States. They are noisy and their bright orange beaks are easy to spot when they are on dark backgrounds. They feed on molluscs and crustaceans. They are often found on exposed, rocky shore working for food on the beds of the California Mussel which cover wave swept rocks.

Snowy Plover

This bird is a small plover that inhabits sandy beaches. In some areas populations of this species are threatened and conservation efforts are under way to increase their numbers. They are reasonably common in the Moneterey area of California. They are found over a large area spanning parts of North America, South America, Africa and Eurasia.

They are difficult to see and most people walk right by them because of their excellent camouflage. Often they rest in the footprints left by people walking on the beach.

California Thrasher

During the spring, this bird is very noisy, singing from trees and bush tops to make others aware of its territory or perhaps availability. Thrashers are members of the bird family Mimidae which includes mockingbirds and many know how noisy mockingbirds can be.

In the autumn, this bird is generally quiet and skulks around in dark edges of, forests or in heavy brush. This one came out in the open because the red berries shown in the photo are an inviting morsel.

Western Stone Nuthatch

As Floy has mentioned we have been away for about three weeks. Our trip through Southern Turkey was not a birding expedition, but I did what I could in the way of bird photography much to the chagrin of our fellow travelers. I tried not to hold up the group, but sometimes it was not easy.

Wherever we went that had stone ruins we would hear this strange call that sounded vaguely like a Canyon Wren. It took awhile to locate the source, but eventually I found it usually perched on the top of an ancient structure. It has big powerful claws and hangs vertically, high on stone faces. Meet the Western Stone Nuthatch found in a relatively narrow band from Croatia east to Iran.

Unfortunately I did not have my usual birding camera, so this photo will have to do.