For the Huatulco report with photos - click here |
Our cruise ship stop in Huatulco, Mexico (Jan 04) HUATULCO Oaxaca, southern Mexico Saturday, 31st January, 2004 Time ashore about 5 hours Huatulco is a fairly unspoilt area consisting of several very scenic bays. Our cruise ship was not originally scheduled to stop here, but was a substitution for Cartagena in Columbia, which is not considered a safe place anymore. We were due to dock at Santa Cruz, Huatulco at noon and would sail again at 5pm, which didn't give us very long onshore, but fortunately we docked early, allowing us off the ship by 11:30am. We had decided not to take the cruise's "birdwatching shore excursion", preferring to do our own exploring we find we usually see more this way! We found a local taxi and negotiated a US$50 rate for the driver to take us on our own trip to the Rio Copalita, which was a few miles east of our docking point in Santa Cruz Bay. On disembarking we had a good start to our birding day, as a Gray Hawk flew over as we were walking down the jetty. A 15 minute drive along the Boulevard Benito Juarez brought us to our first stop at the Bocana Copalita, a delightful beach area at the mouth of the Rio Copalita. Around the two cantinas there were Great-tailed Grackles and several very colorful, blue, orange and yellow birds, which we identified as Orange-breasted Buntings*. We spent about 30 minutes walking along the beach and back, where we found Snowy and Great Egrets on the edge of the river. Overhead were Turkey and Black Vultures, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Osprey and a Common Black-Hawk*, which we almost missed. It really pays to look carefully at kettles of vultures, as the white tail band was not easily visible without binoculars! Fortunately, I had a couple of photos to verify my identification, later. We found that we couldn't get to the river itself along the beach, so asked our taxi driver, Jesus, to take us further along the road to find a way down to the banks of the Rio Copalita. About a quarter of a mile after passing a disused waterworks building (where the entrance road was closed), we found a turn to the right, which led down a sandy track to the river. Our driver parked his taxi in the shade of a large tree, as it was now about 1pm not the best time of day to be birding, but we had to make to best of the few hours we had off the cruise ship. Jesus accompanied us on our birdwatching walk, probably wondering what this crazy pair of Brits were doing! He actually proved to have a good eye and pointed out a few birds we hadn't seen. On the river we saw Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue, Little Blue and Tricolored Herons, White Ibis, Neotropic Cormorants, Spotted Sandpiper and Green Kingfisher. In the scrubby bushes and trees along the sand and gravel banks of this braided river bed, Tropical Kingbirds and Great Kiskadees were common, but we also saw Say's Phoebe, Orchard Oriole, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruddy Ground-Doves and American Kestrel. A Short-tailed Hawk* flew overhead - we took photos of it, as we knew it was possibly a lifer, and we identified it later with our field guides. On the opposite river bank we could hear some very noisy birds in the trees, and picked out the bright black and yellow colours of a flock of Mexican Caciques* (sometimes called Yellow-winged Caciques) - a large member of the oriole family. Also seen that afternoon were several species which we just identity with such fleeting glimpses, including a large wren, a pale warbler and an empid flycatcher. On return to Santa Cruz, we explored a small city park, where there were the usual grackles and Rock Pigeons. In some large evergreen trees we spotted a Rufous-naped Wren and one more of the beautiful Orange-breasted Buntings. Then on our walk back along the jetty to the cruise ship we saw Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns. Overnight we sailed up the coast of Mexico for our stop in Acapulco, the next day. 32 species with 4 lifers* Species List: Magnificent Frigatebird Neotropic Cormorant Brown Pelican Tricolored Heron Little Blue Heron Snowy Egret Great Blue Heron Great Egret White Ibis Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Osprey Common Black-Hawk* Gray Hawk Short-tailed Hawk* American Kestrel Spotted Sandpiper Laughing Gull Royal Tern Rock Dove Ruddy Ground-Dove Green Kingfisher Say's Phoebe Tropical Kingbird Great Kiskadee Rufous-naped Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Orange-breasted Bunting* Yellow-winged Cacique* Orchard Oriole Great-tailed Grackle Helen Baines © 2004 |
This page was last updated on: January 19, 2005
For the Huatulco report with photos - click here |
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