Mata Ortiz: Northern Mexico
Birding and Pottery
Birding in Alamos -
Tropical Deciduous Forest
and Rio Mayo
Cultural Tour of Mata Ortiz: Pottery & People
The Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico: Museums, Galleries, and Great Food
Costa Rica: Birds, Rainforests, and Wildlife
Alaska: Birding from Denali to the Sea
Desert Botanical Gardens
Alamos Visit Trip Report
Nature Treks & Passages Feb 6-10, 2008
by Larry Liese
“Ahhh, Alamos!” What a wonderful place to explore and see interesting new birds! Pleasant weather, the charm of Mexican architecture and food, interesting and relaxing surroundings, and a mix of fun activities all helped to add to our trip. Our group of mostly novice birders included Debbie Abbott, Nancy and Bill Ash, Pat Latas and Mark Brook, Peggy and Nick Johnson, and Joan McDonnell, with Matt Brooks and me leading the trip.
On the bird front we did pretty well, totaling one hundred and thirty-two species seen and three heard for a total of one hundred thirty-five. Not bad - only two less than on the January trip, which added an estuary tour but didn't get much Tropical Deciduous Forest birding. The group had fun voting for the favorite bird sighting, which resulted in a tie between the Black-throated Magpie-Jays and Crane Hawk for first place. Bronze medal went to the Crested Caracaras, with numerous individuals being seen a factor. Honorable mentions go to Turkey Vulture, Magnificent Frigatebird, Purplish-backed Jay, Green Kingfisher, Mexican Parrotlet, Mangrove Swallow, Vermilion Flycatcher, Heermann's Gull, and Red-billed Pigeon. Two of our heard-only birds (Elegant Trogon and Russet-crowned Motmot) would have made it if we'd been fortunate enough to get views. Our biggest miss was Bare-throated Tiger-Heron on the float trip, though the Crane Hawk found by Pat more than made up for it. We didn't see too many non-avian animals, but the huge Antelope Jackrabbit and the turtles along the Rio Mayo were a hit.
Alamos had a silver festival going on, with displays from local jewelry makers scattered around the local hotels. Also much fun was the Carnaval, with its music, all the people, the beauty contest and Judas effigy-burning real treats. But wait! One more item that has to be mentioned is that Nick got to see the Alamos train! (See picture).
Day 1: Matt and I drove up to Phoenix and DBG to meet most of the group, loaded up and we were soon on our way south. We picked up Pat and Mark in Tucson, and headed to our first night's destination: the coastal town of San Carlos. What a view 
of the bay! It was nice as a driver to break up the drive to Alamos, and we got to fit in a little birding while there. Birds seen quickly before darkness set in included Yellow-footed and Heermann's Gulls. Some got to see a distant Blue-footed Booby. It was fun to watch the Brown Pelicans fly so close to the waves without hitting them and watch the graceful-looking Magnificent Frigatebirds.
Day 2: After a good night’s sleep and the hotel's continental breakfast we drove up the road to a nice birding spot. There is a small clump of mangroves there and some mudflats too, which attracted quite a few species. We had many egrets and herons, plus an Osprey and Caspian Tern. Next stop was the mirador overlook, which afforded more great views of the bay. We saw our only Mangrove Swallows and Cactus Wren there too.
Back on the road south, we proceeded right past the car sticker place, since we had taken care of that at the 21 km immigration stop the day before. Around lunchtime we arrived at our hotel, the Casa de Tesoros, a refurbished convent. Lunch at the Casa del Sol was a hearty soup with just the right amount of spicing. Mmmm! And flan for desert was nice too.
For a birding outing we next headed back west and up the road/wash to the small town of Aduana. We birded at a couple of fig tree stops getting there, with a small flock of Purplish-backed Jays being the highlight. We saw this species twice, both times with the yellow-billed juveniles present. This is a missable species - we had good fortune going for us! Our first Black-throated Magpie-Jays made their presence known, though we would see them better in later days. In the town of Aduana we first visited the church - famous site of the miracle cactus (see picture), and visited the local craft shops where we found a few items interesting enough to buy. Birding was slow up the main wash through town, but we saw some really nice bougainvillea and a nice fig tree with roots covering the wall it sat on. Birds we did see included Thick-billed Kingbird and a nice Rufous-backed Robin.
We headed back to our hotel for dinner and the night. In our room Matt and I used the fireplace this night only. On the January trip those fireplaces were essential!
Day 3: Rio Cuchujaqui. After breakfast at our hotel, we loaded up and made our way southeast a few miles to one access point of the Rio Cuchujaqui, a major drainage of the area. With larger trees than in the non-riparian areas, many of the species not getting north to the U.S. are here and we were hoping for a nice sample of these. Nice bird species we did see included Red-billed Pigeon, Ruddy Ground-Dove for some, a heard-only Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, some empids, a couple of Myiarchus flycatchers including Nutting's, more wonderful looks at the Magpie-Jays, Happy Wren for some, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Streaked-back Oriole plus a number of U.S. birds.
When we were getting ready to leave, hoards of school kids came pouring in! They were from Hermosillo on a field trip, staying the night in Alamos. I'm glad the government gets the Mexican children in the outdoors to appreciate their natural resources.
On the drive back to town, a flock of Elegant Quail flushed from the roadside and flew a short distance. We had run into David MacKay at the river earlier, and he and we tried to bring the quail back with recordings. Though they answered they kept wary and we didn't see them after the flush.
Almost back to town we stopped at the Mirador above Alamos for a view, some shopping, and to secure reservations for Saturday's evening meal. The view was made more impressive by the very large flock of American Pelicans circling in the distance. They probably either came from or were headed to the reservoir above the dam where we were to start the float trip the following day. It was fun finding our hotel and other landmarks from above the town.
The next item on our itinerary was a guided walk around Alamos with our local guide Cirilo. He's half Yaqui and half Mayo Indian. His colorful presentation and sincere enthusiasm were a pleasure, though having it just after lunch sure brought the yawns out. Hope he understood!
Later, we took a short trip to view the town cemetery. Mexican cemeteries are always fun to investigate - quite different from those north of the border. While there, the procession with the beauty queen(s) passed by - hard not to notice with all the sirens and horns accompanying them. We birded there too, getting our only Rock Wren and Chipping Sparrows.
Dinner was in a restaurant recommended to us on our last trip. Very simple it turned out, but the food was quite good though the coffee horrible! Since it was on the plaza we enjoyed the Carnaval proceedings, including the Judas-burning with accompanying firecrackers inside! We toured around the square afterwards, enjoying the music and playing children. Matt was trying to get hold of some of those kid's confetti eggs (called cascarones) for Nancy's grandkids, but since their mothers make them for them, they weren't generally on the open market. Maybe with the right kind of candy ...
Day 4: Float trip day! This is my personal favorite thing to do around Alamos. The birds seem less skittish when approached by boat, and there are plenty of interesting ones to see. With our local guide Armando leading the way, we packed up fairly early and drove to the dam outlet on the Rio Mayo, put in using two rubber rafts (with backrest seats!), and started our float trip.
Cormorants, egrets and vultures were abundant as we started our trip, plus a nice Green Kingfisher and perched Common Black-Hawk to start also. Our biggest miss birding-wise was that no 
Bare-throated Tiger-Herons graced our view. We had three of them on the January trip (?). We did have fun birds floating along the river, with White Ibis (boat one only), Osprey, White-tipped Dove, Tufted Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, and Social Flycatcher seen from the boats. We heard Elegant Trogon in the distance once, and some heard the Russet-crowned Motmot faintly respond to a recording. Another challenging sighting was a quick zipping-by of a Blue Mockingbird - not many of us saw much then!
Halfway through our journey we disembarked and walked up an arroyo to some interesting petroglyphs. They are of various ages and different motifs. We again tried a motmot recording, but no luck. We did see a few birds and two interesting historical items - bridges that were part of an aqueduct and
a portion of the Camino Real. More Purplish-backed Jays, a zipping-by pair of Plain-capped Starthroat hummingbirds and a few warblers were seen on the walk to the petroglyphs. Next was lunch, with ham, salad, a rice medley dish ... and brownies! Yumm! While eating, a young Lazuli and female Varied Bunting perched above, and Matt found a Sinaloa Wren nearby that decided to not cooperate when we brought more of the group over. Oh well - that's birding!
Back on the river we headed downstream to our next stop - the Mayo town of Santa Barbara. Armando took us through an old hacienda ruin where the aqueduct branches were able to be seen. Apparently hydrology and civil engineering were not unknown to these people back a century or more ago!
Back on the river, our best bird sighting of the trip awaited us (well, a tie for first, anyway). Drifting along, Pat suddenly said "There's a raptor up there in this tree." At first I for one couldn't see the hidden bird, but as we came around the downstream side a gangly-legged bird started hopping around. It was a Crane Hawk! Not an exceedingly rare bird, but one could go birding in the area quite a few times without seeing one of these. Two points for Pat! (I later upped it to three, though what points are actually good for beyond mention in a trip report isn't all that clear!)
The river was higher than in January, so at the take out point we didn't have to take our shoes off and wade in to shore. While the crew dismantled the raft equipment, we birded along a dirt road nearby with some nice views resulting. Birds we saw included good looks at Happy Wren, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, plus Blue 
and Black-headed Grosbeaks.
We drove back to Alamos, then had some time off before our final dinner up at the Mirador. They prepared their signature meal - a smorgasbord of Mexican delights such as chili rellenos, a beef stew dish, enchiladas, and empanadas, topped off with flan for desert. It was great! We all voted for our favorite bird sighting and went around the table commenting on our favorite activity. As usual, the float trip took high honors, with votes also given to the diversity of activities, the Alamos Train, Aduana, the Historical Tour with Cirilo, the Rio Cuchujaqui visit, ocean time in San Carlos, and getting to see the Carnaval. A good grouping!
Day 5: The drive home. A long drive awaited us to get back to Arizona, so we headed back fairly early. But - a little birding in Navojoa couldn't hurt, right? We found the Northern Jacana that we missed on the January trip, plus had a couple of surprise Least Grebes and a large batch of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and Black-crowned Night-Herons. We had lunch at a rest stop near Hermosillo, and after finishing the drive to the border and a normal-enough wait for U.S. Customs, we were soon in the United States. At DBG we had to wait a few minutes for the ranger to unlock the gate, but soon enough we were saying our goodbyes and parting ways. Thanks much from Matt and I for all those nice parting comments!
Hope you all had a fun trip. Hasta pronto!