Puerto Vallarta, MX - 05 Mar 2006

0600 Hrs. I was up early this morning as I wanted to try to get some seabirds before we docked at 0700 hrs. Coming out to greet the boat were 6-12 soaring Magnificent Frigatebirds. Another dozen to 20 were visible soaring over the rising thermals of the mountaintops as the sun appeared. 

Brown Pelicans were also flying alongside the ship. 

As we pull into dock the first of many Heerman’s Gulls appeared, with their sooty bodies, white heads, and red eyes and bills (very pretty!). White-rumped swallows were flying about, and a check of the field guides identified them as Mangrove Swallows. 

0900 Hrs. Our tour doesn’t leave for another hour, so I took a walk around the ship and watched folks go ashore below the 7th deck. I saw a Yellow Warbler, and my first Great Kiskadee. Lots of Boat-tailed and Great-tailed Grackles were rummaging in the grass along the dock. Out from the deck I see a Rufous-backed Thrush fly into a tree and afford me great looks. Finally! A “Mexican” bird. Till now, pretty much everything I’ve seen could be seen in the states. 

We had some time, so a walk through the dockside shops and the streets surprised us with a pair of Iguanas sunning themselves in a tree above us.

 

1000 – 1430 Hrs. Our tour of Puerto Vallarta showed me lots of people, buildings,

and only Rock Pigeons. 

I was disappointed that we didn't see a single Mexican endemic bird. My disappointment was short-lived, however, as we were greeted by incoming Brown Pelicans 

and several Magnificent Frigatebirds flying just over the rooftops! One even had a wing tag reading “317”.

 

1500 Hrs. Back on the boat I walk around to the port side of the 7th deck and digiscope Laughing Gulls, 

Heerman’s Gulls, 

and a single Royal Tern roosting on the anchor lines. 

The sun was directly facing me so lighting was bright and difficult. But I still think I managed a few nice shots of the birds. 

1700 Hrs. We were getting ready to pull out of port, and I scanned the shoreline one last time. A mud spit on the far side of the port in a construction area produced the following: (5) Black Stilts, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Willet, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, several Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpipers, 1 Snowy Egret, and 1 Mangrove Swallow. Too far to digiscope, but it was nice to see shorebirds, at last.

Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, MX
Mar 5, 2006 8:00 AM
Protocol: Incidental
Checklist Comments:     Cruise ship and Port area
18 species

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon))  2
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)  5
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)  2
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)  1
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  1
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)  1
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  2
Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)  6
Heermann's Gull (Larus heermanni)  6     Sooty bodies, white heads, red eyes and bills. Very pretty!
Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)  1
Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens)  20     6-12 birds soaring around fishing boats and more in the mountains
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)  2
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)  2
Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)  1
Mangrove Swallow (Tachycineta albilinea)  6     white rumps, green bodies
Rufous-backed Robin (Turdus rufopalliatus)  1     1st Mexican bird! Robin with dark red back and belly
Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)  6
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S41852707

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)