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WINGS Birding Tours – Narrative

Cruise: Santiago to Los Angeles

2023 Narrative

IN BRIEF: This was the third time we have organized a birding cruise in the East Pacific, from San Antonio (Chile) to Los Angeles, and once again it proved to be a wonderful trip! Without changing lodging, we birded in five different countries, visiting varied habitats from desert scrub to humid tropical forest. In the process, we found birds as diverse as Burrowing Parrakeet in Chile, Peruvian Thick-knee near Pisco (Peru), Orange-collared Manakin in the forest of Costa Rica, plus the beautiful San Blas Jay and range-restricted Xantus’s Hummingbird in Mexico!

We also learned that the Ocean is far from a uniform mass of water, and each of our “at sea” sailing days was very different, both in diversity and quantity of seabirds! After seeing hundreds of resident Hornby’s and Markham’s Storm-Petrels or tens of thousands of migrating Franklin’s Gulls, we realized how productive the Humboldt current is (and how important for bird conservation). We also appreciated how challenging it can be to seabird in warm tropical waters, where some specialists such as Tahiti Petrel or Leach’s Storm-Petrel live in low densities.

Some of the elected ‘best birds’ of the trip give an idea of how diverse the birds are on this tour: Waved (aka Galapagos) Albatross, Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Galapagos and Tahiti Petrels, Tschudi’s Nightjar, the diversity of Storm-Petrels, Orange-breasted Bunting, Collared Antshrike, Humboldt Penguin, Many-colored Rush-Tyrant, and Laysan Albatross.

In addition to the birds, we also had amazing views of 10 species of cetaceans, including thousands of Common Dolphins, hundreds of Pantropical Spotted and Spinner Dolphins, several Bryde’s and Humpback Whales, including a memorable view of a Bryde’s Whale breaching several times, and even a small pod of the rare Pygmy Killer Whale! We even saw sea turtles, and beautiful flying fishes such Pied-tailed Necromancer or Yellow Bandwing!

Really a unique trip, and definitely the most comfortable way to travel through this part of planet Earth! (or planet Water?!).

The eBird trip report can be seen here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/114966

An iNaturalist report of some animals and plants photographed during the trip can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/wings-cruise-chile-to-california-2023

PRE-CRUISE EXTENSION AROUND SANTIAGO: All participants arrived safely and on time, and we met over dinner to review the itinerary and potential species to be observed at our different destinations. The first morningwe headed into the Andes of Santiago, stopping at different elevations to observe the specialties of each habitat. Our first stop was in the Cajón de La Disputada de Las Condes, where we were greeted by a large flock of Austral Blackbirds. Then, a Moustached Turca, an endemic specialty of Chile, perched atop a rock and enchanted us with its curiosity and vocal repertoire. As we entered the canyon, we observed Mourning Sierra-finches, in post-breeding flocks, together with a solitary Fire-eyed Diucon and a small flock of Black-winged Ground Doves. The icing on the cake was a White-throated Tapaculo, which after appearing in an isolated ravine, then appeared in front of us on a dry tree, with all the curiosity of these cute tapaculos. In the meantime, we had excellent sightings of Gray-hooded Sierra-finch, and leisurely views of Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle perched on a tower. Continuing our climb towards the highlands, we visited the Yerba Loca Nature Sanctuary, where we found an American Kestrel and a family group of Harris’s Hawk. We continued upwards and had a good lunch in the town of Farellones, where after enjoying a tasty lomo saltado (a classic Peruvian main dish), we visited a high Andean meadow where we observed the two species of cinclodes that nest in the mountains: Buff-winged and Grey-flanked, and also a noisy, foraging flock of Black-chinned Siskins. Finally, we took the van to our last stop, Valle Nevado, where we reached 3,000 meters above sea level. On our way we observed Rufous-banded Miner, White-browed Ground-Tyrant, and some Greater Yellow-finches along the roadside. Arriving at the site, the altitude made itself felt, and moving at a slow pace we found our iconic target bird: the impressive Andean Condor. A female, less than 50 meters away at eye level, welcomed us. At times, her morphology reminded us of an animatronic robot, and I comment on this only to exemplify the breathtaking sighting. After a few minutes, we had a brief view of Mountain Caracara in flight, followed by excellent views of several Andean Condors of different ages and sexes. A Peregrine Falcon crossed the sky, which reminded us that it was time to return to the van, and upon reaching it, two perched Mountain Caracaras bid us farewell from a great day in the Andes.

On our second day we left very early for the southern highlands of the Metropolitan region of Santiago, in order to be in the upper part of the Yeso Valley at first light (as well as avoid traffic jams in the city of Santiago). We made a series of stops to acclimatize to the altitude, where we found some of the important birds of this trip. Our first stop produced a pair of Torrent Ducks, and we were all able to observe their skill swimming in a fast current. Then, we continued ascending until we entered the Yeso River Valley, but unfortunately the road was blocked by rockfalls, so we adopted Plan B, which was to explore the adjacent valley towards Baños Colina. Our first stop was waiting for the first rays of the sun, where we observed Chilean Mockingbird, Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail, and Tufted Tit-Tyrant, plus a group of Crag Chilias, a specialist endemic of the Andean foothills of central Chile, and the jewel of the day. Then, we continued up the road observing birds such as Long-tailed Mockingbird and a large flock of Austral Blackbirds before stopping in a high Andean meadow, where a Crested Duck gave us beautiful views, along with Blue-and-white Swallows. The next stop was the Arenas Valley, where we found White-sided Hillstar, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, Grey-hooded Sierra-finch, and White-browed Ground-Tyrant, a regular of the highlands. We continued to our final destination, Baños Colina, a place that welcomed us with two furnariids: Buff-winged Cinclodes and a very confident Scale-throated Earthcreeper, which gave very good views. After enjoying a picnic, it was time to return to the hotel in good time to prepare for the next day.

Our last day we headed to the coast, near the port of San Antonio where the cruise would start and were joined by Steve Howell and most other cruise group members. At our first stop, near the mouth of the Maipo River, we observed Rufous-tailed Plantcutters, the endemic Dusky Canastero, and were able to hear—and for some lucky ones, glimpse—the local endemic form of Black Rail, which refused to cross a small channel of water, but we were happy to know it was there. Then we entered the Maipo River Nature Sanctuary, where we walked its trails and viewpoints, finding several different gulls such as Franklin’s, Brown-hooded, Kelp, and recently arrived migrant Gray Gulls from the Atacama Desert; plus migratory shorebirds such as Hudsonian Godwit, Whimbrel, and other birds associated with the estuary, such as Black Skimmers, Elegant Terns, and Neotropic Cormorants. We then enjoyed a fine seafood lunch in Las Cruces, at a seaside restaurant that also offered excellent views of the endemic Chilean Seaside Cinclodes—what a great way to end the extension! All too soon, though, it was time to head to the port for boarding and transition on to our remarkable cruise, heading from Chile north to California.

— Cristian Pinto

 MAIN CRUISE AND LANDINGS: The group met onboard the Sapphire Princess as we left the San Antonio harbor (Chile). After some explanation of how to spot seabirds from a moving platform, we rapidly jumped into practice mode, finding hundreds of Sooty Shearwaters, 30 Pink-footed Shearwaters, and a Black-browed Albatross passing just at the bow while two Salvin’s Albatross stayed far away. We also had our first Westland Petrels, a few Juan Fernandez Petrels and even a (rare here) Manx Shearwater. A stunning introduction to our coming days at sea!

After disembarking in Coquimbo (Chile) and meeting Rodrigo and Aurelio, our local guides/drivers, we first went to Punta Teatinos wetlands. This was a great place, full of waterbirds such as Red-gartered and Red-fronted Coots, American and Blackish Oystercatchers, Black (Amazonian) Skimmers, and Cinnamon Teals. We even found our first Belcher’s Gull amongst numerous Kelp Gulls. A few Band-tailed Sierra-finches and Gray-flanked Cinclodes were attracted by the fresh water of the lagoon for a drink or a bath. And in the reeds, we enjoyed the numerous Yellow-winged Blackbird and two Wren-like Rushbirds at the edge of the dense vegetation. We left the wetlands for a drier and shrubby habitat, where without walking much we quickly had great views of several Chilean endemics: White-throated Tapaculo, the charismatic Moustached Turca, Dusky-tailed Canastero, and Chilean Mockingbirds singing atop some impressive cactus. After a wonderful birding morning we had a great picnic lunch, enjoying locally grown products such papayas, plus delicious figs from Rodrigo’s Garden. On the way back to the ship we made a memorable stop for very close views of large flocks  of Burrowing Parakeets. The ones seen here belong to the bloxami subspecies, endemic to Chile, and are much more colorful than the ones found in Argentina. What a treat to see these beautiful birds in such a stunning landscape!

Our last stop was at the Culebron estuary, where besides great numbers of Kelp Gull, we found a few Black-crowned Night-Herons, two Cocoi Herons, a dozen  White-faced Ibis, and Yellow-billed Pintails. After some effort we also had excellent views of the spectacular Many-colored Rush-Tyrant! After reboarding the ship and taking a short rest, we met at the bow when the ship departed San Antonio, spotting a few Red-legged Cormorants, Inca Terns, and Peruvian Pelicans using the wrecks in the harbor as resting or breeding platforms. What a wonderful birding day in Chile!

We started the “at sea” days with a few birds found on the exterior decks; three Masatierra (De Filippi’s) Petrels and a Markham Storm-Petrel, attracted by the ship lights. After a few pictures, we released them safely. We then had two days sailing far offshore, in warm waters west of the Humboldt Current. The first day was stunning, with 120+ Juan Fernandez Petrels and 150+ Masatierra Petrels, as well as a few Kermadec Petrels, great numbers of Markham’s, and even a few Ringed (Hornby’s) and Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels!  We also found 50+ Buller’s Shearwaters, a few Pink-footed Shearwaters, Red-billed Tropicbirds, and Masked Boobies to add some diversity to that great day. The second of our two sailing days was even better! Now in Peruvian waters, we had smaller numbers of Masatierra Petrels than the previous day, among which we found four Cook’s Petrels and three Kermadec Petrels.

But most impressive were the numbers of storm-petrels! We had no less than 500 Ringed Storm-Petrel, a species rarely seen from coastal pelagic trips, and whose breeding ground have only very recently been discovered in the Atacama Desert in the North of Chile (and for sure they must breed in the Peruvian desert too!). We also logged 80 Markham’s Storm-Petrels, 200+ White-faced Storm-Petrels, and 120+ Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels. At one point we sailed by a floating dead whale attracting 600+ Elliott’s Storm-Petrels!

Other great birds of the day included a Nazca Booby, 15 Swallow-tailed Gulls, a Sooty Tern, and 80+ Long-tailed Jaegers. We also saw several groups of Short-beaked Common Dolphins, totaling 1,000+ individuals for the day, as well as a few Bryde’s Whale including one with a very young baby.

After arriving at the San Martin dock about 20 km south of Pisco (Peru), we took a shuttle to the fishing village of Paracas where we met our driver and local guide. We then drove to the Paracas mudflats where we found a large group of 600+ Chilean Flamingoes, and huge numbers of migrants including at least 10,000 Franklin’s Gulls (on their way to the U.S. and Canada), Elegant Terns (on their way to the California Gulf) and 4,000 Black Skimmers (on their way to the Amazon Basin). After this great start we headed back to Paracas and took a private small boat to visit the Ballestas Islands. We stopped on the way to photograph the “Candelabra”, a 600 feet tall ancient geoglyph (200 BC) representing a huge cactus, and to admire the coast of the Sechura desert. At the Ballestas Islands we were all impressed by the amazing number of seabirds breeding there. Thousands of Peruvian Boobies and Inca Terns flying in all directions, and hundreds of Guanay Cormorants. And what about the smell of the guano deposited by these thousands of birds mixed together with the smell of hundreds of South American Sea Lions breeding on the beaches!? The guano (actually a Quechua word) was a very precious mineral up to the first quarter of the last century, as it was a source of phosphate, indispensable to produce fertilizer and explosives. In April 1864, Spain even tried to take possession of these islands, and Peru had to make an alliance with Chile to engage in a war against Spain to keep these precious Islands (at that time, the guano production represented 60% of the income of Peru). But in 1909, Fritz Haber discovered how to artificially produce ammonia, and the exploitation of guano collapsed—luckily for the birds! Nowadays, the guano is still exploited (even in the Paracas National Reserve!) for organic fertilizer (and users of that guano probably don’t know their impact on these seabirds). On these islands we also had a fantastic encounter with four Humboldt Penguins.

After this wonderful boat ride, we drove towards Pisco and stopped on the coastline, finding amazing numbers of Elegant, Sandwich, and Royal Terns all together, along with great numbers of Belcher’s Gull, Gray-hooded Gull, two Gull-billed Terns, and several species of shorebirds seen close including Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, beautiful Ruddy Turnstones, Spotted Sandpipers, and Sanderlings. It was now time to have a great lunch in Pisco, with a chance to try Peruvian ‘ceviche’ and the national cocktail ‘Pisco Sour’. What a nice way to top a great day around Pisco. On our way back to the ship we made a couple quick stops in desert shrublands, with great views of Peruvian Thick-knees and Croaking Ground-Doves.

We sailed to Lima (Peru) by night and after arriving at the busy harbor of Callao and meeting our drivers and our local guide Angel, we drove to the Pantanos de Villa wetlands south of Lima. In the reeds by the Reserve entrance, we had great views of lovely Many-colored Rush-tyrant and Striated Heron, while a Great Grebe was swimming and calling close to us. At the coastal lagoon, we were again impressed by the thousands of Franklin’s Gull and great numbers of Black Skimmers. We also had small numbers of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, a Pectoral, 20 Stilt, and a few Spotted Sandpipers, 200+ American Oystercatchers, and a few Whimbrels. It was also interesting to study the group of terns, finding Sandwich, Elegant, and Common Terns. Amongst the resident species we had a few Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night-Herons, Little Blue Herons, Andean Coots, 20+ Cinnamon and one Puna Teals, White-cheeked Pintails, and a few Scrub Blackbirds. We also had a great show of two Plumbeous Rail running in the open. After our picnic lunch in the fishing village of Pucusana, we had a nice short boat trip around a close island, giving us more opportunity to photograph and admire Inca Terns, Peruvian Pelicans, Red-legged Cormorants, and Humboldt Penguins. We also found three Surf Cinclodes and no fewer than 13 Blue-footed Boobies!  On our way back to Lima, we made a last stop in some agricultural fields near the village of Lurin, just below the ruins of Pachacamac. There we found the cute Western (Southern) Beardless-Tyrannulet, a few Vermilion Flycatchers, groups of Groove-billed Anis and a few Bananaquits. And to conclude this wonderful day on the coast, a Peruvian Pygmy-Owl perched in a close eucalyptus to offer stunning, prolonged scope views!

During our second day around Lima, we visited the Lomas de Lachay Reserve, protecting the highly endangered fog vegetation found in the Sechura desert. Before reaching the reserve, we did a stop to some agricultural fields where Long-tailed Mockingbirds, West Peruvian Dove and Croaking Ground Dove are common. In the flowering edges we found colorful Amazilia Hummingbirds, a few Chestnut-throated Seedeaters, and a male of the well-named Parrot-billed Seedeater! At the edge of these fields, we also found a pair of the recently split Fulvous-faced Scrub-Tyrant, as well as a pair of Collared Warbling-Finch, Cinereous Conebills, Hooded Siskins, and had great views of Pacific Parrotlets. But the best find here was a beautiful Tschudi’s Nightjar on its day roost in the shade of a bush! Stunning! We then went to the nearby reserve of Lomas de Lachay. It’s amazing that in the driest desert in the world, the condensation of the dense fog permits not only the growth of some cacti, but also some developed plants including several species of flowers and even trees! During our visit, at the end of the dry season, most of the vegetation was completely dry and burned by the strong sun, but some pretty orange flowers (Stenomesson flavum) welcomed us at the entrance of the reserve. The bird activity was linked to the vegetation stage, and we mostly saw non-breeding birds. In the very short vegetation at the bottom of the reserve, we saw two groups of Least Seedsnipe, a very particular shorebird similar in its ecology to sandgrouse, and several Coastal Miners, a Peruvian endemic common in that very arid ecosystem. We also had stunningly close views of 13 Peruvian Thick-knee and found several pairs of Burrowing Owl. Farther up, in taller vegetation, we found impressive numbers of Eared Doves and Croaking Ground-doves, and even found a small group of Bare-faced Ground-Doves. After a full morning at Lomas de Lachay, we drove back towards Lima making a last stop at El Cascajo wetlands near Santa Rosa, where, beside 5,000+ Franklin’s Gulls, we found 15+ Puna Ibis, 5 Puna Teals and a male Blue-winged Teal, two White-tufted Grebes, 9 Wilson’s Phalaropes including one in almost full breeding plumage, 20+ Willets, and more. The ship left at 5 PM so we had about one hour before sunset for some birding from the bow of the ship. When we left the harbor, the sky was filled with Franklin’s Gulls—at least 20,000 of them roosting on the docks and container ships! On the harbor jetty were also roosting 2,000+ Peruvian Pelicans, and amongst the numerous flocks of Peruvian Boobies we spotted at least 15 Blue-footed Boobies. We had great views of a dozen Waved (Galapagos) Albatross in the sunset light, a Peruvian Diving-Petrel, Wedge-rumped and Elliot’s Storm-Petrels, and hundreds of Sooty Shearwaters migrating north. What a beautiful day in Peru!

Sailing towards Manta (Ecuador) was another amazing day for storm-petrels, and we saw 3,000+ Wedge-rumped, 1,500+ Black and 250+ Hornby’s (Ringed) Storm-petrels! Amongst these, we also had a few Elliot’s and Least Storm-petrels. We also enjoyed numerous views of the splendid Waved Albatross, learned how to separate Parkinson’s from White-chinned Petrel as they were usually seen together, and counted no fewer than 11 Swallow-tailed Gulls and 10 Sabine’s Gulls, 25 Pomarine Jaegers and 2 Red-billed Tropicbirds. Blue-footed Boobies were quite numerous, and we reached a total of 150+ birds at the end of the day, finding also a few Masked, Red-footed, and Brown (Brewster’s) Boobies, and even our last Peruvian Booby! A 5 booby’ day! That fantastic seabirding day was also stunning for mammals, as we counted at least 2,000 Common Dolphins (apparently mostly if not all Long-beaked), 100 Pelagic Bottlenose Dolphins, and a pod of about 20 Risso’s Dolphins.

Arriving in Manta (Ecuador) we drove to the Pacoche reserve where we spent most of the day. In the tropical forest we had great views of a male Great Antshrike, a pair of Gray-and-gold Warblers, Gartered and Ecuadorian Trogons, a Rufous-headed Chachalaca, Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant, Lesser Greenlet, and Speckled-breasted Wren. After a nice lunch at a coastal restaurant, enjoying local specialties and fish, we went back to the Pacoche reserve, this time birding drier and more open habitat. There we found a pair of Collared Antshrike, Streak-headed Woodcreeper, a very rufous Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, a Laughing Falcon, a pair of Fasciated Wren, and even a singing male of the beautiful Crimson-breasted Finch! Before leaving this wonderful area, we also had prolonged views on a female Esmeraldas Woodstar, a rare Ecuadorian endemic.

During our sailing day between Ecuador and Costa Rica, we crossed the “dead zone”, a very deep and unproductive tropical water area. Birding was slow, with sometimes long periods without any birds at all, but very interesting because of the challenge in identifying Band-rumped Storm-petrel from “white-rumped” Leach’s Storm-Petrels and Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels, all seen this day.  And occasionally, just to break the long wait, some different species such as Wedge-tailed Shearwater, White Tern, Red-billed Tropicbird, or Sooty Tern appeared to please the persistent ones still seabirding on the outside deck. We also had fantastic views of a few Nazca, Red-footed and Brown Boobies following the ship close to the bow, and a Red-footed Booby even caught a flying fish and swallowed it in flight! Besides birds we photographed several species of flying fish; found Bottlenose, Striped, and large groups of Common Dolphins, plus a group of Pygmy Killer Whales—but the most amazing sight of the day was definitely a Bryde’s Whale breaching several times not far from the ship!

We had time to do some birding from the bow when arriving to Punta Arenas (Costa Rica), finding Great Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, and a Galapagos Shearwater. After disembarking, we met our local guide Enrique, and immediately drove towards Carara National Park where we spent most of the day. Even if the temperature was already high when we began birding, we rapidly found some great birds such as a few Chestnut-backed Antbird, a Cocoa Woodcreeper, a pair of Lesser Greenlet, a pair of Yellow-crowned Euphonia carrying nesting material and even two White-whiskered Puffbirds! But the most spectacular sight of the morning was the stunning display of a dozen males Orange-collared Manakin, dancing just a few feet from us! A male Long-tailed Manakin, surprisingly, even joined them at one point and did his dance! We had a nice lunch of typical Costa Rican food near the Tarcoles River, known for its large population of American Crocodile.

In the afternoon, we went on another trail at Carara NP, finding a pair of Black-throated Trogon, no fewer than six Black-hooded Antshrikes, a Rose-throated Becard, a Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, and a Golden-crowned Spadebill. We also found some great flocks including Dot-winged Antwren, White-shouldered Tanager, Plain Xenops, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Tawny-crowned Greenlet, Long-billed Gnatwren, Eye-ringed Flatbill, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Russet Antshrike, and the range-restricted Chiriqui Foliage-Gleaner. Kike, our local guide, also knew of an occupied nest of Collared Forest-Falcon and we had fantastic scope views. We also had some great looks on a Northern Ghost Bat, a few groups of White-headed Capuchin, a few Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, and even found a lovely Green-and-black Poison Dart Frog. What a stunning day in Costa Rica!

We had three sailing days between Costa Rica and Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) in warm and deep tropical waters. The total number of tubenoses was low, but we were very happy to see a total of 30+ Tahiti Petrels, and a few dozen Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. We also had three Galapagos Shearwater, four Christmas Shearwaters, a few Leach’s, Townsend’s, and Black Storm-Petrels and numerous unidentified Leach’s/Townsend’s Storm-Petrels. Fortunately, we had regular Nazca Boobies, together with a few Red-footed and Brown Boobies, following the ship and entertaining us by catching some flying fish flushed by the ship. Really stunning to have such good views of these three species of boobies! We also had small numbers of Pomarine Jaeger, Red-billed Tropicbird, and Least Tern. In addition to seabirds, these days were very interesting for other marine wildlife. We saw great numbers of dolphins, including several hundreds of Pantropical Spotted and Spinner Dolphins, and smaller groups of Bottlenose Dolphin (pelagic group/species) jumping near the ship. We also had several marine turtles, and all kinds of fishes including hundreds of flying fish (Pied-tailed Necromancer being the most common), jumping Marlins, Mahi-Mahi, rays and more!

After three days at sea, we were delighted to do some land birding near Puerto Vallarta (Mexico).  Immediately after disembarking and meeting Francisco our local driver, we birded the ‘Boca de Tomates’ estuary with a large stand of mangroves, where we found lots of migrants including American Redstart, Black-and-white and Wilson’s Warblers, Northern Waterthrush and flocks of Barn Swallows. Amongst the resident species we had great views of the beautiful Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, a few Rufous-backed Thrushes, the recently split Cinnamon-bellied Saltator, the fancy Streak-backed Oriole, and numerous Great-tailed Grackles. We also had a lovely Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl attracted by our whistles and seen close while it was mobbed by a Cinnamon Hummingbird, and two Yellow-winged (Mexican) Caciques! But the bird who got most of our attention here was the stunning San Blas Jay, offering fantastic views as we found two different groups close to the road.

We then visited the edge of some ‘thorn forest’, were we found a few Mexican endemics such as the stunning Orange-breasted Bunting, a group of Black-throated Magpie-Jays, the loud Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, a flock of 50+ Mexican Parrotlets, a beautiful male Citreoline Trogon, Happy Wren, and even three Lilac-crowned Parrot! In addition to these local celebrities, the bushes held some northbound migrants such as Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Warbling Vireo, plus resident species such as Thick-billed Kingbird and Masked Tityra.

After a delicious Margarita, followed by a weel-deserved nap on board the ship, we met again at the bow for some seabirding on the way out of Puerto Vallarta. After leaving the coastal Blue-footed Boobies, Brown Pelicans, and Magnificent Frigatebirds, we encountered a few Least and Black Storm-Petrels, 100+ Sabine’s Gulls, and 400+ Red-necked Phalaropes, as well as a few Humpback Whales including one giving a great show of fluke slapping.

We had a second landing in Mexico, visiting Cabo San Lucas. After disembarking we drove towards the little village of Miraflores, through the beautiful landscapes of Baja California. There, the greener vegetation surrounding a little waterhole attracted plenty of birds including Gila Woodpecker, Thick-billed Kingbird, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Phainopepla, Northern Cardinal, Lazuli Bunting, Hooded Oriole, and California Towhee. We also found two Baja endemics—Xantus’s Hummingbird and Gray Thrasher. After a generous picnic lunch of local burritos, we headed back to Cabo and birded the San José del Cabo River mouth. A few American Coots, Pied-billed Grebes, Least Sandpipers, and Killdeer were seen close while we were looking for another local specialty, the Belding’s Yellowthroat. We found a few of this lovely endemic, and even found a migrant Common Yellowthroat (wintering here). We also had great views of a few Verdins, House Finches, and Orange-crowned Warblers.

For our last two days at sea, we sailed north along the Pacific coast of the Baja California Peninsula, the longest peninsula in the Americas. We sailed close to Natividad Island (home to most of the world’s Black-vented Shearwaters) and the San Benito Islands (where all three of Scripps’s, Guadalupe, and Craveri’s Murrelets breed), but being far out at sea we only saw a few Black-vented Shearwaters and Cassin’s Auklets. Fortunately, we ended our cruise with great views of both Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses, plus a few Northern Fulmars, as well as hundreds of migrating Red and Red-necked Phalaropes. With these last birds, we reached the amazing number of 34 species of tubenoses seen in just two weeks!  

It was now time to end our fabulous cruise in the Eastern Pacific with a great farewell dinner, just before arriving in Los Angeles.

— Fabrice Schmitt

Created: 24 April 2023