San Blas and the Durango Highway: Birding and Natural History in Beautiful West Mexico

Dates TBA but will be either Jan. 23-31 or Feb. 24 - March 4, 2011 with the Huachuca Audubon Society 

Harboring about ten percent of Earth's biodiversity, Mexico is one of the most biologically rich countries in the world. During this birding and natural history adventure, we'll explore and learn about some of that richness as we travel along the Durango Highway in southern Sinaloa and in and around the town of San Blas, Nayarit.

Tropical deciduous forest, the pine-oak woodland of the Sierra Madre, tropical rivers, mangrove forests, beaches, and a shade grown coffee plantation make up the varied habitats we'll visit as we enjoy hundreds of bird species and other tropical wonders. Amidst the exotic vegetation of cecropia, gumbo limbo, strangler fig, rosa amarilla, cohune palm, and red mangrove, we should encounter military macaw, tufted and San Blas jays, golden vireo, red warbler, golden-browed warbler, happy, Simaloa, and spotted wrens, boat-billed heron, up to four species of trogon, white-naped swift, russet-crowned motmot, red-headed tanager, bumblebee hummingbird, Mexican woodnymph, rusty-crowned ground-sparrow, many tropical butterflies, spiny-tailed iguanas, fish-eating bats, and more.

We'll spend three memorable days on the Durango Highway where we'll enjoy military macaws and many west Mexican endemics right outside our hotel door.  In the higher and cooler elevations of the Sierra Madre, we'll walk through lush evergreen pine forest with numerous flowering plants and an entirely different avifauna.  In San Blas, evergreen tropical forest awaits.

Highlights include an incomparable night boat trip to La Tovara, a sumptuous lunch with the staff of Capulin Coffee in the small village of Tecuitata, a boat trip on the Rio San Cristobal, and the warm hospitality of our hosts.

          Cost TBA, but should be about $2100-2200 per person, double occupancy, all inclusive from Mazatlan

Detailed itinerary available on request

~ Custom trips to west Mexico can also be arranged ~

Photo: Citreoline trogon by Misty Vaughn, Red warbler by John Dicus 
             

Last updated: August 29, 2010.