Río La Tovara

It was on a river in thick mangroves near the town of San Blas that we had to go to find the Northern Potoo. It was a special trip that our friend and bird guide Mark Stackhouse organized for us to find this night time bird. 

                                                                  Mangrove Yellow Warbler

On these types of treks where there aren't many lifers involved, I focus on the landscape and birds I don't often get to see.  And knowing that several might be split, I turned my camera on the few that I suspected would get split this year. For example, we had amazing views of this beautiful Mangrove Yellow Warbler. I had seen it before but never got pics so we worked hard on this one as it bounced from branch to branch along the mangroves.  I always suspected this one would get split after some study.  That foresight has gained me a lifer this year. The head of the male is a rusty/reddish brown making it distinct from our Northern Yellow Warblers. 

                                                             Bare-throated Tiger Heron

Always a treat to see, the Bare-throated Tiger Heron was making lovely croaking sounds on a little palm island in the middle of the mangrove waterway. Surrounding our boat, we had plenty of American Crocodiles accompany us. 

                                                                       Boat-billed Heron

This lovely preserve along the Tovara river is also home to the secretive jaguar, making it a very Amazon forest like journey.  I love that Mexico is full of diverse habitats. And I remember thinking, I can't wait to be part Mexican and explore the country in better detail.  

The snapping bills of fighting Boat-billed Herons caught our attention as they spiked up their crowns to mark their territories. We sat right under the mangroves.  I thought to myself, PLEASE LET THERE NOT BE A SNAKE DROP DOWN ON US. 

                                                                        Muscovy Duck

I've seen MANY Muscovy Ducks in my lifetime but I can only say that just TWO in my travels were truly Muscovy ducks.  My first true Muscovy was seen in the Darien Gap in Panama.  Then we saw a true Muscovy on this river perched in the distance. That was very cool. The true wild Muscovy Ducks tend to be skittish around people. 

As nightfall approached, we began to light the skies with our torches.  Searching for that eye shine that potoos and other nightbirds give off. 

We'd catch the eye shine of crocs and then eventually we found our Northern Potoo sitting silently on a snag!!!  It is the oddest looking bird. 

                                                                           Northern Potoo

Nightjars, owls, kiwis and potoos are some of the most difficult birds to capture on camera as they are generally active at dark.  The Northern Potoo is found throughout Mexico and in most of Central America as far south as Costa Rica. My goal is get most of my lifer birds now in Mexico if I can. 

 The accommodations for these birding treks were located in San Blas.  We stayed at a really nice place where I enjoyed a swim every day. 

More importantly, there was air conditioning!!!  The humidity was intense so this cool room recharged my energy after a hot and humid intense day.  You can charter a boat with several people at the pier into the Tovara preserve.  It does require some planning.  During my first trek down into the Puerto Vallarta area, I had believed that San Blas was really close and finding a Northern Potoo would be easy. I was wrong on both counts:) It's a several hour bus ride between the two cities and you have to make a special trip out to see the bird. 

I love mangrove treks because they are full of incredible finds. This was my first mangrove experience surrounded by a lot of crocodiles. Usually it's monkeys or snakes or that sneaky crab that gets too close to the boat.  It's both cool and unnerving to see a huge ass crocodile the size of your boat right next to you.  I just remembered to contain my excitement while observing the Northern Potoo :)

Along the way, we encountered many other species of birds including the newly split West Mexican Squirrel Cuckoo.  I think they will be split 2 or 3 ways.  I've seen Squirrel Cuckoos in Trinidad, Panama, Chiapas and now West Mexico so I have at least 2 of the 3 Squirrel Cuckoos covered.  Their plumage and size vary from West Mexico to the Amazon with the Amazonian bird being darker. 

Activity-wise, this trek is pretty easy and comparable to "car birding" except there are bugs that can smack you in the face at high speed on the boat.  It's beautiful though......

Mangrove birding is a lot of fun.  It's nice to see spaces protected and preserved in Mexico free of trash. We'll do some mountain birding next time in the state of Nayarit where we had some cooler temps and exciting finds. Until next time....