White-collared Seedeaters and Friends

A rich site like the San José del Cabo Estuary invites exploring, especially in the cool early morning hours. Besides the waterbirds and celebrated Belding's Yellowthroats, many other species thrive in the riparian habitat. This must be the world epicenter for Hooded Orioles!

A splendid male Hooded Oriole

Gilded Flickers inhabit nearly the entire Baja peninsula.

Both Common Ground-Doves (like this one) and Ruddy Ground-Doves 

live at the estuary –– but have you ever seen one foraging in beach sand?

An elegant Rough-winged Swallow pauses for a moment.

Our most unexpected find is a handful of White-collared Seedeaters, which must be a recent arrival in Baja. The standard publications don't list them for the peninsula, although their occurrence here in southern Baja is mentioned on the website of Handbook of the Birds of the World (Internet Bird Collection).

A male White-collared Seedeater of the West Mexican race...

and the female White-collared Seedeater, also eating what seedeaters eat!

Hmm, yes –– we have to figure her out first. The male waits till the more difficult ID has been resolved, before he appears!

(By the way, if there is a next trip to Cabo, I'll be parasailing! It looks like great fun.)

Buff-collared Nightjar / Field Sketching Workshop

Years ago in the village of Alamos in Sonora, Mexico, Alan, Beth Russell and I stumbled across this Buff-collared Nightjar. (Maybe stumbled across isn't quite right––we were out on that chilly night specifically to look for one!)

The bird was nestled under a street lamp next to the cemetery and didn't want to budge. How obliging! It was begging to be sketched.

Today's request from Western Birds for a sketch of a Buff-collared Nightjar brought back the whole scene. Digging through old field journals, I found it. It actually provides great incentive to get back out in the field with a sketchbook.

If any of you have a similar hankering, think about joining me next August for a weeklong workshop in field sketching, offered through WINGS. We will be based right here in the Chiricahua Mountains. What setting could be better?!