The little cabins at El Cielito were comfortable – well except for the croaking geckos and the chirping crickets. I know it comes with the territory but I needed sleep. Actually the geckos were pretty well behaved – going off in chorus only once, but the crickets started early and persisted. Stop complaining Blair, the setting was beautiful, hot weather was ahead but there was no rain or wind, beautiful birds awaited AND most importantly when we returned that night and I switched cabins – no wildlife – no noise!! Staff was great and it was the kind of place that Cindy would also love with views of the beach, the ocean nearby and lovely grounds. I am sure there were birds right there, but we were off again – Day 5 awaiting us.

Birding mostly in the nearby scrublands, we fairly quickly added three of the species I most wanted to see: Black Throated Magpie Jay, Golden Vireo and Orange Breasted Bunting – all lifers and I also finally got a photo of a Happy Wren. We had heard the latter before but I had never gotten a look. The view of the jays was not great and Greg promised great views later at another spot – so no picture of that one, but oh my, the others. The Orange Breasted Bunting is simply spectacular – even gives Painted Bunting some competition. And the Golden Vireo is really special as well. Nifty little bird and quite the contrast from Warbling Vireo which we also saw.

The Happy Wren gets its name from its truly happy sounding song, but I was not very happy when I failed to get a good look at in Oaxaca in 2021 or on the two occasions when we had heard it earlier on the trip. But I was very HAPPY when this fellow cooperated coming into the open long enough to be both admired and photographed. I continued to miss seeing Sinaloa Wren which we also heard in the area and which we had heard before as well. Greg suggested patience.

We had lots of birds – 49 species in about 2 hours with other new birds for the trip being Laughing Gull – flyby and I had seen it earlier in the year at Tokeland in Washington – a rarity there, Blue Bunting – which somehow I missed getting a photo, Lucy’s Warbler, and Black Headed Grosbeak, a species common in Washington. We had many Blue Gray Gnatcatchers adding to those seen on other days and of course many other species seen earlier in the trip.

As an aside, I note that both the Blue Gray Gnatcatcher and Lucy’s Warbler, like the Laughing Gull are rare in Washington, although the number of Gnatcatchers seems to be growing and they are seen regularly now at Neah Bay, which is also where I was present when another birder found the first state record for Lucy’s Warbler – in a terrible downpour. Painted Buntings have been seen in Washington. Lazuli Buntings breed there and Indigo Buntings are seen occasionally. So far no Varied or Blue Buntings and an Orange Breasted Bunting would draw every birder immediately.

With apologies, I acknowledge that this is not the best approach, but I see that I omitted to mention Summer Tanagers and include photos in earlier blog posts. We did NOT see one on this leg of our journey, but hey they were almost certainly in the area. Anyhow, here is a photo of one from yesterday – maybe I will go back and edit the blog post, but since it has already been shared, maybe not. I love all tanagers in part because of their wild mix of colors. Not so with the Summer Tanager – red on red only.

We moved higher up and into more forested areas and had 63 species in the next couple of hours. Seven were new for the trip, getting us to over 200!! And six were new for the year – getting me to 1076!! The Golden Vireo and Orange Breasted Buntings had been lifers and I would add 2 more here to get to 3270!! As best I could tell there would not likely be many more ahead – unless we went high into the mountains. That would have been possible with one more day but tomorrow would be my last day and there was a great spot ahead and not enough time to get to the higher habitats and still catch my flight. The seven new species for the trip were White Bellied Wren, Ovenbird, Broad-winged Hawk, Gadwall, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Citreoline Trogon and Red Breasted Chat. The Gadwall of course was the one not new for the year and the last two were the lifers. Although we heard many Ferruginous Pygmy Owls and used its hoots to attract birds, we could never get one to come in close for a photo. Fortunately I have a photo of one in Texas at the King Ranch hotspot.

I was very pleased to get photos of the White Bellied Wren. I had seen it in Belize but no photo then. The Broad-winged Hawk disappeared as quickly as it first came in – no photo. And the Ovenbird skulked and hid as usual – no photo of it either. But there is a nice life photo of the Citreoline Trogon and a photo of the Red Breasted Chat – but you have to use your imagination. It is a gorgeous bird but stays hidden. We heard more than one during our adventure and tried really hard to get one in the open, but the best I could do was of one buried deeply in foliage – lucky even for that.

We were able to have lunch and then get back to our cabins at El Cielito for a little siesta. Greg had not originally planned for a two night stay so we had to move to different cabins. Worked for me as it was gecko and cricket free. After a nice rest we were back to the birds continuing roads in the area as before. We had 36 species with nothing new but I added a couple of photos – Squirrel Cuckoo and Tropical Parula. 

We then moved on to a birdy area where the river ran into the sea – so lots of waders and shorebirds. New for the trip were a Long Billed Curlew, a Reddish Egret and a Wilson’s Snipe. An unexpected new species was a Rose Throated Becard. It was hanging out with a flock of passerines that included mostly Orchard Orioles but also had Hooded Orioles, and a Golden Cheeked Woodpecker.

It was then back to El Cielito for my last night in Mexico. No crickets and no partying by neighbors. It was a good night’s sleep. 

At the end of day 5, the trip list was at 210 species, my world list was at 3270 and I had 1078 species for the year. It had been an incredible trip. I was sorry there was only one day left.