Two Hundred Minutes from Tucson

Of all the exotic wonders offered by a day-trip to Puerto Peñasco, it is the boobies that always make me feel that I am somewhere else. This Blue-footed Booby was diving spectacularly just a few feet from us in the upper harbor, and blue-foots and Brown Boobies were with us all day as we wandered the beaches; two Brown Boobies were even “inland” as far as the head of the Cholla Bay estuary. The greatest concentrations (small in comparison to the late-summer numbers) were at Pelican Point, where the assembly on the guano-streaked rocks was exotic indeed.

Both booby species, Heermann’s and Yellow-footed Gulls, and Double-crested and at least one Brandt’s Cormorant loafed on the rocks, while such northern visitors as Bonaparte’s Gulls and Ruddy Turnstones splashed around beneath them.

Gull watching was reasonably productive, but all in all a bit frustrating. The best conditions were at the new sewage ponds, our first stop in the morning; but they were also the worst conditions, with a new and rather informal housing development on the west side discouraging access from that direction, and the staff at the plant itself more than reluctant to let us park and walk from there. They eventually took pity on us, though, and let us leave the vehicle in a safe place and walk out along the mephitic dikes. California, Ring-billed, Yellow-footed, Herring, and Heermann’s Gulls were the most abundant; Darlene found an adult Laughing Gull, and a first-cycle Glaucous-winged Gull, a species we had especially hoped to find, paid us a brief visit, too. The blowing sand, and fear of cholera from the blowing spray, kept us moving out to the western pond, which was quiet but for five apparent Mexican Ducks keeping company with a northernish drake Mallard; its name notwithstanding, Mexican Duck is quite scarce this far west in Sonora.

We found construction work going on at the edges of the old sewage ponds, with recent clearing of brush and branches making it look much less appealing to passerines and to birders.

But there are always the beaches. Las Conchas produced beautiful looks at gulls and a nice selection of shorebirds, including Surfbirds and Black Turnstones; Willets, Whimbrels, and Semipalmated Plovers played in the surf, and the first of the day’s two Wilson’s Plovers was here, too. A few boobies and Forster’s Terns plied the skies above the ocean, and a single unidentifiable scoter flew along the horizon. The most abundant birds on the water were Red-breasted Mergansers and Eared Grebes; we picked out a total of one Pacific Loon at great distance, with just 5 or 6 more at Cholla Bay later leaving us a piddling total for what we had expected to be an abundant and easily found bird.   

The outer harbor was a bit of a disappointment. There were a couple of distant Common Loons, and the rigging of an anchored shrimp boat provided perches for a few Brown Boobies. Darlene suggested that we check the upper harbor for birds in close among the boats, a fateful suggestion indeed. While I was watching the Eared and Western Grebes and trying to take pictures of the splashing Blue-footed Booby, Scott borrowed my scope to look at some distant grebes. Immediately he blurted out “Red-necked!” Impossible. But true. A Red-necked Grebe was floating and preening across the water, and we dashed around to the other side of the harbor, finally finding a point where I could get down to the water to photograph this honest-to-goodness mega.  

To my knowledge, this is the first photograph of a Red-necked Grebe ever taken in Mexico. Neither Russell nor Howell and Webb list the species for Mexico, and Steve Ganley’s Puerto Peñasco guide cites only two records. Needless to say, it was a Sonoran state bird for all of us, and easily one of the best birds I’ve ever seen in Mexico.

The great thing about Sonora is that even after a find like that, you know the next stop is going to be just as exciting. When we reached the Plover Pit and the head of Cholla Bay, the tide was coming in but still not high enough to bring birds very close. All the same, fifteen Snow Geese, including one juvenile Blue Goose, were a great sight, and there were large numbers of rather distant shorebirds on the flats, along with herons including another Reddish Egret (the day’s first had flown past at Las Conchas). Darlene wandered off to the salicornia flats, where she soon located a Large-billed Sparrow. This one was shy, keeping to the ground and only occasionally poking its head up to give us a look, but one we found bathing at Pelican Point (a strange place indeed) perched up for some of the best and closest views I’ve ever had of the, uh, taxon. A great ending to a great day!