Sonora

There’s little more lovely than a desert river, and Darlene and I chose a fine day, if warm, to drive down to the Rio Magdalena in northern Sonora. We birded several spots between Imuris and San Ignacio, and though our hopes for a rarity remained just that, it was still a very pleasant day’s birding, [...]

The birding got harder once we arrived in the tropical deciduous forest of Alamos. It was largely the weather’s fault: it was cool, gray, and eventually rainy most of the time we were there. All the same, we got some good stuff, and, as always, enjoyed staying at the Rancho Acosta.
It was a very short [...]

Darlene had not been along for the IFO workshop in Alamos in early October, but her misfortune turned out to be my good luck, because I got to go with her to southern Sonora the end of November instead.
We drove down, by way of Nogales, Hermosilla, and Navojoa, this time skipping the good birding at [...]

The tropical deciduous forest produces some strange sights sometimes, such as this flock of 70 or 80 American White Pelicans soaring sedately over the Rancho Acosta our last morning there.

From their lofty vantage point, they could probably see the waters of the Preza Mocuzari or maybe even the Sea of Cortez; but for us, wandering [...]

The area around the Rancho Acosta is good for all sorts of wildlife, from mammals to bugs. Butterflies are abundant , every puddle covered with swarms of sulphurs; how many species do you see here?

Nightime had its share of big leps, too, including this gigantic moth on one of the room doors.

A little less appealing, [...]