I spent the last week on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. This wasn’t one of my usual birding trips. As my first real vacation since Belize and Guatemala in 2012, I really needed a chance to relax and unwind. We were invited guests of one of my wife’s insurance associates at the Diamanté Cabo San Lucas, a new golf resort located on the coast. At Diamanté, we definitely got the relaxation we needed. I also managed to find exactly 100 species of birds in six days without ever leaving the resort’s 1,500 acres.
Habitats
The resort’s luxurious accommodations could serve well as the basecamp for a high end birding tour. While areas have been developed or are under development for various resort and golf accommodations, they have done an excellent job of retaining native habitats. The habitat away from beach is predominantly dense and tall desert scrub and thickets with many species of cactus, including the tall saguaro. This is reminiscent of many parts of Arizona if Arizona were on the coast. Indeed, this area harbors many of the same birds, save for presence of several Baja endemics. The golf courses, as courses often do, attract their own suite of species, especially to the artificial ponds and wetlands that are sprinkled throughout. The beach is an excellent location to find seabirds and watch for whales.
My Daily Activities
I awoke each morning right around sunrise, generally before anyone in the house. I would make coffee, and then drink a cup or two to wake up before walking right outside our villa where I’d bird the scrub directly behind the house, or the wetland in front of the house. I would often have 30 or more species of birds by 8am. After breakfast, I’d either go birding or running on most days. Sometimes the running would add to my species list (even though I wouldn’t have binoculars with me). Then, I’d cool off by relaxing in the pool. I would then bird again in the late afternoon as the sunset, usually borrowing the villa’s golf cart so I could go farther out on the property. Despite giving no “hardcore” birding effort, I got total of 50-65 species each day I was there without leaving the property. I documented all observations in eBird using the eBird app on my iPhone. I also took over a thousand photographs, including several species that are uncommon in southern Baja. I also found some time to work on artwork, but not as much as I hoped, as I forgot to bring my watercolor brushes.
The Birds
My daily bird tallies were somewhat inflated by the presence of a large number of migrants. Particularly common were sparrows, including White-crowned, Lark, and three Spizellas. Common resident species included Gilded Flicker, Gila Woodpecker, Cactus Wren, Common Ground-Dove, and Crested Caracara. The coastal zone was never particularly “birdy”, but Semipalmated and Snowy Plovers were well-represented. I observed two Baja endemics in the forms of Xantus’s Hummingbird and Gray Thrasher.
As I learned from my years in Belize, however, the birdlife is certain to change greatly over the course of the year. It would be of great interest to me to see what is there during spring migration, as well as the summer when migrants are not present.
I found and photographed two species that are considered rarities in the region. One of these, Cackling Goose, was probably inevitable given the affinity that geese have for golf courses. The other, Surf Scoter, may or may not be actually rare, but simply undercounted because of inadequate coverage of the Baja coast by birders.
Species List
The following is the list of 100 bird species I observed at the Diamanté resort from November 16 to November 21, 2015.
| Species (exported from eBird) |
| Cackling Goose – Branta hutchinsii |
| Gadwall – Anas strepera |
| Green-winged Teal – Anas crecca |
| Ring-necked Duck – Aythya collaris |
| Surf Scoter – Melanitta perspicillata |
| Ruddy Duck – Oxyura jamaicensis |
| California Quail – Callipepla californica |
| Pied-billed Grebe – Podilymbus podiceps |
| Sooty Shearwater – Ardenna grisea |
| Magnificent Frigatebird – Fregata magnificens |
| Brandt’s Cormorant – Phalacrocorax penicillatus |
| Neotropic Cormorant – Phalacrocorax brasilianus |
| Double-crested Cormorant – Phalacrocorax auritus |
| Brown Pelican – Pelecanus occidentalis |
| Great Blue Heron – Ardea herodias |
| Great Egret – Ardea alba |
| Snowy Egret – Egretta thula |
| Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis |
| Green Heron – Butorides virescens |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron – Nycticorax nycticorax |
| Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – Nyctanassa violacea |
| White-faced Ibis – Plegadis chihi |
| Turkey Vulture – Cathartes aura |
| Osprey – Pandion haliaetus |
| Northern Harrier – Circus cyaneus |
| Cooper’s Hawk – Accipiter cooperii |
| Red-tailed Hawk – Buteo jamaicensis |
| Common Gallinule – Gallinula galeata |
| American Coot – Fulica americana |
| Black-bellied Plover – Pluvialis squatarola |
| Snowy Plover – Charadrius nivosus |
| Semipalmated Plover – Charadrius semipalmatus |
| Killdeer – Charadrius vociferus |
| Spotted Sandpiper – Actitis macularius |
| Willet – Tringa semipalmata |
| Sanderling – Calidris alba |
| Least Sandpiper – Calidris minutilla |
| Wilson’s Snipe – Gallinago delicata |
| Bonaparte’s Gull – Chroicocephalus philadelphia |
| Western Gull – Larus occidentalis |
| Gull-billed Tern – Gelochelidon nilotica |
| Royal Tern – Thalasseus maximus |
| Rock Pigeon – Columba livia |
| Common Ground-Dove – Columbina passerina |
| White-winged Dove – Zenaida asiatica |
| Mourning Dove – Zenaida macroura |
| Greater Roadrunner – Geococcyx californianus |
| Barn Owl – Tyto alba |
| Lesser Nighthawk – Chordeiles acutipennis |
| Common Poorwill – Phalaenoptilus nuttallii |
| Costa’s Hummingbird – Calypte costae |
| Xantus’s Hummingbird – Hylocharis xantusii |
| Belted Kingfisher – Megaceryle alcyon |
| Gila Woodpecker – Melanerpes uropygialis |
| Ladder-backed Woodpecker – Picoides scalaris |
| Gilded Flicker – Colaptes chrysoides |
| Crested Caracara – Caracara cheriway |
| American Kestrel – Falco sparverius |
| Merlin – Falco columbarius |
| Peregrine Falcon – Falco peregrinus |
| Black Phoebe – Sayornis nigricans |
| Ash-throated Flycatcher – Myiarchus cinerascens |
| Cassin’s Kingbird – Tyrannus vociferans |
| Loggerhead Shrike – Lanius ludovicianus |
| Western Scrub-Jay – Aphelocoma californica |
| Common Raven – Corvus corax |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow – Stelgidopteryx serripennis |
| Tree Swallow – Tachycineta bicolor |
| Violet-green Swallow – Tachycineta thalassina |
| Barn Swallow – Hirundo rustica |
| Verdin – Auriparus flaviceps |
| Bushtit – Psaltriparus minimus |
| Marsh Wren – Cistothorus palustris |
| Cactus Wren – Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – Polioptila caerulea |
| California Gnatcatcher – Polioptila californica |
| Gray Thrasher – Toxostoma cinereum |
| Northern Mockingbird – Mimus polyglottos |
| European Starling – Sturnus vulgaris |
| Orange-crowned Warbler – Oreothlypis celata |
| Common Yellowthroat – Geothlypis trichas |
| Yellow Warbler – Setophaga petechia |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler – Setophaga coronata |
| Chipping Sparrow – Spizella passerina |
| Clay-colored Sparrow – Spizella pallida |
| Brewer’s Sparrow – Spizella breweri |
| Lark Sparrow – Chondestes grammacus |
| Lark Bunting – Calamospiza melanocorys |
| White-crowned Sparrow – Zonotrichia leucophrys |
| Savannah Sparrow – Passerculus sandwichensis |
| California Towhee – Melozone crissalis |
| Green-tailed Towhee – Pipilo chlorurus |
| Pyrrhuloxia – Cardinalis sinuatus |
| Blue Grosbeak – Passerina caerulea |
| Lazuli Bunting – Passerina amoena |
| Hooded Oriole – Icterus cucullatus |
| Scott’s Oriole – Icterus parisorum |
| House Finch – Haemorhous mexicanus |
| Lesser Goldfinch – Spinus psaltria |
| House Sparrow – Passer domesticus |
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