ENSENADA LODGE WALK - ENSENADA LAGOON WALK - AFTERNOON VISIT ENSENADA SALT PANS
WEATHER: hot and sunny. Max Temp. 30C.
Our early monring walk was terrific, the temperature was perfect and we had a 90% turn out at 6am. The habitat around the range is primarily dry, open, forest. Mature hedges, open dry meadows with clumps of dry scrub. The place waa alive with birds, hummers, trogons, flycatchers, doves, parrots and anis. The orioles looked stunning in the morning light, especially the Streak-backed Oriole.
the start of our early morning walk at Ensenada Ranch - photo taken by Vanda Owen
We added several new species to the list: Black-headed Trogon, Rose-coloured Grosbeak, Prothonatary Warbler, Double-striped Thick-knee, White=fronted Amazon and Canivet's Emerald Hummingbird. We had a fly-by Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Yellow-naped Parrots and all three dry forest flycatchers, Great-crested, Nutting's and Brown-headed.
Black-headed Trogon - taken by Kevin Jones
Orange-fronted Parrot
After a lovely breakfast we jumped onto the bus for a short drive to one of the marked trails on the private land owned by the Ranch. We took the Laguna Trail and very quickly we were wcthing birds. Wood Storks circled above us with Common Black Hawk, Turkey and Black Vultures. In the trees Jason pointed out Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, White-lored Gnatcatcher and Scrub Euphonia.
Yellow-headed Caracara and below the Crested Caracara - both taken by Kevin Jones
The laguna held many species, we viewed it from a purpose built viewing platform, we spent around an hour just watching the waterlife from our discrete 'window'. We probably added 30 species to the day list and about a dozen of then were new species for us. Waders are my thing and there were a few of those, we noted: Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Black-necked Stilts, also Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, herons, egrets, spoonbills, storks, jacanas and gallinules.
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Short-billed Dowitchers
a Lesser Yrellowlegs with the Whistling Ducks and Black-necked Stilts
Moving on, we made few sightings during the latter part of the walk, the temperature was now in the lower 30's with no breeze. Back on the main track we searched for Ferruginous Pygmy Owl without luck but we did find a few hummers including Ruby-throated.
we never found the Pygmy Owl but this Pacific Screech Owl was found near the car park - photo by Vanda Owen, a hand-held Phone shot which is pretty impressive!
After lunch some us went down to the jetty, the tide was coming in fast and the jetty was starting to fill with gulls and terns. We saw Royal and sandwich Terns and laughing Gulls. A few waders sat on the rocks for a while, we saw Semi-palmated Plover, Wilson's Plover, Whimbrel and a small flock of Semi-palmated Sandpipers. An Osprey flew over as did Magnificent Frigatebirds and a few Neotropic Cormorants.
Royal terns on the Jetty taken by Kevin Jones
Our afternoon session was a bit of a disappointment, it was still high tide and I expected the Salt Pans to be full of waders, but that wasn't the case. We had to work hard to find any!
We had to work hard to find any! A couple of flocks of Black-necked Stilts were joined by a few Willets, Black-bellied Plover and Whimbrels. Small numbers of Least Sandpipers could be seen, one single Lesser Yellowlegs was found and one large flock of ‘peeps’ which looked like Semi-palmated Sandpipers.
We did find our first Yellow-crowned Night Herons and we had great views of Black Hawks, but generally it was a lot of work for little reward.
Our walk into the mangroves proved equally disappointing, Jason tried very hard to find us a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, which he did, but only one or two saw it, briefly in flight. We added a Northern Scrub-Flycatcher to the list and we saw Scrub Euphonia, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Northern Scrub-Flycatcher.
a White-throated Magpie-Jay taken by Kevin Jones yesterday
We made a couple of stops along the track on the way back tom the ranch to look further for the Owl without success. We added Ruby-throated Hummingbird to the list and watched several other species including another White-necked PuffbIrd and both Green Breasted Mango and Cinnamon Hummingbird.