1 - 8 March 1998
by Rigdon Currie
Cabo San Lucas is not a "destination" birding spot, but how many of us partnered birders get to choose all the vacation spots? There are some good birds there and I enjoyed several hours of birding from 3/1 - 3/8, 1998. There follows a summary of the places I went and birds I saw:
Cabo San Jose Estuary and Lagoon - I kept going back here and discovered after I got back that I had not even been to what appears on the map as a promising part of the lagoon that is on the southern end and stretches eastward along the beach.
Pied-billed Grebe
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestral
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Wilson's Plover
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Greater Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Common Snipe
California Gull
White-winged Dove
Common Ground Dove
Lesser Nighthawk (in town)
Belted Kingfisher
Gila Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Common Raven
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellowthroat (species?)
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Hooded Oriole
House Sparrow
Active Stream Crossing under Route 1 north of Cabo San Jose in the vicinity of Miraflores
Pied-billed Grebe
Least Grebe (from 15 feet on bridge above)
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Crested Caracara (near Microwave Relay Tower a few miles south)
Greater Roadrunner
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
MacGillivrey's Warbler
Beldings Yellowthroat
Deep Sea Fishing out of Cabo San Lucas
Brown Booby
Magnificent Frigatebird
Brown Pelican
Black-vented Shearwater
Short-tailed Shearwater (probable)
California Gull
Heermann's Gull
Herring Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Black-necked Stilt (small estuary east of town)
Arroyo up from beach west of Misiones del Cabo to road leading into Misiones
- drive into Misiones and park to right of gate; walk down gully to beach; go right to the west on the beach past a few small arroyos until you come upon an arroyo almost to a rocky outcropping into the sea; the sand in and near the outlet from this arroyo is damp; proceed quietly up this arroyo in the early morning and you will see a lot of birds, particularly near a series of small pools 200-300 yards op the arroyo.
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
American Kestral
Merlin
California Quail
White-winged Dove
Common Ground Dove
Costa's Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Gila Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Gray Flycatcher
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Thrasher
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Varied Bunting
Green-tailed Towhee
California Towhee
Lark Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Black-chinned Sparrow
House Finch
Hooded Oriole
Scott's Oriole
House Sparrow
I never saw the Xantus Hummingbird. Rich Stallcup suggested an arroyo crossing near San Antonio up Route 1 toward La Paz, but I was not able to get there. I would welcome suggestions on other places to find them and other rarities for the next time I go to Cabo.
I apologize for the length of this but thought it better to be complete in face of a lack of information on the area.
Rigdon Currie
rigdonc@svn.net