Hi Tweets!

Well, it's becoming a habit, celebrating Thanksgiving with a week of sun
in Mazatlan, Mexico. Even though it's the rainy season there, in November
they only average .3 inches of precipitation. This year was a little
different because of a storm centered near Acapulco. On Thanksgiving Day
we got doused with enough rain to fill the streets occasionally to the
*sidewalk level.* Still it wasn't too bad leaving Seattle with snow on the
ground for 80 degree days down there ... ;-)

We didn't venture far out of the tourist zone. We birded across the
street from the Holiday Inn where there's a small pond. Also just north
of the new marina area there's a small unmarked, overgrown road following
a fence and then turns to parallel the saltwater inlet. That area is my
favorite but is also good for burring! The third area we visited this
year was Rancho Las Moras which is about 30 minutes by car northeast of
the city.

Here's the small list we compiled:

Vermillion Flycatcher [spectacular but we saw so many it became, "Oh, just
another Vermillion."]
Northern Jacana [ adult and immature, one of my favorites ]
White-collared Seedeater
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Gila Woodpecker
Thick-billed Kingbird
Great Kiskadee [many]
Western Kingbird
Yellow-crowned Night-heron [a nice heronry n. of the marina]
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Brown Pelicans [many, sometimes close to you while swimming]
Magnificent Frigates [many sailing overhead]
Wimbrel
Willets [several individuals wandering the beach]
Greater Yellowlegs
Osprey
White-tailed Hawk
Kestral
Common Cuckoo
Groved-billed Ani
Curved-billed Thrasher
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Black-bellied Whistling-duck
Ruddy Duck
Black-necked Stilt
Turkey Vultures
Crested Caracara [our first!]
White-winged Doves
Rock Doves
Common Ground-dove
Inca Dove
Loggerhead Shrike
Lark Sparrows
Great-tailed Grackle
Hooded Oriole
Northern Oriole
Mexican Crow
Blue-winged Teal
Magpie Jay
Killdeer
Snipe

Ah, the warmer climes,

Dan Victor, Seattle, WA <dvictor at u.washington.edu>
Web = http://weber.u.washington.edu/~dvictor/dan.html