Mexico 2021

A good friend of AB2 is getting married in Mexico, and our presence has been requested. The stars align, and a way to attend without violating any COVID restrictions appears. A trip taking in Mexico City and some sites near the wedding (in San José del Cabo) is hastily arranged.

Mexico City

We arrive in Mexico City just in time for Dia de los muertos. The city is absolutely jam packed full of people. What are we doing here again? Eating a lot of delicious food and having access to 24h churros, apparently.

We don't find a lot of birds in this bit of the break, but this hummingbird (from our hotel room window, no less) was a decent find.

A coach trip out to Teotihuacán gets us a bit more into nature, and we find a nice pair of Vermilion Flycatchers. They're spectacularly dimorphic!

Los Cabos

After our city break, it's off to Los Cabos, where there's a bit more hope of finding things. We're in a resort on the coast that's a short walk along the beach from Estero San José.

And the estuary delivers - wall to wall Ospreys and Pelicans, with occasional visits from Hen Harriers, American Kestrel and kingfishers.

On the beach itself, we found several plover and wader species, some of which were exceptionally confiding.

We also pick up our first endemic of the trip in the form of Belding's Yellowthroat.

The hotel grounds themselves aren't bad either, with near constant Gila Woodpecker and Cactus Wren.

If that weren't enough, it turns out baby turtles from a hatching program are released on this beach too.

We embark on a bird tour from here and it's...alright...but also a bit crazy, as we spend several hours being driven between sites that will, in fact, be much nearer to one of our next stops.

We do see some good birds though.

Wedding complete, and San Jose explored (the best place to eat is here, by the way), we head North to La Paz, via an overnight stay near Cabo Pulmo to facilitate a bit of snorkelling (so many fish! Jacques Cousteau's moniker of "The Aquarium of the World" is well-deserved).

La Paz is more our sort of place. We spend a lot of time ruminating over whether to go on a boat tour to Espiritu Santu - really, it hinges on "Will there be Blue-footed Boobies"? All the websites are obsessed with swimming with <insert marine creature here> - what about our little Patas Azul? Eventually, we get someone on the phone who assures us that we'll find them.

On a boat we get. And we were not lied to; there's an island about half an hour into the trip that's got a very active colony living on it. Great!

Even if their feet aren't quite that blue at this time of year, we'll take it. What we will not take quite so well is the remainder of the boat trip, which AB1 spends either feeling like he ought to throw up, throwing up, or later, wondering why it took him so long to throw up.

On returning to the shore, we're greeted by a very photogenic pelican.

This Osprey also perched handily with the moon.

A good trip, given how little control we had over the itinerary, and how long we had to plan it.