Welcome to our website and blog. Our goal is to provide an easy way for you to sign up for tours and retreats. In addition we want to give you regional birding information and contacts to other area resources so that you may learn more about the flora and fauna of the area and the services provided for you in this region of Mexico.
Cody Sontag is now based out of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens.  Please call 223-6182 or email her at funddevelopment@vallartabotanicalgardensac.org to set up a tour.

See below for “Breakfast, Birds & Botanicals” daily bird tours at the gardens.
TESTIMONIAL:

Cody’s bird-watching trip to San Sebastian del Oeste
was a highlight of my beautiful year. The journey
itself is a scenic time-travel experience to a Mexico
of centuries past.

The eyes are filled with a mountainous pine forest, a
village as picturesque and pristine as can be, citrus
trees, coffee plants, jacarandas and the like are
everywhere. The spirit of the place, tangible. The
ears are filled with a peace, the peace of a quiet,
industrious folk, of mountain strength and of
birdsong. The taste is filled with scrumptious fare.

Cody is the most fun, easy going, humor-filled,
capable and knowledgeable guide. I am a lifetime
birder and I, through Cody, was able to add no less
than 8 new species to my life list.

Joy and peace, expansion and knowledge, camaraderie
and loveliness.

A week’s experience in a one-night’s journey.

Thank you Cody, I would like to go with you again and
again. Claudia

        

Last year many wonderful families came through Yelapa.  One such family was the Jernigan family.  The mom Sara home schooled the 4 children and they could be seen in the village carrying their musical instruments, school books and ever-inquisitive faces with brilliant and infectious smiles. They brought and shared their intellects and goodness with all of us. They were dearly loved and cared for by their family and their Yelapa “family”.

Sadly, the youngest daughter Sara “Gabrielle” died in an accident on her 6^th birthday October 13^th.  We got the news about a week ago and sent our condolences, but I wanted to share her passing and her photo with readers as a way to share this loss and to say “goodbye” to Gabrielle. In addition we send all our love to Sara, David, and their children Alexis, Samantha and Talon.

Is this what the birds see as they fly high over Yelapa? Researchers think not.  It is suggested that birds see with a much wider spectrum of light thus they see colors that we humans can not even imagine.  It is hard to believe that this place could be even more beautiful-but perhaps to the birds it is!

    

Thick-billed Kingbird

Wednesday October 18, 2006- I took two great women from north of Seattle (Lynnwood) on a tour up the road to Chacala yesterday.  We had a good look at the Thick-billed Kingbird, Cinnamon and Berylline Hummingbirds, up-close views of the Military Macaws and were able to watch 5 Pale-billed Woodpeckers in one tree-a first for me!  A solitary Wilson’s Warbler was here as well as a single Plumbeous Vireo so the migrations south must be beginning! We got a good look at the endemic Striped-headed Sparrow and saw one each of the Elegant Trogon and Russet-crowned Motmot. We were also able to see the Wood Storks overhead-they usually come to the lagoon for just a few days on their way south.  Just prior to the tour at about 8:30 am I saw 19 Lilac-crowned Parrots fly high over the lagoon and a kettle of Black and Turkey vultures numbering over 200. 

    

The Pale-Billed Woodpecker  can be seen on our tours in and around Yelapa. Today (10/14/06) they can be seen nesting in the trunk of a Coconut Palm tree.

   

This colorful trogon can be commonly found in and around Yelapa. They sit very quietly and take short flights to eat insects, invertabrates and small vertebrates.

Photo by Adrian Dorst-all rights reserved.

    

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The Vermillion Flycatcher is the smallest flycatcher in the region. He can be seen on fence posts and bushes lining the Rio Tuito. The immature birds are a golden color until they mature into this brilliant vermillion. They are a crowd pleaser!