A couple of weeks ago I asked Martin if he had any ideas on what he might want to do during my week off for Christmas. I expected he would suggest going north to the panhandle, or out to west Texas. I was completely taken by surprise when he asked if I would like to go to Cabo. I told him I thought it would be terribly expensive, but when I checked for flights I found nonstop flights from Austin for a fairly reasonable fare, and the flights were only a bit over 2 1/2 hours each way. I started checking hotels and rental car prices and found they were not too bad, either. Before I got very far with that, Martin contacted Birding Los Cabos and got some price quotes. They could arrange everything and get us to some places that are difficult to access, especially for geezers like us, so we signed up. It was a very good decision.
Our flight out of Austin departed just after 800AM on December 20. We are about an hour and a half from the airport, which meant we had to get up very early. Martin always likes to allot some extra time, and you never know what is going to happen on I-35, so we were up at 300AM. We got to the airport at 530AM and it was a complete zoo. The lines to check baggage were unreal. Security was almost as bad. I will say, they got us through quickly. The flight boarded on time and it was an uneventful trip. We arrived in Cabo San Lucas and were picked up by one of the bird guides, Johanna, and taken to our hotel.
We didn't have a birding trip planned, as it was considered a travel day. After we checked in, Johanna dropped us off at Reserva Ecologica Estero de San Jose del Cabo, an estuary about a mile from the hotel so we could bird on our own. She pointed out an area a block away from the entrance where we could find a cab to bet back. This is one of the best spots for the endemic Belding's Yellowthroat. This bird is very similar to Common Yellowthroat, a species we get in Texas, and which is also found in winter at the estuary. We went in and saw two Beldings in less than five minutes! We walked one of the trails and saw a good number of birds, including ducks, shorebirds, and sparrows. Here is our checklist, which includes Martin's photos of the yellowthroats: https://ebird.org/checklist/S206018419
The estuary has several entrances and quite a few trails. Martin returned there on the 23rd, while I did a different trip, which I will cover later. On both visits there were a lot of birds. He got the endemic Gray Thrasher there on his second trip. It is flat walking, but we were tired from travel and there were areas where it was walking through dry sand, which was not difficult but took more energy. I also would not recommend wearing a black turtle-neck and slacks, my travel outfit. It wasn't very hot, maybe in the 80s but the sun was strong. We commented when we got home that we don't remember seeing a single cloud while we were there.
We stayed in the Hotel Santa Maria del Cabo. Our room was very comfortable and quiet. We had a junior suite with a kitchen and balcony. There is a restaurant, but it is only open for breakfast and lunch. There were places nearby to eat and two large supermarkets nearby, one right across the street. The staff was great!
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