One of our newest Mexican birding adventures visits a place we’ve enjoyed birding for years. Like many other birders, we’ve found that this area, where the Central Volcanic Belt intersects the Pacific coast, provides a great diversity of habitats with lots of birds (including over 50 Mexican endemics) amid strikingly rugged scenery. The twin volcanos of Colima, which can be seen throughout the area on clear days, are, by themselves, worth a birding trip here. But this area also has the beautiful Pacific shoreline, central valleys with large lagoons, and a section of the endemic-rich Balsas Dry Forest.

January 27 After your afternoon arrival at the Manzanillo Airport, we’ll use our remaining daylight to look for birds along the access road to the airport, where we can see many waders and other marsh birds, and may have a chance to see some local endemics such as San Blas Jay. If time allows, we may make a stop at the road to Playa del Oro, where the thorn scrub forest is loaded with good birds, such as West Mexican Chachalaca, Citreoline Trogon, Flammulated Flycatcher, San Blas Jay, Happy and Sinaloa Wrens, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Red-breasted Chat and Orange-breasted Bunting. After dark we arrive at out hotel in Manzanillo for the night. Overnight Manzanillo.

January 28 After an early breakfast, we head to the waterfront of this large port city where we meet our boatman for a short trip out to Piedra Blanca and the nearby shore and ocean. Many seabirds can be seen here, and the rock itself is a major nesting site for Red-billed Tropicbird, and home to many Brown Boobies and the occasional Masked Booby. After a few hours, we’ll return to shore and bird some areas around the harbor before lunch. After lunch we’ll pack up and start the short journey inland to Colima City, our base for the next five days. After checking into our hotel, we’ll head into the hills south of the city to bird the thorn-forest of the Balsas river drainage, where we may see such endemics as Banded Quail, Black-chested Sparrow, and, after dark, Balsas Screech-Owl. Overnight Colima City.

Jan. 29-Feb. 1 With Colima City as our base, we’ll spend the next four days exploring this incredibly rich area. We’ll visit Laguna la Maria, on the slopes of the Volcan de Fuego above the city, spend at least two full days on the volcano itself and its neighbor, Volcan de Nieve, where pristine forests hold some of the greatest birding riches of western Mexico. We’ll also head a bit farther inland to the playa lakes at Laguna Sayula, where thousands of migrant waterfowl and shorebirds spend the winter. Among the many birds we may see here are such gems as Crested Guan, Long-tailed Wood-Partridge, Singing Quail, Thick-billed Parrot, Lesser Roadrunner, Stygian Owl, Eared Poorwill, Amethyst-throated Hummingbird, Bumblebee Hummingbird, Mountain Trogon, White-striped Woodcreeper, Scaled Antpittta, Gray-collared Becard, Gray-barred Wren, Aztec Thrush, Blue Mockingbird, Golden Vireo, Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo, Colima Warbler, Red Warbler, Fan-tailed Warbler, Red-headed Tanager, Green-striped Brushfinch, Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrow, Collared Towhee, Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer, Stripe-headed Sparrow, Black-vented Oriole and Black-headed Siskin. Overnights Colima City.

February 2 We’ll spend some time this morning birding near the city to look for anything we may have missed before we pack up and head back to the coast. We’ll go north along the coast to the town of Melaque, a short distance beyond the Manzanillo Airport. We’ll stop at Playa del Oro again, to spend more time along the road to the beach, looking for birds not seen on our first visit. After arriving at our hotel in the quiet beach town of Melaque, we’ll spent the last of the daylight birding the hill at the north end of town, a short walk up the beach from our hotel, and enjoying the sunset over the Pacific. Overnight Melaque.

February 3 The highway running inland from Melaque to the city of Autlan climbs up and over the ridge of mountains north of the Colima volcanoes, giving us a complete sample of the habitats from the coast to the high mountains. This makes it a perfect place to spend our last day as we try to fill any holes in our bird list. We’ll spend the entire day birding along this highway and the side roads and canyons that we can access from there. Many birds are possible, but what we look for, and where exactly we search, will depend upon what we’ve already seen.

February 4 Our last morning will be spent with a relaxing walk near the hotel and along the beach, as we enjoy the birds, beach and scenery of the this idyllic part of the Mexican Pacific coast one more time. Soon we’ll be packing up and heading out for the short drive to the airport and your trip home, full of great memories of the birds and landscapes of where the volcanoes meet the sea in the state of Colima.

Arrival and Departure information: The tour begins in Manzanillo in the afternoon of January 28, and ends in Manzanillo (at the airport) at about noon on February 5. Flights should be scheduled to arrive no later than 3 p.m. on the 28th, and depart no earlier than 1 p.m. on the 5th. Westwings staff will meet you at the airport, or at your hotel, if you plan to arrive before the 28th - please call for exact coordinating information. We can make your flight reservations for you, if you wish. The tour price includes all transportation, meals, lodging and non-personal expenses during the tour. See the reservation form for further details on what’s included, and for additional Westwings, Inc. policies

If you have further questions regarding this trip, please call toll free (866) 552-0221, or e-mail to cbirds@westwings.com