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| Only 4 spaces left - make your reservations now! |
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This is
not your run-of-the-mill birding tour! Excellent birding combines with
magnificent scenery, fascinating native cultures, outstanding hospitality, and one of the world's
most amazing feats of engineering. SABO naturalists Tom Wood and Sheri
Williamson, along with experienced local naturalists, will be your guides to
the birds, butterflies, flora, geology, and history of Las Barrancas del
Cobre - Mexico's magnificent Copper Canyon. Tour package will include:
|
Fall is a particularly good time to enjoy
southbound migrants from the western U.S. and Canada as well as resident birds,
butterflies, and wildflowers. Bird highlights of previous trips include
Blue-footed Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird, Northern Jaçana, Eared Quetzal,
Mountain Trogon, Military Macaw, Mexican Parrotlet, Short-tailed Hawk, Crane
Hawk, White-eared Hummingbird, Plain-capped Starthroat, Russet-crowned Motmot,
Mangrove Swallow, Black-throated Magpie-Jay, White-striped Woodcreeper,
Brown-backed Solitaire, Crescent-chested Warbler, Rufous-capped Brush-Finch, and
Streak-backed Oriole. For butterfly enthusiasts, fall trips to the
canyon offer the possibility of spotting such tropical beauties as Zebra Longwing, White Angled-Sulphur, White Morpho, Red Cracker, and the remarkable
Social Dartwhite or Madrone Butterfly (Eucheira socialis). Many of the region's
wildflowers are wild cousins of familiar greenhouse or garden plants, including our cultivated zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, salvias, poinsettias, and begonias.
Your guides: Tom Wood and Sheri Williamson are founders and directors of the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory. Their well-rounded natural history knowledge, enthusiasm, and good humor have earned them a loyal following among birders and other nature lovers. Tom and Sheri have extensive experience in northwestern Mexico, including conducting workshops and bird-banding projects in Sonora and leading seven previous tours to the Copper Canyon. They will be ably assisted by local naturalist guides.
Limit 10 participants. Approximately $3300 per person, double occupancy (add $500 for single occupancy), including transportation from El Fuerte, Sinaloa, 10 nights lodging, all meals, train fare, guides, entry fees, taxes, and a donation of $200 to the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory. For reservations or more information, contact High Lonesome BirdTours.
Tentative Itinerary:
| October 7 | Los Mochis Airport, El Fuerte: You will be transferred from the Los Mochis airport to the 16th-century, cobbled-street, colonial town of El Fuerte and the picturesque Rio Vista Lodge for 2 nights. Stroll through the quintessential colonial plaza with its towering palms, browse the colorful local market, and view ornate architecture while learning of the past and present significance of this historic fort on the old "Camino Real." All of the Spanish expeditions that colonized California journeyed through El Fuerte and recruited local residents. From our panoramic hilltop setting, we'll view the El Fuerte River with a constant parade of birds and feeders teeming with hummingbirds. We'll enjoy alfresco patio refreshments and appetizers and listen to live regional music surrounded by flowering gardens and an impressive array of giant native cacti. Dinner in the air-conditioned dining room or on the patio features the regional specialty of fresh garlic-grilled bass and shrimp, with wine or cerveza (beer). |
| October 8 | El Fuerte: We'll experience plentiful and diverse tropical bird life amid the verdant tropical forest on a cruise on the El Fuerte River. Dedicated five-hour birding floats depart early and include treks to explore great birding sites including the famous "Motmot Alley" and ancient petroglyphs. More than 60 species of birds are frequently spotted from the boat, including Gray Hawk, Common Black-Hawk, and Social Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, , plus flora such as Tree Morning Glory, Tree Coral Bean, Tree Ocotillo, Kapok, Amapa, Palo Verde, Elephant Tree, Feather Tree, Fremont Cottonwood, Montezuma Cypress, Strangler Fig, Ures Palm, Hecho Cactus, and Organ-pipe Cactus. Later, we'll observe the traditional Mayo Indian "Dance of the Deer" ceremony with water drum accompaniment. In the late afternoon, we'll travel to several thorn-forest birding sites in a topless van. |
| October 9 | El Fuerte to Urique: The Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad traverses some of the most scenic wilderness on Earth. From the Sonoran-Sinaloan transition tropical forest, it climbs 8,000 feet into the western Sierra Madre and skirts the Copper Canyon before terminating in the Chihuahuan Desert. This spectacular railway achievement required 37 principle bridges and 87 tunnels. The railway, with nearly 11 miles of tunneling and 2.25 miles of bridging, serpentines through some of the most biologically outstanding and diverse habitats on the planet, listed in the world's 200 most crucial areas for conservation. This morning’s journey into the Sierra Madre provides optimum viewing on the most spectacular section of the railway. On arrival at the depot, a resident guide and native of Cerocahui will meet and transfer us to a spectacular spot overlooking the deepest canyon in North America. There we'll have a gourmet picnic lunch, complete with table linens and chilled wine glasses, before continuing down into the canyon to Urique village, over a mile below. Founded in 1690 along the banks of the Urique River, Urique Village was totally isolated until connected by a switchback mountain road in 1975. Participants will have the option of descending by guided hike (4 miles) or car to the Barrancas de Urique Inn for 2 nights. |
| October 10 | Urique: Urique village has bougainvillea-covered adobe houses and orchards of oranges, mangos, avocados, and guavas. Horses, burros and pigs are a common sight on the main road, and both electricity and phone service are very recent additions. Few tourists venture to the bottom of Urique Canyon where the local inhabitants are still curious and open to visitors. The riparian habitat features Organ-pipe and Cardon cacti, Kapok, Pink and Yellow Amapa, Tree Morning Glory and Trumpet Bush as well as, ficus, cypress, bamboo, palms, agaves, and other exotic flora. Bird species include: Squirrel Cuckoo, Black-throated Magpie-Jay, White-striped Woodcreeper, Military Macaw, Elegant Trogon, and White-eared Hummingbird as well hawks, flycatchers, gnatcatchers, and wrens. Today’s birding trek includes a hike to La Mescalera and a 200-year-old orchard where is it possible to see flocks of Lilac-crowned Parrots feeding on the immature fruit. The hike is 8 miles round trip, but any distance walked along this route will yield many birds. |
| October 11 | Urique to Copper Canyon Rim: We'll depart Urique in time to visit the mountain town of Cerocahui and the 17th-century gold-domed Jesuit mission church before our transfer to the train depot for a brief ride (1:10 p.m. - 12:05 p.m.). We'll be met by our exclusive resident guide and graduate of the University of Chihuahua for transfer on the one-hour drive (or somewhat longer hike) over a 6-mile road of breathtaking scenery traversing the spine of the Sierra to the Tarahumara-owned Uno Lodge for 1 night in a private, pristine natural setting with a view like few on the planet. From its lofty precipice, the Uno features the most panoramic lodge overlook, with breathtaking and endless sierra landscapes of jagged erosion and the only canyon lodge view of the meandering river below. We'll take an orientation trek around the lodge and visit with nearby Tarahumara families, cooperative owners of 60,000 wilderness acres and the lodge. This evening we'll relax around an outdoor fire and under starlit skies miles away from electric lighting - the lodge is solar powered. |
| October 12 | Copper Canyon Rim: We'll enjoy an early morning birding hike to a nearby waterfall not seen by any other visitors to the sierra. Bird possibilities include Zone-tailed Hawk, Steller's Jay, Acorn & Hairy woodpecker, Yellow-eyed Junco, Pygmy Nuthatch, Mexican Chickadee, Painted Redstart, etc. |
| October 13 | Copper Canyon Rim to Cusárare: We'll drive to the Divisadero area to visit an open-air market and observe local Tarahumara craftswomen weaving their aromatic pine-needle baskets in a myriad of designs before our transfer to Cusárare and the Copper Canyon Sierra Lodge for 2 nights. Also on Tarahumara lands, about 14 miles from the town of Creel, the Sierra Lodge offers direct access to Tarahumara cave dwellings and rancherias. Your guide, a native of Creel, will accompany you on a moderate trek to the 300-year-old Cusárare mission church and the recently opened Tarahumara museum. |
| October 14 | Cusárare: We'll take an early morning 3.5-mile round-trip walk to the 90-foot Cascada Cusárare (waterfall), which is a good site for Eared Quetzal, Mountain Trogon, American Dipper, Striped Sparrow, and many other mountain specialties. |
| October 15 | Cusárare to Creel, El Fuerte: Prior to our late-morning departure by train from Creel, we'll have the opportunity to view the wide variety of fine displays in the Creel Museum or browse through the numerous folk craft shops located near the depot. Upon our return to El Fuerte, we will be transferred back to the Rio Vista Lodge for 2 nights. |
| October 16 | El Fuerte, Topolobampo Bay Cruise: This morning we'll travel back to Los Mochis for a cruise on the Gulf of California on Topolobampo and Ohuira bays, which combine to create a harbor that is the world’s third deepest and Mexico’s deepest. Boats are usually accompanied by schools of bottle-nosed dolphins, and there will be a variety of other sea mammals and birds. |
| October 17 | Depart El Fuerte Los
Mochis airport: After one last night at Rio Vista Lodge, we'll return to the Los Mochis airport for our departing flight. |
Some birds of the Copper Canyon region, including
neighboring Gulf of California:
(regional specialties in
bold)
| Least Grebe Black Storm-Petrel Least Storm-Petrel Red-billed Tropicbird Blue-footed Booby Brown Booby Neotropic Cormorant Brandt's Cormorant Magnificent Frigatebird Bare-throated Tiger-Heron Reddish Egret White Ibis Roseate Spoonbill Fulvous Whistling-Duck Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Crane Hawk Common Black-Hawk Great Black-Hawk Gray Hawk Short-tailed Hawk Zone-tailed Hawk Crested Caracara Laughing Falcon Bat Falcon Rufous-bellied Chachalaca Elegant Quail Northern Jacana Heerman's Gull Yellow-Footed Gull Craveri's Murrelet Red-billed Pigeon Ruddy Ground-Dove White-tipped Dove Military Macaw Thick-billed Parrot Mexican Parrotlet White-fronted Parrot Lilac-crowned Parrot Mangrove Cuckoo Squirrel Cuckoo Lesser Roadrunner |
Groove-billed Ani Northern Pygmy-Owl Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl Pauraque Eared Poorwill White-eared Hummingbird Broad-billed Hummingbird Berylline Hummingbird Violet-crowned Hummingbird Blue-throated Hummingbird Magnificent Hummingbird Plain-capped Starthroat Mountain Trogon Elegant Trogon Eared Quetzal Russet-crowned Motmot Green Kingfisher Imperial Woodpecker - ? Arizona (Strickland's) Woodpecker Gray-crowned Woodpecker White-striped Woodcreeper Ivory-billed Woodcreeper Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet Tufted Flycatcher Buff-breasted Flycatcher Nutting's Flycatcher Great Kiskadee Social Flycatcher Tropical Kingbird Thick-billed Kingbird Gray-collared Becard Rose-throated Becard Masked Tityra Sinaloa Martin Mangrove Swallow Black-throated Magpie-Jay Purplish-backed Jay Sinaloa Crow Mexican Chickadee Spotted Wren Sinaloa Wren |
Happy Wren Black-capped Gnatcatcher Brown-backed Solitaire Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush Russet Nightingale-Thrush White-throated Robin Rufous-backed Robin Blue Mockingbird Gray Silky-Flycatcher Golden Vireo Yellow-green Vireo Mangrove Vireo Crescent-chested Warbler "Mangrove" Yellow Warbler Grace's Warbler Red-faced Warbler Slate-throated Redstart Fan-tailed Warbler Rufous-capped Warbler Olive Warbler Scrub Euphonia Flame-colored Tanager Red-headed Tanager Yellow Grosbeak Varied Bunting Rufous-capped Brush-Finch Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrow Blue-black Grassquit White-collared Seedeater Five-striped Sparrow Rufous-winged Sparrow Rusty Sparrow Striped Sparrow Yellow-eyed Junco Black-vented Oriole Streak-backed Oriole Yellow-winged Cacique Black-headed Siskin Hooded Grosbeak |
Interested in butterflies, reptiles, plants, geology? Contact SABO for information on the other natural treasures possible on this trip.
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SABO Home |
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