Recently I had a dream to visit Baja California Sur and I made it come true, honestly it wasn’t on my radar at all, being from the UK it’s not one of those places you think of, its remote and obscure but since I was already in Mexico it became a possibility, with budget flights taking you there within a short few hours I thought why not, and I ended up staying for 4 months. Its a nature lovers paradise located in a tropical desert, its a unique and interesting bio region. Recently I have enjoyed watching and photographing birds, trying to identify them and learning their names. I was quite excited when I finally got to see a rare endemic humming bird to Baja known as Xantus or Hylocharis xantusii, it’s very small and fast and is often a candidate for some birder’s life list.
Xantus Hummingbird
Xantus Hummingbird
Another native hummingbird is Costa’s – Calypte costae, it can also be found in Arizona and California, it prefers hot, dry habitats like the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, Hummingbirds are an important pollinator of desert plants and cacti.
Both of these hummingbirds captured here are males and are much more colorful than the females. The Costa’s purple throat feather, also can fan out during a courtship display.
Costa’s Hummingbird
Costa’s Hummingbird
Another bird I’ve never seen before is a road runner, they are interesting and curious characters, they are surprisingly fast on their feet and actually quite fun to observe.
Roadrunner
I was also excited to see quite a few ospreys thriving in the delta, they are very majestic birds of prey, and surprising much easier to get close to compared to other species of birds of prey. They are really skilled at diving and have a very high success rate at catching fish, but they have many scavengers ready to pinch a freshly caught fish right out of their claws. Getting this shot wasn’t easy I have to say because they move so fast to get away from other flying thieves.
Osprey
What do you think about the bird diversity In Baja? For me it was quite exciting to get to see so many interesting birds.