More Bird Listings on "About Todos Santos"  ---->  
 

Without leaving the heart of the town, one can awaken to a cacophony of bird song at Las Casitas on Rangel between Hidalgo and Obregón, where the tropical gardens of this former nursery host orioles (Scott's and hooded), house finches, Western tanagers, northern mockingbirds, cactus wrens, Xantu's hummingbirds, Wilson's warblers, gila woodpeckers, and, warming their wings in the early morning sunshine on the tops of tall palms, dozens of turkey vultures.

Look upward during an evening walk through town and you may see the distinctive white bars on the wings of common nighthawks and hear their nasal peeent as they snatch insects from the air. Take the Old Cemetery Walk past the town's bakery, Panaderîa de Todos Santos, and find hummingbirds (black-chinned, Costa's, and Xantu's) in the bougainvillea and flowering trees, and varieties of doves (white-winged, mourning, and common ground), orioles, warblers, sparrows, and finches in the cemetery itself and in the yards and gardens along the way

Walking away from town toward the ocean takes the bird watcher past a variety of vegetation hosting such colorful and exotic species as the vermilion flycatcher, the white-faced ibis, and Cassin's kingbird. One walk that includes excellent diversity of habitats begins in town on Calle Juarez at Farmacia Guadalupe.

Follow the sign toward the Way of Nature bed and breakfast, wending your way past farm fields and noting the abundance of sparrows (black-throated, lark, white-crowned) in the low shrubs lining the walk and the orioles, warblers, kingbirds, flycatchers, gila woodpeckers, gilded flickers, verdins, and mockingbirds in the rows of mango and palm trees. Overhead you may see a flock of white-faced ibises or a lone kestral or hawk.

Once you leave the cover of vegetation on your way to the ocean, the open scrub of cactus and sage features sage thrashers and cactus wrens.With some scrambling you will eventually reach La Poza Lagoon. Look there for western grebes, ring-necked ducks, great and snowy egrets, little blue herons, great blue herons, and black-necked stilts.

Overhead expect to see magnificent frigatebirds, osprey, and brown pelicans flying, unless the gray whales are spy-hopping, spouting, and rolling in the surf against the reefs to dislodge barnacles, in which case you won't even notice the birds above you.

Campo Experimental , a federally funded botanical garden about four miles south of town on Highway 19, provides 1000 hectares of varied vegetation and allows birders to roam through much of its grounds. Its emphasis on regional flora and fauna and rehabilitation of the environment makes the area attractive to birds and productive for birders.

Todos Santos' tropical setting between ocean and desert creates the opportunity for visiting birders to see an amazing variety of bird life in a relatively short time and small space. It is a bird watcher paradise.

Contributed by Deirdre McCrary