Whiskeyjack

Very cool birds.  I've always wanted to bird the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.  Birding islands is interesting to me because of their endemic species.

Highlights of Birding, Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale through the Panama Canal, October 2017, with Princess.

1. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: I had chores and shopping to do and only did some birding around the ship. I did meet Gerardo Hernandez, gerardomexico@yahoo.com.mx, who is a birding guide. He sounded very knowledgeable about the local birds.

2. Huatulco, Mexico: I had arranged a birding trip with Cornelio Ramos, birdguidecornelio@yahoo.com.mx, for a six hour tour. My wife and I were the first people off the ship at 8 a.m. and Cornelio was waiting. We only had a short drive before we were birding and had a good day. We saw a total of 53 species. I had 15 lifers for the day. The highlight of the day was a Collared Forest-Falcon. I highly recommend Cornelio.

There is a small market/park right off the cruise dock that had birds.

Try to get off the ship as soon as possible since the birding slowed down dramatically as the day heated up.

3. Aruba: I had arranged to go birding with a local birder, Michiel Oversteegen, michieloversteegen@gmail.com. The ship didn’t dock until 1 p.m. and it was very hot. (I’m from Alaska, anything over 75 degrees is hot.) Despite the heat and time of day Michiel and his son, “Eagle Eye Sven”, put us on some good birds. I didn’t keep track of the total number of species but got 6 lifers. The highlight of the trip was a Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird. I think someone with an early morning start would do better. I recommend contacting Michiel if your ship stops in Aruba.

4. Ft. Lauderdale: We stayed overnight at the Hampton Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport North Cruiseport Hotel before flying home. There was an overgrown, fenced in lot behind the hotel. I was there at dawn and was surprised at the number of warblers. I even got a lifer, Northern Parula. (The hotel was pleasant and had good shuttle service to/from the airport.)