My first Black-bellied Whistling-ducks

Puerto Vallarta was our first stop in Mexico and we spent a couple of hours walking in the foothills of the Sierra Madre before having lunch at a nearby lake. I had my P900 with me but the walk was on a schedule which didn't lend itself to long photography stops but I did manage to get a few quick snaps along the way. Lunch at the lake was a different proposition and I missed the meal to give myself time to get some photos. Frustratingly I couldn't get all the way around the lake so there were some long distance shots. The lake was overflowing with Black-bellied Whistling-ducks and a handsome bird they are. There was the ocasional easter egg thrown in amongst them but I couldn't really tell till I got the photos onto the computer.

The computer latter revealed a Great Blue Heron, a Greater White-fronted Goose, a juvenile White Ibis, a Neotrpoical Cormorant, an American Coot and a few Blue-winged Teals scattered amongst the Whistling-ducks.

Black-bellied Whistling-duck

Northern Pintails foreground

Northern Pintail foreground male left, female right

Blue-winged Teal

American Coot

Great Blue Heron

White-fronted Goose

Coots are all around the world but I hadn't seen that particular flavour before so every bird on that lake was a first sighting for me!

On the walk I saw a Great-Tailed Grackle (the female not the male sadly but still a handsome bird), Turkey Vultures circling overhead on mass, a Bright-rumped Attila, Eurasian Collared Doves, the Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, a Yellow-winged Cacique, a Masked Tityra and the spectacular Black-throated Magpie-jay. How about that insane tail! There were some really nice looking birds on that walk that would have been worth spending the whole morning trying to photograph but such is life. Again all life listers for me.