Alamos Wildlands Alliance Weblog

2010 Christmas Bird Count!

alamoswildlands — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:31:36 +0000

The 2010 CBC on December 30 went well. A bit slower than years past but it was cloudy and windy for large parts of the day. The new Agriculture has made much more habitat for Mexican Ducks, and Lesser Nighthawks (which are usually not around this time of year). Thanks to David Mackay, Richard Webster, Renner Anderson, Shadia, Doug, Heather, Patrick, Tino, Lupito, Sallie and Adam for participating. The totals are below. We hope more folks will join us next year!

Northern Pintail	1109
Ring-billed Gull	730
Western Sandpiper	281
American White Pelican	256
Green-winged Teal	177
Least Sandpiper	132
Willet	125
Laughing Gull	113
Lesser Scaup	111
Mourning Dove	111
Northern Shoveler	109
American Wigeon	108
Caspian Tern	106
Long-billed Dowitcher	103
Brown Pelican	102
Black-necked Stilt	75
Great- tailed Grackle	68
Redhead	67
Northern Mockingbird	66
Ruddy Duck	64
Mallard	63
American Avocet	58
Tree Swallow	54
Dowitcher	41
Gambel’s Quail	41
Crested Caracara	39
Lesser Nighthawk	37
Roseate Spoonbill	33
Gadwall	32
Black Vulture	29
Gila Woodpecker	29
Turkey Vulture	28
Red-breasted Merganser	27
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	26
White-winged Dove	26
Neotropic Cormorant	23
Wilson’s Plover	23
Bufflehead	22
European Starling	21
Harris’s Hawk	21
Barn Owl	20
White Ibis	19
Orange-crowned Warbler	18
Snowy Egret	15
California Gull	14
Great Blue Heron	14
Lesser Yellowlegs	14
Blue-winged Teal	13
Reddish Egret	13
Magnificent Frigatebird	12
Marbled Godwit	12
American Coot	11
Great Kiskadee	11
Curve-billed Thrasher	10
Verdin	10
Yellow-crowned Night Heron	10
Eared Grebe	9
Great Egret	9
Spotted Sandpiper	9
Green-tailed Towhee	8
House Wren	8
Brewer’s Sparrow	7
Long-billed Curlew	7
Mangrove Swallow	7
Rufous-winged Sparrow	7
Yellow (Mangrove) Warbler	7
Yellow-footed Gull	7
Bell’s Vireo	6
Black-crowned Night Heron	6
Killdeer	6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker	6
Osprey	6
Tricolored Heron	6
Blue-footed Booby	5
Cactus Wren	5
Forster’s Tern	5
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet	5
Northern Cardinal	5
Red-tailed Hawk	5
Royal Tern	5
Black-throated Gray Warbler	4
Cinnamon Teal	4
Common Raven	4
Gilded Flicker	4
Gray Flycatcher	4
Great Horned Owl	4
Heerman’s Gull	4
Lesser Goldfinch	4
MacGillivray’s Warbler	4
Barn Swallow	3
Black Skimmer	3
Brown Booby	3
Common Yellowthroat	3
Double-crested Cormorant	3
Greater Yellowlegs	3
Pacific-slope Flycatcher	3
Ruddy Turnstone	3
Rufous-backed Robin	3
Semipalmated Plover	3
Vermilion Flycatcher	3
White-tailed Kite	3
Wilson’s Warbler	3
Yellow-rumped Warbler	3
House Sparrow	3
American Kestrel	2
American Oystercatcher	2
Belted Kingfisher	2
Black Phoebe	2
Black-bellied Plover	2
Brant	2
Bronzed Cowbird	2
Elegant Tern	2
Gull-billed Tern	2
Happy Wren	2
Herring Gull	2
Lark Sparrow	2
Little Blue Heron	2
Northern Harrier	2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2
Say’s Phoebe	2
Streak-backed Oriole	2
Whimbrel	2
White-crowned Sparrow	2
Bendire’s Thrasher	1
Black-capped Gnatcatcher	1
Canyon Towhee	1
Cassin’s Kingbird	1
Common Ground-Dove	1
Cooper’s Hawk	1
Costa’s Hummingbird	1
Dunlin	1
Greater Roadrunner	1
Green Kingfisher	1
Hooded Oriole	1
House Finch	1
Inca Dove	1
Least Tern	1
Nutting’s Flycather	1
Parasitic Jaeger	1
Peregrine Falcon	1
Plumbeous Vireo	1
Pyrrhuloxia	1
Social Flycatcher	1
Song Sparrow	1
Western Meadowlark	1
Western Screech Owl	1
White-faced Ibis	1
Broad-billed Hummingbird	1

Summer fundraising drive!

alamoswildlands — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:49:29 +0000

Please support our fundraising drive to help make some badly needed improvements to the field station this Fall.

For the past five years Navopatia field station has been a place where people from throughout the world come to experience and protect a truly unique part of the world. Many have come to learn science and natural history, explore, teach, and create memorable experiences.

This has all been thanks largely to you. The kindness, generosity, and grassroots support of everyone has been, and continues to be crucial to the success of the Navopatia Field Station. The field station has flourished and we are in a period of growth and have made plans to improve the infrastructure of the station. AWA and Navopatia Field Station need your help.

As many of you are intimately aware, the roof of the big palapa/common area has seen better days. Last spring, we brought two experienced palmeros from the mountains to look at the roof and made arrangements for them to come in November and make a watertight roof! This will give us a natural, beautiful, and long (decades) lasting roof. It will cost approximately 3,000 dollars.

After many years of reliable service, the trusty Suburban or la Ballena Blanca has seen its’ last Mexican back road. AWA will replace it with a strong and dependable twelve passenger van that will serve our emerging needs greatly. As many of you know a reliable vehicle is a necessity at our remote location. The cost of the van is 6,000 dollars

We also are in need of a new marine outboard motor. To effectively reach distant study sites, help aid some of our education programs, facilitate local tourism, and survey aquatic organisms, a reliable motor is vital. Also, in lieu of adding to our capacity of solar power we are planning on upgrading the batteries for our small solar array so we can continue to use the plentiful solar power. For both of these items AWA is in the process of securing and reduced price arrangements.

As you are aware, at the Navopatia Field Station we stretch every peso as far as possible. Every donation we receive is appreciated by the station and the entire community. We have received several large donations and have been challenged to raise $7000 dollars in matching funds. If you can give, or renew your membership, no donation is too large or too small.

If you feel strongly about any one of these items you can ask for your donations to go it specifically or just donate to the general fund. Thank you. For more information or questions email: navopatia@gmail.com

You can donate at our website www.alamoswildlands.org /SupportUs.htm through PayPal. Or a check can be sent to:

Alamos Wildlands Alliance

20226 Neat rd. SE

Yelm, WA 98597

All donations are tax-deductable.

Thank you very much!

Feel free to pass this along to others who may be interested in helping out!

You can also now follow us on Facebook-

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navopatia-Field-Station/426445855318?fcf=tf

2010

alamoswildlands — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 19:26:21 +0000

Thank you everyone for your support this past season. We were able to collect much more data concerning the Pitayal again this year. Thanks for the great work of this year’s field crew; Margaret, Ben, Mandy, Aaron, Teresea, Jesse, Juliet, and Eric. AWA was able to band many more birds this year including a few species we haven’t recorded in the area before. Including: Clay-colored Sparrows, male Varied Buntings, White-collared Seedeaters, and others. We had a very busy season with many guests and visitors. There were issues with the road and ineffectual agricultural irrigation, but we hope next winter will be much easier. Some strides were made with the local government concerning future reserve ideas.

This upcoming winter (2010-11) will see many new improvements at the field station. Including; a new van, a new palm roof on the big palapa, and other projects that will require an increase in funds. Stay tuned for more news. Thanks.

2009-10

alamoswildlands — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:18:11 +0000

Hello-

We apologize for the length between posts, but as usual things are busy.

The winter is shaping up to be a great one. Contact us now if you would like to make reservations. February is already booked solid! The past hurricane season was quite merciful to the field station with minimal wind and rain damage. We are looking forward to some new improvements at the station this year and look forward to seeing some new and old friends. The Christmas bird count is tentatively scheduled for mid December, stay tuned for details. Thanks to all of our supporters and members this year we wouldn’t have been able to do any of the work we do without you!

2008-09 Season Starts Soon!

alamoswildlands — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:51:33 +0000

Hello AWA members, supporters, and friends-

The 2008-2009 season is rapidly approaching. As usual, the field station will be open on December 1st. December is gearing up to be busy so make your reservations now at navopatia@gmail.com. We are all excited about the upcoming winter and spring. There will be a host of new projects and outreach initiatives this year. We are fortunate and thankful to member donations to welcome our staff biologist, Lydia Lozano, of nearby Sinaloa, back this year. Lydia will be managing our research and education programs this winter. Thanks to a kidney transplant and everyone’s prayers, Robin Hiersche will be returning this winter as well. We are very excited to have our on staff EMT, massage therapist, musical enchanter, and bearer of goodwill back with us.

Members, be sure to check your mailbox in the upcoming weeks for our latest newesletter. It will be posted on our website at a later date.

Due to rising gas and food prices throughout the continent the Alamos Wildlands Alliance is forced to raise prices this season. As reflected on the website we had to raise prices $5.00 (USD) per night. All of the wonderful food and ammenties have remained the same, with several improvements. The Navopatia field station remains not only a principal education and research site but also the best ecotourism value in Sonora. We hope to see you this year.

A great passing

alamoswildlands — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:35:40 +0000

Hello-

A sad time at the Navopatia Field Station and the area as a whole. On February 22, 2008 Ruben Mendivil Cota passed away.

Everyone who came to the station was touched by Ruben. He was a teacher with endless patience and skills that could never be counted. He became much more than a friend to many of us. All who tried his world famous ceviche went back for more. He built every building at the field station and performed all the maintenance every year.

Ruben is survived By his wife Lupita, son Rubencito, daughter Bianka, and his granddaughter Mariana. We would like to start a fund to help the family through the difficult years ahead. Please donate on the AWA website under the support us tab and say your donation is for Ruben.

The Station closes with Semana Santa and will reopen in December. Nothing will ever be the same but we will continue.

Check back here later for updates of the last few months of activity at the field station.

January has been busy!

alamoswildlands — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:54:56 +0000

January was a busy month at the field station this year. The 2008 interns arrived and quickly got to work at a dizzying pace. Bird surveys and vegetation sampling have been proceeding well with new species of plants and birds recorded for the area. Including, Cassin’s Sparrows, Lincoln’s Sparrows, and a Parasitic Jaeger. Boa Constrictors have been around the station brightening our days, and there have been some amazing swims and paddles with the Dolphins.

The field station has had visits from people from the Huatabampo municipio, Pronatura Noroeste, and CONANP (Commision Nacional de las Areas Natuarales Protejidas), in order to discuss the proposed reserve with the people of Agiabampo.

Thank you to everyone who has helped support AWA through the program- “ one percent for the planet.” If you are not familiar with this fantastic program visit our website under the ” Support us” page. Personal donations such as these are what helps keep our organization work going.

alamoswildlands — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 19:23:03 +0000

It has been getting busy at the NAvopatia Field Station recently. We have had a fair number of guests ejnoying the birds and frequent dolphin encounters. Or staff Biologist, Lydia Lozano, has arrived from Culiacan and is getting things ready for the field season. It has been chilly over xmas and New Years but we expect things to warm up. Stay tuned for more news.

alamoswildlands — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:47:11 +0000

The first pulse of the 2007-08 MoSI (Monitoreo Sobrevivencia Invernal) bird banding program went well. We banded 47 birds of 14 species, up slightly from last year. There were even a few recaptures from last winter. The species banded this week were:

Orange-Crowned Warbler

Bell’s Vireo

Verdin

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

Hammond’s Flycatcher

Northern Cardinal

Northern Mockingbird

White-crowned Sparrow

Brewer’s Sparrow

Rufous-Winged Sparrow

Cactus Wren

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Ladderbacked Woodpecker

Gila Woodpecker

The Field Station will be ready for guests in December. January will be busy and mostly booked so come down now. For availability call 647-108-3712 (from a land line in Mexico you must dial 044 first, from the states use the prefix – 011521 then the number) Our phone issues should be solved soon allowing us to once again check messages and (sometimes) get to the phone in time to answer it. You can also email navopatia@gmail.com , please give us a little time to respond. The weather and water are beautiful, we hope to see you soon.

alamoswildlands — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:15:06 +0000

The Field Station is soon to be up and running. Sallie and Adam retuned to find that the summer hurricanes did minimal damage. Ruben and Lupita look forward to seeing everyone again even though Ruben has again lost quite a bit of weight. Joaquin passed the summer well also.

Shorebird migration does not seem to have hit yet, however there are plenty of birds moving through. There were a few new clearcuts on the road out to the coast but none near the proposed reserve. Thanks to everyone for their support and more news will follow.