Advertisement
Published: March 9th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Manialtepec Lagoon
Boarding the boat. March 7, 2014
A van arrived at our house at 7 am to take us to Manialtepec Lagoon which is 15 miles northwest of Puerto Escondido. We had booked a boat tour with ornithologist Mike Malone to view the many species of tropical birds. Manialtepec means "the place where water springs from the hills" and it is a lovely tranquil lagoon encircled by mangroves.
We enjoyed the trip, the lagoon is alive with many bird species and we were impressed with our talented Mexican boatman's bird calls. Joe made several good spots for the group, too. We stopped for an early lunch at a rustic cafe set up on the beach and the owners made sopes for us which are simply little tortillas with beans and a little bit of cheese. The coconut water and beer were a bit more popular.
Skip this paragraph if you're not one our birding friends. Joe added
fourteen new birds to his life list: Ferruginous Pygmy owl (heard only), cinnamon hummingbird, golden cheeked woodpecker, lineated woodpecker, social flycatcher, mangrove vireo, mangrove swallow, gray breasted martin, white collared seedeater, fulvous whistling duck, Muscovy duck, collared plover, orange fronted parakeet and white fronted parrot.
Other birds we saw were: least grebe, brown pelican, neotropic cormorant, American anhinga, magnificent frigatebird, bare-throated tiger heron, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, little blue heron, tricolorder heron, reddish egret, cattle egret, green heron, black-crowned night heron, yellow-crowned night heron, boat-billed heron, white ibis, roseate spoonbill, wood stork, black vulture, turkey vulture, black-bellied whistling duck, blue-winged teal, lesser scaup, osprey, common black hawk, roadside hawk, crested caracara, common moorhen, black-necked stilt, northern jacana, spotted sandpiper, royal tern, red-billed pigeon, white-winged dove, Inca dove, broad-billed hummingbird, ringed kingfisher, belted kingfisher, green kingfisher, brown-crested flycatcher, great kiskadee, tropical kingbird, white-throated magpie jay, blue-gray gnatcatcher, rufous-backed robin, scrub euphonia, grat-tailed grackle, orchard oriole, yellow-winged cacique, scissor-tailed flycatcher, groove-billed ani, Caspian tern. Since we've been here we've also seen peregrine falcons, laughing gulls, wandering tattlers, and black skimmers.
The drive to the lagoon was interesting, too, as Mike pointed out all the agriculture along the road and gave us some historical and cultural background as to what we were seeing. We saw mango, papaya, banana, and lime orchards, peanut fields, cornfields, and sesame fields.
Back in P.E. Joe surprised me in the late afternoon with a deluxe hour long massage
Manialtepec Lagoon
Our boatman and expert bird caller. at the beautiful Healing Hands that is only a couple of blocks from our house. It was wonderful, but I could hardly relax because I was constantly in a state of anticipation as to what that sweet little Danielle was going to do to me next. She had my legs in positions I'm pretty sure they've never been in before. At one point she was kneeling over me straddling my body so she could get the leverage she wanted. She even lightly massaged my eyelids, that was a first for me. So at the end I'm lying there on my stomach with my head in the hole and I suddenly realize that she has left the room. Every other masseuse has always told me my time was up. I think the idea was that I could lie there as long as I wanted so I did. I just melted into the massage bed and lost myself listening to the crashing of the waves wondering if they cared if I spent the night there. The sun had set and there were crazy beautiful shadows on the walls. But, I finally forced myself to get dressed and when I found my way
Manialtepec Lagoon
Into the mangrove forests... outside Joe was walking toward me wondering where I was. Needless to say I will sleep well tonight. I've got to go back there to take a photo of that place and get another massage while I'm at it.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.216s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 59; dbt: 0.0987s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Judy
non-member comment
You may not know I'm a bird maniac. That settles it...I'm going there!!