Day 1; 12 February - Arrival in Puerto Vallarta. Plan to arrive in Puerto Vallarta
(or PV as the locals call it) this afternoon. A transfer to our hotel will be arranged in
your name with someone meeting you as you emerge from Customs and Immigration. A room waits
in your name when you arrive at the hotel where most of the staff speak English. We will meet
in the lobby at 6pm for dinner and have an introduction to the tour and logistics talk.
Night: Holiday Inn Puerto Vallarta
Day 2; 13 February - Travel to San Blas and evening boat trip. San Blas lies about
100 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. We spend a few hours photographing just north of
PV to take advantage of the morning bird activity that often includes Lineated Woodpecker,
Orange-breasted Bunting, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, Yellow-winged Cacique, Citroline Trogon
and others. Then we make a two hour drive north while enjoying a scenic part of rural Mexico
along the way.
After getting settled in our rooms, we will take a siesta to prepare for a late afternoon/evening
boat trip into the mangroves and to the spring of La Tovara. The low afternoon and evening light offers
us chances to get gorgeous well-lighted images of Bare-throated Tiger-Herons, Belted Kingfishers,
Common Black-Hawks, Anhingas and other herons, egrets and ibis. As darkness descends, Boat-billed Herons
with their huge comical bills begin to emerge from their day roosts. Pauraques start to call.
In the beam of our bright flashlights their eyes appear as marble-sized, glowing red balls flying
low over the water. Other Pauraques perch on tree limbs near the water. Common Potoos, a much larger
nightjar relative, are one of the principal targets of this boat trip. These large birds sit erect
on the top of dead snags along the river and are oblivious as we shoot as long as we need to make great
images.
Night: Hotel Garza Canela
Day 3; 14 February - Morning boat trip and Singayita Road. We venture out in our boat
today to a different area of the mangrove-lined San Cristabol River. All of the same daytime
birds as yesterday are present as we compose different images with the morning light. We will
work slowly up the winding river for many miles looking for cooperative photogenic birds and
American Crocodiles. Our eventual destination is a nesting island in a lake. Activity varies,
but this small island historically has Wood Storks, Great Egrets, Black-bellied and Fulvous
whistling-ducks to photograph while perched and in-flight.
After a mid-day break to avoid the harshness and heat of the noon sun, we will drive to
the Singayita Road a few miles inland venturing into an area of moist forest with huge trees.
This northern-most rain forest on the west coast of Mexico harbors a huge variety of birds
including Citroeline Trogon, Orange-fronted Parakeet, Blue Bunting, Fan-tailed Warbler,
Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, and Russet-crowned Motmot - to name just a few possibilities.
We will stay until after dark and use our flashes to photograph Mottled Owl and
Vermiculated Screech-Owl.
Night: Hotel Garza Canela
Day 4; 15 February - Isla Isabella. Given favorable weather and winds, we will
spend today on Isla Isabella. This island, known as "The Galapagos of Mexico", provides
a Galapagos-like adventure about two hours offshore. Blue-footed and Brown boobies and
Magnificent Frigatebirds nest on the island in large numbers and are oblivious to visiting
tourists, allowing us a close approach with short lenses. After the two hour boat trip
to the island, we will spend a majority of the day ashore - provided with plentiful picnic
lunches and drinks. Opportunities abound to get portraits of these beautiful birds sitting
on the nest and in-flight. In addition, the boat ride each way gives us numerous chances
at Humpback Whales, Black & Least storm-petrels, Red-billed Tropicbirds, and Black-vented
Shearwater.
Night: Hotel Garza Canela
Day 5; 16 February - Matachen and afternoon boat trip. An area around the small town
of Matachen offers several habitats wildly different from those explored previously. Thornscrub
and rural pastures host a different set of open country birds. Crane Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk,
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Great Kiskadee, Social Flycatcher, and Grayish Saltator are all possible.
The clownish Groove-billed Anis are common and frequently perch on the fences posing for our lenses.
In the afternoon we will take a boat trip to the mangrove-lined Estero el Pozo. Estero,
meaning "lagoon" or "estuary" in Spanish, is where the river meets the ocean and the water
becomes brackish. This trip offers extensive mud flats for wading birds such as White Ibis,
Tricolored and Little Blue herons, both Night-Herons, Collared Plover as well as a shore
lined with mangroves on which perch hawks, herons, Mangrove Cuckoos, and Mangrove Vireo.
Night: Hotel Garza Canela
Day 6; 17 February - Morning Boat trip and travel to PV. Although it may seem repetitious,
each boat trip is different and there are so many species that one could spend weeks
photographing on these tropical rivers. Going to the same place at the same time of day may
yield some of the same species but in different light or on different perches. Plus there is
always something new to point our camera at each time. Today our trip will focus on any species
that we might have missed or of which you need better shots.
In the afternoon we will pack our bags and work our way back to PV. We will make a few
stops along the way for anything that pops up and return to our first morning destination
to try again for Lineated Woodpecker, Orange-breasted Bunting, Citroline Torgon and others.
This evening we will have a final dinner to revel in our successes before getting a good
nights sleep.
Night: Holiday Inn Puerto Vallarta
Day 7; 18 February - Fly Home. Please plan your flights home to depart sometime
during the morning hours.
TOUR LEADER, NATURALIST, & INSTRUCTOR:
Rick Bowers has been a passionate wildlife photographer, naturalist and writer for over 35
years, and has been self-employed fulltime for the last 10 years. Rick's wildlife career began
at twelve years old, when the local Audubon members began requesting his help in showing local
birds to birdwatchers from out of state. He continued his wildlife training while at the
University of Arizona, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Ecology. Even as
an undergraduate his field expertise was sought after by professors and grad students wishing
his assistance in conducting their field research on wild animals. Rick is expert at finding,
identifying, and handling all sorts of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Extremely
skilled at setting up photo opportunities based on his extensive knowledge of animal behavior,
he has assisted videographers of the British Broadcasting Corporation filming wildlife in
Arizona and Mexico. His know-how also includes trees and other native plants.
Before turning to professional photography and writing, Rick led nature-watching tours for
Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and his own company. He has led wildlife watching tours throughout
the New World from Barrow, Alaska (the northernmost city in North America) and Churchill,
Manitoba to Tierra del Fuego (an island at the southern tip of South America), and to the
Kamchatka Peninsula of Siberia as well as Antarctica. Rick is the originator of the
Nightbirding tours focusing on the seventeen species of owls and nightjars available in
Arizona and now conducted by many bird-watching companies.
Rick's own photo credits span the gamut from National Geographic and International
Wildlife magazines to calendars, books, and fish and game publications. Rick has coauthored and
photographed six books with his wife Nora including Wildflowers of Texas, Cactus of Texas,
Wildflowers of Arizona, Cactus of Arizona, Wildflowers of the Carolinas and the Kaufman Field
Guide: Mammals of North America. Rick was the principle photographer for the Kaufman Field Guide:
Birds of North America providing over half of the more than 2000 images in the book. Rick
& Nora live in Tucson, Arizona. They can be reached through their web page at
www.BowersPhoto.com.
Tour Costs: The fee for this tour is $3500 US per person in double occupancy.
This includes all meals from dinner on Day 1 to dinner on Day 6, transportation, lodging,
guide service, boat tours, and entrance fees. It does not include flights to and from Puerto Vallarta,
alcoholic beverages, laundry, phone calls and other items of a personal nature.
A single supplement of $300 US will be charged if you wish single accommodations or if you
wish to share a room and cannot find a roommate and we cannot provide one for you.
A $500 deposit is required for tour registration.
Full payment is due 90 days prior to departure.
Cancellation Policy
If you should need to cancel less than 60 days before the tour, your deposit less $250
and the remainder of monies paid are refundable. If you need to cancel thirty days
or less before the tour no refund is available. For this reason we strongly recommend trip
cancellation insurance.
Exchange Rate and Fuel Surcharges
With today's volatile economy and energy markets it is impossible to know at the time of
tour costing exactly what fuel costs and exchange rates will be at tour time. If
exchange rates change markedly or fuel costs rise dramatically at tour time, a small surcharge
may be charged to cover increases in costs. You will be advised as early as possible prior to
tour departure if any such charge is necessary.
To register for this tour please click this link to e-mail Bowers Photo with your name, address,
e-mail, and phone number
After e-mailing with your registration info, please send your deposit check made out
to "BOWERS PHOTO LLC" to this address:
14680 N. Swan Road
Tucson, AZ 85739 USA
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call Rick at 520-241-7088.
Thanks for visiting! Hope to see you soon on a workshop or safari.
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