In February 2009, I found a personal guide, GERARDO HERNANDEZ VAZQUEZ, to take my brother and I out for a half day of more serious birding than I had experienced the year before.
With only the two of us, Gerardo’s current group rate of $250 for a party of up to three cost me a little more than double what I had previously paid, but it was more than worth it. If you are interested in doing some serious rather than casual birding, with a kind, personable, knowledgeable guide who has genuine appreciation for the local birds and their environs, I highly recommend Gerardo.
Even after having gone out the year before, I added 20 life birds to my list, including the citreoline trogon, cinnamon hummingbird, blue mockingbird, pale-billed and golden-cheeked woodpeckers, golden vireo, and military macaws. We saw 53 + birds in our half day tour.
Gerardo was good about communicating with me by email and picked us up at our hotel right on time.
If you are serious about birding and want to maximize your experience you can’t go wrong going with Gerardo. Check out his website at this address: www.naturevallarta.com
Dear Gerardo,
Thank you very much for superb bird-watching tour around the mountains of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. If I’m honest I didn’t really know what to expect. Was I going to be paying money out to someone who pretends to know the local birds or someone who was just going to take me to see birds that I could see along the roadside myself. Well I’m glad I did as not only was the ID of the birds in the trees and scrub spot on but also your knowledge of the bird songs and calls was top class, as a keen birder of the UK I know how important that songs and calls can be to help find the birds you want to see, and I know that it takes years of field work and experience to learn the calls and songs so 10/10 for that. The birds seen and heard were far better than expected and a big thank you for going out of your way to find me the bird I was desperate to see (boat billed heron) 🙂 even though there was no guarantee to see this elusive bird, I will definitely recommend you to anyone wishing to add Mexican birds to their list.
Thank you
Paul T.