 |
|
NEWS FROM ALAMOS
PALOMA DE LA PAZ
The Peace Dove
 |
Our good friend, Jesus Antonio Estrada Cantua, is not only a great guy and the director of the local museum in Alamos...he is also a visionary artist. Past visitors to El Pedregal may remember his Centaur sculpture that protected the grand Palapa next to the fig tree. His recent work, 'Paloma de la Paz' (Peace Dove) is made from a massive metal frame and decorated with plastic childrens war toys. It was Tony's idea, and he rallied a group of kids to collect the toys and create the sculpture. A strong message for peace and a inspiring local creation.
Peace Dove
 |
CAFE DEL SOL IS NOW LUZ DEL SOL
After 4 good years of running our downtown location, Hotel Solipaso and Cafe del Sol, we have decided to let go of both of them and concentrate our efforts on El Pedregal, our Solipaso trips and some other new and exciting projects. We passed our downtown business along to our long time employee, Luchy. It is now her business, Hotel y Cafe Luz del Sol. We wish her great success! Her new website is:
|
'WHAT'S THE WEATHER LIKE IN ALAMOS RIGHT NOW...?'
Thanks to David's techy weather station and persistence setting it up, you can now get current weather on the Internet for El Pedregal and Alamos whenever you like! Our weather station here at El Pedregal will tell you how much rain we are getting or how hot or cold it is, as well as a lot of weather history once the station has a bit more active time. To access the information, go to the following link:
www.wunderground.com
and type in ISONORAC2 in the search box at the top of the page.
You can also go to the page on our website:
|
|
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO STUDENTS IN ALAMOS | |
A group of 16 UCSD students spent last week in Alamos for an course in Advanced Field Ecology. For much of their field work, they used El Pedregal as their study site.
They conducted studies on flies, moths, hummingbirds and more. We are happy to support such work and look forward to hosting them in the future.
For more information on their field work and experiences, you can check out this blog, written by a couple of the students: | |
| |
| |
JEN IS ON MEXICAN TV!No...not on a Mexican telenovela! Recently
Jen participated in a television show, Voz Empresarial, that aired on Telemax. The show was about economic development in Alamos and Jen spoke on behalf of the OCV (Oficina de Convenciones y Visitantes...much like a hotel association). Click on the link below for a good laugh and a glimpse of Alamos. (jen's disclaimer: i was trying so hard to remember what to say that i forgot to smile :)
| |
 WHAT ABOUT THE BIRDING TRIPS?! | | |
You may have noticed a lack of information about our bird watching trips in this newsletter. That is only because we are waiting for our new website to be completed before we promote the new trips! Look for another newsletter early next week that showcases the new website We think you are going to like it!
| |
| |
|
|
GREETINGS FROM EL PEDREGAL NATURE LODGE AND RETREAT CENTER
Big Chalate tree. Photo by: Errol Zimmerman
 |
We are dedicating this newsletter to
Alamos and our Nature Lodge, El Pedregal!
El Pedregal is getting better everyday and we've been working hard to get things ready for this season. The laundry room and workshop are done, there are newly rock-paved paths and we are working on a couple new patios...and, we are scheming and dreaming on where to start working on the pool!
Casita Amapa |
It is with great pride that El Pedregal is rated the #1 B&B in Alamos on Trip Advisor! (see below). We are happy to be offering an even more personalized experience for your stay with us...meals, classes, tours and other services to make your stay with us more memorable.
Visit our website to see a complete list of services or email us for more information or to make a reservation.
Portal of Casita Palo Santo. Photo by: Errol Zimmerman |
For those of you who haven't seen our El Pedregal video on You Tube, check out the link below:
|
| THANKSGIVING IN ALAMOS November 23-29
$1800 per person
Elegant Trogon: photo by David MacKay |
A Sonoran Thanksgiving feast, a relaxed paced trip staying at the beautiful El Pedregal, a Rio Mayo Float trip, round trip transportation from Tucson combined with great birding and botanizing make for an ideal trip to Alamos. This special itinerary is one day longer than our normal Alamos trip and we will be planning some additional fun activities for this trip. Please join us in our home town for this very special Thanksgiving celebration! Space limited to 8 people.
Male and female Elegant Quail at El Pedregal: photo by David MacKay | | |
| |
| |
SOUTHERN SONORA BREEDING BIRDS SURVEY
This project was initiated by the Western Field Ornithologists in association with the Sonoran Joint Venture, ProNatura, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and a host of other businesses and organizations. The optimal time for this survey coincided with the hottest temperatures of the summer...not the most comfortable days we have here in southern Sonora! Despite the extreme heat, a dozen brave souls from the north (we called them "asbestocans")came down to Alamos to pull off the first ever breeding bird survey in southern Sonora.
Pre-trip Meeting |
This event would not have been possible with out the blessing of Nature and Culture International (www.natureandculture.org ). NCI is a U.S. based non-profit that has purchased thousands of acres of land east of Alamos for conservation. All of the NCI land is with the limits of the Sierra de Alamos Rio Cuchujaqui Flora and Fauna Reserve, and we were assisted by a number of Reserve employees in the actual transects as well with logistical support. The research portion of the project was meticulously organized by Carol Beardmore and and David Krueper from WFO and the Sonoran Joint Venture.
Sonora's first nesting Grayish Saltator. Photo by: David MacKay | Stephanie Meyer, of NCI, provided logistical support in the form of food and water to three base camps spread out over 30 miles of some of the worst roads ever travelled by a vehicle. Stephanie did a great job under very adverse conditions. One day, the temperature reached 120 degrees at one of the lower camps! NCI was kind enough to donate the use of a ranch house at each of the three locations we used, each equipped with kitchens, cooks and solar showers. Two of the camps were relatively close together, at an elevation of about 2300 feet. The third camp, at Rancho Santa Barbara, was at a bit over 5000 feet and was somewhat less hot than the lower camps. All camps had there own sets of challenges to be sure! We look forward to the results of this survey and to doing ongoing work to create a data base of great information.
Sonora's first record of nesting Elegant Euphonia. Photo by: Carl Lundblad | There will be a complete and detailed report of the survey in an upcoming issue of the 'Auk', the journal of the Western Field Ornithologists.
Thanks to everyone participated! |
|
CHRISTMAS (more like New Years) BIRD COUNTS IN SOUTHERN SONORA |
Black vented Oriole: photo by David MacKay |
| |
This year we are happy to announce the coordination of three Christmas Bird Counts, including a brand new count in the Sierra Madre! The idea is to coordinate the dates so that birding visitors can do one, two or all three of the counts in the span of 9 days in southern Sonora! Details are in the works but the dates are set.Some hotels will be offering good deals to birders coming to town for the counts!
December 30th
The first count will be on the Sea of Cortez and based at the Navopatia field station.
(Time off to celebrate New Year's in Mexico or do some birding on your own)
January 2nd
The long standing Alamos CBC which lots of tropical deciduous forest birds and the Sierra de Alamos!
January 5th
The all new "Santa Barbara CBC". A remote and challenging area of the Sierra Madre 25 miles east of Alamos. 5400 plus feet in elevation the promises to hold a lot of neat birds!
We are working on coming up with some transportation options for people coming from the US. More details coming in a future newsletter. Please contact us with any questions or if you would like to commit to any or all of the counts! |
|
|
Dave recently returned from a great trip to see Thick-billed Parrots and Eared Queztals on our trip in Northwest Mexico and Jen just returned from a trip to visit family in CA. Now, as we enjoy the sleepy days of summer here in Alamos, we are also gearing up for a full season of leading trips, hosting guests and doing new events at El Pedregal...and mostly having lots of fun in all that we do! Our kids are both living, working and going to school in Petaluma, CA...so it's just the dogs and us here in Alamos! Come on down and join us! We would love the company!
Sincerely,
David and Jennifer MacKay
|
|
|
