Las Brisas Birding + Sanctuary

Las Brisas Birding + Sanctuary is a small lodge and guide outfit perched in the foothills behind Playa Los Cocos on Matanchen Bay, just outside San Blas, Nayarit. It is co-run by Mark Stackhouse, an Utah-born ornithologist who relocated full-time to San Blas in 2007 after more than 20 years guiding throughout Mexico, and works closely with the long-running Safaris San Blas of Francisco Garcia. Stackhouse holds the Mexico 24-hour Big Day record (273 species set in San Blas) and has coordinated the San Blas Christmas Bird Count since 1973. Tours focus on the western Mexican endemic set within the 40 km radius of town - the Sierra San Juan cloud forest, Singayta, the La Tovara mangroves and the Rancho La Noria pine-oak - which together hold over 36 Mexican endemics. Operations slot into the late-January San Blas International Migratory Bird Festival.