Bahia Kino, Sonora, Mexico

Where are we? In the Central Gulf Coast of Sonora Desert, a little over 150 miles south of the Arizona border in the sleepy Mexican fishing and holiday town of Bahia Kino, or Kino Bay, on the Sea of Cortez. This picturesque bay is at the eastern edge of the sea's many midriff islands, a biological treasure trove where fin, pilot and orca whales, giant manta rays and several species of porpoises and dolphins may be seen. North of Kino lies some of the most beautiful desert in North America - the Central Gulf Coast subdivision of the Sonora Desert - with giant cardon cacti, two species of elephant tree, and a stand of boojum trees a short distace up the coast (near Puerto Libertad.) Migratory songbirds and shorebirds are some of the wildlife that make this area so special - as excerpted from Roseann Beggy Hanson's Nature Watching in the Sonora Desert Region.