3.5 Day Birding Tour February 15-18, 2025.
This tour was designed for our friend Barry Elkind (https://www.barryelkind.com). A passionate wildlife photographer from Canada. We had 3.5 days to do birding and bird photography in the Yucatan Peninsula , so we organized a route that was going to offer both good opportunities for photography and chances to see many of the endemics.
Day 1.
Our tour started in Mérida, where I picked up Barry for the beginning of the birding tour. The first stop was the Misnebalam Road, where we saw 40+ species including many endemics in just a couple hours. Highlights included: Black-throated Bobwhite, Red-billed Pigeon, Ruddy Ground Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Turquoise-browed Motmot, White-fronted Amazon, Olive-throated Parakeet, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Couch’s Kingbird, Yucatan Jay, Southern House Wren, Clay-colored Thrush, Orange Oriole, Altamira Oriole, Melodious Blackbird, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat and Cinnamon-bellied Saltator.
Gray-crowned Yellowthroat (Geothlypis poliocephala) at the Misnebalam Road near Mérida.
Then, we moved to the coast to an old road in Progreso that goes across a big mangrove area. There we saw another 40 species, including Blue-winged Teal, Vaux’s Swift, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper, American Flamingo, Magnificent Frigatebird, Neotropic Cormorant, White Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Green Heron, Brown Pelican, Black Vulture, Olive-throated Parakeet, Tropical Kingbird, Northern Parula and Mangrove Warbler.
A flock of flying American Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) in Progreso.
After that, we went back to Mérida to check an ecological park and try for the Northern Potoo. Unfortunately, the Potoo wasn’t in the park anymore, but we still saw plenty of birds, including: Anhinga, Zone-tailed Hawk, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Cave Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Hooded Oriole, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped Warbler and a flock of 10 Painted Buntings!
Adult male Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) in Mérida.
Thanks to local ranger Ricardo Medrano, we got the location for another Northern Potoo, so we went there and saw this incredible night bird. ¡Gracias Rich!
Northern Potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis) roosting.
We rested the hottest part of the day, and then, we went birding to another ecological park, where we met plenty of birders that were looking for a rare species for the area, the Canvasback (Aythya valisineria). During this very relaxed afternoon doing bird photography, we spotted almost 30 species, including: Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ground Dove, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Limpkin, Northern Jacana, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, Neotropic Cormorant, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Merlin, Social Flycatcher, Tropical Mockingbird, Clay-colored Thrush and Altamira Oriole.
Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa) at Acuaparque in Mérida.
Day 2.
For day number two’s morning, we decided to focus on the coastal endemics of the Yucatan (Mexican Sheartail, Yucatan Wren and Yucatan Gnatcatcher). So we drove to Chuburná to try for those birds. Our first stop was at a fruiting tree on a small town where we spotted a flock of six Plain Chachalacas, a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Clay-colored Thrushes and Melodious Blackbirds.
Then, we had a second stop on the road, as we spotted three Russet-naped Wood-Rails.
After our two stops, we finally got to the Sierra Papacal-Chuburná Road, where we came across a mixed flock of aquatic birds on a feeding frenzy, an estimated total of 1277 individuals of 36 different species. Our highlights included: Black-necked Stilt, Marbled Godwit, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Laughing Gull, American Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Caspian Tern, Forster’s Tern, Sandwich Tern, Royal Tern, American Flamingo, Magnificent Frigatebird, Neotropic Cormorant, White Ibis, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Green Heron, Great-blue Heron, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Crested Caracara, Northern Waterthrush, Mangrove Warbler and Palm Warbler.
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis).
After an hour, we had to move from the incredible spectacle we were seeing as we had to look for the endemic birds before the weather got too hot. We walked the coastal dune for about an hour and found our target birds. Top birds included: Common Ground Dove, Mexican Sheartail, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Purple Martin, Barn Swallow, Yucatan Gnatcatcher, Yucatan Wren, Tropical Mockingbird, Hooded Oriole, Magnolia Warbler, Yellow Warbler and Northern Cardinal.
Yucatan Wren (Campylorhynchus yucatanicus) an endemic and endangered species.
Since we had a very short window of time to cover all of the birds of the Peninsula, we couldn’t fit any of the best locations for Ocellated Turkey, nonetheless, I told Barry that I had a spot on the way back to Mérida where I had seen them before and that it was worth giving it a try.
It was hot and we saw very few species, with a total of 13 species in 40 minutes. Fortunately, one of those thirteen, was the Ocellated Turkey! We also spotted Yucatan Woodpecker, Lineated Woodpecker, Merlin, Mangrove Vireo, Yucatan Jay, Olive Sparrow and Altamira Oriole.
A pair of Ocellated Turkeys (Meleagris ocellata) near Progreso. One of the two turkey species of the world.
We headed back to the city for lunch and after that, we drove to Rio Lagartos, there, we met with our local guide and captain, Chino Carbón), so we could take a boat ride to try for more birds, including the elusive Yucatan Nightjar. If you're visiting the Rio Lagartos area, Chino is an excellent bird guide and captain, you can WhatsApp him +52 9861072888.
During the boat ride in one of the most important Biosphere Reserves in the Yucatan Peninsula, we spotted plenty of birds, including: Piping Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Sanderling, Laughing Gull, Black Skimmer, Gull-billed Tern, Black Tern, Royal Tern, American Flamingo, Wood Stork, Magnificent Frigatebird, Roseate Spoonbill, Boat-billed Heron, Great Blue Heron (Great White), American White Pelican, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Osprey, Common Black Hawk and Belted Kingfisher.
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus).
Unfortunately, the Yucatan Nightjar was a heard only that night as we didn’t see any.
Day 3.
For our third day, we visited one of Rio Lagartos’ top birding hotspots, the San Salvador Road, where in hour and a half, we spotted 70+ bird species! Some of our highlights include: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, White-tipped Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Mangrove Cuckoo, Mexican Sheartail, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Canivet’s Emerald, Northern Jacana, Wilson’s Snipe, Anhinga, Boat-billed Heron, Crane Hawk, Yucatan Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Merlin, White-fronted Amazon, Olive-throated Parakeet, Social Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Mangrove Vireo, Tree Swallow, Yucatan Wren, Orchard Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Ovenbird, Blue-black Grassquit and Morelet’s Seedeater.
Crane Hawk (Geranospiza caerulescens) at the San Salvador Road.
We went back to our hotel “Villa de Pescadores” (https://hotelvilladepescadores...) for a nice breakfast right in front of the Ria and then, we went to a house that has hummingbird feeders to do some photography. The feeders had eight Mexican Sheartails and three Cinnamon Hummingbirds; it was quite a show.
Male Mexican Sheartail (Doricha eliza) visiting a hummingbird feeder.
Then, we visited a few boardwalks that go into the mangrove forests. In those, we spotted the beautiful and smallest kingfisher of America, the American Pygmy Kingfisher and got incredible views of Lineated Woodpecker.
American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea).
We left Rio Lagartos and headed to Valladolid for some afternoon birding; not without making a least a couple stops for raptors and other birds on the road. Crested Caracara, White-tailed Hawk, Gray Hawk, Fulvous Whistling-Duck and Vermilion Flycatcher were all on the menu.
We arrived in Xocen (https://www.facebook.com/XOCEN...), where we were going to spend the night at the newly opened Xocen Birding Trail Ecolodge (we were actually their first clients!). There our local guide Angel Castillo was waiting for us so we could go birding in the afternoon. We walked the trail for two hours and spotted 40+ species including: White-tipped Dove, Canivet’s Emerald, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Gray Hawk, Lesson’s Motmot, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Northern Tropical Pewee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Couch’s Kingbird, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Green Jay, Brown Jay, Yucatan Jay, Cave Swallow, Spot-breasted Wren, Scrub Euphonia, Hooded Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler and Red-throated Ant-Tanager.
After that, we did some nightbirding but again, the nocturnal species didn’t want to show up, so we ended up with “heard only” for Common Pauraque, Yucatan Poorwill and Yucatan Nightjar.
Day 4.
For our last day, we visited the “Siijil Noh Ha” Reserve. A well preserved semievergreen forest just south of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. We started birding the first part of the reserve and after a couple hours, we had already seen and heard 50+ species, including: Scaled Pigeon, Red-billed Pigeon, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, White-bellied Emerald, Roadside Hawk, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Black-headed Trogon, Yellow-lored Amazon, Masked Tityra, Gray-collared Becard, Rose-throated Becard, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Yucatan Flycatcher, Lesser Greenlet, Yellow-throated Vireo, Brown Jay, Long-billed Gnatwren, White-browed Gnatcatcher, Green-backed Sparrow, Black-and-white Warbler, Rose-throated Tanager, Red-throated Ant-Tanager and Gray-throated Chat.
Yellow-lored Amazon (Amazona xantholora) our only endemic parrot species.
Our second stop was near the reserve’s camp, where we spotted 35+ species, including Green-breasted Mango, Canivet’s Emerald, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Double-toothed Kite, Gartered Trogon, Northern Tropical Pewee, Lesser Greenlet, Mangrove Vireo, Mangrove Swallow, Black-cowled Oriole, Melodious Blackbird, Yellow-throated Warbler and Morelet’s Seedeater.
Barry scanning the lagoon at the Siijil Noh Ha Reserve.
On the way out of the reserve, we came across an ant swarm! So, we parked the car and I told Barry “You’re about to go crazy”. We had a mixed flock of species feasting on spiders and other critters running away from the army ants. Our highlights included: Mayan Antthrush, Ruddy Woodcreeper, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Northern Barred-Woodcreeper, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Brown Jay and Red-throated Ant-Tanager. Fun fact is that we had an ant swarm at the exact same spot a year ago with a couple good friends in common!
Mayan Antthrush (Formicarius moniliger) at the Siijil Noh Ha Reserve.
We left the reserve, had lunch and then, went back to Mérida for the end of the trip. While having lunch, we were able to add one last lifer for Barry’s life list, the Blue-gray Tanager.
We finished up the 3.5-day birding tour with a total of 210 species.
Written by Luis Trinchan Guerra
