3 Day Birding Tour - August 2025 | Yucatán Birding Tours

3 Day Birding Tour - August 2025

This tour was designed your Yinxin, our visitor from Singapore. We visited two states in the Yucatan Peninsula looking for a good amount of the endemic birds plus other native and migratory species.

Day 1.

Our tour started in Mérida, picking up Yinxin at her hotel in centro and doing a very short drive to the Misnebalam road, one of the best spots for birding near the city. We did a two-hour easy walk birding the agricultural fields and dry forest of this very productive place and found 45+ bird species. Some of our highlights included: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Black-throated Bobwhite, Common Ground Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Cinnamon Hummingbird, White-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Yucatan Woodpecker, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Olive-throated Parakeet, Rose-throated Becard, Mangrove Vireo, Green Jay, Yucatan Gnatcatcher, Southern House Wren, Black Catbird, Scrub Euphonia, Olive Sparrow, Orange Oriole, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Blue-black Grassquit, Yellow-faced Grassquit and Cinnamon-bellied Saltator.

**Scrub Euphonia (Euphonia affinis).**

Then, we moved to the coast so we could bird the estuaries and mangroves of the northern part of the Yucatan. In just a little more than an hour, we picked up almost 50 species, including: Common Ground Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Mexican Sheartail, Black-necked Stilt, Wilson’s Plover, Snowy Plover, Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, Least Tern, Sandwich Tern, American Flamingo, Magnificent Frigatebird, Anhinga, White Ibis, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Green Heron, Black Vulture, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Vermilion Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Cave Swallow, Yucatan Gnatcatcher, Southern House Wren, Yucatan Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, Mangrove Warbler and Cinnamon-bellied Saltator.

After that, we visited the best ecological park for birding in Mérida, Acuaparque, an old quarry turned into a huge pond with water lilies. There, we spotted some amazing birds like Northern Jacana, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Anhinga, Neotropic Cormorant, Little Blue Heron, Snail Kite, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Clay-colored Thrush and Hooded Oriole.

**Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis).**

We finished up our morning of birding, so we went for brunch and left Mérida for a 2-hour drive to the Xocen Birding Trail Reserve where we had planned to bird for the evening and spend the night.

After checking in and a break during the hottest part of the day, we went out on a 1.5 kilometer walk on the reserve’s trail. Even though it was still a little hot and very humid, we spotted 40+ species, including: Canivet’s Emerald, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Olive-throated Parakeet, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Rose-throated Becard, Greenish Elaenia, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Northern Tropical Pewee, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Yellow-green Vireo, Green Jay, Yucatan Jay, Spot-breasted Wren, Black Catbird, Olive Sparrow, Altamira Oriole, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Northern Cardinal, Blue Bunting and Yellow-faced Grassquit.

**Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis).**

Then, we went for a quick dinner and met with our local guide Angel Castillo for some night birding in the reserve. It turned out very productive as we spotted 6 species, including: Common Pauraque, Yucatan Poorwill, Northern Potoo, Middle American Screech-Owl, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Mottled Owl.

**Northern Potoo (Nyctibius jamaicensis).**

¡Gracias Angel!

Day 2

For our second day we did an early start at the Xocen Reserve, with a slow and easy (but very humid) walk through the semi evergreen forest and Mayan agricultural fields. After three and a half hours of birding we spotted 64 species, including: Plain Chachalaca, Red-billed Pigeon, Vaux's Swift, Canivet's Emerald, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Roadside Hawk, Gray Hawk, Gartered Trogon, Lesson's Motmot, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Yucatan Woodpecker, White-fronted Amazon, Yellow-lored Amazon, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, Rose-throated Becard, Yucatan Flycatcher, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Piratic Flycatcher, Couch's Kingbird, Mangrove Vireo, Yucatan Jay, Carolina Wren, Spot-breasted Wren, White-bellied Wren, Black Catbird, Orange Oriole, Rose-throated Tanager, Gray-headed Tanager and Yellow-faced Grassquit.

**Tawny-winged Woodcreeper (Dendrocincla anabatina).**

Following a very productive start, we went into Valladolid for brunch and then hit the road for a 2:30 hour drive to Felipe Carrillo Puerto. There, we checked in at our hotel and rested for a bit so we could go out again for some more birding. Around 4 PM we went to visit the Siijil Noh Ha reserve just 10 minutes south of the place we were staying in.

As we arrived in the reserve, we started walking around the camp looking for birds and spotted 30+ species, including: White-tipped Dove, Squirrel Cuckoo, White-bellied Emerald, Spotted Sandpiper, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Tropical Royal Flycatcher, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Mangrove Swallow, Barn Swallow, Spot-breasted Wren, Scrub Euphonia, Yellow-throated Euphonia, Black-cowled Oriole, Hooded Oriole, Altamira Oriole, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Yellow-winged Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper and Black-headed Saltator.

**Tropical Royal Flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus).**

Then, we drove out of camp and did some stationary birding on the entrace of the reserve where we found some other cool birds like Cinnamon Hummingbird, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Roadside Hawk, Keel-billed Toucan, Brown Jay, Gray-breasted Martin and Blue Bunting.

Day 3.

For our third and last day, we went back to the Siijil Noh Ha reserve for more birding, this time in the morning when birds are more numerous and very actively singing. We started slowly walking and driving the road that takes you to the reserve, making numerous stops along the way and spotting 60 species, including: White-tipped Dove, Caribbean Dove, Vaux’s Swift, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Black-headed Trogon, Gartered Trogon, Collared Trogon, Lesson’s Motmot, Keel-billed Toucan, Yucatan Woodpecker, Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Barred Antshrike, Mayan Antthrush, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Ruddy Woodcreeper, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, Northern Plain Xenops, Masked Tityra, Stub-tailed Spadebill, Northern Bentbill, Eye-ringed Flatbill, Tawny-crowned Greenlet, Lesser Greenlet, Mangrove Vireo, Yellow-green Vireo, Brown Jay, Purple Martin, Long-billed Gnatwren, White-bellied Wren, Green-backed Sparrow, Rose-throated Tanager, Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Gray-throated Chat, Blue Bunting, Gray-headed Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper and Black-headed Saltator.

**Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus).**

Then, we went into the camp again, and did another 1:30 hours of birding before it got too hot and picked up the last birds of the trip before heading back to Mérida. Highlights included: Northern Jacana, Ringed Kingfisher, Lineated Woodpecker, Ruddy Woodcreeper, Northern Barred-Woodcreeper, Northern Plain Xenops, Northern Bentbill, Greenish Elaenia, Tawny-crowned Greenlet, Louisiana Waterthrush, Red-throated Ant-Tanager and Morelet’s Seedeater.