3 Day Tour - May 2024
This tour was designed for our visitor from India, Vineeta, who had a small window of time for a birding trip starting from Mérida, the main goal was to see as many birds as we could, including endemics. It’s worth noting that during this time of the year the weather is very hot and most of the migrants are gone back to their breeding areas up north, so that definitely affects the number of birds that can be seen, anyways, there are other birds that can be more easily spotted during this time of the year as this is the breeding season for many of them.
Day 1.
After a few weeks of planning, everything was set and on May 15th we started our trip very early in the morning, I picked up Vineeta for a very short drive to the Misnebalam road, where we birded for the first hours in the morning. We managed to spot about 52 species on our first walk, and some of the highlights included: Black-throated Bobwhite, Common Ground Dove, Ruddy Ground Dove, Groove-billed Ani, Lesser Nighthawk, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Western Cattle Egret, Turkey Vulture, Roadside Hawk, Gray Hawk, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Yucatan Woodpecker, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, White-fronted Parrot, Olive-throated Parakeet, Rose-throated Becard, Yucatan Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Mangrove Vireo, Green Jay, Yucatan Jay, Purple Martin, Yucatan Gnatcatcher, Orange Oriole, Altamira Oriole, Tennessee Warbler, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Northern Cardinal and Cinnamon-bellied Saltator.
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) at the Misnebalam Road.
Then, we moved to another location on the coast to look for other endemic birds and of course waders! Some of our top birds for this location included: American Flamingo, Common Ground Dove, Mexican Sheartail, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Clapper Rail, American Avocet, Willet, White-rumped Sandpiper, Least Tern, Double-crested Cormorant, Neotropic Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Black Vulture, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Kiskadee, Social Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Bank Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Yucatan Wren, Black Catbird, Tropical Mockingbird, Yellow-tailed Oriole, Bronzed Cowbird, Yellow Warbler and Morelet’s Seedeater.
After a successful morning birding, we went to have lunch at a restaurant in Mérida. It’s important to note that Vineeta is a vegetarian, so all of the restaurants we visited had options for her. We had some delicious Yucatecan food, Huevos Motuleños and Empanadas de Chaya. Next, we started a 2:30 hour drive to the Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve to catch a boat ride in the afternoon to see more aquatic birds, flamingos and to try for the Yucatan Nightjar.
Huevos Motuleños and Empanadas.
At 4:30 PM we started the boat ride, and although we unfortunately missed the Yucatan Nightjar as it was a heard only, we did pick up a lot of birds, including 1500+ American Flamingos, Lesser Nighthawk, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, Black Skimmer, Least Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Forster’s Tern, Royal Tern, Magnificent Frigatebird, Anhinga, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Great Blue Heron (White morph), Roseate Spoonbill, Osprey, Common Black Hawk, Tropical Kingbird and Cliff Swallow.
Roseate Spoonbills (Platalea ajaja) at the Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve.
Day 2.
For the second day, we birded one of Rio Lagartos’ top birding hotspots, where we were greeted by a group of at least 600 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, it was definitely a sight to see. Besides that, we also had lots of other cool birds like Black-necked Stilt, Northern Jacana, Spotted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Gull-billed Tern, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Great Black Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Yucatan Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Rose-throated Becard, Couch’s Kingbird, Vermilion Flycatcher, Mangrove Vireo, Yucatan Jay, Bank Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yucatan Wren, Hooded Oriole, Orange Oriole, Altamira Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Blue-black Grassquit, Morelet’s Seedeater, Yellow-faced Grassquit and Cinammon-bellied Saltator.
A huge flock of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) and a Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica).
Then, we visited a boardwalk where we had the most confident American Pygmy Kingfisher, the bird was literally sitting right next to us without caring about or presence, we also spotted a couple Green Kingfishers, Common Black Hawks and a pair of Yellow-tailed Orioles.
Digiscoped image of the American Pygmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea).
We made a quick stop at our hotel “Villa de Pescadores” where they had a nice breakfast ready for us and after that, we visited another boardwalk where we spent about an hour and a half and saw some interesting birds like Tricolored Heron, Green Heron, Common Black Hawk, American Pygmy Kingfisher, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Social Flycatcher, Mangrove Vireo, Mangrove Swallow, Clay-colored Thrush, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart and Mangrove Warbler.
We came back to our hotel to pack up, refresh and get ready to move to our next location, Valladolid. We drove for about 1:30 hours to Valladolid, went to a restaurant with a cenote right next to it and had some more Yucatecan food. Then dropped our stuff at the hotel and went to our birding trail near the Amazili Nature Reserve.
The heat was hard to endure and bird activity was not great, but we still managed to get 32 species with some really good views of many. Top birds for the evening included: Black-throated Bobwhite, Red-billed Pigeon, White-tipped Dove, Canivet’s Emerald, Short-tailed Hawk, Yellow-lored Parrot, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Yellow-green Vireo, Yucatan Jay, Spot-breasted Wren, Tropical Mockingbird, Olive Sparrow, Hooded Oriole, Melodious Blackbird, Rose-throated Tanager and Blue-black Grassquit.
Yucatan Jay (Cyanocorax yucatanicus) near the Amazili Nature Reserve.
We went back to Valladolid and had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant near the historical center and very close to the church and then back to the hotel to get ready for a very early start the next day.
Day 3.
We left Valladolid at 4 AM in the morning to get to our next birding spot in time for some good birding. We arrived at the “Reserva Ejidal Much Kanan K’aax” where we spent about two and half hours and got 40 species. Some of the highlights included: Plain Chachalaca, Red-billed Pigeon, Vaux’s Swift, White-bellied Emerald, Roadside Hawk, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Gartered Trogon, Keel-billed Toucan, Chesnut-colored Woodpecker, Yellow-lored Parrot, Olive-throated Parakeet, Masked Tityra, Rose-throated Becard, Eye-ringed Flatbill, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Greenish Elaenia, Yucatan Flycatcher, Lesser Greenlet, Yellow-green Vireo, Brown Jay, Long-billed Gnatwren, White-browed Gnatcatcher, White-bellied Wren, Black Catbird, Yellow-throated Euphonia, Green-backed Sparrow, Black-cowled Oriole, Magnolia Warbler, Rose-throated Tanager, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Blue Bunting and Gray-headed Tanager.
Long-billed Gnatwren (Ramphocaenus melanurus) at the Much Kanan K'aax Reserve.
Then, we moved to another private reserve “Siijil Noh Ha” where we checked a big lagoon, walked around the camp for a while and sat and relax on a dock to see a group of Mangrove Swallows building a nest. This place has been very productive everytime we visit, specially in the summer as there are many birds nesting around the cabins and observations towers. Some highlights from the reserve include: Magnificent Frigatebird, Neotropic Cormorant, Green Heron, Gartered Trogon, Keel-billed Toucan, Black-crowned Tityra, Yellow-olive Flatbill, Northern Tropical Pewee, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Piratic Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Euphonia, Hooded Oriole, Altamira Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Melodious Blackbird, Red-legged Honeycreeper and Morelet’s Seedeater.
Mangrove Swallow (Tachycineta albilinea) with nest material at the "Siijil Noh Ha" private reserve.
This was the end of our birding trip, as after that we headed back to Mérida where Vineeta was going to meet with a friend and I was going to get some rest for my next tour! We finished the trip with 150+ bird species.
During this tour, we also spotted a few mammals: Gray Fox, Raccoon and Yucatan Gray Squirrel.
Written by Luis Trinchan Guerra
