Full Day of Birding Near Merida, January 2020
Howard and Cheryll, a lovely couple from Tennessee, hired my guiding services on January 11th for a full day of birding near Mérida.
I picked them up in the morning at 6:00 and we drove to the coast for half an hour, then we arrived in a port called "Progreso" and we started birding. We had some very good bird activity, as there was lots of gulls, terns, pelicans and egrets feeding on small fish, and after that we continued driving for a little more inside the same birding place just to reach a different habitat, a small savanna close to dry forest and mangroves. After one and a half hours of birding there, we had 47 bird species including: American Flamingo, Groove-billed Ani, Russet-naped Wood-Rail, Magnificent Frigatebird, Neotropic Cormorant, Reddish Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Yucatan Jay, Yucatan Gnatcatcher, Yucatan Wren and Mangrove Warbler.
American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) at Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico.
After that, we went to "Chuburna Puerto" for some more birding at the coast, we added some interesting birds to the list, like Lesser Black-backed Gull, Royal Tern, Black Skimmer, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture and Mangrove Swallow.
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus).
We headed back to Merida, and we started to do birding inside three different Ecological Parks. Highlights include: Northern Shoveler, Common Gallinule, Limpkin, Northern Jacana, Anhinga, Neotropic Cormorant, Tropical Kingbird, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Peregrine Falcon, Couch's Kingbird, Yucatan Jay, Clay-colored Thrush, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle).
Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) at an Ecological Park inside Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
After our morning birding, we stopped at noon for lunch, so we could replenish energies and go birding again.
After a good lunch, we drove for some 25 minutes to the Misnebalam Road and Hacienda, our last stop for birding that day. The Misnebalam road has pastures on one side and dry forest on the other side, and if you drive for about 4 km, you'll reach the "Haunted Hacienda" an old abandoned building, people go often at nights to get scared, nevertheless, I have never seen ghosts there but I do have seen lots of birds for sure!
Highlights for the Misnebalam Road and Hacienda include: Groove-billed Ani, Lesser Roadrunner, Squirrel Cuckoo, Vaux's Swift, Yucatan Woodpecker, White-fronted Parrot, Olive-throated Parakeet, Green Jay, Yucatan Jay, Hooded Oriole, Orange Oriole, Altamira Oriole.
Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus).
After that, I took Howard and Cheryll back to their B&B and that was the end of the birding tour.
The overall total birds seen and heard stands at 91.
Written by Luis Trinchan.
