Dave B Smith
Well-known member
Birding in northern Campeche; Siho Playa and Edzna
Saturday afternoon we drove up to a seaside resort for the weekend. We stopped for lunch along the way in Champoton and ate in a waterfront “Palapa” restaurant. We enjoyed the shrimp while we watched Magnificent Frigatebirds hovering close overhead, Sandwich Terns feeding, and Pelicans waiting for handouts from the fishermen.
As we were arriving at the hotel, my wife saw a small dirt track and thought it looked like a good area for birds. Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we stopped then to bird. Our first birds were a flock of Bronzed Cowbirds. Several males were displaying in their peculiar fashion. The male would hover in the air about two feet above the female with his wings just buzzing. Seeing several at one time was quite a sight! Then we found lots of grassquits. First the Blue-black Grassquits who really shone in the late afternoon sun. Again, several of the males were doing their odd display. They would perch on a low place, call and then jump /fly about 2 feet into the air and then fall back to the same spot they started from. And then we found a Yellow-faced Grassquit in the flock. What a bonus!
We walked a little further and saw the ubiquitous Tropical Kingbirds, with one on a nest with hatchlings. We watched a few minutes (thru the scope) and then moved on. I saw a Golden-fronted Woodpecker fly across the track with something small and ruddy color that appeared to be chasing it. We soon found the culprit. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl! It perched on a small bare bush at eye level (ours) about 25 feet away from us! Although we could see it well without bins, my wife really likes details so I scoped it! You could see every feather! And to top this off, a second one appeared!
Then we went a little further and found a flock of Green Jays (beautiful) and to finish off the afternoon, got one look in a flowering Flamboyane tree where I had two Turquoise-browed Motmots, a pair of Altamira Orioles and their nest, all in my bin sights at once! What an eyeful!
We went and checked into the hotel, watched the sun set on the ocean and called it an early night. The next morning we were up at daylight and headed up to the Mayan ruins of Edzna.
As we pulled into the parking lot, we could hear a flock of parrots close by, but couldn’t manage to see them (dense trees). We found a new bird for us in Mexico, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, as well as some nesting Rose-throated Becards, and more Altamira Orioles all before entering the ruin’s grounds. We heard several Trogons that morning but never located any. We did find lots more of the Turquoise-browed Motmots as they are nesting in the actual ruin structures and were all busy feeding young. The next sighting that surprised us was yet another pair of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls. I had never seen one until last year and then I saw four within two days! We spent a total of 3 hours inside the ruins but birding was really pretty slow. We left at 11 AM to get back to the hotel. On the road back, we passed through numerous road “cuts” where the Turquoise-browed Motmots are nesting colonially. We must have seen well over a hundred Motmots on one stretch of road! Everytime a car drives past a “cut” many of the birds fly out of their nests (which are just holes in the embankment). With no road shoulder to speak of, I was more surprised that I didn’t see hundreds of dead Motmots from vehicle collisions, but I didn’t see one. Other good birds on the road back were Gray Hawk and Laughing Falcon.
Altogether a good trip. Only 40 species but some great views and three new year birds for Mexico. Following is the species list:
Brown Pelican
Magnificent Frigatebird
Neotropic Cormorant
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Snail Kite
Gray Hawk
Laughing Falcon
Black-necked Stilt
Laughing Gull
Sandwich Tern
White-winged Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Olive-throated Parakeet
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Masked Tityra
Green Jay
Yucatan Jay
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Clay-colored Robin
Tropical Mockingbird
Blue-gray Tanager
Blue-black Grassquit
White-collared Seedeater
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Melodious Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Yellow-tailed Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Yellow-billed Cacique
Lesser Goldfinch
Saturday afternoon we drove up to a seaside resort for the weekend. We stopped for lunch along the way in Champoton and ate in a waterfront “Palapa” restaurant. We enjoyed the shrimp while we watched Magnificent Frigatebirds hovering close overhead, Sandwich Terns feeding, and Pelicans waiting for handouts from the fishermen.
As we were arriving at the hotel, my wife saw a small dirt track and thought it looked like a good area for birds. Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we stopped then to bird. Our first birds were a flock of Bronzed Cowbirds. Several males were displaying in their peculiar fashion. The male would hover in the air about two feet above the female with his wings just buzzing. Seeing several at one time was quite a sight! Then we found lots of grassquits. First the Blue-black Grassquits who really shone in the late afternoon sun. Again, several of the males were doing their odd display. They would perch on a low place, call and then jump /fly about 2 feet into the air and then fall back to the same spot they started from. And then we found a Yellow-faced Grassquit in the flock. What a bonus!
We walked a little further and saw the ubiquitous Tropical Kingbirds, with one on a nest with hatchlings. We watched a few minutes (thru the scope) and then moved on. I saw a Golden-fronted Woodpecker fly across the track with something small and ruddy color that appeared to be chasing it. We soon found the culprit. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl! It perched on a small bare bush at eye level (ours) about 25 feet away from us! Although we could see it well without bins, my wife really likes details so I scoped it! You could see every feather! And to top this off, a second one appeared!
Then we went a little further and found a flock of Green Jays (beautiful) and to finish off the afternoon, got one look in a flowering Flamboyane tree where I had two Turquoise-browed Motmots, a pair of Altamira Orioles and their nest, all in my bin sights at once! What an eyeful!
We went and checked into the hotel, watched the sun set on the ocean and called it an early night. The next morning we were up at daylight and headed up to the Mayan ruins of Edzna.
As we pulled into the parking lot, we could hear a flock of parrots close by, but couldn’t manage to see them (dense trees). We found a new bird for us in Mexico, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, as well as some nesting Rose-throated Becards, and more Altamira Orioles all before entering the ruin’s grounds. We heard several Trogons that morning but never located any. We did find lots more of the Turquoise-browed Motmots as they are nesting in the actual ruin structures and were all busy feeding young. The next sighting that surprised us was yet another pair of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls. I had never seen one until last year and then I saw four within two days! We spent a total of 3 hours inside the ruins but birding was really pretty slow. We left at 11 AM to get back to the hotel. On the road back, we passed through numerous road “cuts” where the Turquoise-browed Motmots are nesting colonially. We must have seen well over a hundred Motmots on one stretch of road! Everytime a car drives past a “cut” many of the birds fly out of their nests (which are just holes in the embankment). With no road shoulder to speak of, I was more surprised that I didn’t see hundreds of dead Motmots from vehicle collisions, but I didn’t see one. Other good birds on the road back were Gray Hawk and Laughing Falcon.
Altogether a good trip. Only 40 species but some great views and three new year birds for Mexico. Following is the species list:
Brown Pelican
Magnificent Frigatebird
Neotropic Cormorant
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Snail Kite
Gray Hawk
Laughing Falcon
Black-necked Stilt
Laughing Gull
Sandwich Tern
White-winged Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Olive-throated Parakeet
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Masked Tityra
Green Jay
Yucatan Jay
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Clay-colored Robin
Tropical Mockingbird
Blue-gray Tanager
Blue-black Grassquit
White-collared Seedeater
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Melodious Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Yellow-tailed Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Yellow-billed Cacique
Lesser Goldfinch
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