A great weekend in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico (1 Viewer)

Last weekend I went with my wife and another couple to the Mayan ruins of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico. We had trouble getting reservations but finally managed two cabins in our favorite little lodge called Chan Kah Resort. The reason they were so full was that a film crew and models for a Gillette commercial were staying there “waiting for the water color at the Agua Azul waterfalls to get to its famous blue color”. They had been waiting 6 weeks already! Rough life!

Anyway, on our drive up, my wife insisted stopping where we had seen the Yellow-headed Parrots on our last trip. We stopped, again just a little before dusk, and found both the Yellow-headed as well as the Red-lored Parrot. That was our first lifer for the trip.

We got to the lodge just after dark and had dinner, looked unsuccessfully for owls and then got to bed. We were up at dawn and birded the property. The highlight of the morning was a pair of Rufous-tailed Jacamars! Another lifer! About 9 AM we stopped for breakfast and then headed up into the ruins. As soon as we walked through the entrance gate, my wife spotted three Slaty-tailed Trogons in trees right above us. Another target species and lifer!

We slowly made our way up to the higher end of the ruins where the raptors are generally about at mid morning. And we found some. A pair of Bat Falcons!! We watched them perched and then later on flying, diving and calling back and forth. What beautiful little birds. They’re only about 10 inches long and have very distinctive patterns.

Then we headed up into the forest for a ways and found Chestnut-headed Oropendolas, Oven bird, Woodcreepers, and a number of Warblers. We didn’t find the Royal Flycatcher that we were looking for.

Then we headed back to the central part of the ruins which is forest edge. We found Masked Tityra, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, lots of Orioles and Tanagers, and some Collared Aracari. It was getting late so we started back to the park exit and found two Keel-billed Toucans! That made the day. We had good views for about 10 minutes until the park rangers urged us out the exit.

The next morning we were woken by Chachalacas calling just outside our cabin door! If you’ve never heard one, it’s a fantastic sound!

We got in about 4 hours birding (Montezumas Oropendola) and then had to head for home. All in all, it was a great trip. We saw 77 birds including 8 lifers (see asterisk *) and 26 new birds for my year list.

Cattle Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Roadside Hawk
Crested Caracara
Laughing Falcon
American Kestrel
Bat Falcon *
Red-billed Pigeon
Short-billed Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Olive-throated Parakeet
White-fronted Parrot
Red-lored Parrot *
Yellow-headed Parrot
Squirrel Cuckoo
Groove-billed Ani
White-collared Swift *
Wedge-tailed Sabrewing *
Green-breasted Mango
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Black-headed Trogon
Violaceous Trogon
Slaty-tailed Trogon *
Blue-crowned Motmot
Ringed Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Rufous-tailed Jacamar *
Collared Aracari
Keel-billed Toucan
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Golden-olive Woodpecker
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
Streak-headed Woodcreeper *
Pine Flycatcher *
Vermilion Flycatcher
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Masked Tityra
Brown Jay
Wood Thrush
Clay-colored Robin
Gray Catbird
Tropical Parula
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Red-throated Ant-Tanager
Summer Tanager
Passerini's Tanager
Blue-gray Tanager
Yellow-winged Tanager
Golden-hooded Tanager
Blue-black Grassquit
White-collared Seedeater
Grayish Saltator
Buff-throated Saltator
Black-headed Saltator
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Melodious Blackbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Chestnut-headed Oropendola
Montezuma Oropendola
Scrub Euphonia
Yellow-throated Euphonia

Great birding Dave! Most of those birds are common in Costa Rica but there are few mexican ones I would love to see! Thanks for your post, we don't get many neotropical reports here.
Eduardo

Sounds terrific, Dave -- so many birds I've never even heard of!!

I would have loved to see those ruins, too.

"We had good views for about 10 minutes until the park rangers urged us out the exit."

I get urged out of the exit all of the time!