Yukatan Feb 2015 (1 Viewer)

Thanks for all the posts of help I asked for, really useful.
I just got back from 2 weeks at the El Dorado Hotel just south of Puerto Morleos, a superb hotel in extensive grounds.
Whilst not a birding holiday (and with a non-birding wife !!) I took as many opportunities as I could.
The grounds of the hotel had most common birds, Grackles, Mockingbirds, Blackbirds, White Winged Dove etc. I also had Cinnamon Hummingbird, Plain Chachalaca, Yukatan Woodpecker, and Alimera Oriole, with Great Kiskadee and Tropical Kingbird all over.

Onto the beach, turn south, over the little wall and there was an area of rocky coast backed by scrub. I had my holiday patch !! I went a couple of time must days, morning and afternoon.
Snowy, Semipalmated, Grey and Wilsons Plover, Western/Semip, Least and Spotted Sandpiper, Little Blue Heron, Turnstone, Sanderling, Great and Snowy Egret were on the rocks/beach
Royal Tern, Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull, Neotropic Cormorant and Mag. Frigatebird over. I also had a small falcon, like a small kestrel that went over in the sun ??
The scrub always had a changing cast, Kiskadee and Mockingbird came down to the tideline to pick through the debris.
I also had White Crowned Pigeon, Mangrove Swallow, Groove Billed Ani, Gray Catbird, Ferruginous Pigmy Owl (which sung in the hotel grounds at night), White Fronted Parrot, Rose Throated Becard and Squirrel Cuckoo.
As well as numerous big Iguanas, colourful butterflies and the remains of a turtle's nest.

Of the trips out the one to Coba was the best bird wise, Spotted Rain and Jacana in the ditch next to the café. We went to Coba again in a hire car and saw more birds around the lake, worth a trip.
Chichen Iza and Tulum are 'must see' ruins but very busy. You can pick up birds as you walk through

The botanic gardens just south of Peurto Morelos looks like it could be good, but I guess you need to go early or late, and wear long sleeves and long trousers !!! I got as many bites as ticks !!!! Had Green and Brown Jay, Yellow Billed Cacique, Red Throated Ant Tanager, Northern Waterthrush, Citrole Trogon and lots I couldn't get a handle on !!

All together 82 species was acceptable for me as I must have missed half as many again it being my first trip to the region. I'll definitely go again and explore some more of the areas suggested.

Just a caution, don't try to drive to Punta Allen from Tulum unless you have 5 hours each way to spare and a full tank of petrol (don't ask !!) Didn't see anything I hadn't seen elsewhere.
I didn't find driving in Mexico a problem once you get used to over and undertaking, just keep your wits about you.
It's a wonderful place with happy helpful people.
Hope this has been of interest, and reply if I can help at all.

Thanks for the report, Neilh. With the exception of the hotel, we enjoyed all the same places years ago. We missed any crakes at Coba, perferring to spend our time in the ruins and jungle, where the birding was very good. Coba was a good place for army ant swarms. Did you see any of that action?
I agree about the bugs at Puerto Morelos Botanical Gardens. Numerous mosquitos, no ticks, when we were there. Birding was just fair but of course, very convenient patch of a small forest for anyone staying in the area.
We gave up on the idea of driving to Punta Allen, though looking for places to snorkel off the beach, it was appealing. We did do a kayak trip out of Sian Kaan, seeing a few water birds, including Boat-billed Herons from 20 feet.
Originally timid to approach the locals, we found them to be wonderfully helpful.

Steve

Great report Neil,

If you go back again, I would recommend that you read my posting from the Yucatan Help thread you started in November regarding birding locations. I posted this in late February, which probably was posted just after you left for this trip, sorry.

Since you traveled to Coba, had you gotten to the traffic circle a little before you arrive in Coba and turned north, you would have arrived in about 15 kilometers at Punta Laguna. This place has some wonderful birding along some very easy trails and is scenic as well. Spider monkeys can be seen if you arrive early in the day when they are still most active. This place is good for a number of species more difficult to see elsewhere, at least it was in 2014 when I visited.

The Preserva Toh west of Puerto Morelos is another place that I think is going to have a huge impact on Eastern Yucatan birding. Access to a number of habitats and to a location catering to birders is going to be a welcome addition to visitors to the region. I'm hoping that the local birding people will get involved to help guide the folks there on ways to improve habitat and access for birders.

I would caution you about your identification of Yucatan Woodpecker. In my experience, the Yucatan race of Golden-fronted Woodpecker is probably one of the, if not the, most misidentified species in the region. This race is confusing because the hairs at the base of their beaks are red and not yellow like they are in the states, and the Yucatan Woodpeckers are the ones that have the yellow hairs. The yellow hair-like feathers of Yucatan usually extend around the base of the beak more extensively than the red hairs of the nostril area on Golden-fronted. The Golden-fronted is much more common in most locations, from my experience.

The guide books really don't cover this well and this leads to a lot of problems. I would say that I have seen a couple of hundred Golden-fronted Woodpeckers in the eastern Yucatan from Cancun to Tulum and west to Coba and Punta Laguna. On the other hand, I have probably seen no more than a dozen Yucatan Woopeckers in the same area of coverage. It took me a couple of trips to the Yucatan before I realized the error of my ways.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that you didn't see Yucatan Woodpeckers, but your remark about seeing them all over seems contrary to my experience. This also applies to your remark about Altimira Orioles. By far, Hooded Orioles are the most common oriole species in the region but there are pockets where I have seen good numbers of Altimira and other Yucatan varieties.

I think the Howell and Webb guide does a good job of making the woodpecker story clear if you actually read the text. A cursory glance at the plate might have led to mistakes -- even though I believe both forms of Golden-fronted are shown well. We have photos of both forms on the Opus page: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Golden-fronted_Woodpecker

Niels

Thanks guys, I do hope to go again maybe next year and I'll note what you've told me !! Fantastic place, worth another go now that I've got a better feeling for the birds on show.

Golden-fronted vs. Yucatan Woodpeckers

njlarsen said:

I think the Howell and Webb guide does a good job of making the woodpecker story clear if you actually read the text. A cursory glance at the plate might have led to mistakes -- even though I believe both forms of Golden-fronted are shown well. We have photos of both forms on the Opus page: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Golden-fronted_Woodpecker

Niels

Click to expand...

Niels,

I agree that Howell and Webb does a somewhat decent job of explaining the identification of these two species, but without actual field experience in seeing the species or looking at correctly identified images online, there are a few ambiguous elements in the identification that is hard to draw in the mind's eye for the reader. I don't currently have access to my book at home but from my memory, the illustrations aren't that great in showing the sometimes subtle differences in bird species that can have a great deal of variability over the local range in the Yucatan. A couple of other guides for the area do a far less acceptable job in describing and illustrating this. Image searches on the internet for the inexperienced can be close to useless because there are a ton of incorrectly labeled images out there when looking up both species, but especially so when searching for Yucatan Woodpecker. The Howell & Webb gives the impression that both species are common and unless I'm not birding in the correct areas, that is not true. I have found that Yucatan woodpecker is more of an uncommon species in the areas that I bird and Golden-fronted should be listed as very common to abundant.

Howell and Webb is a great book but it's like packing a cinder block in your bag when traveling because it's not a field guide and weighs a ton. With weight limitations on baggage, I think a lot of people tend to pack the smaller books like the Ber van Perlo or Edwards Mexican/Yucatan guides; some even use the new Jones Birds of Belize since it covers most of the southern species of Yucatan. None of these do not do a very good job in dealing with the woodpeckers.

Since a lot of folks make the journey to the region without a copy of Howell and Webb, and especially for those familiar with the northern subspecies from the Southwest U.S., I believe that the vast majority of birds identified by people not knowledgeable or experienced in birding the Yucatan are done so incorrectly. I think that so many people see these red nostril-haired birds flying around and chalk them up to Yucatan without knowing the local subspecies.

Those are my thoughts of the subject.

Regards,

Ed Boyd

Ed,
I agree with most of these statements; I do not have any of the alternative guides so cannot say anything about the quality of them.

I have not looked at my notes but did look at the photos of Yucatan W I uploaded here to birdforum: they came from Cozumel and from the area along the north coast of Yucatan with thorny forest. That fits with where I remember seeing that species.

Niels