Yucatan + San Blas Jan 2017 (1 Viewer)

[Larry Sweetland]

Team Sweetland have been lucky enough to have just spent the last four weeks in Mexico. This was our first time in this huge country, and I left feeling enamoured by the place, and puzzled as to how this amazing country, home to 1000 bird species and about 100 endemics, had somehow been off my radar as a potential destination until a few months ago.

Inspired by Dave Showler's trip report, I first started to look into the possibility of doing the Yucatan peninsular without hiring a car. In the end the trip ended up being a bit of a blow out, and we found that trying to get to the sites with Ronnie (now 3 and a half) without our own car would have doubtless been a bit of a nightmare.

The trip plan expanded into a few days on Isla de Cozumel around new year (with hire car booked in advance with Isis car rental), followed by a tour of some well known birding hotspots in the Yucatan Peninsular from Jan 6 to Jan 18 (prebooked car hire from America Car Rental, pick up in Playa Del Carmen, drop off at Cancun airport), followed by internal flight to Puerto Vallarta, from where we drove north to the San Blas area to base ourselves to hit some sites round there (prebooked car hire til Jan 23rd with Thriffty car rental, pick up and drop off at Puerto Vallarta airport).

We then flew back to Cancun and chilled on the non-birdy Isla Mujeres for a few days before flying home.

Trying to bird with Ronnie was considerably tougher than ever before, and I can't thank the wonderful Nicky enough for somehow enabling us to amass a trip list of 312 species, nearly a quarter of which were new for me.

We were especially jammy in Yucatan, missing only 6 lifers I figured I stood a fighting chance of, so hopefully there'll be some useful site gen in the report to come. The San Blas bit was always going to be just a taste of west Mexico, so we missed loads of goodies at the sites we visited, but I still somehow managed 30 lifers on that part of trip, in what effectively amounted to a few hours in the morning at each of 4 sites, and half an hour at another site.

Bonuses for us were connecting briefly with BF's Ovenbird43 (who's excellent trip report can be found here: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=337893) and her husband on Cozumel (Hi:t, meeting a lovely birding couple from the US, Justyn and Nicole, and hanging out with no less than 5 of our partyish mates from Bristol, who did a great job of slowing the birding down to a sane level on the days they were around.

I'll post what happened daily when I can, and end with an annoted trip list

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I took 2 books:

1. Howell's a Guide to the birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. It's old format (plates in middle), and huge. It describes all spp, but doesn't depict most Nearctic spp, so I'd recommend also taking a US field guide if you're not familiar with US birds. I decided not to, and only ended up wishing I'd had pics of a couple of things, eg cormorants (allowing me to appreciate what a sloppy birder I am as I'd seen plenty of both species before!). The Field Guide is old enough that we discovered you can't totally trust the range maps.

2. Howell's a bird finding guide to Mexico. It's old, but still mostly pretty good. We did find a fair few birds that weren't on the site lists, and the roads had changed in places. It also doesn't include Calakmul, which IMO isn't to be missed.

I struggled a bit to find independent trip reports for Yucatan or San Blas, especially recent ones. I ended up taking 3 trip reports, so I'm grateful to Dave Showler and Ross Gallardy for their reports covering the Yucatan Peninsular, and to BF's pbjosh for some recent pointers on birding the San Blas area.

I didn't take a scope, and only missed it a couple of times, never wishing I'd need one to affirm an id.

We found the people really friendly, had no probs with the police (the only time we were stopped was to warn us to slow down to avoid an accident that had happened round the next bend). We found driving pretty easy too, but expect proper city traffic in Cancun and Puerto Vallarta.

Car hire went pretty smoothly, including child seat provision, and no bother returning cars that had obviously been off road. The issues we did have were:
1. Isis could only provide us with an old sawn off VW beetle for the first day on Cozumel with no working seat belts or ability to fit in a car seat. This actually was a bonus, cos we got to tart it up in this bright (and would-be more expensive) yellow thing, with Ronnie excitedly on our laps, until the evening, when we could swap it for something more suitable.
2. Like Ovenbird43, we were also not met as arranged in Playa del Carmen by someone from America Car Rental. We just explained our predicament to a passerby, who happily used his phone to ring the company for us (we had no phone in use), and they sent someone to pick us up pretty quickly.
3. We discovered some dodgy small print insurance-thingy meant we had to pay for more insurance on the car we picked up from Thriffty at Puerto Vallarta. I wouldn't recommend them because of this.

The only accommodation we booked in advance was:
1. Our first night somewhere a bit posh through airbnb in Playa del Carmen
2. 5 nights through airbnb at Condominium Suites Cozumel, on Cozumel
(these last two we felt essential to book in advance, as these are very popular domestic and international tourist destinations and it was around New Year.)
3. 4 nights at a place called Los Morelos in Matanchen (near San Blas).
4. While in Matanchen we booked a hostel for one night in San Francisco, to be nearer Puerto Vallarta for our flight to Cancun. (this proved an accidental superb move birdwise!)

For when the birding was over, we also booked (while in Mexico), a posh gaff on Isla Mujeres.

We tried to contact Camping Yaax'che (the only place to stay along the 60km stretch of road to Calakmul) through email, but had no response. This didn't matter, as we just bowled up and found no reservation necessary for a spacious tent with comfy bed.

 

[MKinHK]

Looking forward to this. I just dipped a toe in the water with a few hours of conference birding in Puerto Vallarta back in December 2014 and have great memories . . .

Cheers
Mike

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Cozumel part 1

Cheers Mike. I'll try not to dawdle too long in the Yucatan, before getting to that side of the country :t:

We landed in Cancun on Dec29th, too late for any birds except a couple of Great-tailed Grackles at the airport. We then took an ADO bus to Playa del Carmen, a big seaside resort town where ferries go to Isla de Cozumel.

Compulsory morning vigil from our hotel balcony in Playa del Carmen provided a taste of neotropical birding. Most notably, a scenario that I was about to discover would haunt the whole trip: Amazona sp. There are 2 species of Amazona over most of the Yucatan peninsular. The endemic Yucatan Parrot, and the far more widespread White-fronted Parrot. I wasn't too worried that I couldn't 'get anything on' these flyovers this fine morning, as Dave Showler's experience of them (from his report) said a similar encouraging thing of both spp: basically, you can't always identify them, but both species were seen pretty much wherever he visited. My experience that morning was: you can almost never identify them, and when a couple of them finally let you see them well enough to identify them, they are White-fronted Parrots. Would that change??

Other nearby city life included Hooded Orioles, a swirl of Vaux's Swifts, Tropical Kingbird, Social Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Olive-throated Parakeet, Yellow Warbler, lots of Eurasian Collared Doves, a few feral Rock Doves, Turkey Vultures and Great Egrets overhead, and some Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstones down on the beach.

We then hopped on the ferry, picked up our hire car from Isis car rental in San Miguel on Cozumel, and drove to where we were staying, about 8km south of town. We had a spacious self catering appartment at Suites Cozumel, which Nicky had chosen for the swimming pool etc. It was very posh by our standards, and cost £45 per night. There are options for much cheaper accommodation in town. Coincidentally, it was located only 1.5km south of the track into one of the recommended birding sites in the Howell guide: the El Presidente grid. It was also handy because we were on the third floor, so our balcony had a great view over the canopy of the surrounding thorn forest on this remarkably flat island.

By dusk we'd settled in, and I'd also picked up typical coastal stuff like Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull, and Magnificent Frigatebird, as well as great looks at eye-level of Yellow-throated Vireo and Black-throated Green Warbler from our balcony. A particularly friendly Yellow-throated Warbler (one of my fave Parulids) was to become a bit of a feature, and even came inside our appartment. A couple of Palm Warblers were knocking about outside, and the calls of a Pauraque heralded the darkness.

Next morning, the last day of 2016, I was up bright and early to get stuck in. Cozumel has a heap of endemic bird taxa, with 3 full species widely recognised. Unfortunately AFAIK Cozumel Thrasher hasn't been reported for a decade or so (anyone hear different?), and may be no longer with us. The main hope is that although the island is quite small, there's a lot of pretty inaccessible dense habitat where some could be. The other 2 are Cozumel Emerald and Cozumel Vireo. Of the other endemic taxa, Cozumel Wren is treated a a full species in the field guide. A few other spp are easier to see on Cozumel than on the mainland, so plenty of nerdly activity to be done here.

As it turns out, I was up way too early, as rain put paid to my 5am night birding, only a couple of rather sorry Pauraque's daring to make a token effort. I found myself hanging on til 7am before it was light enough for day birding to begin, and I could set off exploring the El Presidente grid on foot, with a pocket full of stones in case of any freshness from the little gangs of dogs that hang out round there.

By about 9am bird activity had almost stopped and it was time to head back for breakfast. I'd seen a few bits and bobs, but way less than I'd hoped. Most notable were Black Catbirds and Yucatan Vireos, which I had expected to be common, and some pretty sketchy views of Cozumel Emerald. Basically, I'd ended up spending a big proportion of the time chasing after stupid parrots, without once getting a decent look at one of them. Other goodies included Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Wood Thrush, Grey Catbird, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, American Redstart and Hooded Warbler.

On the way back to the main road I stopped for one last hopeful pish just before the habitat ran out, some 100m from the main road. Immediately a stunning male Cozumel Emerald flew in to sit right in front of me, and then something happened that changed my perception of what might be possible on this trip. From somewhere on the ground in front of me a bird flitted up and sat pumping in all it's weirdness on a horizontal branch just a few metres from my face. A Swainson's Warbler! This was the target bird on the island I figured I'd the least chance of seeing. I felt I'd found my mojo, and this bird ended up being the first of several birds I feel pretty lucky to have connected with during our time in Yucatan.

Back at the condo Nicky informed me that she'd been watching parrots from the balcony. El Presidente grid a couple of km away is a known hotspot for Yucatan Parrot, and the list in the bird finding guide for Cozumel has it as the only Amazona on the island. I was gripped. Until Nicky showed me the pics. These were White-fronted Parrots, and they treated us to daily views of themselves from our balcony during our stay on the island.

The rest of the day was spent with our mate Clazza, who'd made a flying visit from the mainland. We took her for a drive round the island before she launched herself back off to the mainland for a NYE party. We picked up our first Cozumel Vireo, which is a strikingly odd ginger and cream thing, and a Yucatan Woodpecker near the El Cedral Mayan ruins towards the south end of the island. This non-birding jaunt also provided us with Northern Jacana, Least Grebe, Little Blue Heron and Western Osprey. Birds from the balcony included Bananaquit, Magnolia Warbler, Northern Parula, Northern Beardless Tyrannulet and White-winged Dove.

A nice end to the year, with my first 6 new birds since March.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Cozumel part 2

On Jan 1st we rose late, and headed for the 'north track' site, in the far northwest of the island. We found the stretch around 7.4km from the ferry jetty particularly productive, and it's the only place we got to see Cozumel Wren. We saw a few Cozumel Vireos and Cozumel Emeralds around there, and plenty of other goodies including Black Catbird, Yucatan Vireo, Mangrove Yellow and Black and White Warblers, a smart male Blue Grosbeak, Yellow-breasted Chat, Green-breasted Mango, Yellow-faced Grassquit, and Northern Cardinal. Some intense showers meant having to bolt for the shelter of the car a few times.

At about km9 we could go no further in the car as there were huge puddles. At this point there's a water treatment plant, and the track continues with a grassy/swampy area on the right and swampy palm scrub on the left. Even around midday Ruddy Crakes were common by voice on both sides of the track, and it wasn't long before a couple of these cute birds were seen just walking out across the track. One provided great views as it pottered at the edge before slipping into cover. We also saw our first White-collared Seedeaters of the trip round here. Evening night birding around El Presidente grid produced good views of Pauraques, but no sign of the hoped for Yucatan Nightjar.

Next morning we birded the north track again in the morning, seeing several Yucatan Woodpeckers, a Caribbean Elaenia, and a Rufous-browed Peppershrike. I found myself struggling more than I think's probably fashionable with the woodpecker id. Basically there are two similar woodpecker species in Yucatan (including Cozumel), the main differences between them being size of bird and size of bill. I didn't always find this obvious, even after becoming familiar with both.

We then did our round the island tour guide thing again! This is because in the middle of the night we'd been unexpectedly woken up by the frenzied banging on the door of another friend from home, who had landed in Cancun and lost all ability to contact who she was meant to find on the mainland. All she had was our address on Cozumel, so she made it over on the last ferry, eventually found a taxi driver who knew where our place was, and was most relieved when it really was us who answered the door. She speaks no Spanish, and everywhere for miles was fully booked anyway. So we left her to crash at ours while we did the north track and returned to whisk her off round the island later treating her to (among other things) Hooded Orioles, Smooth-billed Anis, Blue-winged Teal, American Coot etc, before she too got her technology sorted, and carried on her way over to the mainland.

EDIT: Interesting notables from the balcony I've somehow neglected to mention include: a flyby flock of the trip's only Cave Swallows, one of only two White-crowned Pigeons seen on the trip, and the only Myiarchus we saw on Cozumel, a Dusky-capped Flycatcher.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Cozumel part 3

With just one more day left on the island, I dedicated the morning to resolving this parrot nonsense. This saw me charging round the El Presidente grid again, this time hearing 2 parties of Amazonas moving around for a couple of hours, neither of which even let me get close enough to glimpse them. A couple of Caribbean Doves and a nice male Rose-throated Becard were cool distractions.

A drive around the island during the day provided a stunning male Summer Tanager, several Ruddy Ground Doves and a Lesser Goldfinch, all near the Cedral ruins.

Later I decided to try a spot for Yucatan Nightjar that I recalled reading about in a trip report back home (apols for not remembering who's, and thanks whoever you are!). Easiest way to find it is to head out on the cross-island road to the Gervaiso ruins. 1.4km before the entrance to the ruins is a long straight disused road on the left (north), behind a big locked fence, that follows a power line. You can park here, walk round the fence, and walk in along the road. We returned at dusk, and conditions were warm and still.

It was soon apparent that the area was swarming with Pauraques, but about 400m along the track I got a response to playback of Yucatan Nightjar. There were another two birds calling further along the track. By about 7.30 it was looking like I wasn't going to have any luck seeing one, though one was frustratingly close. Unlike Pauraques, these aren't the kind of nightjar to happily sit on a road, but spend their time in the trees instead. The calling came to an end (the Yucatan Caprimulgid specials are notoriously unvocal at this time of year) and I had to admit that it was time to give up, and go and meet Ovenbird43 and Tom in town as we'd arranged. This was a shame as Ronnie was being quite enthusiastic (if loud!) about the nightjar mission.

We started back to the car, but didn't get far before the nearest bird started calling again. We had to give it another go. This time when the calling stopped, my scanning torch beam picked up a slowly moving little orange light that travelled from the tree tops where the bird was calling down to and over the track. It then started calling again even closer. It then flew out right over our heads and I got it full in the torch beam in flight. It was so close Ronnie got onto it, and talked about it for days B . This was our only encounter with Yucatan Nightjar on the trip.

So that was pretty much it for Cozumel. I'd dipped a few possible new birds: Yucatan Parrot, Rose-throated Tanager, Velasquez's Woodpecker, and Yucatan and Least Flycatchers. But all of those were still possible at sites we were to visit later. ...oh, and the thrasher of course...which could be just waiting for you to be the one to refind it

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Tulum

On Jan 4th we took the ferry back to Playa del Carmen, picked up our hire car, and headed south to Tulum where we spent the next 3 nights. Tulum is a beach holiday type destination, where we hooked up with 3 more of our friends from home, and stayed in a cabana on the beach with no electricity. Although I was primarily rediscovering my backpacker days, tequila and jamming on the beach etc, Tulum ended up having a fair bit of bird interest, including 2 of my target birds that we ended up not seeing elsewhere. We also did a day trip to Coba from Tulum, which is a site in the Howell and Web guide.

The place we stayed in Tulum was Cabanas dzi Baanactun, and the half hour or so walk along the coast road to the Tulum ruins from there had some good birding in the dense scrub. It was great for orioles, sometimes in small mixed flocks, with plenty of adult males! Here we had the only (identified) Yellow-backed Oriole of the trip, and several Orange Orioles, Hooded Orioles, Altamira Orioles, and Black-cowled Orioles. A party of around 20 gorgeous Yucatan Jays passed pretty much by our cabana on the first morning, shortly after I was woken up by a calling Ferruginous Pygmy Owl. Cinnamon Hummingbirds were around, but here were also the only two Buff-bellied Hummingbirds of the trip.

Other stuff of note included several Velasquez's Woodpeckers and Yucatan Vireos, a few Plain Chachalacas, Bronzed Cowbird, Great Kiskadee, Social Flycatcher, Vaux's Swift, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, Yellow-throated, Yellow and Hooded Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Ruddy Ground Dove, Royal Tern, Spotted Sandpiper etc. oh, and the obligatory flyover unidentifiable Amazona parrots

There are snorkelling trips you can go on out to the nearby reef, which Nicky did. She said it was worth it, but also what she always says of Caribbean snorkelling:" not a patch on Asia"

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Coba

The forest around the Mayan ruins at Coba, and the area around the lake there make for a good days birding. We set of early on Jan 6th from Tulum, to squeeze in some night birding, as the guide book suggests that Middle American Screech Owl and Yucatan Poorwill are common along entrance road. Upon arrival the map didn't seem to match up quite right, and I wondered if the entrance road is now different(?) In any case, the habitat is mostly cleared, so I tried playback along the more wooded main road, but heard no nocturnal birds.

We started birding round the lake when it got light, and it was certainly very birdy. We had two potentially interesting finds, which I later noticed aren't in range according to the field guide. The first was a whopping great Ringed Kingfisher a fair bit to the north of the mapped range. The second was a spectacular Fork-tailed Flycatcher, which the field guide mentions has been recorded as a vagrant.

The lake surround was swarming with orioles, especially Orchard Orioles, but also Altamira, Hooded, Black-cowled, and a Yellow-tailed Oriole. We found a very busy fruiting tree, but had no luck with the hoped for Yellow-winged Tanagers, which along with Spotted Rail (which we also missed) is a Coba speciality. Plenty of other stuff round the lake though, eg Pied-billed Grebe, Anhinga, Snail Kite, Turquoise-browed Motmot, our first Couch's Kingbird (along with Tropicals), Limpkin, Ruddy Crake (heard), Groove-billed Ani, Melodious Blackbird, Blue-grey Tanager, Indigo Bunting, and Black-headed Saltator. The site is also know for the local form of Northern Rough-winged Swallow, sometimes spllt as Ridgeway's, but we only had flight views of a single bird of undeterminable form. ....and also of course a couple of flyover Amazona sp.

The forest around the ruins is thick with coach loads of tourists, but surprisingly good for birds, and there are a few km of trails between and around the Mayan ruins. Perhaps the best sighting was our only smart male Rose-throated Tanager of the trip, along with at least 3 female types, near the first major junction off to the left along the main track.

There were heaps of other birds in the forest too, and by around lunch time we'd also seen Ivory-billed and Olivaceous Woodcreepers, Lineated and Golden-olive Woodpeckers, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Eye-ringed Flatbill, Clay-coloured Thrush, a few groups of Yucatan Jay, Brown Jay and Green Jay, Lesser Greenlet, Yellow-throated Euphonia, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, Yellow-billed Cacique, and some confiding Gartered and Black-headed Trogons.

Copious, and often very approachable nearctic migrants included Yellow-belllied Flycatcher, Wood Thrush, Grey Catbird, Ovenbird, American Redstart, Black and White Warbler, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, and Hooded Warblers, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, and Summer Tanager.

We also saw a rather large python-type snake.

We had lunch at the car park for the ruins, then headed on to an amazing (and quiet) underground water-filled cave, called Choo Ha cenote, for a swim to cool off. Bird activity had totally quietened down by then, but the forest around the cenote had Couch's Kingbirds and Olive-throated Parakeets.

Then back to the beach at Tulum.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Viga Chico Road

I was particularly excited about visiting the next site, the Vigia Chico road, which begins at the edge of the town of Felipe Carillo Puerto. A high proportion of the Yucatan peninsular's specialities can be found here, though birders' experiences of the place appear to vary. One trip report warned that it had no interest for non-birders, so we were keen to at least try to find somewhere pleasant in the (non-touristy) town to stay. We were fortunate to discover the hotel Salome, which had a pool, and a room which suited us for £15 per night. It was just round the corner from the roundabout from where the standard directions to Vigia Chico Road start. Plenty of eateries nearby, and a 24hr oxxo to score coffee before setting off birding in the morning.

We arrived in FCP in the afternoon, scoped out the start of the VCR for the morning, and discovered the directions in Howell work if you take the road that goes off at an angle after the 5th block. At that point though, the paved road continues nowadays.

There was a bit of a rain storm in FCP that afternoon, and as it happened, the overgrown garden at the back of the hotel Salome was a real magnet for birds, which congregated there to dry off after the storm. Birding from the roof was very worthwhile, and provided great views of the only 2 Yellow-winged Tanagers of the trip B . Also seen from the rooftop were Blue-grey Tanager, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Couch's and Tropical Kingbirds, Social Flycatcher, Greyish Saltator, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Valasquez's Woodpecker, Clay-coloured Thrush, Ruddy Ground Dove, White-winged Dove and Red-billed Pigeon.

We set off shortly before it got light on Jan 8th, and about 2km from the start of the VCR (by which time the road is unsealed) I decided to try playback on the offchance of Yucatan Poorwill. Almost immediately a Yucatan Poorwill flew straight at me, swooped up and landed on a branch at the side of the track! It called for a bit, stopped, and that was the only time we saw or heard the species on the trip. Nice start to the day B .

From about that point along the road the track becomes gradually more forested, but the mosaic of overgrown scrubby-edged fields before the forest is also very birdy. We birded til around lunchtime, by which time we'd only made it about 6km along the track, to a point where there's a small lake off to the right of the main track. Birding was quite hard work, with not a lot calling, but by lunch time we ended up with a pretty decent haul.

An antswarm provided great close up views of Ruddy, Tawny-winged and Ivory-billed Woodcreepers with the obligatory core-flock of Red-throated Ant-Tanagers, and a remarkably tame and snazzy male Grey-throated Chat. We only saw this species twice on the trip, and only at this site. A little further along the road the trip's only Northern Barred Woodcreeper was added to the woodcreeper collection. Hummingbirds were frequently seen visiting flowers low at the edges of the track, mostly Wedge-tailed Sabrewings and Canivet's Emeralds, but also a White-bellied Emerald. Getting more than a glimpse of wrens we found quite hard, but by the end of the morning I'd had a good look at White-bellied and Spot-breasted Wren, as well as a Long-billed Gnatwren sneaking about in a tangle. Another highlight was tracking down a Stub-tailed Spadebill, several were heard that morning, but try sneaking in after them and they keep out of sight calling just ahead of you! The last Rose-throated Tanager of the trip was seen that morning too. We saw a few Black Catbirds and Yucatan Jays here too.

Feeding on the track popping in and out of the vegetation were quite a few Ovenbirds, Wood Thrushes, Hooded Warblers, Blue Buntings, and both Olive and Green-backed Sparrows.

The only 2 Blue-winged Warblers of the trip were seen here. And here's some of what else we bumped into: Orange and Black-cowled Orioles, Roadside Hawk, Rose-throated Becard, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Tropical Pewee, Plain Chachalaca, Squirrel Cuckoo, Black-throated and Gartered Trogons, Yellow-billed Cacique, Brown Jay, Summer Tanager, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia and Black and White Warblers, Northern Parula, American Redstart, White-eyed Vireo, Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Black-headed Saltator, and White-collared Seedeater. The lake had a few Blue-winged Teal.

We also bumped into another couple of birders, Justyn and Nicole, who we were to meet again at Calakmul. They were in the only other car that came down the track into the forest that morning.

Next morning we came back for another go. I figured that rather than spending my last morning here searching for tough forest birds that might be easier at Calakmul, I should focus on forest edge birds that might be best looked for here. So I birded mostly around the fields, which gave me a chance of views of parrot flyovers, and possibly a better chance of the Flycatchers I was after. The weedy fields were quite heaving, especially with Blue and Indigo Buntings, and Common Yellowthroats. I quite soon found my first of a few Least Flycatchers, and a nice Barred Antshrike, Black-Headed Saltators and Melodious Blackbirds, but still the only parrots I saw provided unidentifiable flight views.

By then I'd wandered away from the car for a while, and when I returned Nicky checked with me that I was looking for a flycatcher. She said there'd been one hanging around the car for about 10 minutes, but it had just left. I just knew what it was going to be before she showed me the pic she'd taken of it...yep.. Yucatan Flycatcher! There then followed half an hour of what I like to think would have looked like measured sensible casual searching, and nothing at all resembling crazed panic, until much to my relief the bird reappeared. It was the only Yucatan Flycatcher of the trip. Nice one Nicky :t:B

Other bits and bobs that day included a Short-tailed Hawk, Ladder-backed and Velasquez's Woodpeckers
, White-tipped Dove, Greenish Elaenia, and Boat-billed Flycatcher.

Then it was time to head back for lunch and get ready for the long drive to Calakmul.

 

[lewis20126]

Larry

Nice report - very jealous about the Swainson's Warbler - I've tried everywhere on the winter quarters, including Yucatan, for that one - I've seen lots of Ovenbirds and Waterthrushes while looking though!

cheers, alan

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Cheers Alan. Strangely enough it seems like open season on Swainson's Warbler in the Yucatan this year. The only other birders we met, (Ovenbird43 and another couple from the US), all connected with one.

So here's a couple of Nicky's pics:

1. A nice male Grey-throated Chat. A bird so weird it took ages to find where to put it on my list when I got home. It currently lives in the middle of the Cardinalidae.

2. and 3. A couple of potentially gripping pics from Calakmul

 

[ovenbird43]

Nice shot of the chat! Definitely my favorite bird from the trip.

I missed all those orioles at lake Coba, too bad because I somehow never got Orange Oriole anywhere!!

Good job seeing the Yucatan Poorwill! Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

A few more of Nicky's pics:
1. Blue Grosbeak
2. Scrub habitat along the Cozumel north track
3. Turquoise-browed Motmot
4. Black-headed Trogon
5. Ruddy Woodcreeper

 

[halftwo]

Great stuff, Larry.

Not sure about the label on the back of the car, though!!

 

[Hamhed]

We had two potentially interesting finds, which I later noticed aren't in range according to the field guide. The first was a whopping great Ringed Kingfisher a fair bit to the north of the mapped range.

Larry, my wife and I saw a Ringed Kingfisher here in '08, but it was one of only a few birds at the lake.

Steve

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Calakmul

You've blown our cover H!

The drive to Calakmul took us out of the state of Quintana Roo and into the state of Campeche. This is in a different time zone. Here it gets light a bit after 6am. Another noticeable change as we headed west along the highway, was we started to see small hills and outcrops, a relief from what had up until now been a very flat landscape. We didn't get to the start of the 60km long entrance road to the Calakmul ruins until late afternoon, having picked up the trip's first Keel-billed Toucans and a Belted Kingfisher en route.

We explained to the people at the gate barrier that we wanted to stay at the camping place along the road, and didn't want to go to the ruins until the next day. They gave us receipts for the road use fee, and waved us in. In 20km there's another barrier, but before then, at ckm7, Camping Yaax'che is signed off to the right. The 700m track to the parking area for the camp ground was by far the roughest track we had to negotiate during the trip. Upon arrival we were relieved to discover that there was room available, a spacious tent with made up beds for £20 per night. Meals and cold beer also available here. We stayed for 2 nights, and the place was largely empty during that time. There is much more expensive accommodation much further away if desired.

That evening we met up with Justyn and Nicole, who had been birding the area all day. They advised us to get to the ruins early, and said the gate guard at km20 had said he'd allow that gate to be open at daybreak, but note that the ruins themselves wouldn't be open until 8am. The whole 60km stretch passes through good habitat, so plenty of distractions to slow you down!

The main bird I wanted to make sure I saw here was the spectacular Ocellated Turkey, groups of which can normally be seen along the road early in the morning and late afternoon. Great Curassow is also often see along the road.

We were up and out on the road a little after first light, on what we weren't to know would end up being the jammiest day of the trip! The road is quite potholed so take care driving. I couldn't resist a stop at the swampy lake off to the right at km28, as fortunate birders in the past have lucked in on a couple of real gems here, and who knows what goodies may be possible around that shady swamp. Walking down to the lake edge and scanning produced a few Green Herons, Anhingas and roosting Great Egrets, but nothing too unusual. This is what to expect by all accounts. It felt like anything could be hiding in that choked swamp, but time was ticking away, and there were turkeys to fry, so to speak.

Soon we caught up with Justyn and Nicole, and they kindly suggested that we should go in front, as we hadn't seen the turkeys yet. It was quite a relief when the first Ocellated Turkey strode out into the road ahead, at maybe km35. A magnificent beast indeed. We then encountered a group of 3, and then another couple of singles before we got to the car park by the ruins pretty much at 8am. They were every bit as wonderful as I'd hoped they'd be, with intricate iridescent patterns to get lost in, and amazing golden nodules atop their bright blue heads. They weren't too shy, but Nicky struggled to get pics of them at the right angles before they sloped off into cover. Also of note flushed along the road was the only Ruddy Quail Dove of the trip.

The ruins at Calakmul are a huge area, with trails connecting them through the forest. The whole area is great for birds, and because it's so remote, there are hardly any visitors here compared to the ruins near the coast. We'd not gone along the trail more than a few minutes before Nicky picked up a huge Crested Guan peering at us silently from up in a tree. The next major highlight of the day was thanks to Justyn and Nicole. They'd gone on ahead, and located a Mayan Antthrush near to where they'd seen it the day before. Nicole stayed with it, and Justyn came back round the corner to find us. We were treated to great views of this odd bird, as it leaf-tossed noisily a few metres into the forest.

Another unexpected highlight happened when we climbed one of the tallest pyramids with J and N, and at around 11.45am we suddenly found ourselves with five Hook-billed Kites circling around us giving us superb views at eye-level before they gradually gained height and were off. Each individual represented a different plumage-type of this variable species.

By then birding the forest had also produced White-crowned Parrots, Keel-billed Toucans, Scrub Euphonias, a Roadside Hawk, Red-throated Ant-Tanagers, Brown Jays, lots of Grey Catbirds, several Least Flycatchers, a Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher, 3 Great Crested Flycatchers and a Bright-rumped Attila. Ovenbirds and Wood Thrushes were shockingly abundant, making little rustling sounds in the dry leaf litter.

But the day just kept on giving. On our way back to the car park for lunch we heard some major rustling as we got near the spot where the Mayan Antthrush was earlier. Peering in, assuming it would be this bird again produced a wonderful surprise. Feeding busily just a few metres off the trail was a covey of Singing Quail! 3 males and 2 females (pics upthread). Unfortunately we had no idea by then where the other birders were to alert them. As it turned out they were quite a long way off at that time, busy trying to get record shots of a Black-throated Blue Warbler they'd found.

Between the quail and the car a fruiting tree produced a female Red-capped Manakin and 3 Yellow-throated Euphonias, while the surrounding forest gave us Spot-breasted and White-bellied Wrens, a Worm-eating Warbler, Green-backed Sparrow, Gartered Trogon, 10 Plain Chachalacas, Lineated Woodpecker, Rufous-browed Peppershrike etc.

It must have been around 4pm when we got back as far as the lake at km28, after making several stops to bird along the road and see another couple of Ocellated Turkeys. Nicky and Ronnie stayed in the car and I wandered down to the edge. This time I immediately flushed a strange-looking heron, and my heart skipped a beat until I realised it was a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, a great bird, but not quite in the same league as Agami Heron, which some jamsmiths somehow manage to dredge out of this spot. Again there were several Green Herons around, but I was unable to go too far either way round the edge from here, something to be done with caution anyway, as here be ancient reptilian creatures with long mouths and pointy teeth.

As I headed back towards the car I decided to see if the trails that formed a crossroads went anywhere. I took the one that paralleled the lake clockwise, and it did indeed converge on the swampy shore after about 100m. I disturbed something in the shady edge, and it started making a loud ticking noise. Sneaking up on it soon left me staring at a superb Rufous-naped Wood Rail (recent split from Grey-necked). Great result! I sat and scanned the small patches of open water visible from this point for a short while, then realised I couldn't really hang out here long, so I decided to return to the crossroads and see where the anti-clockwise path led.

This path was even more promising, it kept dipping in and out of the shady edge, and I stopped to scan carefully at several points, until at 315 paces from the crossroads (measured on my return!), I raised my bins to check a movement that I assumed was going to be a terrapin, but it wasn't. It was a SUNGREBE! :king:. There swimming right in front of me was a bird I hadn't even put on my hit list. A male Sungrebe. A bird I hadn't really figured I'd ever see, or if I was to see one, I figured it would be from someone's boat. In a way this has to be bird of the trip, but those turkeys really are a tough act to beat.

Back at the campsite, views of Ferruginous Pygmy Owl rounded the day off nicely.

 

[lewis20126]

Nice heron:

http://www.surfbirds.com/gallery/share_photo.php?imgname=20140516163448932.JPG

B

cheers, a

 

[MKinHK]

Ouch - Not just a jamsmith but also a gripmeister - and that's both you and Alan!

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Nice heron:

http://www.surfbirds.com/gallery/share_photo.php?imgname=20140516163448932.JPG

B

cheers, a

Thanks Alan, I had that coming!

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Calakmul, and on to Celestun

Should mention some non-avian wildlife we'd been seeing around Calakmul. As well a lots of very large colourful butterflies, we also encountered spider and howler monkeys, several peccaries, agoutis, coatis, and a grey-coloured fox.

Next morning, Jan 11th, I was up an hour before it got light to trawl for Middle American Screech Owl on the track down to the road, and along about 1km of road. It was ideal weather, but I had no response, nor heard a peep of any night birds except Ferruginous Pygmy Owl. As daylight crept in I heard a distant Collared Forest Falcon calling, and thought I'd try my luck calling it in with playback. The calling bird remained distant, but I heard a rustle in a tall tree behind me on the other side of the road. There above me was a Collared Forest Falcon, peering down at me and clambering into position. Ok, so it wasn't big, and it wasn't clever, but it was now on my list. I watched this strange-looking bird for some time, until it sped off through the canopy, causing quite a commotion in the direction it went, not being especially popular among the other local canopy dwellers it seems.

Back at the camp ground I ended up climbing the observation tower with Nicole and Justyn, who like me were still hoping for Yucatan Parrots. We got the impression that it probably used to have 360 degree over-canopy vision, but now some trees had grown up around it to obscure this. Highlights from here were some distant perched White-crowned Parrots, 2 magestic Montezuma Oropendolas, and a few distant Columbas. Typically, just as we made it to the bottom of the tower after a half hour vigil, we heard some Amazonas flying over!

Birding around the camp produced great views of a colourful party of Collared Aracaris feeding, an Ivory-billed Woodcreeper climbing up the wall of the toilet block, the sound of a few Stub-tailed Spadeblls, and the obligatory Wood Thrushes and Ovenbirds wherever you looked. Before continuing on to Celestun, We did a short drive, but not as far as the gate at km20, stopping to bird a couple of likely-looking areas. This produced Blue Bunting, Altamira Oriole, Rose-throated Becard, Squirrel Cuckoo and Scrub Euphonia.

It was a long drive west along ruta 186 then north to Celestun, which is located at the northwestern tip of the Yucatan Peninsular, in the state of Yucatan. We passed a lake along the 186, which produced a couple of new birds for the trip, Great Blue Heron and Mangrove Swallow.

We stopped for a late lunch at a seaside town on the west side of the peninsular, and as I sat eating lunch, I encountered one of those humbling birding situations that remind you from time to time that there's lots to learn. It was great being back with Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans again, but here, constantly giving pretty good views were 2 birds that should be familiar, that I was struggling to identify. There were several Double-crested Cormorants here, but I wasn't sure which cormorant they were until I saw the alternative, Neotropical Cormorant, the next day for comparison. Both species ended up being a common sight at Celestun and Rio Lagartos, the former generally preferring the sea, and the latter more brackish settings. The other headscratcher was the Northern Rough-winged Swallows that were drifting by at pretty much point blank range. As they were never still, I was never able to confirm in my mind's eye the presence or absence of dark-tipped undertail coverts, which is a feature of the local Ridgeway's form. This is where you need a camera!

At Celestun we found the quiet Hotel Maria del Carmen on the beach, which cost £12 a night for an ensuite room with balcony with sea view. We found the whole town really pleasant, with some great eateries, and decided to stay for the next 3 nights. The restaurant next door, at hotel Gutierrez, did great breakfast, and had hummingbird feeders which were constantly visited by Mexican Sheartails and Cinnamon Hummingbirds. The birds round here are quite similar to the more visited Rio Lagartos site, but there was one species here I was particularly after, which I figured would be easier here. Rufous-necked Wood Rail.

To get to Celestun you have to cross a pretty wide river, and the Howell guide suggests scanning the mangroves here for Rufous-necked Wood Rail. On 2 successive days, around lunchtime, we parked in the small pull-off on the landward side of the bridge, and each day managed to find the rail by walking along the mangrove-lined 'causeway' between the pull-off and the bridge. On both visits the tide was pretty high, and plenty of birds were hanging out in the narrow strip of mangroves on both sides of he causeway. This included Boat-billed, Tricoloured and Yellow-crowned Night Herons, American White Ibis, Snowy Egret, Belted Kingfisher and Northern Waterthrush. On both visits though the highlight was keeping pace with a Rufous-necked Wood Rail, as it ran along among the mangrove roots, periodically stopping to peer back at me.

Celestun was the first place we'd come to where mozzies were an issue. Luckily repellent did the trick, but even a short amount of time without it on around dawn and dusk left as heavily munched. The same was true at the next site, Rio Lagartos.

Celestun was especially good for waterbirds, along the river and in roadside lagoons near town. These included Caribbean Flamingo, Roseate Spoonbill, American White Pelican, Wood Stork, Great Blue, Green and Little Blue Herons, Black-necked Stilt and Lesser Yellowlegs. The river mouth and beach had big numbers of Brown Pelican, Magnificent Frigatebird and Laughing Gull, and Cabot's Terns, providing an entertaining feeding frenzy around the fishing boats, with a nice flock of about 30 Black Skimmers. Perhaps the most interesting find along the beach was 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Also a single American Herring Gull, a few Royal Terns, Grey Plover, and Willet.

Birding the scrub along the coastal track for about 10km north of town produced the trip's first Yucatan Wrens, a poorly seen flushed covey of Yucatan Bobwhite, White-lored Gnatcatcher, Plain Chachalaca, Pauraque, Mangrove Cuckoo, Squirrel Cuckoo, Turquoise-browed Motmot, Velasquez's Woodpecker, Olive-throated Parakeet, and Common Ground Dove.