
	World Birding British Birding Miscellany & Fun Birdnews Travel Library Bird Families Ornithology Sight & Sounds Equipment/Supplies

birding...

Mexico Yucatan

Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber ŠGreg Lasley http://www.greglasley.net

Yucatán is one of the 31 states of Mexico, located on the north of the Yucatán Peninsula. The Yucatan peninsula includes three states: Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo; all three modern states were formerly part of the larger historic state of Yucatán in the 19th century. The state capital of Yucatán is Mérida.

Yucatán borders the states of Campeche to the southwest, Quintana Roo to the east and southeast, and the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west. As a whole, the state is extremely flat with little or no topographic variation. The exception are the Puuc hills, located in the southern portion of the state.

contributor

Wikipedia
(GNU Free Documentation License)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucatán

useful reading

Fieldguides, CDs etc.

For a selection of appropriate fieldguides and CDs etc see the general Mexico page of Fatbirder...

festivals

Yucatan Bird Festival

http://www.yucatantoday.com/culture/eng-bird-festival.htm
The Yucatan Bird Festival is held yearly in November. This festival, which was started in 2002, has become a popular event for birders the world over, whose attendance directly supports bird conservation efforts in Yucatan...

reserves

Calakmul Biosphere

http://www.pronatura-ppy.org.mx/
The Reservoir of the Biosphere of Calakmul (RBC) covers the largest tropical ecosystems of our country. It also brings together the Mexican jungles of Campeche and Quintana Roo with the Guatemalan Peten. The RBC is located at the very heart of the great forest landscape of the Mayan jungle...

Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve

http://www.planeta.com/planeta/97/0297celestun.html
The Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve, best known for its spectacular flocks of American Flamingos, makes for an excellent escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and gives you the perfect excuse to kick back, relax, and get back to nature...

Yucatan National Parks

http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/parques/yucatan.html
Some of the parks in the state including Parque Nacional Dzibilchantún...

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you cant find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page give them a try!

1996 [March] - John van der Woude - Southeastern Mexico

http://home-1.worldonline.nl/~jvanderw/mex96/mexrep96.html
The Yucatan Peninsula and the transition zone to the mountains in Chiapas (the `Atlantic slope`) are well worth a birding trip. There are many typical Neotropical bird species. Moreover, many of the sites to be visited are around archeological ruins ...

1998 [January] - Greg Roberts

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico1/mexico.htm
...Drove to Chamela Biological Research Station (CBS). Birded a dirt road near Chamela town and thorn forest around the station. Overnight at the station`s staff quarters (pre-arranged)...

1999 [December] - David Bacab - Where to find the birds in Celestun

http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/yucatan/celestunbirds.html
The Reserve is the most important wintering site on the Gulf of Mexico for birds traveling within the central migratory bird flyway. Straddling the states of Yucatan and Campeche, Celestun is about an hour and a half ride from Merida, Yucatan`s capital. It is less than two hours from the famous Maya archeological site of Uxmal.

1999 [December] - Peter and Natalie Nash

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico6/Yucatanreport.htm
Our trip was based around Steve Howell`s books, A Guide to the birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, and Where to watch birds in Mexico. The latter is very comprehensive and gives site finding and access details as well as what birds to expect, anyone visiting Mexico should use these books. I`ve included some additional information such as Internet addresses and contact telephone numbers. As North American migrants are not included in Howell`s guide, you will need to take one, we used The National Geographic Field Guide.

1999 [Marcvh] - Jan Vermeulen

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico2/MEX1.htm
This report covers a two-week trip to the south-eastern part of Mexico in February/March 1999 to the Yucatan and Chiapas, land of the Maya...

2000 [November] - Tony Clarke

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico4/MEXandGUAT.htm
...Today I was up at dawn and walked along the road as far as the entrance to the small ruins to the south of the hotel and then back again for breakfast. I repeated this walk in the afternoon but this time I returned on the bus. The highlights of the day included my first Yucatan endemics, Black Catbird and Yucatan Vireo, and also Plain Chachalaca...

2001 [August] - Dave Klauber

http://maybank.tripod.com/Mexico/Yucatan-08-2001.htm
... In general, the ruins visited were impressive and well worth visiting, but I did not see any unique birds on the actual ruin sites, although a few miles from Chichen Itza I found a good place...

2002 [May] - Gruff Dodd - Yucatán and Quintana Roo

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico9/mex-jone2002.htm
This was our second trip to Mexico, having previously visited the area between Mexico City and Oaxaca two years ago. We had just over a week available to us, and wanted somewhere where we could combine good birding with general tourist stuff, without having to do too much driving, and the Yucatán peninsula fitted the bill very well...

2002 [September] - Niklas Lindberg

http://www.club300.se/Files/TravelReports/Mexico2002_NL.pdf
pdf file - Swedish

2003 [August] Tim Allwood & Claire Stephenson

http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/trips/belize-0903.html
There`s no feeling like that of the roar and pull of the engines of a jet as you travel down the runway, and this year our destination was the endemism hotspot of the Yucutan peninsula in Mexico, and Belize...

2003 [January] Alex Kirschel

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico11/mex-jan-2003.htm
Demi actually thought we could cover Yucatan, Chiapas and Oaxaca in two weeks, and for the first two or three days we still harboured hopes of following such a plan, but soon realised we would not only drop Oaxaca, but also half of Chiapas. The target was to see all the endemics in the regions we were going, except perhaps one or two very hard to find species...

2003 [March] - Neil Osborne

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico15/mex-03.htm
This report covers a trip to West Mexico ( Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima) and The Yucatan Peninsula (Yucatan and Quintana Roo).

2004 [March] - Michael Kessler

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico12/yuc-mar-04.htm
These notes are based on a trip to the Yuctán Peninsula from 26 February to 16 March 2004. It was partly a family trip with whole days spent on the beach and partly a mixed culture/birding trip...

2005 [March] - David Ousey

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico17/mexico-march-05.htm
Family holiday in Playacar at Viva Wyndham Azteca Hotel, which was excellent in every part, food, accommodation etc. The Mayan people are friendly and interested in the birds and just a wave and greeting seem to help if you came across anyone in the outback...

2005 [November] - Eduard Sangster

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico18/cozumel-nov-2005.htm
One month after mega hurricane Wilma hit the Yucatan Peninsula I was at Cozumel Island. It was very depressing. All forest was destroyed and once common endemics were not found at all! I hope (and expect) that birding at Cozumel will be better in the near future although there is little hope for the Cozumel Thrasher...

2006 [April] - Steve Baines

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico19/yucatan-april-06.htm
I birded nearly every morning from first light (approx 6.15am) to about 10.00am. In the mid afternoon I returned to my hotel balcony to escape from the Caribbean sun and do some cracking birding from a comfy chair with cold beer in hand. I e-mailed the hotel one week before my arrival to request a 2nd storey room overlooking the Jungle and golf course (more of which later). Boy was I right to do so...

2006 [December] - Simon Woolley

http://geography.wincoll.ac.uk/jjcskw/trip%20reports/mexico/Yucatan.htm
A tremendous mix of endemic, Neotropical and Nearctic birds against a backdrop of Mayan ruins. Ocellated Turkey, Rose-throated Tanager, Black Catbird, Cozumel Vireo and Emerald, Yucatan Wren, Mexican Sheartail and numerous "Yank" wood warblers, including Black and White, Magnolia, Yellow-throated, Kentucky, Hooded and Chestnut-sided.

2006 [March] - Guy Anderson

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico20/yucatan-march-06.htm
A two-week trip combining birding with visiting Mayan and Spanish colonial sites. We have given notes on the main birding sites visited, and the most interesting bird species seen rather than an exhaustive species list...

2006 [March] - Jason Hill

http://maybank.tripod.com/Mexico/Yucatan-03-2006.htm
...saw many White-fronted parrots flying noisily over the road all morning along with good numbers of Mangrove, Cave and Barn swallows. Theres a wetland/garbage dump visible from the road that had many Great and Snowy egrets and a few Roseate spoonbills...

2007 [February] - Lars Olausson & H-E Persson

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/mexico/mexico-21/mexico-feb-07.htm
...We had just reached the small wetland when it started to rain so we headed back. Best birds this morning were Blue Bunting. We had now realized that a rental car was a must for having any chance of morning birding. We had breakfast and then we started to negotiate prices with rental companies, discuss with each other and finally we agreed a Nissan from Hertz. Parking outside our hotel was impossible so we were told to use Walmart´s parking area, some ten minutes away from the hotel. Picked up the rest of the families and headed north to Puerto Moreles while the sky was clearing up and the sun began to dry the wet roads. Enjoyed the small village, had lunch and decided to search for the cenote road on our way back. No problem, we drove a few km along the road, found an area with low bushes and birded for half an hour. Highlight this afternoon Red-billed Pigeon...

2007 [January] - Robert Cates

http://www.travellingbirder.com/tripreports/view_birding_tripreport.php?id=174
OVERALL this trip added 20 species to my Lifelist (now at 548); bumped my Central American list to 175 (based on three trips); and includes seven endemics or near endemics. Six of my lifebirds came from downtown Merida! Based on this trip, I have to conclude that Grackles represent half the avian biomass on the peninsula. But that's okay because they are a bird from my childhood so I have always had a soft spot for them...

tour operators

Birding Pal

http://www.birdingpal.org/Mexico.htm
Local birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...

Ecocolors

http://www.ecotravelmexico.com/indexe.html
Explore the fascinating Maya World, refuge of great biodiversity, exhuberant jungles, the second largest coral reef in the World, natural springs ( cenotes ); the most important archeological sites of the ancient Maya and impressive colonial cities - This unique eco-tour is specially design for bird watchers. We will be able to visit the main protected areas in theYucatan peninsula such as Sianka`an, Holbox, Coba, and El Eden, as well as Guatemala and Belize rainforest. Mexico has around 1,040 different bird species, just in the Yucatan peninsula there are 509 different species in 62 families, from which 12 are endemic, with 4 subspecies, 2 morphos and 14 hipotetical registers. Belize and Guatemala have also more than 550 species of birds.

Ecotourismo Yucatan

http://www.ecoyuc.com/
We are well known for our custom tours with highly skilled leaders for small private groups. Some of our clients like to explore the seldom seen sites far from the usual tourist routes or combine, for example rarely visited sites with discovering the birds and other wildlife and natural history of the Mayan empire.

Ismael Navarro

riolaga@hotmail.com
A guide from Rio Lagartos, Yucatan who will guide and can pick up from Cancun etc...

Sierra Nevada Avian Center

http://www.aviancenter.com/AA/current_tours.html#yuca
The Yucatan Peninsula is high on the list of unique destinations for birders because of the high bird diversity (540 species), which includes 18 endemic species (14 on the mainland and 4 on Isla Cozumel). The area is also known for spectacular Mayan ruins, warm climate, excellent cuisine, and great snorkeling. November is a good time to bird the peninsula because North American migrants are still passing through the area yet the summer rains are declining. On this tour we will visit habitats on the peninsula and Isla Cozumel that include dry forest, coastal scrub, lagoons, mangroves and tall humid forest.

places to stay

Casa del Agua

http://www.mexonline.com/casadlagua.htm
This luxury oceanfront home located in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico is just 45 minutes south of Cancun`s international airport and is in the heart of the Yucatan`s majestic archaeological sites and natural parks.

Hacienda Chichen Resort

http://www.haciendachichen.com/
Hacienda Chichen has been a focus of activity in the Yucatan since the Spaniards founded it in 1523. Now this historical site has been turned into a luxurious resort where guests are just steps from the Chichen Itza ruins. Come stay in one of our comfortable rooms and let the magic and tranquility of this tropical jungle resort take you back in time...

Maroma Hotel

http://www.discovermexico.com/nHotels/MaromaHotel/accomodations.cfm
Rooms have king-size bed, luxury bath with sunken tub, furnished terrace with hammock, air conditioning and ceiling fans, individually decorated with bamboo shutters, Mexican tile and fabrics, furniture from our own workshops, original art, CD player. Exquisite pool, beachfront jacuzzi, lush tropical gardens populated by native iguanas and exotic birds.

A World of Birds

http://www.mayadiscovery.com/ing/nature/default.htm
There are 400 bird species within the ten million square kilometers encompassed by the European continent; yet Mundo Maya-an area 20 times smaller-harbors 700...

Dan Mennill's Bird Songs of the Yucatan Peninsula

http://web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/biology/dmennill/Mexico/Mexico.html
Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is home to an amazing diversity of birds, yet the vocalizations of most resident birds have not been studied in detail. By recording the songs and calls of tropical birds and presenting an analysis of their vocalizations on this website I hope to accomplish three things...

Where to find the birds in Celestun, Yucatan - David Bacab

http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/yucatan/celestun.html
Not all that far from the United States, along the north-south migratory bird route, is a rich mangrove wetland with a rich tropical avian fauna, which is attracting knowledgeable birdwatchers from both north America and Europe. located on the west coast of Mexico`s Yucatan Peninsula, the fishing village of Celestun, home to approximately 300 bird species, is found within the Celestun wildlife refuge...

back to the top of this page

Site developed by
PlanetWorks
and Firecast