Mexico ~ Yucatan Peninsula ~ 9th/14th Oct '24

 

Back to Mexico with Jono for the Yucatan Peninsula

Flights were with British Airways from Gatwick to Cancun, flew out on the 9th October landing early evening with a drive down to Playa del Carmen, ready for Cozumel in the morning ..

10th October

Got the ferry over to Cozumel Island and rented a car trying various sites from Ebird before El Cedral giving up Cozumel Emerald & Western Spindalis as the standouts amongst loads of quality birds.

Birding all day trying many different sites when late afternoon Jono found Cozumel Vireo along a track near 35 Calle 31 Sur.

October 11th

Arrived at Camino Akumal it was just getting light, we walked various parts of the track finding 34 species in just over an hour before moving on to the lagoon & temple sites of Coba finding 38 species like Trogons, Woodcreepers & Crakes ..

October 12th

Yet another brilliant track we walked for 2 hours from first light at Ejido San Salvador, Rio Lagartos finding 56 species and notables like Black-throated Bobwhite, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Laughing Falcon & Yucatan Wren ..

Returning back to our hotel for breakfast and birding from the terrace whilst eating was nice with 22 species ..

We birded at least another half a dozen sites like Salinas las Coloradas, beaches nearby & Rancho El Paraiso ..

October 13th

Again back on the track at Ejido San Salvador for first light with 47 species then back for breakfast on the terrace. Then a few sites around Valladolid.

October 14th

Started the day off at the new Felipe Carrillo Puerto Airport, On a side road and the approach road it felt a little uncomfortable birding here for me as if we shouldn't be here but its a known site and the birding was good producing some notables like Lesson's Motmot, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed Toucan & Olive-sided Flycatcher 30 species in total.

Next was Muyil the roads opposite the archaeological site was great birding last time and were even better this visit notables being Squirrel Cuckoo, Barred Antshrike, Masked Tityra, Black-headed & Cinnamon-bellied Saltator, we then walked the boardwalk section of Muyil as the actual site is closed for building works.

Form here we went on to our final hotel, Wakax Hacienda a bit pricey but the grounds are excellent for birding and the room was amazing. Nice leisurely birding with stops for wine at the bar every now and then was more than acceptable whilst getting some quality birds Neotropic Cormorant, Collared Forest-Falcon, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper & Indigo Bunting with a total of 36 species.

October 15th

Birded the grounds again first thing totalling 32 species before some breakfast then it was the drive to the airport for the return flight home ..

Trip total of 200 species ..