April Wrap-up--Tropics Edition

Plain Chachalaca, Puerto Morelos

Our trip to the Yucatan bolstered the year list of course. What strikes me looking at a list divided between a cold spring in New Jersey and 12 days in the tropics is the range of the list--it starts with a winter waterfowl (Brant) and ends with a tropical tanager (Black-headed Saltator). A lot of the birds on the month list are birds I might have seen migrating in New Jersey but saw them on their way up in Mexico. On the other hand, I might not have encountered them, since it seems this year, like every year, was a rather "lame" migration. I cannot recall ever, in the close to 50 years I've been birding, hearing anyone describe migration in the Northeast as "great." Everyone (except me, who, like the Rolling Stones "got no expectations") is always disappointed in the spring migration. It's like they forget all the dire reports of population plunges in myriad species and expect the trees to be dripping with warblers and vireos and the beaches crammed with shorebirds. Of course, migration still has a month to go, but I don't expect much change in the grumbling--the weather is too cold, the winds aren't right, it's raining, big rocks are falling out of the sky...there's always a reason that there aren't enough birds except for the real ones no one wants to face...we're exterminating them with our parking lots, housing developments, windmills, insecticides, and tall buildings. 

And, while I have limited experience, I suppose it isn't much different in other parts of the country. I remember years ago going to Magee Marsh in Ohio, one of the premier migration hot spots, and had no sooner stepped out of the car, saw a year bird, only to have a disgruntled birder next to me mumble that that was about as good as I could expect, because migration stunk that year. I was amazed. I didn't even have my right foot out of the car and already I was listening to complaints!

I added bird #180 for the month this morning on a long walk around Double Trouble SP--an Orchard Oriole back in the Sweetwater bogs where they can be reliably found every year. 

White-fronted Amazon, Puerto Morelos

For the month it was 180 species.

Counties Birded: 

Mexico: Quintana Roo, Yucatan

New Jersey: Burlington, Ocean

Species   First Sighting
Brant   Waretown
Canada Goose   Colliers Mills WMA
Mute Swan   Waretown
Wood Duck   Colliers Mills WMA
Mallard   Colliers Mills WMA
American Black Duck   Double Trouble SP
Green-winged Teal   Eno’s Pond
Ring-necked Duck   Colliers Mills WMA
Bufflehead   Waretown
Red-breasted Merganser   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Plain Chachalaca   Puerto Morelos
Wild Turkey   35 Sunset Rd
Rock Pigeon   South Toms River
RED-BILLED PIGEON   Puerto Morelos
Eurasian Collared-Dove   Puerto Morelos
Ruddy Ground Dove   Puerto Morelos
White-tipped Dove   Yaax Che
White-winged Dove   Parque Cancun
Mourning Dove   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Squirrel-Cuckoo   Yaax Che
Eastern Whip-poor-will   35 Sunset Rd
Ruby-throated Hummingbird   35 Sunset Rd
Clapper Rail   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
American Oystercatcher   Island Beach SP
Black-bellied Plover   Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Killdeer   Colliers Mills WMA
Semipalmated Plover   Playa Puerto Morelos
Short-billed Dowitcher   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Wilson's Snipe   Whitesbog
Spotted Sandpiper   Playa Bonita
Solitary Sandpiper   Whitesbog
Lesser Yellowlegs   Forsythe--Barnegat
Willet   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Greater Yellowlegs   Eno’s Pond
Ruddy Turnstone   Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Sanderling   Playa Puerto Morelos
Dunlin   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Least Sandpiper   Playa Bonita
Laughing Gull   Wawa Rt 70 & CR 530
Ring-billed Gull   Colliers Mills WMA
American Herring Gull   Eno’s Pond
Great Black-backed Gull   Island Beach SP
Black Skimmer   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Gull-billed Tern   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Forster's Tern   Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Sandwich Tern   Playa Puerto Morelos
Royal Tern   Playa Puerto Morelos
AMERICAN FLAMINGO   Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Horned Grebe   Colliers Mills WMA
Common Loon   Whitesbog
Magnificent Frigatebird   Playa Puerto Morelos
Anhinga   Playa Puerto Morelos
Double-crested Cormorant   Whitesbog
Neotropic Cormorant   Rio Lagartos
White Ibis   Waretown
Glossy Ibis   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Roseate Spoonbill   Puerto Morelos
BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON   Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
BOAT-BILLED HERON   Playa Bonita
Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Playa Bonita
Black-crowned Night Heron   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Little Blue Heron   Waretown
Tricolored Heron   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Reddish Egret   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Snowy Egret   Eno’s Pond
Green Heron   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Western Cattle-Egret   Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Great Egret   Waretown
Great Blue Heron   Colliers Mills WMA
American White Pelican   Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Brown Pelican   Playa Puerto Morelos
Black Vulture   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Turkey Vulture   Colliers Mills WMA
LESSER YELLOW-HEADED VULTURE   Playa Puerto Morelos
Osprey   Eno’s Pond
Sharp-shinned Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Cooper's Hawk   35 Sunset Rd
Common Black Hawk   Cenote Kambulnah
ROADSIDE HAWK   Parque Cancun
Red-shouldered Hawk   Whitesbog
Red-tailed Hawk   Cranberry Bogs
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl   Casa Carolina
Black-headed Trogon   Yaax Che
Belted Kingfisher   Colliers Mills WMA
American Pygmy Kingfisher   Cenote Kambulnah
Red-headed Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Yucatan Woodpecker   Puerto Morelos
Golden-fronted Woodpecker   Puerto Morelos
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Colliers Mills WMA
Downy Woodpecker   35 Sunset Rd
Hairy Woodpecker   Whitesbog
Northern Flicker   Colliers Mills WMA
American Kestrel   Robert J. Miller Air Park
Merlin   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
White-fronted Amazon   Casa Carolina
Olive-throated Parakeet   Cenote Kambulnah
GRAY-COLLARED BECARD   Parque Cancun
Eastern Phoebe   Colliers Mills WMA
Dusky-capped Flycatcher   Puerto Morelos
Great Crested Flycatcher   Manasquan River WMA
Brown-crested Flycatcher   Puerto Morelos
Great Kiskadee   Casa Carolina
Social Flycatcher   Puerto Morelos
Tropical Kingbird   Puerto Morelos
Couch's Kingbird   Puerto Morelos
Eastern Kingbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Rufous-browed Peppershrike   Parque Cancun
Lesser Greenlet   Yaax Che
White-eyed Vireo   Yaax Che
Mangrove Vireo   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Blue-headed Vireo   Island Beach SP
Red-eyed Vireo   Sooy Pl Road
Green Jay   Playa Bonita
YUCATAN JAY   Puerto Morelos
Blue Jay   35 Sunset Rd
American Crow   Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education
Fish Crow   35 Sunset Rd
Common Raven   Island Beach SP
Carolina Chickadee   35 Sunset Rd
Tufted Titmouse   35 Sunset Rd
Bank Swallow   Hotel Rio Lagartos
Tree Swallow   Whitesbog
Purple Martin   Woodmansee Blvd
Gray-breasted Martin   Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancun
Northern Rough-winged Swallow   Double Trouble SP
Barn Swallow   Puerto Morelos
Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Reeves Bogs
Golden-crowned Kinglet   Whitesbog
White-breasted Nuthatch   35 Sunset Rd
Red-breasted Nuthatch   Island Beach SP
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   Island Beach SP
Northern House Wren   Manasquan River WMA
Carolina Wren   Eno’s Pond
White-bellied Wren   Yaax Che
European Starling   35 Sunset Rd
Gray Catbird   Puerto Morelos
Brown Thrasher   Colliers Mills WMA
Tropical Mockingbird   Puerto Morelos
Northern Mockingbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Bluebird   35 Sunset Rd
Hermit Thrush   Eno’s Pond
Wood Thrush   Manasquan River WMA
American Robin   Colliers Mills WMA
House Finch   35 Sunset Rd
American Goldfinch   35 Sunset Rd
Chipping Sparrow   Eno’s Pond
Field Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Dark-eyed Junco   Colliers Mills WMA
White-throated Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Seaside Sparrow   Great Bay Bvld. WMA
Song Sparrow   35 Sunset Rd
Swamp Sparrow   Colliers Mills WMA
Eastern Towhee   Colliers Mills WMA
Orchard Oriole   Double Trouble SP
Hooded Oriole   Puerto Morelos
Yellow-tailed Oriole   Parque Cancun
Orange Oriole   Parque Cancun
Altamira Oriole   Parque Cancun
Red-winged Blackbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Bronzed Cowbird   Puerto Morelos
Brown-headed Cowbird   Colliers Mills WMA
Melodious Blackbird   Puerto Morelos
Common Grackle   Whitesbog
Boat-tailed Grackle   Island Beach SP--Reed's Road
Great-tailed Grackle   Puerto Morelos
Ovenbird   Double Trouble SP
Worm-eating Warbler   Manahawkin WMA
Northern Waterthrush   Puerto Morelos
Blue-winged Warbler   Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
Black-and-white Warbler   Puerto Morelos
Prothonotary Warbler   Yaax Che
Common Yellowthroat   Puerto Morelos
Hooded Warbler   Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve
American Redstart   Playa Bonita
Northern Parula   Manahawkin WMA
Magnolia Warbler   Puerto Morelos
Northern Yellow Warbler   Parque Cancun
MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER   Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Palm Warbler   Whitesbog
Pine Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Island Beach SP
Prairie Warbler   Colliers Mills WMA
Northern Cardinal   Colliers Mills WMA
Black-headed Saltator   Parque Cancun

Whitesbog 4/29--Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

 I have found that if I don't feel like going to certain section of a place I'm birding, it's usually a good idea to ignore that feeling and go. Today, walking around Union Pond at Whitesbog, instead of turning right when I came back out onto the bogs, I turned left, even though my first impression scanning the little mudflats, was that nothing was on them. I was wrong, of course. First, I saw a Killdeer, no excitement there, but it had eluded me in the glare from the west side of the pond. Next to it was a shorebird and I immediately saw that it was a Solitary Sandpiper. A little early, perhaps, but as it happens, exactly one year ago I saw the same species there.  

The bird flew off the mudflat it was sharing with the Killdeer to one about 10 feet away and with it a little flock of Least Sandpipers swooped in. We "had" Least Sandpiper in Mexico earlier this month, but these were Jersey Least Sandpipers. So, had I followed my inclination and just turned right, I'd have missed both those species. And what persuaded me besides a Constanza-like contrariness? The fact that I wanted to take a longer walk than usual today and going left probably added about three-quarters of a mile to my hike. 

It was a good day there: 42 species in all, plus I had a long chat with my informant and made his dog very happy scratching him under the chin (the dog, not my informant). 

Canada Goose  15
Wood Duck  6
Mallard  13
Mourning Dove  5
Killdeer  1
Solitary Sandpiper  1     
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Least Sandpiper  8     
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1     Heard village
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
White-eyed Vireo  3
American Crow  2
Fish Crow  4
Common Raven  1     Croaking
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  1
Tree Swallow  3
Purple Martin  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Northern House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  2
Gray Catbird  5
Brown Thrasher  2
American Robin  1
American Goldfinch  1
Chipping Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  3
Swamp Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  3
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Common Grackle  8
Ovenbird  10
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  20
Pine Warbler  3
Prairie Warbler  7
Northern Cardinal  1

Manahawkin WMA | Barnegat 4/28--Lesser Yellowlegs, Purple Martin, Northern Parula, Worm-eating Warbler

 I parked high up on Stafford Avenue this morning, on the northern edge of the Manahawkin WMA and walked down about a mile, ear birding for the most part. The most intriguing bird I heard was a Worm-eating Warbler.I'd seen that Worm-eating had been reported there the day before, but I was skeptical.  Manahawkin isn't a place I'd expect to find one, but the zinging call was pretty loud. Merlin is notorious for mixing up Pine Warbler (also there), Chipping Sparrow, and Worm-eating. Their calls are very similar, and Merlin is far from perfect. In order to convince myself that it wasn't a Chipping Sparrow I was hearing, I played back the so-called song of the Worm-eating. It got an immediate response, and that was good enough for me.

I also heard another warbler I wouldn't be looking for there--a Blue-winged Warbler was obvious with its "Buzz-kill" "song." This was a bonus bird for me since I'd spent yesterday morning circling the back field at the Manasquan River WMA looking unsuccessfully for one. Farther down the road I heard my FOY Northern Parula. Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroats were background noise. Of all the warblers I heard along that stretch of road, the only one I saw was Black-and-white Warbler. 

After that I drove down to the marsh and parked by the trail that runs between the impoundments. The DEP had recently hired a contractor to rehabilitate the water control system, putting in new sluice gates and culverts and they did a wonderful job clearing the trail and widening it at the "T" so that mowers can now run down the full length of the berm. They're supposedly doing it so that it will be better habitat for shorebirds, but the water was high today and the only shorebirds I saw were 3 Greater Yellowlegs. But it's early.

Lesser Yellowlegs with Dunlin

Speaking of yellowlegs, after I made a quick stop at Woodmansee Blvd to check out the Purple Martin houses (a spot that we used to check when I did the World Series of Birding with Pete and Mike), I thought I'd look at the impoundment at Forsythe-Barnegat from the observation platform. Most of the time there's very little to see there, but today, as was the case last year, the shallow water was loaded with Lesser Yellowlegs. I estimated a filter-busting 100, but there were probably more. Unfortunately, they were not mixing with the Greater Yellowlegs that were there, so I didn't get any good comparison photos. There was also a big flock of Dunlin, most of them half-way into their alternate plumage. Again, Merlin came in handy, since recording the flock proved they were Lesser Yellowlegs. A lot of softer "do-do's" instead of the louder, more insistent "do-do-do" of the Greater. 

for the three spots this morning I had 50 species. The Manahawkin list is the one of interest.

44 species
Canada Goose  2
Mute Swan  5
Mallard  1
Mourning Dove  1
Willet  1
Greater Yellowlegs  3
Laughing Gull  2
American Herring Gull  3
Forster's Tern  6
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Glossy Ibis  15
Tricolored Heron  1
Snowy Egret  2
Great Egret  4
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1     Heard Stafford
Northern Flicker  3
Great Crested Flycatcher  3
White-eyed Vireo  4
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  3
Tufted Titmouse  2
Tree Swallow  12
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  3
Gray Catbird  4
Wood Thrush  5
American Robin  4
American Goldfinch  2
White-throated Sparrow  1
Seaside Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  40
Brown-headed Cowbird  3
Ovenbird  25
Worm-eating Warbler  1
Blue-winged Warbler  1     
Black-and-white Warbler  4
Common Yellowthroat  30
Northern Parula  1
Northern Yellow Warbler  3
Pine Warbler  2
Northern Cardinal  1

Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve | Sooy Place Road 4/26--Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler, Hooded Warbler

For no good reason I seem to reserve Sunday mornings for Burlco birding.  This morning I decided to seek out the warbler specialties beyond Prairie Warbler at the Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve. The hotspot of this hotspot begins about a half mile in at the bridge that runs across a little creek. Here, if you wait for a while, a Prothonotary Warbler will always show up. Today I didn't have to wait--a Prothonotary jumped up onto the railing of the bridge just as I got to it, show itself nicely, then dove down beneath the bridge where it may have a nest. Good to add to Jersey list, but I already had one down at Yaax Che in Mexico last week. 

Hooded Warbler

On the way to the bridge I'd already had the aforesaid Prairie Warbler, along with Black-and-white Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Pine Warbler, and lots of Ovenbirds. Beyond the bridge is a section I like to think of as Hooded Warbler Alley--it is a stretch of about 1000 feet that runs through thick woods and it is almost impossible not to hear the warbler's Wheaty-wheaty-wheaty-O song. Today, I was lucky enough to actually see one of the warblers--for a striking yellow bird with a black hood they can be difficult to get eyes on. Even more amazingly, I was actually able to get a photo of the bird after it hopped around from side of the trail to the other, giving me nice photos of typical pine barrens vegetation. Taking photos of warblers with a camera with a slow focus is a mug's game, but I try--sometimes. 

After you emerge from the alley, there is a little area just before the White trail intersects with the tick-infested Yellow trail that is often good for Blue-winged Warbler. They weren't present when I first went by, but on my return trip I heard the little buzzy song of one and was able to get eyes on it. There might have been two--you only need one. I walked about another mile and half along the white trail, past Gum Spring (where I saw a Merlin in a dead tree in the swamp, a patch bird for me), but the birding dies down pretty quickly there and it becomes more exercise than birding. But, aside from the Pine Warblers, I was able to get eyes on at least of each of the warblers I listed. 

23 species
Mourning Dove  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Merlin  1
White-eyed Vireo  4
Blue Jay  3
Carolina Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  5
Field Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  10
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Ovenbird  10
Blue-winged Warbler  1     
Black-and-white Warbler  3
Prothonotary Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  5
Hooded Warbler  6
Pine Warbler  3
Prairie Warbler  5
Northern Cardinal  1

Prothonotary Warbler

When I was done at Huber, I drove about 3/4 of a mile down Sooy Place Road to where it crosses Burr's Mill Brook. The brook is very wide at this juncture, more a swamp than a stream with many dead trees and stumps sticking up out of the water. It was here that I heard my FOY Red-eyed Vireo, high in the canopy behind me where the brook is still a brook, and it was also here that I managed to get a very good look another Prothonotary Warbler and even get a photograph that is one step up from a doc shot. While I was standing on the bridge, a local came along and asked me, as they always do, if I had seen anything good. He was walking a heavyset, muscular dog. I asked him what kind it was and he told me it was Caen Corso--it looked like it would be very happy to bite off my kneecap, but he swore the dog was extremely friendly while also telling me that the Romans bred them as war dogs, it weighed 175 pounds, and that its jaw was twice a powerful as a pit bull's, equivalent to the chomping power of a lion. I took his word for the friendliness of the dog and inched my way back to the car. 

Great Bay Blvd 4/24--Clapper Rail, Short-billed Dowitcher, Seaside Sparrow

Short-billed Dowitchers

Since we got back from Mexico, I have been trying to catch up on the birds at home.  I'm reminded of what my late friend Pete Bacinski once told me when I was talking about our trip to Trinidad and Tobago: "Those aren't Jersey birds," he declared dismissively. 

So, not only have I been looking for new year birds, but I've also been trying to find warblers and sandpipers that I already have on my year list from Mexico. It just adds to the game. 

Black Skimmers

Today, I drove down to Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton--I was sure I could add easy birds to the Jersey/Ocean County list like Willet and Northern Yellow Warbler. I found Willets at the first stop I made, looking through the cedars at Tuckerton Cove, and I also found a quartet of Black Skimmers. The northern parts of Great Bay Blvd are one of the few places in the county where you can find skimmers, but these must be early because they were flagged as rare. They were distant and the light at 7:30 was directly in my eyes, so the photographs are barely doc shots. 

Stopping at the mitigation bulwark (what the bulwark is mitigating I've never discovered) I heard a thin buzzing that wasn't tinnitus. It took me a few moments to realize I was hearing a couple of Seaside Sparrows across the channel.  The same thing happened down the road when I stopped to look at some salt pans--this time it was "kek kek kek kek" in the background--Clapper Rail of course.  

The only year bird that I actually saw came later down the road at the boat launch. A sandbar had a huge number of shorebirds feeding on it. They were predominantly Dunlin, with a few Black-bellied Plovers thrown in. But also feeding among them were a few Short-billed Dowitchers, doing their typical sewing machine motions, probing the mud for goodies. Again, as you can see above, the light was bad and the birds distant. 

For the morning, 37 species.

Brant  91
Canada Goose  6
American Black Duck  1
Green-winged Teal  15     Tuckerton Cove
Mourning Dove  7
Clapper Rail  3
American Oystercatcher  1
Black-bellied Plover  14
Short-billed Dowitcher  5
Willet  20
Greater Yellowlegs  25
Dunlin  180
Laughing Gull  4
American Herring Gull  50
Great Black-backed Gull  4
Black Skimmer  4     
Forster's Tern  25
Common Loon  1
Double-crested Cormorant  12
Glossy Ibis  7
Black-crowned Night Heron  3
Tricolored Heron  1
Snowy Egret  12
Great Egret  8
Osprey  2
Merlin  1
Tree Swallow  2
Barn Swallow  15
European Starling  1
American Goldfinch  1
Seaside Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  4
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Boat-tailed Grackle  75
Common Yellowthroat  5
Northern Yellow Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1

Yucatan 4/9-4/20--Trip List and Index

AMERICAN FLAMINGOS, Rio Lagartos

Earlier this month we visited our friends in Puerto Morelos, a little town just south of Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula. While not strictly a birding trip, I did get out birding every day. Walking the streets of Puerto Morelos, or along the beach, you can find a lot of interesting birds. We did take a road trip to the northern part of the peninsula to the fishing village of Rio Lagartos where we had a fabulous boat trip around the lagoon. We also visited Yaax Che and Parque Cancun for a little birding. All these adventures are linked below.

I knew I was missing a good chunk of migration in New Jersey, but a lot of the warblers were still down there, and, amusingly, it took a trip to Mexico before I was able to add Gray Catbird to my list. For the 11+ days we were there I tallied 92 species, 65 of which were year birds and 9 of which were lifers.

The links 

Rio Lagartos

Puerto Morelos

Yaax Che | Parque Cancun

Yucatan Gallery

The List:

Species                    First Sighting
Plain Chachalaca    Puerto Morelos
Rock Pigeon    Parque Principal Francisco Cantón
RED-BILLED PIGEON    Puerto Morelos
Eurasian Collared-Dove    Puerto Morelos
Ruddy Ground Dove    Puerto Morelos
White-tipped Dove    Yaax Che
White-winged Dove    Parque Cancun
Common Squirrel-Cuckoo    Yaax Che
Black-bellied Plover    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Semipalmated Plover    Playa Puerto Morelos
Spotted Sandpiper    Playa Bonita
Willet    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Ruddy Turnstone    Reserva de la Biosfera Ri­a Lagartos
Sanderling    Playa Puerto Morelos
Least Sandpiper    Playa Bonita
Laughing Gull    Playa Puerto Morelos
American Herring Gull    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Black Skimmer    Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Gull-billed Tern    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Forster's Tern    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Sandwich Tern    Playa Puerto Morelos
Royal Tern    Playa Puerto Morelos
AMERICAN FLAMINGO    Reserva de la Biosfera Ri­a Lagartos
Magnificent Frigatebird    Playa Puerto Morelos
Anhinga    Playa Puerto Morelos
Double-crested Cormorant    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Neotropic Cormorant     Rio Lagartos
White Ibis    Rio Lagartos
Roseate Spoonbill    Puerto Morelos
BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
BOAT-BILLED HERON    Playa Bonita
Yellow-crowned Night Heron    Playa Bonita
Little Blue Heron    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Tricolored Heron    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Reddish Egret    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Snowy Egret    Cooperativa Pescadores de RI­o Lagartos
Green Heron    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Western Cattle-Egret    Reserva de la Biosfera Ri­a Lagartos
Great Egret    Hotel Rio Lagartos
Great Blue Heron    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
American White Pelican    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
Brown Pelican    Playa Puerto Morelos
Black Vulture    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Turkey Vulture    Carretera Ri­o Lagartos-Cancun-Tulum
LESSER YELLOW-HEADED VULTURE    Playa Puerto Morelos
Osprey    Playa Puerto Morelos
Common Black Hawk    Cenote Kambulnah
ROADSIDE HAWK    Parque Cancun
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl    Casa Carolina
Black-headed Trogon    Yaax Che
Belted Kingfisher    Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Lagartos
American Pygmy Kingfisher    Cenote Kambulnah
Yucatan Woodpecker    Puerto Morelos
Golden-fronted Woodpecker    Puerto Morelos
White-fronted Amazon    Casa Carolina
Olive-throated Parakeet    Cenote Kambulnah
GRAY-COLLARED BECARD    Parque Cancun
Dusky-capped Flycatcher    Puerto Morelos
Brown-crested Flycatcher    Puerto Morelos
Great Kiskadee    Casa Carolina
Social Flycatcher    Puerto Morelos
Tropical Kingbird    Puerto Morelos
Couch's Kingbird    Puerto Morelos
Rufous-browed Peppershrike    Parque Cancun
Lesser Greenlet    Yaax Che
White-eyed Vireo    Yaax Che
Mangrove Vireo    Cooperativa Pescadores de Rio Lagartos
Green Jay    Playa Bonita
YUCATAN JAY    Puerto Morelos
Bank Swallow    Hotel Rio Lagartos
Gray-breasted Martin    Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancun
Barn Swallow    Puerto Morelos
White-bellied Wren    Yaax Che
Gray Catbird    Puerto Morelos
Tropical Mockingbird    Puerto Morelos
Hooded Oriole    Puerto Morelos
Yellow-tailed Oriole    Parque Cancun
Orange Oriole    Parque Cancun
Altamira Oriole    Parque Cancun
Bronzed Cowbird    Puerto Morelos
Melodious Blackbird    Puerto Morelos
Great-tailed Grackle    Puerto Morelos
Northern Waterthrush    Puerto Morelos
Black-and-white Warbler    Puerto Morelos
Prothonotary Warbler    Yaax Che
Common Yellowthroat    Puerto Morelos
American Redstart    Playa Bonita
Magnolia Warbler    Puerto Morelos
Northern Yellow Warbler    Parque Cancun
MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Palm Warbler    Cooperativa Pescadores de Ri­o Lagartos
Black-headed Saltator    Parque Cancun

Key: Year Bird, LIFE BIRD

 

Rio Lagartos--AMERICAN FLAMINGO, BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON, BOAT-BILLED HERON, MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER

AMERICAN FLAMINGOS

The birding highlight of the trip came a couple of days after we arrived when the four of us drove about 3 1/2 hours to the fishing village of Rio Lagartos on the north tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. The attraction there is a long, shallow lagoon that meets mangrove wetlands and the Gulf of Mexico. Part of the Ria Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, it is famous for the large flocks of AMERICAN FLAMINGOS and chock full of other waders. We had a 4-hour boat trip booked, emphasis on the birds, not the crocodiles that so many other tourists are anxious to see (though we saw plenty of crocs along the way). 

The boat was just a long fishing boat with a tarp to keep the sun off and an outboard motor--perfect for getting in close to shore and moving around the sandbars. There was even a pole for some of the places where the motor had to be taken up lest it drag in the sand. We started off heading west to have the wind at our backs. The first sandbar we came to had Black Skimmers, Gull-billed Terns, & Sandwich Terns loafing on it, along with Double-crested Cormorants and Neotropic Cormorants sitting on some of the fishing boats that were beached there. Out a little farther we saw a Reddish Egret. Before our guide could identify it, I knew what it was just by the crazy dance it was doing--a treat for me and Shari and a wonderment to our friends who had never seen one. 

We went across the lagoon toward the mangroves--Roseate Spoonbills along with both white egrets were feeding in the shallows. Getting nearer the beach we had Little Blue Herons and a couple of Green Herons roosting in the red mangrove trees. A couple of little birds were flitting around in a scraggly tree on the beach and once the engine was cut, Andrea (our guide) identified by voice MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER. Mangrove Yellow Warbler is a recent split from Yellow Warbler (which is now Northern Yellow Warbler). I had Yellow Warbler on my Mexican list, but since I hadn't identified it to subspecies, it became a "slash" after the split, so I really wanted to get that one back. Within a couple of minutes two of the warblers came out into the tree and the difference is striking--their heads are red, so I'm pretty sure all the yellow warblers I previously saw would have fallen into the familiar species from New Jersey. Another warbler was on the sand, pumping its tail--Palm Warbler, which is actually "infrequent" in the area, and then into the same tree a Mangrove Vireo appeared.  

We moved on toward an inlet that led to the gulf but didn't enter it, instead going toward another fishing village called San Felipe. Here we got a few FOY shorebirds running along the jetty--Least Sandpiper, Willet, and Spotted Sandpiper, along with Ruddy Turnstones. By this time, Andrea could tell we were really interested in birds, so she started asking if we had seen this or that wader--one she threw out was BOAT-BILLED HERON. Oh, never seen that?  She motioned to the helmsman to turn around toward the mangrove again and pointed into a tree--it was hard to find in the foliage but eventually we all got on a bird that looks like a Black-crowned Night-Heron with a gigantic honker. 

Andrea had the boat docked at a place called Cenote Kambulnah. A cenote is a collapse in the limestone roof, exposing groundwater below. Cenote Kambulnah is a rather old one, so it looks more like a pond than the classic cenotes farther south. A boardwalk through the mangrove took us to the pond where a crocodile was lazily drifting in the water--a younger croc was half-buried in the mud. Hard to believe, but a huge hawk was flying through the dense trees--I only saw it for moment and figured it was gone, but Andrea spotted it up in the canopy--a Common Black Hawk, almost as big as eagle. We were to see others later in the day in more open spots but not having seen one in almost 10 years (I had to look it up), I thought it might have been another lifer. Ferruginous Pygmy Owls were calling to each other, a couple of American Pygmy Kingfishers were crisscrossing the boardwalk, and to impress my brother the lepidopterist, Andrea spotted an endemic, threatened butterfly, the Yucatan Cracker, which due to the dim light and its coloration, looks very much like the tree bark it was on. 

Andrea took us up a narrow stream into the mangrove, the channel twisting and turning. It got very quiet and still, but not particularly steamy. Eventually the channel ended and we had to back out, the branches of the mangrove just above our heads. 

By now we'd been out about 3 hours and I figured that flamingoes weren't going to be on our list, since their area was to the east of where we started. Andrea had said at the beginning that the high season for them had already passed. We were passing a place called Playa Bonita when something went wrong with the outboard and we drifted for 15 or 20 minutes while the helmsman fussed with the engine. We were never clear what happened, but once he got the motor going, he started racing back to Rio Lagartos, the flat-bottomed boat slapping the water. Amazingly, for someone prone to seasickness, I was absolutely fine except for the jolts to my kidneys. As we were close to the dock, Andrea asked if we had any plans for the afternoon. When we said no, she suggested we continue on, even though time was up. I think she was having fun and didn't have any tour for the afternoon. After a restroom break, we headed east toward Los Colorados. 

BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON

Common Black Hawk

Again, Andrea got coy. Finding out that BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON would also be a life bird for all of us, she directed the boat to turn around and pointed at a certain tree where she knew one was on a nest. Drifting by we got great looks but with the rocking of the boat, I wasn't in a good position for photographing it, so Andrea kindly took my camera and got some pictures. In was in this area that we also saw a couple of Common Black Hawks perched high in dead trees.

We continued on, past sandbars and abandoned fishing docks until we passed under a bridge. There were men standing under the bridge monitoring the boat traffic, since there was a toll to get into that section--we had Tyvek bracelets on to prove that the tour company was paid up. As we motored slowly through the shallow water another tour boat approached from the opposite direction. The guide in that boat made a sign with his hand, moving it as if it were a mouth--this meant "Crocodile" in their sign language and Andrea nodded in the affirmative that they were on the beaches behind us. Then she made a movement with her hand, bending in over so that her knuckles faced the water. He nodded yes. Flamingos were ahead. 

At first, they were just bright magenta dots in the distance, perhaps a dozen against a mangrove backdrop. Andrea, I think, was playing with us a little because she looked dubious about getting much closer. Stilt, we creeped along, and more flamingos appeared to our right and then a couple were pretty close and then somehow, all at once, we were in the midst of a loose flock of perhaps 50 of them. Nothing compared to high season when they number in the hundreds, but as Birding Law #6 states, "You only need one," and here we had dozens. Again, because of my position in the boat, I wasn't able to get decent shots, so Andrea took my camera and clicked away. When a couple of flamingos flew close by the boat, exposing their black wing tips, the entire boat emitted a collective "Wow!" So that was our fourth lifer of the day.

We were now well past the 4 hours we'd signed up for and with the climax of the flamingos we turned around. In about a half hour we were back at the dock with a day count of 51 species. It was one of those rare days of birding where everything is perfection.

The birds we saw (and heard in the case of the owls):

Eurasian Collared-Dove
Black-bellied Plover
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Least Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
American Herring Gull
Black Skimmer
Gull-billed Tern
Forster's Tern
Sandwich Tern
Royal Tern
AMERICAN FLAMINGO
Magnificent Frigatebird
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON
BOAT-BILLED HERON
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Western Cattle-Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
Osprey
Common Black Hawk
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Belted Kingfisher
American Pygmy Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Olive-throated Parakeet
Mangrove Vireo
Green Jay
Bank Swallow
Great-tailed Grackle
Northern Waterthrush
American Redstart
MANGROVE YELLOW WARBLER
Palm Warbler

Feeding frenzy, Magnificent Frigatebirds and Laughing Gulls going after bits of shark thrown away by fishermen

Yucatan Cracker, endemic butterfly

Crocodile, Cenote Kambulnah