Sian Ka'an 4/26--RUSSET-NAPED WOOD-RAIL, BLACK-HEADED TROGON, TURQUOISE-BROWED MOTMOT, YUCATAN WOODPECKER, BLACK-FACED ANTTHRUSH, TAWNY-WINGED WOODCREEPER, IVORY-BILLED WOODCREEPER, EYE-RINGED FLATBILL, YELLOW-OLIVE FLYCATCHER, ROYAL FLYCATCHER, LESSER GREENLET, YELLOW-GREEN VIREO, YUCATAN VIREO, RED-THROATED ANT-TANAGER, YELLOW-BILLED CACIQUE, BRONZED COWBIRD, MELODIOUS BLACKBIRD, YELLOW-THROATED EUPHONIA, + 13 Year Birds

BLACK-HEADED TROGON

Rick organized a birding trip to the Sian Ka'an Reserve outside of Tulum about an hour and 20 minute van ride away. We started out at 5 AM (nothing for the 4 hard-core birders on the trip, a little intense for the 7 others who were only mildly interested in birds) and arrived at Laguna Muyil a couple of minutes before 7. Already, it seemed the birds were quieting down, because I can find more activity on Reed's Road at Island Beach than we were seeing walking along a dirt path. Of course, we did find a few birds. Shari, while using the restroom, spotted a RUSSET-NAPED WOOD-RAIL and I didn't have to use the restrooms, so I was already one behind her on the Mexican list. Fortunately, another one appeared at the edge of the lagoon and I got a good look at it before gawking non-birders scared it away. It was about the size and shape of a Clapper Rail, but much more colorful as the name would imply.

YELLOW-OLIVE FLYCATCHER

Along the trail we had the BLACK-HEADED TROGON which had been calling and responded to a recording. We also had YUCATAN VIREO (an endemic) and YELLOW-OLIVE FLYCATCHER, along with a small flock of Plain Chachalacas (not lifers but always fun to see and we hadn't seen them since Texas more than 10 years ago). The group really liked those--big and easy to see instead of little birds flitting among the foliage.

After about an hour, the group split into two, with most of it going for a "float" along the lagoon, while Shari, Bob, Charlotte, and me stayed with our guide who took us on about a mile walk along a boardwalk through the forest. Now the birding became more interesting, especially since it is a lot easier to get 4 people on a bird instead of 11. The first bird we stopped for, which excited Jorge our Mayan guide, was a BLACK-FACED ANTTHRUSH, picking through the leaf litter. Apparently they are hard birds to see. We saw three. I remember in Trinidad & Tobago that were all types of "ant" birds. Same in Mexico. Another lifer was a RED-THROATED ANT-TANAGER, not to be confused with the Red-crowned Ant-Tanager we saw in T&T. By now we were deep in the woods and taking photographs was not an option for me if I actually wanted to see the birds, so I didn't even try for the beautiful ROYAL FLYCATCHER, nor the adorable EYE-RINGED FLATBILL yet another species in the gigantic flycatcher complex. We also had two woodcreepers, another family we first encountered in T&T. Though they act like our Brown Creeper (climbing up a tree, the flying to the base of another and starting up again) they are not to related. Convergent evolution I believe is the term.

When we emerged from the woods we encountered a ruin of a relatively small Mayan temple, but it was still impressive to suddenly come upon it. On either side of a doorway were two stone plaques of birds. One is obviously a pelican; the other I'm not so sure about--it looks more like a wader to me, but I didn't have the presence of mind to ask Jorge what I was looking at. Truthfully, I was only mildly interested in the ruins when there were TURQUOISE-BROWED MOTMOTS to see. My finest moment of the day was when I spotted a yellow-breasted bird in a tree and called out "euphonia" and I was right. It was a YELLOW-THROATED EUPHONIA, another type of bird first encountered on T&T.

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Walking around the grounds, Jorge suddenly stepped off the path and gathered us under a tree. Looking up at just the right angle, which took me the longest, of course, we had a perfect view of a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. The word "ferruginous" alone is wonderful.

I have a pretty good sense of my life list, but I certainly don't have it memorized, so I was not excited at first to see BRONZED COWBIRD on the grounds. The red-eye was intense, but other than that, it was similar to other icterids. The blackbird I was more interested in was the YELLOW-BILLED CACIQUE, cousin to yet another T&T bird. It wasn't until later when I checked my lists that I realized the cowbird was also a lifer.

The birding time went very quickly. I was surprised to see that we spent just under 4 3/4 hours walking around that relatively small area. In that time we had 40 species (Jorge, of course, had more, some of which I just had to "let go"), almost all of them lifers or year birds. It was, by far, the best birding I've done so far this year.

Bird plaques on Mayan building