Puerto Morelos, Mexico 4/10-4/19--16 Life Birds, 54 Year Birds

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Shari & I spent a birdy non-birding 10 days with our friends at their new house in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, about a half hour south of Cancun. "Puerto," as they call it, is a vastly different scene than Cancun, a relatively sleepy beach town without much of a night life though it has some very good restaurants. The beach and the turquoise waters of the Caribbean are the main attractions for most, though for me it was the mangroves across the street the from the new house, "Casa Primavera." 

This was our second trip down there, and as happened four years ago, our first year birds were a couple of Great-tailed Grackles at the airport while we waited for our cab. Not surprising in that this is probably the most common bird you'll find low to the ground, with Magnificent Frigatebird taking the aerial prize. At Casa Primavera we had one regular female who liked to circumambulate the swimming pool, stopping occasionally for a sip of water. Apparently the chlorine doesn't bother them. While we sat on the patio and caught up with each other we also had White-fronted Parrots screeching in the palms and a Tropical Mockingbird singing from a thatched roof across the street. 

Plain Chachalaca

The next morning I was up early and took a walk north. After 3 blocks I took a left then a quick right and I had mangrove on both side of me and a couple of Plain Chachalacas in front of me. Great Kiskadees were nesting in a chute off a hotel balcony, Tropical Kingbirds were on the wires, Yucatan Woodpeckers were active on the utility poles and I saw my first Yellow Warbler of the year. I turned around after about 3/4 of mile and went back to the house, though my friend told me I could have virtually walked to Cancun on that road. After a couple more cups of coffee, I went out again, this time with Shari and we walked south into "town." 

Nearby the house is a block square overgrown, mostly fenced in, empty lot with a sign in the middle saying "Propriedad Federal" which I take to mean, "Stay Out." Whatever its purpose, right now it is an unintentional bird refuge. I remember 4 years ago this was the lot where we got our life White-fronted Parrots. This year it is where we had the best kind of birding experience, one where you stumble upon a great bird and get a great look at it and get a great photo. We had just started looking at tree near the fence when a small bird flew down and landed on a low branch. It was a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, so near to us that when I at first tried to get Shari on it, she didn't realize how close the bird was and kept looking too high. Finally, finally she lowered her head and saw it. Actually, we were making eye contact with the bird. Another owl was in the tree but wasn't as interested in us as its partner and flew up into the middle. The friendly bird just sat there on the branch while I with my slow-focusing camera took pictures. After a bit we walked away and took a look at the beach (Brown Pelicans, frigatebirds, Laughing Gulls), but nothing we saw the rest of the walk compared to the owl. 

Cenote Zapote

Turquoise-browed Motmot

On Tuesday, Rick arranged for a local guide to take us to the jungle about 45 minutes northwest of the town to an area speckled with cenotes, which are deep limestone holes full of cold water. The closest hot spot for the road and trails we birded was Cenote Zapote. It was here that we got most of our life birds for the trip, though I have to admit, a lot of the lifers were either by ear or very quick looks as the foliage provides excellent cover for them. Probably the best looks at lifers that we got were of the 3 SQUIRREL CUCKOOS, ROSE-THROATED BECARD (one of my most desired birds) and the ORANGE ORIOLE, but we also had lifers like YUCATAN FLYCATCHER and BLACK-HEADED SALTATOR. We had a great look at a Turquoise-browed Motmot (which we'd seen last trip) and I was surprised to learn that the motmot nested inside the cenote, as do (not surprisingly) the Cave Swallows that were swooping in and out of the cenote which had an atypical overhang. 

Yaax Che Jardín Botánico del Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marín 

A few days later we spent a morning at another hot spot, the town's botanical gardens which are just a few minutes north on the highway. This is not the botanical garden we're used to where there are different plants being cultivated, most of them non-native. Instead, these "gardens" are mostly paths hacked out of the forest that run down to the mangrove, with some explanatory signs on the path (how to make chicle gum, for instance) and some areas where a particularly interesting stand of flora has been cordoned off. Here we had White-winged Dove, Linneated Woodpecker, and, best of all, two Yellow-billed Caciques which are really large, impressive icterids. We also heard our first Red-eyed Vireos for the year. The observation bridges and decks were all under repair except for one which required a 20 foot climb up a vertical ladder. Naturally, Rick & I did that while Shari sensibly stayed on the ground. Seeing miles of mangrove is impressive, but not really worth the climb. 

Mangles de Puerto Morelos

One morning Rick & I drove south to the edge of town, past the tourist beach, to the port area of Puerto, which, frankly, resembled Red Hook in Brooklyn where we all used to live. But there is a road there that runs through the Mangles, and there is supposed to be access to the undeveloped parts of the beach but some massive resorts have blocked off the trails, semi-legally. However, we were able to get to an open area where we kicked up a Common Pauraque that was roosting on the ground and along a dirt road we found both a male and female MORELET'S SEEDEATER, the final lifer of the trip for me. I was also excited to see my first Northern Waterthrush of the year and we also had a Lesser Goldfinch. We did get access to the beach by walking through a gigantic resort hacked out of the mangrove, but the undeveloped part of the beach was still a good distance away so we turned back. 

On our last morning there I took a little walk in the neighborhood with Rick and the last year bird I listed was a Common Ground Dove. In all I listed 82 species, which is not bad for a non-birding vacation.

Species                First Sighting
Plain Chachalaca  Puerto Morelos
Rock Pigeon  Playa del Carmen
Eurasian Collared-Dove  Puerto Morelos
Common Ground Dove  Puerto Morelos
Ruddy Ground Dove  Puerto Morelos
White-tipped Dove  Yaax Che
White-winged Dove  Puerto Morelos
SQUIRREL CUCKOO  Cenote Zapote
Common Pauraque  Mangles de Puerto Morelos
Vaux's Swift  Cenote Zapote
Cinnamon Hummingbird  Puerto Morelos
WHITE-BELLIED EMERALD  Cenote Zapote
Black-bellied Plover  Playa Puerto Morelos
Killdeer  Mangles de Puerto Morelos
Ruddy Turnstone  Playa Puerto Morelos
Sanderling  Playa Puerto Morelos
Laughing Gull  Puerto Morelos
Caspian Tern  Puerto Morelos
Royal Tern  Playa Puerto Morelos
Magnificent Frigatebird  Puerto Morelos
Anhinga  Playa Puerto Morelos
Double-crested Cormorant  Puerto Morelos
Brown Pelican  Puerto Morelos
Green Heron  Puerto Morelos
Roseate Spoonbill  Playa Puerto Morelos
Black Vulture  Puerto Morelos
Turkey Vulture  Cenote Zapote
GRAY-HEADED KITE  Cenote Zapote
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl  Puerto Morelos
Black-headed Trogon  Cenote Zapote
Turquoise-browed Motmot  Cenote Zapote
KEEL-BILLED TOUCAN  Cenote Zapote
Yucatan Woodpecker  Puerto Morelos
Golden-fronted Woodpecker  Yaax Che
Lineated Woodpecker  Yaax Che
White-fronted Parrot  Casa Primavera
YELLOW-LORED PARROT  Cenote Zapote
OLIVE-THROATED PARAKEET  Cenote Zapote
Mayan Antthrush  Cenote Zapote
OLIVACEOUS WOODCREEPER  Cenote Zapote
Tawny-winged Woodcreeper  Cenote Zapote
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper  Cenote Zapote
ROSE-THROATED BECARD  Cenote Zapote
Least Flycatcher  Cenote Zapote
YUCATAN FLYCATCHER  Cenote Zapote
Brown-crested Flycatcher  Puerto Morelos
Great Kiskadee  Puerto Morelos
Boat-billed Flycatcher  Cenote Zapote
Social Flycatcher  Cenote Zapote
Tropical Kingbird  Puerto Morelos
Couch's Kingbird  Cenote Zapote
Red-eyed Vireo  Yaax Che
Brown Jay  Cenote Zapote
Green Jay  Cenote Zapote
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  Cenote Zapote
Gray-breasted Martin  Puerto Morelos
Barn Swallow  Cenote Zapote
Cave Swallow  Cenote Zapote
LONG-BILLED GNATWREN  Cenote Zapote
SPOT-BREASTED WREN  Cenote Zapote
WHITE-BELLIED WREN  Cenote Zapote
Tropical Mockingbird  Casa Primavera
Clay-colored Thrush  Cenote Zapote
Yellow-throated Euphonia  Cenote Zapote
Lesser Goldfinch  Mangles de Puerto Morelos
GREEN-BACKED SPARROW  Cenote Zapote
Yellow-billed Cacique  Yaax Che
Yellow-backed Oriole  Puerto Morelos
Yellow-tailed Oriole  Puerto Morelos
ORANGE ORIOLE  Cenote Zapote
Altamira Oriole  Puerto Morelos
Bronzed Cowbird  Cenote Zapote
Melodious Blackbird  Cenote Zapote
Great-tailed Grackle  Cancun Airport
Northern Waterthrush  Mangles de Puerto Morelos
American Redstart  Cenote Zapote
Magnolia Warbler  Cenote Zapote
Yellow Warbler  Puerto Morelos
Black-throated Green Warbler  Cenote Zapote
BLUE BUNTING  Cenote Zapote
MORELET'S SEEDEATER  Mangles de Puerto Morelos
BLACK-HEADED SALTATOR  Cenote Zapote

More photos:

White-winged Dove

Olive-throated Parakeet

Yucatan Woodpecker