birding...

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

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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

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...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

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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

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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

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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 [January] - Vincent van der Spek - Yucatán and Chiapas

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Photo-rich report...

2000 [November] - Tony Clarke

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...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

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... 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

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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

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pdf file - Swedish

2003 [August] Tim Allwood & Claire Stephenson

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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...saw many White-fronted parrots flying noisily over the road all morning along with good numbers of Mangrove, Cave and Barn swallows. There’s 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

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...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 [February] - Michael Retter

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... Northern Parula, American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, and “Myrtle”, Black-throated Green, “Western” Palm, and Black-and-white Warblers made up the bulk, with small numbers of Lesser Greenlet, Bananaquit, and White-eyed Vireo. Roving flocks of Brown Jays screamed as they passed overhead, loosely associated with a nice mix of orioles: Altamira, Black-cowled, and Hooded. Green-backed Sparrows and Red-throated Ant-Tanagers called from the undergrowth...

2008 [January] - Michael Retter

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...Then a Tennessee Warbler and a Northern Parula. By far the prize of the flock, a male Black-throated Blue Warbler then appeared and delighted for a good 10 minutes...

2009 [February] - Geoff Upton

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This was primarily a family holiday with my wife Sarah and our 17-year olds Rachel and Joe. We chose the Yucatan peninsula because we could fly relatively cheaply from the UK to Cancun and because we thought there would be plenty of interest for everyone – for me this included the possibility of seeing some good birds. We weren’t disappointed...

2010 [February] - Michael Retter

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...This allowed us close and prolonged views of exciting birds such as Gray-throated Chat (at right), Long- billed Gnatwren, and Black Catbird....

2011 [January] - Brian & Isabel Eady

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...After downloading a Clements “Yucatan Peninsular” checklist from “Avibase”, it became apparent that quite a few of the 546 bird species would not be new sightings for us, having previously visited Trinidad, Tobago and Costa Rica where we had picked up a total 261 of them. However it still left us with a sizeable number of species which could be available for us to swell our life list, and of course re- familiarise us with species we had seen before...

2011 [January] - J Kirby

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...I took a week trip to Mexico from the 3rd to 9th of January. It was not a dedicated birding trip so I only spent two days birding. However, it was still very productive with 134 species seen....

2011 [May] - Val & Alan Greggains

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...On this day we walked a mile or so north from the hotel and picked up Altamira Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Yucatan Jay and Ruby-throated Hummingbird in addition to the common species noted earlier. As expected there were far fewer birds in evidence than in January...