Holiday to the Yucatan, Mexico - Part 3

After an amazing time at Chichen Itza it was off to Mayakoba on the coast for a week of luxury at the Banyan Tree.

I booked this as a trade special for Jen as it was really upmarket and offered peace and quiet for some relaxation.

Before travelling, I did not know much about Mayakoba but found out on arrival that it is a purpose built small enclave of three luxury hotels and a golf course ( the Maya Open was held there two weeks before we arrived) which were only given permission by the Mexican government to be built with some strict conditions.

The reason is that this area has low montane forest and mangroves which are heavily protected and the development had to use existing land and make necessary improvements to the general area.

All this meant that there were paths created throughout the area designed for nature watchers and even a free boat service to take you through the mangroves!

We were offered a free upgrade to a villa with private pool but it would mean waiting two hours so by the time we settled in it was too late to see anything.

I was up and out at 6am the next morning and followed a circular 3 mile route which took in most of the features. I was massively impressed at how beautiful it was and saw an amazing amount of birds.

I did this circuit every morning and four times during the late afternoon.

The first new bird I saw was a weird Plain Chacalaca and saw them numerous times throughout the week.

Orioles were bountiful with Altamira, Orange and Black Headed being added to Hooded Orioles.

 Orange Oriole

 Altamira Oriole

 Hooded Oriole

Black Headed Oriole

Flycatchers including more Great Kiskadee, Social Flycatchers, Tropical Kingbird, Couch's Kingbird and Sulphur Bellied Flycatcher were seen.

 Couch's Kingbird

 Female Sulphur Bellied Flycatcher

 Great Kiskadee

Tropical Kingbird

North American Warblers were plentiful with Yellow, Yellow Throated, Magnolia and Black and White Warblers acting like Treecreepers. Hooded Warblers were elusive and all were difficult to photograph due to flitting and skulking in the bushes. I spent many hours trying to work out two warblers which I saw - one black and orange and the other yellow and grey both of which acted like they were on ecstasy!

I finally found out they were the male and female form of the same bird - American Redstart - which is not anything like our Redstarts and in fact is also a type of warbler!

In addition to previously seen Vireos I also added the endemic Yucatan Vireo.

 Yellow Throated Warbler

 Magnolia Warbler

Hooded Warbler (best of 6 out of focus shots!)

Tanagers and Hummingbirds were much thinner on the ground and I only saw Summer Tanagers and Rufous Tailed and Cinnamon Hummingbirds which were equally difficult to photograph!

 Female Summer Tanager

Rufous Tailed Hummingbird

In addition to Black Vultures, the only other raptors were Turkey Vulture and Osprey.

Other non water birds were singles but gave me some excellent birds.

Aztec Parakeet which I saw flying a number of times but only saw on a tree once, 

Black Headed Trogon which is really elusive but gave brief views with diagnostic blue ring around the eye (apologies for out of focus shot),

Golden Fronted Woodpecker, Black Billed Cuckoo and the endemic Yucatan Jay.

As I mentioned, we had been upgraded to a villa and the pool was on the roof top overlooking the golf course and a small pond. Although birds were a long way off I did get Savannah Sparrow and Belted Kingfisher and was so pleased with my camera considering the distance away.

In fact, I have often found that golf courses are an excellent place to try when bird watching and this was no exception. In addition to many Palm Warblers I also got Louisiana Waterbird, Bronze Cowbird, Kildeer and Gray Catbird.

The other exciting views were given by mammals including Raccoon, and photographed White Nosed Coati and Yucatan Squirrel.

The boat trips were excellent and numerous heron species abounded with Great Gray, Black Crowned, Yellow Crowned, Green, Little Blue, Great Egret, Snowy Egret and the beautifully names Limpkin!

 Great White Egret

 Snowy Egret

 Great Gray Heron

 Limpkin

Little Blue Heron

However, my absolute favourite was the amazing looking Boat Billed Heron which I saw nesting.

On the water, there were hardly any ducks with Blue Winged Teal and a solitary (and unusual) Lesser Scaup. American Coots and Common Moorhen and Neotropic Cormorant dominated as they do here in the UK.

However, my favourite two waterbirds were the Northern Jacana and the snake bird - Anahinga.

Waders (other than the Kildeer) were few and far between with only Spotted Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper putting in an appearance.

Over the whole holiday I had 139 species and managed to see many of my target species.

In addition there were Slider Turtles, various Lizards and a myriad of butterflies shown below but as yet I have not had time to identify!

Overall an excellent trip and thoroughly enjoyed by Jen and Sophie too - win -win!