Mexico, The Yucatan, Day 9 - Ecotucan (Bacalar) & Nuevo Conhuas, 21 February 2020

I was up pre-dawn today and met my bird guide Jaqueline at Ecotucan at 06.45 for a coffee before we started birding. All of this was done on foot around the Ecotucan grounds and it was a throroughly enjoyable few hours. Jaqueline was lovely, good company and knows the birds of that area very well indeed. I hadn't expected to get any new birds at all that morning but ended up with both Lesson's Motmot and Green Jay which was excellent. We started on the lodge jetty watching the sun rise over Laguna Bacalar, then moved to the lodge area and a particular fruiting tree followed by the compost area before finishing up along the track through the forest.

The bird list went something like this - 1 Plain Chachalaca, c20 Lesser Scaup, c20 Vaux's Swift, 1 Cinnamon Hummingbird, 1 Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 1 Red-billed Pigeon, 1 Limpkin, 1 Pied-billed Grebe, 1 Royal Tern, 4 Black-headed Trogon, 1 Gartered Trogon, 1 Ringed Kingfisher, 1 Lesson's Motmot, 3+ Velasquez's Woodpecker, 2 White-fronted Parrots, 2 Ivory-billed Woodcreepers, 2 Great Kiskadee, 1 Boat-billed Flycatcher, Social Flycatchers, 2 Masked Tityra, 2 Rose-throated Becard, White-eyed Vireos, 1 Yellow-throated Vireo, 1 Yucatan Jay, 1 Green Jay, Brown Jays, Mangrove Swallows, 1 Grey-breasted Martin, 2 Grey Catbirds, 3 Wood Thrush, Clay-coloured Thrushes, 1 Altamira Oriole, 3 Baltimore Oriole, 1 Yellow-tailed Oriole, 2 Hooded Oriole, Melodious Blackbirds, 1 Northern Parula, 1 Magnolia Warbler, 1 Black-throted Green Warbler, 2 Summer Tanager, 2 Blue-grey Tanager, 1 Yellow-winged Tanager, 3 Red-legged Honeycreeper, 1 Black-headed Saltator and Yellow-faced Grassquit.

I very reluctantly tore myself away and bid farewell to Jaqueline as we had to check out of our accom by 11.00!

Lesson's Motmot

Boat-billed Flycatcher

Clay-coloured Thrush

Yellow-tailed Oriole

Blue-grey Tanager

Black-headed Saltator

Black-headed Trogon

Yellow-winged Tanager

Gartered Trogon

Wood Thrush

Rose-throated Becard

Green Jay

 Great Kiskadee

We then began the longish drive south and then west, over the border into Campeche as we headed towards Calakmul. Stopping in the town of Xpujil for supplies we were at the small rural village of Nuevo Conhuas by mid afternoon. Checking in to the Cabanas Calakmul we had a walk around the village seeing 2 Wedge-tailed Sabrewings, a group of 7 Groove-billed Ani, 3 Olive -throated Parakeets, Mangrove Swallows (nowhere near any water), a single Grey-breasted Martin and aa Blue-grey Tanager.  

We'd been told about a nearby 'bat cave' and armed with directions we found the place and hung around until 17.00 when the warden let us in. Northern Cardinal and a few Indigo Buntings kept us amused while we waited. What a treat it was too with c4 million bats emerging over a good 20 minutes from the massive cave! It was like something out of a horror movie seeing them spiral up out of the cauldron like cave and head off over the treetops. One of the highlights of the whole holiday. Bat Falcon and Laughing Falcon gave brief views as they went about hunting the bats for supper!  

Mangrove Swallow

  

         Grey-breasted Martin