Calakmul, Campeche
Located in the southern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula, the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve is one of the best birding areas in Mexico. Its 723 thousand hectares, mostly mature tall forest, protects over 300 bird species and other interesting wildlife like the tapir, spider monkeys, howler monkeys, and a healthy population of jaguars, one of the five cat species in the area.
Birding in this area can be divided into three different single-day expeditions to make the most of it: the ancient archeological site of Calakmul, the Xpujil area, and Dos Naciones.
Calakmul road and archaeological site
The birding day can be divided into three parts:
1.- We will depart from the hotel one hour before sunrise to arrive with time on the ticket place located near the small town of Conhuas. From there, the Calakmul archaeological site is 60 kilometers away. The main birding will be done along this road, with stops at several trails and water bodies.
We'll be searching for many species, including several endemics of the Yucatan Biogeographic region. A highlight is the Ocellated Turkey, a truly amazing bird and our primary target. We can also expect to find other endemics like the Yucatan Jay, Woodpecker, and Flycatcher, as well as the Yellow-lored Parrot and Rose-throated Tanager. Other possible sightings include the Collared Aracari, Keel-billed Toucan, White-bellied Wren, Russet-naped Wood Rail, Blue Bunting, Gray-throated Chat, Red-capped Manakin, Caribbean Dove, Mayan Anthrush, Great Curassow, Thicket Tinamou, and Ornate Hawk-Eagle. We will pay attention to the woodcreepers in the area, such as the Olivaceous, Tawny-winged, Ivory-billed, Ruddy, and Northern Barred Woodcreeper.
2.- After birding along the road, we'll arrive at the archaeological site. Here, we'll have the opportunity to find some amazing birds while also learning about the history of this important Mayan city. As we walk along the path to the main pyramids, we will search for birds like the Singing Quail, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Crested Guan, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Northern Bentbill, Stub-tailed Spadebill, Bat Falcon, and others.
While searching for birds around the main Mayan plaza, we can also learn about the site's history from hundreds of years ago, including its connection to the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala. Optionally, you can climb the tallest pyramid, which sometimes offers views of raptors soaring or birds hidden in the canopy.
3.- (Optional activity) After the archaeological site we will start driving back, if we spot something in the road we can stop and take a look. Our next stop is the Bat Volcano, an amazing cave where millions of bats emerge each evening to search for food. Most of the time we can see the Collared-forest falcon catching some of these bats, all of this is just an amazing experience!
Hormiguero/Xpujil area
Hormiguero area and archaeological site are a very good option to go birding for a morning if you are staying near Xpujil town and a great complement after doing a day in Calakmul road and archaeological site.
The day will start with a short drive to the road of Hormiguero, here we will stop in a lagoon surrounded by an area of shrubs, small trees, grass. In this site we can observe aquatic birds like Herons, Egrets, Gallinules, Greebes, but also is a good place to find Blue Bunting, Yucatan Flycatcher, White-bellied Wren, Barred Antshrike, and sometimes an Ornate Hawk-eagle soaring.
We will continue birding just before the entrance to the ruins, here we can find a very interesting forest area, where we usually find the Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Rose-throated Tanager, Stub-tailed Spadebill, Northern Bentbill, Blue Ground Dove, Lesson's Motmot, Plain Xenops and other good birds.
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Finally, we will enter the Hormiguero archaeological site, which is not very big but has tall trees good for woodcreepers like the Northern-barred and Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Collared Aracari, Green-backed Sparrow. Usually, a pair of Bat Falcons are around the main Mayan structure. In a good morning we can find around 70 species.
Dos Naciones
Full-day birding at Dos Naciones Calakmul: this town is located 70 kilometers south of Xpujil, near the Guatemala border. This birding hotspot presents many opportunities to find birds with limited distribution in the Yucatán Peninsula, where their main distribution is in the Chiapas state or Guatemala
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Target species are: White collared Manakin, Rufous Tailed Jacamar, Yellow Bellied Tyrannulet, Toddy Motmot, King Vulture, Stripe-throated Hermit, Dusky Antbird, Black-throated Shrike Tanager, Northern Schiffornis, Royal Flycatcher and others.