Río Lagartos & Caribbean Forests Tour
A 5-day multi-day expedition through the coastal and inland habitats of Northern Yucatán
Pre-congress tour
Our tours are tailored to complement the XXIX International Ornithological Congress ® Mexico 2026 activities. This pre-congress excursion departs from Cancún, taking advantage of the city’s accessibility for most international flights. Our services include transportation from hotels or the airport in Cancún to the various tour destinations, concluding in Mérida in time for the congress.
This option involves less driving time and includes a visit to Río Lagartos, where participants can observe regional specialties such as the Yucatán Nightjar. This tour is suitable for attendees who prefer to participate in bird watching activities before the congress, as it covers the majority of the region’s species. The only disadvantage is that chances to see the Ocellated Turkey is relatively low (sometimes easy in Coba area).
Departing from Cancun this tour leads you to this
main birding spots:
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Cozumel Island
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Cobá, Mayan Ruins
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Valladolid
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Rio Lagartos
Merida is the final destination, right on time to attend IO Congress Inauguration.
Day 1: Pick up
We will pick you up at Cancun airport and transfer to the hotel in Playa del Carmen. Depending on your arrival time we can plan to go birding in the evening to try some crepuscular and nocturnal birds. We will have dinner together and will review the itinerary of the trip and answer any questions you may have.
Day 2: Cozumel
On this day we will travel by ferry to the amazing island of Cozumel, where we will explore all day in the forest, mangroves and coastal dunes. The Cozumel Emerald, Cozumel Vireo and Cozumel Wren will be our main objectives, but the island is home of many more species, as well as endemic subspecies and interesting Caribbean specialties. We will have our meals in the Island, and then we will return to Playa del Carmen where we will spend the night.
Day 3: Coba archaeological site and Valladolid
The tour begins near Coba, on a secondary forest trail where a mix of vegetation adjacent to the village houses is found, with shrubs, and medium-sized or small trees. This mix of vegetation promotes greater bird diversity. You can see the Yucatan Woodpecker, and hummingbirds like the Canivet Emerald, White-bellied Emerald, Yucatan Jay, and Orange Oriole. Occasionally, the Ocellated Turkey can be observed in this area, as well as the Yellow-winged Tanager and Blue-gray Tanager.
Next, we’ll visit the lagoon on the outskirts of the Coba archaeological area. Surrounded by riparian vegetation like cattail and aquatic grasses, it’s home to species such as Ruddy Crake, Snail Kite, and Pinnated Bittern. You can also spot aquatic birds like Least and Pied-billed Grebes, as well as Green, Little Blue, and Tricolored Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, and Limpkin. At night, we’ll look for Yucatan Poorwill and Middle American Screech-Owl near Valladolid.
Day 4: Valladolid (Xocen) to Rio Lagartos
The Mayan village of Xocen is surrounded by lowland tropical forest and secondary scrub. The diversity of habitats makes it a good area to observe species like the Yucatan Jay, Orange Oriole, Yellow-backed Oriole, Yellow- tailed Oriole, White-bellied Emerald, Yellow-billed Cacique, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, and Black Catbird. Gray-throated Chat, Mangrove Vireo, Blue Bunting, Saltators, and several hummingbirds including Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Canivet's Emerald, White-bellied Emerald, and Buff-bellied Hummingbird.
In the afternoon we will drive to Rio Lagartos to start searching for the targets birds of the north coast: Mexican Sheartail, Yucatan Wren, Black-throated Bobwhite, Lesser Roadrunner. Then we will take a boat tour in the mangrove ría to search for the American Flamingo, Mangrove Warbler, Clapper Rail, several species of herons, egrets, terns, shorebirds and more. Once the sun goes down and still in the boat we will look for the Yucatan Nightjar, a bird difficult to see in other places.
Day 5- Rio Lagartos
Drop off in Merida.
We will use this morning to visit the coastal sand dune and mangrove vegetation of Rio Lagartos to search for missing targets and find other great birds like Zenaida Dove, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Crane Hawk and others. Also on the mangrove lagoons there are always big groups of shore birds where we can spend some interesting time.
After breakfast we will start driving to Merida, we will stop in Dzilam de Bravo to search for the Yucatan Gnatcatcher and then we will continue to Merida to do the drop off at congress for registration or hotel.
Price and Reservation
Includes:
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Guiding services
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Entrance tickets
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Transportation from hotel/airport to all spots and Drop-Off at Mérida Congress venue or hotel
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Double room acomodatin (+ $250 for single room accomodation)
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Meals, Snacks and Water
$1440 USD
$25,200 MXN
Rio Lagartos, November 2026
