To break up the long drive to Cancun, we planned to stop at Xpujil, near the eastern edge of the Calakmul Biosphere for a couple of days. Starting on the eastern edge of Calakmul and continuing east towards the coast, the forest becomes wetter and many of the species that occur in eastern Chiapas also occur there, although their status is much less well-known. Given that we had limited knowledge of how to access the various sites and we knew that at least some of them were on ejido lands, we hired Claudio Lopez (+52 983 182 6203 on Whatsapp) as a birding guide to maximize our efficiency and avoid potential problems. Claudio turned out to have exceptionally sharp vision, which made both Paul and myself keenly aware that our age was catching up with us!
Before we reached Xpujil we decided to stop off at the bat cave near the entrance to Calakmul. After arriving there, we discovered we had to wait until a guided tour in the evening before we could go in. After waiting about an hour, we made the short walk to the cave. There are often birds around the entrance to bat roosting caves, hoping to snag a bat for dinner during the mass exodus. I had seen a couple of reports of Bicolored Hawk from here and was hoping we might luck out.
Short after our arrival, the guide leading the tour pointed
out a raptor flying around low down near the cave entrance – a Collared Forest
Falcon. Apparently, there are almost always one or two present and this may be
the closest thing to a guaranteed location for seeing this notoriously cryptic
species in Mexico. Unfortunately, we failed to see any sign of a Bicolored Hawk,
although we eventually relocated the forest-falcon in the trees above us,
dining on a bat. The overall bat spectacle was underwhelming in my opinion, at
least compared to Carlsbad Caverns or Ruby Mine. One issue may be the extensive
trees that obscure the bat flight to some extent. However, there really seemed
to be far fewer bats, especially earlier in the evening.
We made contact with Claudio that evening and hatched a plan
for the next couple of days. The next morning, we drove east from Xpujil into a
forest area where Claudio had discovered a large roost of King Vultures. The
drive in had some good highlights with both a female Great Curassow and a
Crested Guan showing well. We then got on the trail to the vulture roost. This
led through typical Atlantic coast rain forest and with Claudio’s knowledge, we
were able to clean up on a few missing avian items. First off was a Red-capped
Mannakin lek, where we got good looks at both males and females. Next were three
Gray-headed Tanagers, a lifer for Paul and a bird I had only seen a couple of
times previously. Finally, we saw a male Gray-collared Becard well. This is a
localized, low-density species that I ran into quite often in my first wave of
trips to Mexico but one that I have rarely seen recently. We had missed it in
Oaxaca a couple of years previously and it was a lifer for Paul. We had another
Royal Flycatcher that briefly showed its full crest for Claudio, but not for
either of us!
We finally arrived at the vulture roost and it exceeded all
expectations. I had seen King Vultures half-a-dozen times before, often quite
well, but we had very close-range views of at least 15 birds, including both
adults and immatures. I will let Paul’s photos speak for themselves ….
In the afternoon, we made the long drive back into Calakmul
to look at an Ornate Hawk-Eagle nest. We found the nest but unfortunately no
sign of the adults and it appeared they had abandoned the location. This was a
bit of a downer as this is a really spectacular-looking species I had seen just
twice. Our effort was somewhat rewarded when we found a pair of White-necked
Puffbirds – a low-density species that is quite difficult to catch-up with.
We finished the day at the bat cave, since Claudio said it
was the most likely spot for a Bicolored Hawk. We missed it again, but this
time the Collared Forest-Falcon was complemented by a Barn Owl and a pair of
Black-and-white Owls, one of which we saw catching and then eating a bat.
The next morning, we headed south close to the border with
Guatemala to visit Dos Naciones, on the SE edge of the Calakmul Biosphere. This
had many of the lowland rainforest species that occur in E Chiapas and we were
hoping for some of the tropical flycatchers we had missed. The path towards the
forest led through cut-over forest, fields and orchards and a Pheasant Cuckoo
was a nice addition to the trip list.
Initially birding was slow in the forest, but after crossing
up and over a ridge and down into a small side valley, things began to pick up.
We finally got a visual on a Black-throated Shrike-Tanager, after only hearing
them in Naha. This was a male, my first one as my only previous sighting had
been of a female, and we had nice looks. I then found a Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher,
which showed well.
One bird I had missed entirely on my previous trip to Chiapas was Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher. Since it occurred in Dos Naciones, I had been diligently keeping up the playback when a likely candidate flew across the trail. Claudio’s eagle eyes saw where it landed and after a brief panic, I got on to the bird and had good looks. We did well with other tropical flycatchers on the trail, seeing Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Stub-tailed Spadebill and Eye-ringed Flatbill. Unfortunately our luck with tinamous did not change as we spent about 15 minutes trying fruitlessly to tempt a close-by Slaty-breasted Tinamou into view.
On the return out of the forest, we had a great look at a
Green Vine Snake that shot across the path and then slid up into a small
sapling. Some mobbing playback in the orchard pulled out both Yellow-green and
Red-eyed Vireos and a Blue-winged Warbler, among other migrants. By now raptors
were starting to soar and we had several good birds including a King Vulture
and a Plumbeous Kite.
We now headed back to Xpujil where we dropped Claudio off
and began the drive up towards Tulum. We eventually settled on a fairly early
night with a plan to check early next morning an area a bit inland where I had
Yucatan Poorwill on a previous trip.
Leaving well before dawn the next day saw us driving some
dirt roads through thorn forest. After some initial disappointment, we finally
got a response from a Yucatan Poorwill close by. This species is notoriously
difficult to see but I had had good luck on my previous trip by illuminating
the area while trying to playback. We were able to see the bird flying around
in the flashlight beam, but could not track it to where it perched.
We continued birding as it got light and after a while we
had a very brief look at a raptor flying over the track. I was fairly confident
that the bird might prove to be a Gray-headed Kite and cranked up the playback.
We soon hear birds responding a little away from the track and then a bird flew
in and perched right above our heads for very good looks. This was only the
second time either of us had seen the species.
Since we were not too far from Coba, we then headed up to
check out the lagoon in the hope we could tempt out Ruddy Crakes to show better
than the ones in the Usumacinta marshes. Although I had good looks during a
prior visit, the crakes preferred to remain hidden. Due to last minute change
in Paul’s schedule related to medical appointments, we now drove up to the
airport for him to catch his flight later that day. Once I had dropped him off,
I then turned around and drove back to Tulum as our original schedule had us
staying out at Punta Allen.
The original purpose of going out to Punta Allen was to see
Rufous-necked Wood-Rail, for which there was supposedly almost a 100% chance.
This would have been a lifer for Paul and a bird I had only seen previously a
couple of times, both at San Blas in Nayarit. Caribbean Elaenia was also likely
there and I was excited about the possibility of seeing some of the rarer (in
Mexico) Caribbean migrants, specifically Gray Kingbird and Black-whiskered
Vireo.
Michael Carmody, who had told me about the wood-rails there,
had warned me about the very slow, pot-holed road out to Punta Allen and stated
that he always questioned himself whether it was worth the effort. Despite the
fact that there were no lifers out there for me, I bit the bullet and began the
long drive out of Tulum.
The road was every bit as bad as Michael had told me, but I
persisted. After an hour I had finally reached around halfway when I was
stopped and told that due to a forest fire, the road had been closed
indefinitely. The fire crew stated that it would be many hours before the road
would open. It was obviously useless to go on, so I turned around and
“bumpity-bumped” my way back to Tulum. I obviously had “to eat” the money I had
paid for the accommodation in Punta Allen and once I was back in a cell phone
reception area, I started looking on-line for a place to stay. There was
nothing that cheap in Tulum, so I decided to book another night at the hotel
inland from Puerto Morelos we had used at the beginning of the trip. I was
already using that for the next night, so it was convenient, even though it
meant another hour and a half of driving.
The following morning, I started on a search for Gray
Kingbird and Black-whiskered Vireo. A few pairs of the former breed along the
Caribbean coast of Mexico and it is also a rare to uncommon but regular
migrant. The latter is a rarer migrant, but likely regular, allowing for the
lack of coverage. There were no recent ebird reports of the kingbird from its
regular nesting spot in the Walmark carpark in Cancun, so I decided to just
wander around various coastal neighborhoods looking for one, as they perch
conspicuously like other kingbirds. For the vireo, I simply played Red-eyed
Vireo scolding calls in any area of mangroves or trees I could find. I also
visited the botanic gardens both days as these offer extensive tree cover that
back right on to the mangroves.
The search proved rather dull as I could turn up neither of
the two target species and the other bird species were pretty humdrum, although
it was nice to see Palm and Yellow-throated Warblers again. I did at least
enjoy exceptional looks at three different Yucatan Vireos, which I had only
seen perhaps three times previously. On the last visit to the botanic garden, I
had some success pulling in some birds along the path between the hardwood
forest and the mangroves. These included a Black Catbird and a Rufous-browed
Peppershrike and, finally, a Black-whiskered Vireo. The vireo put an
exclamation point on the end of the trip as later that day, I drove to Cancun
Airport to fly back to California. Other than the ‘heard-only’ gang, I could
reflect on a successful trip.
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