The Usumacinta rises in the highlands of southern Chiapas and flows north and east towards the Gulf of Mexico (Sorry Mr. President, but I really don’t like name changes for the sake of it, having suffered through the ridiculous flip-flopping on North American birds names the last three decades). There are extensive marshes along much of its lower reaches and these offer a whole range of species not possible in the dry Yucatan.
Leaving Calakmul a day early gave us a chance to spend a
couple of days in the area rather than just short stops while traveling between
Chiapas and Calakmul. We initially aimed to take the road to Jonuta, where we hoped
to find a hotel for the night.
Camino Palizada, which leads to Jonuta, passes through
seasonal wetlands that are mostly dried up by spring. We stopped at any
remaining wet areas that held birds. One key target was Jabiru, which was a
lifer for Paul and a Mexican tick for me. Jabirus are most common in the immediate
aftermath of the wet season (Sep-Oct) when much of the Belize population
decamps to the area. However, there are always a few around. My previous visit
to this area in winter had failed to find any. This time our luck was in as at
the first stop at a pond that held over 50 feeding Wood Storks, we found a
Jabiru.
Further stops along the road turned up a number of Bare-throated
Tiger-Herons and Fork-tailed Flycatchers but we had no luck with Yellow-headed
Parrot or Aplomado Falcon, both of which I had seen on my previous visit. Any
thoughts of returning along the highway in late afternoon to look for the
parrots flying to roost were quelched by the poor state of the road, which had
some very nasty cracks resulting from subsidence. There was no way I was going
to try driving it at night.
Arriving in Jonuta, we soon found a hotel. After cooling
down in the air-conditioning, we decided to drive out on the road to Ciudad
Pemex. This passes through more extensive marshes than Camino Palizada.
Fortunately, the road was not as bad and we stayed out until dusk. Russet-naped
Wood-Rails were quite frequent along the roadside and gave some killer views.
We found some large roosts in isolated areas of trees with
over 600 Neotropic Cormorants and 47 Snail Kites. The icing on the cake was a
bird we found dust-bathing in the road as dusk fell. We both struggled to work
out what it was before I finally realized it was an Aplomado Falcon. Fortunately,
it then allowed a slightly closer approach for better looks, although the light
was too poor for photography.
The next morning, we were out along the road again with the
intention of driving the whole length to Ciudad Pemex. Whenever we heard
parrots, we would check them out but only saw a couple of White-fronted for
sure. Given the large number of waterbirds we had witnessed the previous
evening, I was optimistic about finding a Glossy Ibis, if we could get close views
of some ibis. Eventually, we started to have one or two on roadside ponds. The first couple were White-faced but the third
was a Glossy – another Mexico tick.
We again had good views of multiple wood-rails and racked up
a total of 22 tiger-herons. We found four Pinneated Bitterns, a species we had
missed on the first day. We did better for ducks, finding 80 Fulvous Whistling-Ducks,
a species that has declined massively over the last few decades, and well over
a 100 Blue-winged Teals.
We spent some time looking for rails and crakes. Purple
Gallinules were easy enough to see, but the Ruddy Crakes proved quite a bit
harder. Persevering with playback at various spots, we eventually tempted one
out into the open for reasonable but brief looks.
Other than Northern Jacanas, of which we saw 250, shorebird diversity
and numbers were limited. We were able to find several Double-striped Thick-knees
in the fields along with both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. As we started to
drive away from the area where we had seen the crakes, I mentioned to Paul that
we really should be checking the drying margin of the wetland, mixing open dirt
with patches of short grass, for Upland Sandpiper. We stopped and Paul
immediately found one with his first scan! The bird was a bit distant and
justified the fact we had brought a small travel scope with us to get better
looks in such situations. We eventually found there were seven birds in all – a
lifer for Paul and a Mexico bird for me.
We were not neglecting landbirds on the drive and typical
savannah or floodplain species we saw were Pale-vented Pigeon, Plain-breasted
Ground Dove, Scissor-tailed and Fork-tailed Flycatchers, Eastern Meadowlark and
Yellow-tailed Oriole.
We were very happy with the decision to bail early on Calakmul
and then moved on further up the river valley to Balancan. Here the floodplain
was more limited but still extensive enough to attract many of the same species
as well as a few additional ones. Specific targets here were Striped Cuckoo, Botteri’s
Sparrow and Grassland Yellow-Finch. In the late afternoon, we headed out on the
road to Laguna Sunina. Our first stop was an immediate hit with our second
Jabiru and a couple of Botteri’s Sparrows. Heading further down the road,
Grassland Yellow-Finch was proving frustratingly elusive, but we eventually got
decent looks at one or two. The same area held another lifer for Paul in the
form of Gray-crowned Yellowthroat and we enjoyed great looks at a flock of a
dozen Fork-tailed Flycatchers.
The next morning, we tried some roads around El Arenal in
the hope of finding a Striped Cuckoo. The search proved fruitless, but we did
get better looks at Grassland Yellow-Finch. An established population of exotic
Tricolored Munias proved to be an unexpected Mexico tick for me and as it
warmed up, we hoped to find some raptors. In addition to a few Yellow-headed
Vultures, we found three White-tailed Hawks and an immature Black-hawk species.
The birding ended on a high note when we found an Aplomado Falcon perched up in
a tree that gave great looks in perfect light.
After that it was time to head on to Naha in Chiapas. Since
that required a fair amount of driving on dirt roads up into the hills, I wanted
to complete the drive well before dark.
Comments
Post a Comment