Having visited the Playacar resort of Yucatan last year, I returned but based myself further down the Riviera Maya at Akumal. This turned out to be an excellent decision bird-wise and I thought it worth posting my trip here for anyone with a non-birding partner who will be restricted to one hotel rather than on a birding tour.
We stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe (can be booked with Thomas Cook or First choice ). The hotel was excellent ,with spacious grounds and a golf course bordering onto forest. The resort is extensive (it's really three hotels where you can eat/drink freely throughout) and has a system of interconnecting little "trams" that helps you get about ,including out to the golf course . It was also very easy and cheap to use local transport to get further afield.
We were put in the "Akumal" section of the resort and on checking in we asked for a room overlooking the jungle.We got a room in block 70 which proved an excellent position for birding from the balcony - but you need to be not on the ground floor ! Block 71 also would have been good.
Will start posting my sightings next ....
Ok, my balcony overlooked a stretch of forest with the sea behind. Here's what I saw from there;
Keel-billed toucan
white-fronted parrot
killdeer
squirrel cuckoo
hooded oriole
black cowled oriole
altamira oriole
yellow -backed oriole
magnificent frigatebird
brown pelican
laughing gull
royal tern
american herring gull
long-tailed grackle
golden-fronted woodpecker
yucatan woodpecker
yucatan jay
white-winged dove
tropical mockingbird
tropical kingbird
kiskadee
chacalaca
clay-coloured robin
melodious blackbird
black catbird
yellow-throated warbler
cliff swallow
osprey
orange oriole
summer tanager
grey-headed tanager
roseatte spoonbill
groove-billed ani
cinnamon hummingbird
turkey vulture.
Most of these were seen daily .The ani, hummingbird ,tanagers and toucan were singles
In the hotel grounds there is an area of mangrove with a watchtower for viewing ,extensive borders and patches of natural habitat , plus the beach,of course ,which enabled me to add the following;
sanderling
turnstone
snowy egret
great white egret
yellow-crowned night heron
little blue heron
grey catbird
wood thrush
buff-bellied hummingbird
But it was over on the golf course that the best birds were seen......