Trip to Calakmul ruins, Campeche, Mexico
March 7th and 8th, 2004
On Friday afternoon we drove to the Chicanna Ecovillage Hotel just about 30 minutes from the entrance to the Calakmul Ruins. The hotel is a very nice, well run, Ecolodge (i.e. no Air conditioning, TV, or telephone) with thatched roof cabanas and very lush vegetation. We arrived just after dark, checked in, had dinner and got a good nights rest in anticipation of the next day’s adventures.
At 6:15 we awoke to the dawn chorus. No, change that. It was much too raucous and chaotic to be called a “chorus”. We had Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Olive-throated Parakeets, numerous Orioles, Great Kiskadees, and to top it off, Plain Chachalacas in “surround sound”. If you have never heard a Chachalaca, they are VERY loud, and sound almost mechanical going cha cha la ca. Then imagine at least 30 or so of these birds calling literally at your front door as well as side and back windows!
We got up and birded the hotel grounds for 2 hours. With many of the flowering trees in bloom, we saw lots of Orioles including Baltimore, Orchard, Hooded, Altamira, and Black-cowled. We also found pairs of both Masked and Black-crowned Tityra, Rose-throated Becard, and Blue-gray Tanager.
Then into the restaurant for breakfast and then we headed to the ruins. Thirty minutes down the highway and we arrived at the entrance road to the Mayan ruins of Calakmul. It was now 9:30 AM and luckily for us slightly overcast. The entrance road is 60 KM long and would take about an hour and twenty minutes if you didn’t stop to bird on the way (which would be unthinkable!). It starts off as a small two-lane road and after 20 KMs narrows down further to a single lane with occasional pull offs to allow vehicles travelling in the opposite direction to pass. It’s very overgrown forest edge and weeds.
We saw hundreds of Indigo Buntings and lots of White-collared Seedeaters in the weeds. Also saw several groups of Collared Aracari in the roadside trees eating berries. Several times Blue Ground-Doves * flew across the road just in front of us. And I’m not sure if it is an official birding term, if not, I’d like to add it, “zingers”, to ID all those birds that flew across the road so fast and so close in front of us that we couldn’t ID them.
About two and a half hours later and we arrived at the park entrance and what a treat, two Ocellated Turkeys in the parking area. We got great up close views for about 5 minutes and then hiked on into the park. (the parking lot is not that busy, there were only 9 cars the entire day)
After walking for about 20 minutes we came to a small clearing with lots of activity. We got a Blue Bunting * as well as Ivory-billed Woodcreeper and Olivaceous Woodcreeper*. Several small birds managed to escape without proper ID including a wood thrush and wren as they all appeared at the same time and we couldn’t focus on everyone at once! That Olivaceous Woodcreeper doesn’t hold still for a minute.
We stopped for lunch about 30 minutes later and I casually looked behind me while eating and found a Keel-billed Toucan just sitting there! Another of those unexpected “treats”.
After passing some of the smaller ruins we went down a small path that went about 100 yards into the forest. Saw several hummers and a Smoky-brown Woodpecker *. Then when we were coming back to the main clearing we heard a loud roaring sound. I have to admit that the hair on my neck stood up. It was coming from very close by and sounded very threatening! After about a minute we recognized it as the sound of a howler monkey and relaxed a little. We soon found the howler in a large tree nearby and got good views. Wonder what it sonded like? Listen to this Howler call . And then imagine it about 10 times louder. Boy what a call.
We started back towards the entrance and came across several small flocks of Ocellated Turkey. They are really beautiful birds. We also ran across a small family of Spider Monkeys and watched them a few minutes.
Back on the road out of the ruins, we again saw all the hundreds of Indigo Buntings, lots more Collared Aracaris, and some Yucatan Jays.
On the main highway back to the hotel (just at dusk) we came to a stretch of road where there were literally “streams” of bats crossing the road at about 3 feet off the ground. We had to slow down and hope that they wouldn’t run into us!
We spent the night again in the hotel and again birded two hours in their gardens and property the next morning. We had 45 birds for the trip and 4 lifers.
Plain Chachalaca
Ocellated Turkey
Roadside Hawk
White-winged Dove
Ruddy Ground-Dove
Blue Ground-Dove *
Olive-throated Parakeet
Squirrel Cuckoo
Black-headed Trogon
Violaceous Trogon
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Collared Aracari
Keel-billed Toucan
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Smoky-brown Woodpecker *
Olivaceous Woodcreeper *
Ivory-billed Woodcreeper
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Black-crowned Tityra
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo *
Green Jay
Brown Jay
Yucatan Jay
Clay-colored Robin
Gray Catbird
Tropical Mockingbird
Tropical Parula
Black-and-white Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Blue-gray Tanager
Grayish Saltator
Black-headed Saltator
Blue Bunting
Indigo Bunting
Melodious Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Black-cowled Oriole
Orchard Oriole
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Hi Dave,
"Sounds" like you had a great weekend! 20 of those would be lifers for me - Mexico certainly has some interesting birds. After we've done Costa Rica properly, perhaps we'll plan a trip to Mexico, but then I also want to go to Australia, the Galapagos Islands....... So many birds, so little time!
Another fabulous weekend, Dave -- and I do hope some of those Indigo Buntings start heading this way soon!