Spotted Rail Search And The Uxmal Ruins

The Spotted Rail is a fairly widespread species in the Americas, but it is not common in many places. They can be found in most countries that I have visited - from Cuba to Colombia, Ecuador to Argentina, Panama to Guatemala - but I have yet to run into this species. After reading about successful Spotted Rail searches by Josh Beck and Kathi Borgmann (See: Birds of Passage) along the road to Isla Arena, I added this location to our itinerary. 

December 9, 2021 (continued)

We drove south to the town of San Mateo where we traded asphalt for a bumpy gravel road until Tankuché. We did not stop to bird at all along here, though we found a roadside Lesser Roadrunner that stayed in view for a few seconds. This was only our second roadrunner of the trip. Laura had seen one a few weeks earlier, south of Oaxaca. 

We joined up with a paved road in Tankuché and drove westwards towards the coast. The landscape shifted from scrub interspersed with agriculture to freshwater marsh. We passed some good looking habitat and then parked near where Josh and Kathi had found Spotted Rails eight years previously. 

 Road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

The morning was becoming quite warm as it was nearly 10 AM. A moderate breeze blew, but the wind was rather hot and did not help to cool us off. Even still, some birds were active and we quickly found a number of heron types and a wary Muscovy Duck (these ones are proper wild Muscovy Ducks). 

Queen (Danaus gilippus) - road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

Some call notes drew my attention to a pair of Yucatán Gnatcatchers. This species came up as rare on eBird; this must be around the southern extent of its range. 

Yucatan Gnatcatcher - road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

We birded a large wetland with an abundance of cattails, playing tapes to trawl for Spotted Rails. We finally had a response at 20.529744, -90.343232! Despite our best efforts the rail refused to come in any closer, though it vocalized a few more times. This whole area seemed to be good for rails since we found quite a few Soras and heard at least two Ruddy Crakes as well. 

Laura and I continued west to explore the El Remate area. Josh and Kathi had mentioned on their blog that they visited an excellent boardwalk that cuts through the mangroves, eventually terminating at a small lagoon. Unfortunately, this boardwalk is no longer in operation. The main building was falling apart, and it appeared that no one had maintained the boardwalk for years as it was missing most of its boards. In these tropical conditions, boardwalks quickly fall into disarray. We birded for a few minutes around the beginning of the boardwalk, seeing a crisp Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, before leaving the area.

El Remate boardwalk - road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

We continued driving westwards but we did not make it all the way to the coast and Isla Arena. Instead, we found a little pullout where we ate our lunch and explored for a few minutes. 

Green Kingfisher - road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

Several Morelet's Crocodiles lounged in a roadside ditch, including this youngster. 

Morelet's Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) - road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

Some flowering plants had caught the attention of numerous butterflies and a few moths. I was most interested in the moths, which were a type of wasp mimic called Syntomeida epilais. 

Syntomeida epilais - road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

Syntomeida epilais - road to La Arena, Campeche, Mexico

After lunch we backtracked to the east, passing the Spotted Rail location and continuing to Tankuché, Halachó, Maxcanú and eventually the town of Santa Elena to spend the night. Along the way, we noticed a few Yucatan Jays fly across the road. We had only seen a few of them up to this point, so we pulled over for better views and photos. 

Yucatan Jay - Halachó area, Yucatán, Mexico

December 10, 2021

This morning Laura and I visited the nearby Uxmal ruins, 15 minutes west of Santa Elena. Uxmal was a Maya city that flourished from roughly 500 AD to 1000 AD. It is known for the size of some of its buildings, intricate stonework, and the Puuc style of construction. Compared to some other nearby Maya sites, Uxmal was in relatively good condition even prior to reconstruction since it was built with well-cut stones set in concrete.  

Zona Arqueológica Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico

The entrance fees for Uxmal have skyrocketed in recent years and we were charged 461 pesos per person, plus 80 pesos for parking. For Laura and I, this worked out to over 60 Canadian dollars! We were a little hesitant to pay such a high price but, as these were the only ruins we would visit in the Yucatán Peninsula, we sucked it up and paid.

Zona Arqueológica Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico

We arrived just before Uxmal officially opened at 8 AM to ensure that we could avoid the crowds, while also potentially seeing a few birds. We were actually the first ones in the complex and for most of the morning we only had to share the space with a few other people. When we left at 10:30, dozens upon dozens of people were streaming through the entrance gates with many others queueing up.  

 Zona Arqueológica Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico

Black Spiny-tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura similis) - Zona Arqueológica Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico

Hundreds of Cave Swallows roost on some of the restored temples and our visit was early enough to see a few flocks before they dispersed for the day. We also heard and then saw a Great Horned Owl, though it did not stick around long enough for photos. Out of the 42 species on our eBird checklist, several others were new for our Mexico lists: Yellow-throated Warbler, Crane Hawk and Green-breasted Mango. 

American Kestrel - Zona Arqueológica Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico

We had only seen one Orange Oriole up to this point of the trip, and it was only observed from the car as we drove by. This Yucatán endemic is widespread in the peninsula but not common in many areas. We found a pair of them here, feeding in a fruiting tree alongside a flock of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. 

Orange Orioles - Zona Arqueológica Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico

A Turquoise-browed Motmot, looking over its domain.

Turquoise-browed Motmot - Zona Arqueológica Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico

That afternoon, we drove eastwards across the rest of the peninsula to the city of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. We were down to the last few days of our Yucatán (and by extension, Mexico) adventure. One of the more famous birding locations in this part of Mexico is Camino Vigia Chico, a place we hoped to visit in the evening of December 10 and again the following morning. That will be the subject of my next post.