10:50 am March 27 I have reviewed, deleted, and edited my iPhotos for February 13. This entry will chronicle the birdwatching activities. |
7:55 am I am up early and see some Laughing Gulls and a Royal Tern on the water just in front of our unit. I manage to take a couple of photos of two Yucatan Wrens.
I am delighted with both of these images.
I also was also able to see a Cassin's Kingbird on a nearby post.
On our drive into Merida we saw a number of Banded Kingfishers (identification due to Larry & Mary Ann). I have also seen these near the par 3 golf course in Lethbridge.
1:30 PM While having lunch at the unit, I did my best to capture a Magnificent Frigatebird flying overhead. We also saw a Brown Pelican and a Gull-billed Tern.
4:30 PM I managed to take a picture of a Snowy Plover on the beach in front of the unit.
Larry then drove us back to the road to Dzemul to have another look at the Greater Flamingos. We saw a Semi-palmated Plover, Snowy Plover, Greater Yellowlegs, Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Black-necked Stilt, Killdeer, Green Heron, Tropical Mockingbird, Tri-colored Heron, White Ibis, Snowy Egret and a Red-winged Blackbird.
The Tricolored Heron was perched on some shrubs overlooking the water. Here are two photos: the first showing the original photo, and the second showing a digital enlargement of the bird. Identification is based largely on the size plus the white underside plumage.
The bird is in the center of the photo.
Here is the digital enlargement: 
Identifying the Green Heron was done the same way (although Larry had identified earlier with his spotting scope).
the bird is on the left side
Here is the enlargement 
Here is an enlargement of a Greater yellowlegs
And here is one of a pair of Black-necked Stilts
Here is a table summarizing the day's observations.
Name |
Photo |
Time |
Location |
ID# |
Lifer |
| Laughing Gull |
. |
7:50 am |
near unit |
6 |
. |
| Royal Tern |
. |
. |
. |
7 |
. |
| Yucatan Wren |
Yes |
. |
. |
21 |
Yes |
| Cassin's Kingbird |
Yes |
. |
. |
22 |
Yes |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Black-necked Stilt |
Yes |
10:00 am |
road to Merida |
4 |
. |
| Belted Kingfisher |
. |
. |
" |
5 |
. |
| Tropical Mockingbird |
. |
. |
" |
8 |
. |
| |
|
|
|
. |
. |
| Magnificent Frigatebird |
Yes |
1:30 PM |
near unit |
23 |
Yes |
| Brown Pelican |
. |
. |
" |
1 |
|
| Gull-billed Tern |
. |
. |
" |
24 |
Yes |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Snowy Plover |
Yes |
3:25 PM |
near unit |
25 |
Yes |
| Semi-palmated Plover |
. |
. |
. |
26 |
Yes |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Greater Flamingo |
Yes |
3:40 PM |
road to Dzemul |
9 |
. |
| Tricolored Heron |
|
. |
" |
13 |
. |
| Snowy Egret |
. |
. |
" |
15 |
. |
| Greater Yellowlegs |
Yes |
. |
" |
27 |
Yes |
| Killdeer |
Yes |
. |
" |
28 |
. |
| Green Heron |
Yes |
. |
" |
29 |
Yes |
| White Ibis |
. |
. |
" |
30 |
. |
| Red-wing Blackbird |
. |
. |
" |
31 |
. |
| Groove-billed Ani |
Yes |
|
" |
16 |
. |
SUMMARY of the session: We saw a total of 11 new birds, 8 of which were lifers.
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