I have always loved to travel, and now that I also love birding it’s great to be able to combine these two passions.
On a recent cruise with stops in the Bahamas, Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico, and Roatan off Honduras, I was able to see a lot of different birds and added eight new ones to my life list.
Most of the new birds for my catalog were spotted in Cozumel during a beach-day visit to Chankanaab Park.
I had two birding excursions planned on this cruise, one in Roatan and one in Costa Maya, but and both ended up falling through. (One due to a time mix-up and the other due to poor weather.)
Still, I was happy to find these great eight new-to-me birds: Black Catbird, Caribbean Elaenia flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Great-tailed Grackle, Hooded Oriole, Ruddy Ground Dove, Tropical Mockingbird and Yucatan Woodpecker.
Here are some photos and info on each of them:
Black Catbird
Much like the Gray Catbirds we have in Florida, the Black Catbirds seemed very skittish. It was hard for me to get a decent photo of one, but I was able to do it at Chankanaab in Cozumel. I saw another at Costa Maya but wasn’t able to get a picture in time.
From eBird,org: “Slender-billed, glossy black bird of humid forest, woodland, thickets, and overgrown clearings; shape and habits like Gray Catbird of North America. Common on Cozumel Island, but generally uncommon to rare on the Yucatan mainland. Often sings from a prominent perch, but otherwise rather retiring and easily overlooked, mainly at low levels in bushes; also hops on the ground, flipping and fanning its tail. Told from other black songbirds in its geographic range by habits and slender bill.”
Caribbean Elaenia
I didn’t even realize I had found a new bird when I took a picture of this one at Chankanaab. I was far away and thought it was another mockingbird at the time. It was until I was examining my photos I realized this wasn’t a mockingbird – it was a Caribbean Elaenia, a member of the flycatcher family.
From eBird.org: “Rather drab and inconspicuous flycatcher of tropical woodland, semi-open areas with bushes and trees. Often found at fruiting trees, where eats small berries. Limited overlap in range with slightly larger and brighter Yellow-bellied Elaenia, which has a spiky, white-based crest, unlike Caribbean, which usually holds its crest flattened; also note that Caribbean has a bright orange base to the underside of its bill, duller wingbars, and different voice; does not flick its wings or tail.”
Great Kiskadee
This is easily one of the most colorful birds I have ever photographed. I found the Great Kiskadees at Chankanaab, and I heard a group of them before I saw them. They’re very loud members of the flycatcher family, with a range that extends from south Texas though Mexico, Central America and almost all of South America. I also saw some in Costa Maya.
From AllAboutBirds.org: “They’re boisterous in both attitude and color: a black bandit’s mask, a yellow belly, and flashes of warm reddish-brown when they fly. Kiskadees sit out in the open and attract attention with incessant kis-ka-dee calls and sallying flights. Despite their small U.S. range, this is one of the most widespread flycatchers in the Western Hemisphere.”
Great-tailed Grackle
When I first saw this bird, I knew it was a grackle – but I thought it was a Boat-tailed Grackle like we have here in Florida. It wasn’t until doing some research that I found out it was another member of the grackle family, a Great-tailed Grackle. Their range goes the Southwestern U.S. and into Central America. I saw some in both Cozumel and Costa Maya.
From AllAboutBirds.org: “A big, brash blackbird, the male Great-tailed Grackle shimmers in iridescent black and purple, and trails a tail that will make you look twice. The rich brown females are about half the male’s size. Flocks of these long-legged, social birds strut and hop on suburban lawns, golf courses, fields, and marshes in Texas, the Southwest, and southern Great Plains. In the evening, raucous flocks pack neighborhood trees, filling the sky with their amazing (some might say ear-splitting) voices.”
Hooded Oriole
I was supposed to do a birding trip in Costa Maya, but bad weather caused the guide to cancel it. It was so windy and rainy in the morning our ship’s captain said he wasn’t even sure we were going to be able to dock at this port.
The weather improved a bit and the ship did dock, so I decided to walk around the port to see if there might be any birds about. That’s when I spotted two orange-yellow birds sitting together in a dead palm tree. They were a couple of Hooded Orioles – a true couple. The dark orange one with a black face was the male, and the brighter yellowish one was the female.
Hooded Orioles live on the Yucatan Peninsula year-round, but they also visit parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California during breeding season.
From AllAboutBirds.org: Black and brilliant yellow-orange flash across the sky when male Hooded Orioles dash through open woodlands and yards of the southwestern U.S. Following close behind are the pale yellow females. Sometimes called “palm-leaf orioles,” these orioles “sew” their hanging nests onto the undersides of palm fronds. They often stay hidden while foraging, but their large, slender shape and nearly constant chatter usually give them away. Hooded Orioles also use hummingbird feeders, awkwardly bending or hanging upside down to drink.”
Ruddy Ground Dove
I spotted this Ruddy Ground Dove in Cozumel, but it wasn’t on the ground – it perched up high in a tree. These doves usually are found along Mexico’s coasts as well as in Central and South America. Apparently they can also be seen in the southwest U.S.
From AllAboutBirds.org: “At first glance a group of tiny, earth-toned Ruddy Ground Doves foraging on a roadside could almost look like sparrows, but a closer look reveals a classic dove silhouette in miniature—small head, short bill, and plump body. Males are attired in cinnamon, lavender, and gray, while females are a plainer grayish-brown. Both sexes sing a fast series of “cu-WHOOP” notes, show black wing markings at rest, and reveal surprisingly orange wings when taking flight. This widespread Neotropical species is common in open areas and is increasingly turning up in the southwestern United States.
Tropical Mockingbird
I was hoping to see a Bahamian Mockingbird on this trip when we were at Coco Cay in the Bahamas. No luck there, but in Cozumel and in Costa Maya I did photograph a new-to-me mockingbird: the Tropical Mockingbird.
They look similar to our Northern Mockingbirds but the coloring on their wings are a little different, and to me they seemed thinner and with longer tails. They’re found in parts of Mexico, Central America and northern parts of South America.
‘From eBird.org: “Tropical counterpart to Northern Mockingbird of North America. Common and often conspicuous in open and semi-open lowland tropical areas, perching on roadside wires and bare snags. Silvery gray above and whitish below with a long rounded tail that is black with a bold white tip. Lacks the big white wing patches of Northern Mockingbird, and the ranges of the two species do not really overlap. Varied calls and loud mimic song is much like Northern Mockingbird.”
Yucatan Woodpecker
The Yucatan Woodpecker was one of the birds I was hoping to see during my stops in Mexico, and I had success. This little woodpecker with a yellow patch around its beak is found only in the Yucatan Peninsula and parts of Belize and Guatemala. I spotted it in a tree where the Great Kiskadees were hanging out in Cozumel
From ebird.org: “Found in woodland, beach scrub, semi-open wooded habitats. … Very similar in plumage [to the Golden-fronted Woodpecker] but Yucatan Woodpecker has a much shorter bill, ‘egg-yolk’ yellow feathering around the bill base … and relatively wider white barring on back (looks silvery at a distance, vs. blackish overall on Golden-fronted). Voice is quite different from Golden-fronted.”
These new eight were great, but they weren’t the only birds … or animals … I saw on my cruise. More about those other finds in a post coming later.
