Tropical Birding tour report: The Yucutan and Palenque
Keel-billed Toucan - Iain Campbell
Birding Calakmul
3 Feb:
Slowly
driving the entrance road at daybreak yielded nice looks at Great
Curassow and
Slaty-legged Tinamou. Collared Forest-Falcon and Common Potoo were seen
flying
across the road. If I had to think of one word to describe Calakmul it
would be
“awesome”. Picture walking through lowland
rainforest and stumbling upon a
decaying stone staircase. The vegetation is thick, and you can only see
the
first twenty stairs or so. As you ascend the stairs, you’re
completely surrounded
by layers of canopy. Finally, you reach the top of the staircase and
turn
around to see untouched rainforest in every direction, studded by a
half a
dozen ancient pyramids, peeking their heads out above the canopy.
Awesome???in
both senses of the word! As said by a participant,
“It’s pristine jungle with
no sign of man, except for the odd thousand-year-old pyramid here and
there!” Birding
the unexcavated grounds of Calakmul is very productive, especially at
the
resident army ant swarms. We found many species attending the swarms,
including
Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Great Crested Flycatcher, Gray-headed
Tanager,
Gray-throated Chat, and Worm-eating, Kentucky, and Swainson’s
Warblers. Mexican
Antthrush was also a nice find. |
