Final reflections

I admit it—we took a Caribbean cruise in January to escape. We have always taken what I would call “active vacations”, meaning go-go-go every waking minute, every day, to maximize the seeing, learning, and doing while in a new environment. This January cruise was not that! In fact, it was large quantities of enforced relaxation on sea days, and pushing 80 now, I found that quite acceptable for time away from the winter blahs (and cold). By the time we got home, though, Minnesota was under attack, and the Twin Cities were occupied by a hostile group from our own federal government. And that was the end of a relaxing January.

Birding in the Costa Maya resort on the Yucatan coast of Mexico was challenging. The resort was walled off from the surrounding area, which made it difficult to leave the beach, but we persisted and eventually found some natural vegetation and some of the local avifauna on roads leading in and out of the resort.

This Black-headed Trogon sat very quietly in vegetation at a forest edge. The species has a very limited distribution in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and the coastal forests of Central America, where it lives in semi-open habitats including banana and cacao plantations. It forages on fruit and insects, catching the latter like a flycatcher by sallying out from a perch.

An Orange Oriole (new bird for me) is orange all over except for a black face, bib, wings, and tail. It is found only on the tip of the Yucatan peninsula and feeds specifically on the fruits of two native trees. Its “orange-ness” is dependent on its diet.

Groove-billed Ani is actually a member of the cuckoo family and gets its name from the ridges on its mandible (upper part of the beak). They usually occur in shrubby or brushy habitats throughout Central America, especially where there are cows. They travel around in small flocks that tend to scare insects into flight as the birds move noisily through the vegetation.

Social Flycatchers are widespread from Mexico to northern South America, and are so-named for their gregarious habit of traveling around in small family groups. Although these flycatchers feed mostly on insects, they also consume a lot of berries and seeds.

Tropical Mockingbirds are a little smaller and a little grayer than their North American cousins, and are also commonly found around human habitations. They forage primarily on the ground, feeding on a variety of insects, fruits, seeds, small lizards, bird eggs, etc. This bird was actively searching around its perch, and eventually flew across the road and began a dispute with a neighbor.

A “Mexican stand-off” between the neighbors ensued. There was a lot of posturing and then some attacks.

After a few tussles like this, then both birds flew off into the bush. It wasn’t clear who won the battle.

Unfortunately, our field trip in Costa Maya came to a sudden end when we were discovered by one of the supervisors of the local work crew, who informed me that we had trespassed into a demolition zone.