Painted Bunting

Scientific Name: Passerina ciris

Range / Habitat: Wooded areas in otherwise open habitat. Winters in southern Mexico, including Yucatan, Central America, some Caribbean islands, and the southern tip of Florida. Summers in northern Mexico, Texarkana, and the southeastern coast of United States.

Field Notes: Typical bunting size, shape and bill. Males are unmistakable in range with blue head and neck, rufous chest and belly, yellow and green on the back. Females, as above, are distinctly green to the back and head, yellow to the breast, pale eye ring. Other female buntings are clearly grey or brown in colour.

Personal Notes: A new species for us in El Rey ruins of Cancun, Mexico.

Blue Grosbeak

Scientific Name: Passerina caerulea

Range / Habitat: Found in forest edge, costal scrub, second growth and similar. Winters in southern Mexico, including Yucatan, down through Central American, and many Caribbean islands. Summers in northern Mexico and southern US.

Field Notes: Large, bright blue passerine with an enormous slate-colored bill and chestnut wing bars. Indigo Bunting much smaller overall and smaller bill.

Personal Notes: We captured the essential parts for identification in this photo from El Rey ruins in Cancun, Mexico.

Lesser Greenlet

Scientific Name: Hylophilus decurtatus

Range / Habitat: Year-round in humid forest of southern Mexico, including Yucatan, Central American and just barely into northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Small passerine, with pale yellow underparts, olive wings and back, grey head. Compared to similarly-sized passerines, large head with stubby tail. As with all greenlets, sexes are similar.

Personal Notes: We had previously seen, but not photographed, this bird in Costa Rica. We came across it again in Cancun, Mexico where Richard persevered in both the photo and the identification.

Red-eyed Vireo

Scientific Name: Vireo olivaceus

Population Estimate: 140M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Lowland forest of the US and Canada, excluding the far American West, in summer. Full migrant to forests of northern and eastern South America.

Field Notes: Small drab bird with olive back and white underneath. Crown grey, eyebrow white with thin black eye stripe. Eyes dark red. Song distinctive, a series of broken, slurred phrases alternating upswing and downswing.

Personal Notes: We've probably heard and even seen this common bird before our first confirmed sighting in the Spearfish, South Dakota city park. We later found this bird in migration at the El Rey ruins in Cancun, Mexico. Then, finally, at home in Minnesota. 

Green-breasted Mango

Scientific Name: Anthracothorax prevostii

Population Estimate: 500K to 5M

Range / Habitat: Subtropical / tropical lowland degraded former forest.

Field Notes: Hummingbird easily distinguished by median streak down the breast. In male this is dark blue / black on green. In the female, green bordered by white. The juvenile similar to female with additional rufous stripe laterally. May be confused with Rufous-tailed Hummingbird from the back, but breast is determinate.

Personal Notes: Seen at Arenal Nayara Hotel, Costa Rica and later in Cancun, Mexico.

Ruddy Turnstone

Scientific Name: Arenaria interpres

Population Estimate: 460K to 800K

Range / Habitat: Circumpolar breeder in the Arctic tundra. Otherwise can be found on shorelines throughout the world, including New Zealand and Pacific islands.

Field Notes: Stocky shorebird with short, black bill, slightly upturned and bright orange legs. A harlequin-like pattern of black and white is characteristic in all plumages. The breeding plumage is even more dramatic with bright, rufous sides. Behaviorally, often seen turning over stones and shells.

Personal Notes: Though quite common throughout the world, always a lovely sight on our travels. 

Black Catbird

Scientific Name: Melanoptila glabrirostris

Population Estimate: 20K to 50K, Near Threatened status

Range / Habitat: From Yucatan peninsula in Mexico to Belize and Guatemala. Fairly common resident Cozumel Island and Ambergris Caye, Belize. Found in lowland shrub areas.

Field Notes: Secretive bird, all black with blue sheen. Black eye. Smaller bill than other all-black birds in the same distribution. Grey Catbird can overlap in winter but dark grey with black cap, rufous vent and distinctive call.

Personal Notes: The population in Ambergris and Calker Cayes have some white, which we observed on the wing tips of one bird. We subsequently saw this bird on the El Rey ruins in Cancun, Mexico, where it was delightfully common despite its Near Threatened status. 

Common Black Hawk

Scientific Name: Buteogallus anthracinus

Population Estimate: 2M

Range / Habitat: From southwestern US through Mexico and Central America. Some of the Carribean Islands as well. Common coastal bird, found in mangrove swamps, estuaries, and adjacent forests.

Field Notes: Adult all black above and below with one broad white band in tail and yellow cere and lores. Juvenile with streaked white breast, dark back, several thin white bands in tail. Differentiated from Great Black Hawk by habitat, shorter tail, malar stripe (in juvenile).

Personal Notes: We have only ever seen a juvenile hawk, first on Ambergris Caye, Belize and then on the El Rey archeological ruins in Cancun, Mexico. 

Eurasian Collared-dove

Scientific Name: Streptopelia decaocto

Population Estimate: 14-33M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Widespread in artificial and scrubland habitats throughout much of Europe and Asia. Introduced to the Americas via the Bahamas in the 1970's. 

Field Notes: Medium-sized dove, overall pink to grey to brown. Distinctive black half-collar on back on neck. Song a three-part coo.

Personal Notes: More common than pigeons in Cancun, Mexico.

Spotted Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Actitis macularia

Population Estimate: 150K, Least Concern status

Range: Summers throughout North America, excepting the southern US. Winters in southern coastal US through Mexico, Central and most of South America. Can be found anywhere near water. 

Field Notes: Medium-sized shore bird with proportionate, orange bill. Bobs tail constantly and teeters when flying. Brown up top and white underneath. White eye ring and eye stripe. Breeding plumage is with prominent dark belly spots as above. Non-breeding with all white breast. Solitary Sandpiper similar to non-breeding form but with dense white speckling on back and no white stripe above eye. Lesser Yellowlegs also similar to non-breeding form but with long, prominent yellow legs and crown speckled grey and white. 

Personal Notes: As stated on the Cornell website: "[a] great ambassador for the notoriously difficult-to-identify shorebirds." Indeed.

Belted Kingfisher

Scientific Name: Megaceryle alcyon

Population Estimate: 2M, Least Concern status

Range: Year-round on rivers and shorelines throughout most of the US. Winters down through Mexico and Central America. Summers up into Canada and Alaska.

Field Notes: Medium-sized bird with oversized head and bill. Shaggy blue crest and back. Both males and females have a blue "belt" around their neck, but females also have a rufous belly. Ringed Kingfisher, found throughout Mexico, Central and South America, is larger and more conspicuous with rufous extending to entire belly.

Personal Notes: The bottom photo was one of our favourite spring finds at The Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls, SD in late April, 2014. 

Palm Warbler

Scientific Name: Dendroica palmarum

Population Estimate: 20M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breeds in bogs in throughout Canada. Winters in the southeast US coast, Caribbean Islands and coastal parts of eastern Mexico, Belize and eastern Central American, where it is almost always found on or underneath palm trees.

Field Notes: Small songbird bright yellow undertail and distinctive habit of wagging tail constantly. Underparts white with yellow on chest and under tail, back brown, no wing bars. In breeding plumage, bright rufous cap, yellow supercilium, and rufous streaks on breast. In basic plumage, dull yellow supercilium remains and there may be faint streaks left on the breast. Yellow Warbler is the only other New World warbler with rufous streaks on chest, but has a plain head. Likewise, Prairie Warbler wags tail constantly but has olive cap and black streaking on chest.

Personal Notes: Our most common visitor in the palms outside our beach-front casitas in Tulum and Ambergris Caye. We have also seen this bird in breeding plumage in late spring in Cancun, Mexico and in migration in Minnesota.

Summer Tanager

Scientific Name: Piranga rubra

Population Estimate: 4M

Range / Habitat: Breeds in deciduous woodland, frequently near waterway, in eastern and southwestern US and northern Mexico. Otherwise found in a variety of forest types at mid- to upper-tree levels. Winters in southern Mexico, including the Yucatan, through to northern South America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized passerine with large, pale bill. Males all red as in top photo. Females and juveniles with olive back and wings, yellow underparts with splotches of red. Scarlet Tanager with black or dark wings. Hepatic Tanager with dark bill.

Personal Notes: Original seen in Belize, we found this bird again on the El Rey ruins in Cancun, Mexico. Finally heard one stateside Battle Creek Regional Park in St Paul MN. 

Laughing Gull

Scientific Name: Larus atricilla

Population Estimate: 825K

Range: Year-round throughout the Gulf coast. Will extend up the Atlantic in the summer, and found throughout Mexico in the winter.

Field Notes: Small, black-headed gull. Rarely found inland. Non-breeding plumage as above. Breeding plumage would have completely black head with dark red bill. Differentiated from similar Franklin's Gull primarily by distribution.

Personal Notes:

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes aurifrons

Population Estimate: 1.7M

Range / Habitat: Year-round in lowland dry shrubland from Texas through Mexico and into Central America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker with black and white barred back and large, stout bill. This species has complex geographic variation in crown and nape, ranging from yellow to red, contiguous to discrete. Gila Woodpecker rarely overlaps, but has plain nape, no nasal tufts. Golden-cheeked Woodpecker with large, black eye ring. Yucatan Woodpecker quite similar but noticeably smaller bill and yellow nasal tufts.

Personal Notes: Seen in Belize and again in Cancun, Mexico.

Tropical Mockingbird

Scientific Name: Mimus gilvus

Population Estimate: 500K-5M

Range / Habitat: Ranges from southern Mexico to northern Brazil. Also found in the Lesser Antilles and other Caribbean islands. Favors subtropical and tropical dry shrubland and frequently found in open, man-made landscapes.

Field Notes: Typical mockingbird shape and vocalization. Grey back and tail, white throat, neck and belly. Wings black with two white wing bars. Dusky eye stripe, long tail, and a flash of white to each side of the tail as it flies away. Overlaps with similar Northern Mockingbird only at isthmus of Mexico, with the latter showing large white wing patches in flight.

Personal Notes: First seen in Belize then later a common sight in Cancun, Mexico.

Yucatan Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Melanerpes pygmaeus

Range / Habitat: Endemic to the Yucatan Peninsula, where found on forest edges, costal scrub, second growth.

Field Notes: Medium-sized woodpecker with small bill, white face and chest, black and white barred back and wings. Red crown which may extend to nape (females with red nape only). Yellow nasal tufts and red belly. Golden-fronted Woodpecker has much larger bill and can have red nasal tufts and yellow belly, in addition to the red varieties.

Personal Notes: Also known as Red-vented Woodpecker.

Great-tailed Grackle

Scientific Name: Quiscalus mexicanus

Population Estimate: 30M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in rural and developed areas of the western US, Mexico, and Central America.

Field Notes: Large, sociable, loud black bird with long tail. Differentiated from other black birds of similar size by long tail and yellow eyes. There is a significant amount of sexual dimorphism: males are much larger and black / iridescent (top photo) while females are smaller and dark brown / black (bottom photo).

Population Notes: Though they can be a bit brash in vocalization, they are always entertaining.

Double-crested Cormorant

Scientific Name: Phalacrocorax auritus

Population Estimate: 1.5M, Least Concern status

Range: Winters in the southern US interior, and more extensively on the coasts. In summer it is widespread throughout North America.

Field Notes: Most common cormorant in North America, found along coasts but also inland. All black bird with hooked bill that is yellow at the base. Juveniles more pale, as in top photo. Often found in groups, these are heavy fliers that cruise just above the water. Great Cormorant and Brant's Cormorant have very limited overlap. The Neotropic Cormorant has a shared range along the Gulf Coast in Mexico, but the Double-crested Cormorant is larger with brighter yellow bill base, and relatively shorter tail.

Personal Notes: The drying of feathers is my favorite pose.