{"id":3888,"date":"2013-05-02T17:11:57","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T22:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/entrip-report-amazing-campecheesreporte-de-viaje-%c2%a1increi%cc%81ble-campeche"},"modified":"2018-02-02T20:27:04","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T20:27:04","slug":"entrip-report-amazing-campecheesreporte-de-viaje-increible-campeche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/trip-report-amazing-campeche\/","title":{"rendered":"Trip Report: Amazing Campeche!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmazingCampeche_Pt_I_300px\"Birds fly, but time flies much faster. It\u2019s been three weeks since my last post here in Ride Into Birdland, and even longer since I had the good fortune of going on an amazing birding trip to the State of Campeche, back in early March. Since then Spring has arrived and birds are busy all over, so I really need to catch up.<\/p>\n

I was blessed to visit Campeche for the first time with three very special companions: Maria Andrade, General Director of Pronatura Peninsula de Yucatan<\/a>, Jacqueline Aldana, also a staff member at Pronatura, and my good friend Cherie Pitillo, whom I\u2019ve mentioned many times here in Ride Into Birdland and will continue to do so, always recommending her wonderful Backyard Birding in Merida<\/em> column (read her latest here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It was Maria who proposed we follow a route that’s being promoted by the State of Campeche under the name \u201cRincones de Ensue\u00f1o – Dzitbalch\u00e9 – Isla Arena\u201d, drawn along six points of interest: the towns of Dzitbalch\u00e9 and Nunkin\u00ed, the haciendas Santa Cruz and Tankuch\u00e9, a wonderful water spot known as El Remate, and our final destination, Isla Arena. Information in English about this beautiful state of the Yucatan Peninsula is available in the official website\u00a0Campeche Travel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An interesting aspect of this route is that it combines birding opportunities with views of authentic Campeche communities. During our first day of travel, on the way to Isla Arenas, we made several stops. The following pictures provide a glimpse of what we saw:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The words \u201cMexico\u201d and \u201ccolor\u201d are often one and the same, as this partial view of a fa\u00e7ade in Nunkin\u00ed shows. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We crossed the village of Culkin\u00ed, where we couldn\u2019t help but notice the engraved stones in display along the main road, many of them with bird motifs. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We stopped and soon met the artists, nice guys willing to engage visitors in amiable conversation. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Further ahead, Maria noticed a group of people working in a small cave, under a house. We watched as they weaved \u201cJipi\u201d hats. The cave\u2019s high-humidity is needed to work with the palm fibers used in the elaborate, multi-step process entailed by the manufacture of these highly regarded hats. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We reached Hacienda Santa Cruz, where a young local tourist guide (on the State\u2019s payroll, therefore free of charge for visitors) took us on a brief tour of the facilities. In the photos: the old irrigation system, a chimney that still stands proud in one piece, and old pipes from the British-made machinery used long ago for the production of henequ\u00e9n. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A meeting of local farmers was taking place at Hacienda Santa Cruz. I snapped a few frames discreetly, but my attention was soon drawn by a trio of laughing, camera friendly kids. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

Wait, I know what you\u2019re thinking: that\u2019s all fine, but what about the birds? As we kept driving to our destination for the night at Isla Arena, we came across the beautiful spot known as El Remate. We only made a brief stop there, as we had planned to stop again on our return trip, but it was certainly worth a first look. The following images show some of what we found:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An interpretive trail, almost 2 kms long, takes you right into the mangrove forest, a rare luxury since this type of ecosystem is usually very hard to access. I really felt engulfed by nature as I walked further into the forest, and could not help but move ahead of the group, wondering where the trail would take me. Caveat: the boardwalk was built with great respect for the vegetation, and at some points there are branches going across it, which demand walking over or under and may be too challenging for some visitors. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

And then, voil\u00e1, my final reward: I almost couldn\u2019t believe it when I arrived at this small auditorium, where the main act is an ongoing performance by Mother Nature. I sat in silence and tried to take it all in, and suddenly there it was, the icing on the cake: a beautiful American Pigmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea), flying off its perch time and time again to dive for fish with characteristic precision. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

What can I say? I never get tired of looking at the impressive American Pigmy Kingfisher (Chloroceryle aenea). The ongoing challenge is trying to capture it as it dives for fish, they are lightning fast and there\u2019s no way to anticipate what spot in the water they\u2019ll hit. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon it was time to move on toward Isla Arena. We traveled along a straight, narrow road that crosses the wetlands of a Pet\u00e9n ecosystem. The road was mostly deserted, but whenever we came upon a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction one of the two had to park off to the side and let the other vehicle pass, that\u2019s how narrow this road is. In the distance we spotted a very distinctive bird, flying off several times and landing again further up ahead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway), heralding good things to come for our quartet of eager birders. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

We were also amazed by the sheer numbers of Mangrove Swallows (Tachycineta a. Albilinea), flying over the road and perching by the dozens on the power lines alongside it. Another stop enabled me to get a distant shot of some of them, using the mangroves as collective perch and take-off station.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mangrove Swallows (Tachycineta a. albilinea), by the truckload! (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

At regular intervals we came upon spots where the road intersects with narrow water channels that pass under it, connecting both sides of the wetlands. These openings also provide great spots to look at the birds, since much of the road is lined on both sides by tall mangroves and other vegetation that block most of the view. Looking through one of these openings, I managed to catch a frame of two birds flying in formation, a great closer for this bird photographer\u2019s happy day.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) and a Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) display their wings as they share the airspace over the wetlands. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

We finally made it to our destination at Isla Arena, the \u201cHotel Caba\u00f1as Carey<\/a>\u201d, a lodge that offers several cabins facing the Gulf of Mexico and has become popular amongst sport fishermen. With the final gusts of a cold front coming in the weather was far from ideal, so after a simple dinner we all went to bed early, hoping to get plenty of rest for a promising second day of birding. As the wind howled through the doors and windows of my cabin I looked at the day\u2019s photos on my camera\u2019s LCD screen and charged both its batteries and my own. Our plan for the next morning included an outing by boat, weather permitting. Then, on our trip\u2019s third day, we would take another shot at the wetlands and also stop for a second visit at El Remate as we made our way back towards Merida. In my next post I\u2019ll tell you how it all turned out.<\/p>\n

I.G.H.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Birds fly, but time flies much faster. It\u2019s been three weeks since my last post here in Ride Into Birdland, and even longer since I had the good fortune of going on an amazing birding trip to the State of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[27,38,57,70,127],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3888"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3888"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9661,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3888\/revisions\/9661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}