{"id":1029,"date":"2011-12-19T20:41:10","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T02:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/entrip-report-the-toh-bird-festival-2011-day-3esreporte-de-viaje-el-festival-de-las-aves-toh-2011-%e2%80%93-dia-3"},"modified":"2019-06-21T18:11:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T18:11:18","slug":"reporte-de-viaje-el-festival-de-las-aves-toh-2011-dia-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rideintobirdland.com\/en\/trip-report-the-toh-bird-festival-2011-day-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Trip Report: the Toh Bird Festival 2011 – Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Day 3 – The early bird gets the worm\u2026 but not on a foggy day.<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n
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The sun has not risen yet but we are already on our way, this time as passengers in the car of team member Miguel Amar, following Alberto\u2019s truck. We reach an area close to Uxmal where forest and agricultural land alternate. We park our cars and continue on foot. Both sides of the red earth road are covered with vegetation, dew drops shining suspended in countless spider webs. Over our heads bees are busy working on flowers. The day\u2019s first light is now visible, but a dense fog covers the landscape.<\/p>\n

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The sun rises but a dense fog covers everything. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAnd the birds?<\/em>\u201d, Alberto asks. \u201cThey\u2019are all perched<\/em>\u201d, he answers himself. Far in the distance we see a group of birds sharing the branches of a tree, keeping very still as if in silent protest against the weather. A hummingbird approaches us quickly and I manage to photograph its characteristic silhouette, amidst branches drawn like lines on the foggy background.<\/p>\n

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Field marks are hard to see in this photo, but the curved bill gives him away: it’s the endemic Mexican Sheartail (Doricha eliza).\u00a0 (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

The day seems bent on denying us opportunities for birdwatching or bird photography. The fog is in itself beautiful but reduces definition and color saturation when looking through the binoculars or my tele lens. The greater the distance, the worse the visibility gets. Still the team gets to work and we manage to identify some species. I make just a few images.<\/p>\n

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Steve Koevoet, born Dutch but assimilated Yucatecan, demonstrates the proper use of binoculars. (Photo \u00a9 Ivan Gabaldon).<\/p><\/div>\n

The first and foremost requisite for a birder, Alberto explains, is to become friends with his binoculars. \u201cThey are to birdwatching as a ball is to soccer\u201d. To that an aspiring birder must add many hours of study and field practice. Team members impress me with their abilities: they quickly identify each species by its shape, size, plumage, song and behavior. They check their field guides and scribble in their notebooks. Frequently it’s a bird\u2019s song that allows the team to spot and identify the species. In fact, Marathon rules allow the listing of species identified by song, even if they are not seen.<\/p>\n