Daytrip to Tila

   Today we decided to take a daytrip up into the mountains of Chiapas. The jungle seemed to rise with us. Along the way, the townspeople of a small village stopped our car and asked for donations for their village. The road rose higher in the mountains. We drove up into the mountains from Misol Ha city to Agua Azul city and then to a charming town square of a town called Tila.

   On the way, we were thrilled to see a Golden Fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes Aurifrons), another Life Bird for us. This woodpecker's backed is barred black-and-white. It has a yellow-orange neck and a white rump. It was on the side of a tree, pecking away.

   We ate lunch on the front porch of a hotel, right on the town square. While we were eating, a religious parade made its way down the street, blowing horns and singing hymns. It was a parade in honor of the Cristo Negro, a figure of Christ crucified, made of ebony wood in 1539. They came from the local Church of Saint Matthew. Very impressive.

Iglesia de San Mateo Santuario del Señor de Tila

   After the parade, we were amused by the contrast of loud American heavy metal music coming from a huge blue pick-up truck, driven by the local police. There were two uniformed deputies in the back of the truck, brandishing machine guns in the soft rain. We did not feel threatened at all by this commotion. The waiter brought a generous serving of beef. After we left, the locals snatched up the national newspaper we left on the table.

   On the way back to our hotel in Palenque, we saw a Smooth-billed_Ani (Crotophaga Ani) in an open field. The Smooth Billed Ani is a large black bird in the cuckoo family. This bird is called "el pijul" in Mexico, because it sings "pee-hool, pee-hool, pee-hool".

   ♪ Ya me voy amado mío /
porque está soplando el viento /
que cuando canta el pi-jul /
que cuando canta el pi-jul /
me lleno de sentimiento... ♪

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of sanmateo

Mission Palenque

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   The Palenque ruins include some of the most detailed Mayan art, we had seen yet. The king had a pyramid for his tomb. The jungle wall came up to the edge of the buildings. It was obvious that these ruins had been left suddenly and abandoned to the jungle. None of it was destroyed by man, that is, pulled down and intentionally scattered in the woods. The destruction that we saw was just from time (several hundred years), the humid weather and the effects of jungle plantlife. Scientists debate why the Mayans abandoned their cities so completely. They talk about diseases like life-threatening diarrhea, the drying up of water sources on the peninsula, foreign military invasion by the Aztec indians from the north, demographic disasters stemming from too many people using too many resources in too small an area and reaching a point of crisis. The "climate change" model seems like a modern fantasy pasted onto something from the past. Anyway, the Mayans just left.

Life Birds Seen Today

• Crimson Collared Tanager
• Gray Throated Chat
• Rufous Browed Wren
• Hammond's Flycatcher
• Banaquit

   Palenque has waited patiently for us, for so many years. This place is so complex and so historically important, we decided to stay three days at the "Mision-Palenque" hotel.

Mission Palenque Hotel

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of misionpalenque

To Palenque

   We got up early and drove through the tropical forests from Villahermosa to a former mission turned hotel in Palenque. On the way, we spotted two new life birds, the Rufous Mourner (Rhutipterna Holerythra) and the Black Catbird (Melanoptila Glabrirostris). The Rufous Mourner, a member of the tyrant flycatcher family, and typical of most flycatchers was sitting on a twig waiting to fly out and catch an insect in mid-flight. The Black Catbird is secretive and elusive. He was in the deep underbrush and we felt lucky to see him.

   We arrived at "Mission Palenque" early in the afternoon. High in a tree at the front of the building was a mother and baby monkey, playing with each other. In a field beside the mission, we saw a small fox. We enjoy seeing lots of wildlife while birding.

   Because we arrived early in the afternoon, we had time to explore the ruins of the Palenque Palace in the area. While doing that, we saw a Scarlet Rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus Passerinii), formerly known as a Passerini's Tanager. This bird is jet black all over, except for its bright scarlet rump and his white bill and white feet.

Scarlet Rumped Tanager

   We plan to stay here in Palenque for three nights while we visit this significant ancient Mayan administrative area, deep in the jungles of the Yucatan.

Berry

photo courtesy of fireflyforest

From Carmen to Villahermosa

   We started driving down the coast to the Ciudad del Carmen. Robert got risky and tried the cerviche. This caused problems later, intestinal problems. None of it was life threatening, but unpleasant, for all that. Robert was grateful that Berry could take turns driving.

   Today we saw several raptors we had never seen before. In all our years of birding in the United States, we had never seen the Plumbeous Kite (Ictinia Plumbea) or the White Tailed Kite (Elanus Leucurus). These were easy to identify and fun to watch. The Lesser Yellow Headed Vulture (Cathartes Burrovianus), also known as the Savannah Vulture, does not exist in the United States. This is one of the very few birds that locates carrion by sight and by smell.

   The road went up into the hills. The town of Villahermosa is fairly modern due to the oil wealth in southern Mexico. We spent the night in the Hiatt there in Villahermosa. This was one corner of our trip around the peninsula of Yucatan. Next we would travel south, into the jungle and into the mountains.

Lesser Yellow Headed Vulture

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of flickriver

A dog named "Chuleta"

   On 24 October 2006 we took a day trip from our base in Campeche. The nearby Mayan settlement called Edzna with its five story Grand Acropolis was very impressive. We spent all day wandering through a large complex of ancient edifices. Berry bought a hand-embroidered keepsake from one of the local vendors.

   We poked around one huge building with its courtyard the size of a soccer pitch. The lady taking tickets and selling bottled water had a dog named Chuleta, which is Spanish for "Porkchop". Appropriate name for a dog, we thought.

   We birded in the ruins but also in the forests and fields around the ruins. Two of the more interesting birds we saw this day were the Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis Vetula) and the Black Bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna Autumnalis). We have seen this bird in the southern United States.

Plain Chachalaca

   The weather was fair, but the temps in September were still climbing. The humidity made it more difficult. Exhausted from the long day in the hot sun, we went back to Campeche again and hit the sack.

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of tgreybirds

Photo Potpourri

   From the sandy beach of Celestun, we drove southwest to Ticul. This was the heart of the ancient civilisation of the Puuc. There were ruins eveywhere. Deep in the jungle foliage, we spotted a Tapir, foraging for food. Berry and I were birding, but we regularly see wildlife during our comings and goings.

   There was a Green Jay (Cyanocorax Yncas), also known as the Incan Jay, on a boardwalk. We saw a Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes Simillis) behaving like most flycatchers we have seen. They perch in trees and fly out to catch insects in flight. They then fly back to the perch. Scanning the tops of small trees we call tree-topping. The tops of trees is the habitat of flycatchers, in the same way that ponds are the habitat of ducks. 8.

   Here is a sampling of the wonderful Mayan edifices we saw today. This was really one of the most phenomenal vacations we have ever taken. The sense of ancient history was palpable.

The Nunnery at Uxmal

Detailed Friezes

Three Story Building

Labna Ruta, Puuc

   Here is a list of the birds we saw today.

• Smooth Billed Ani
• Turquoise Browed Motmot
• Great Kiskadee
• Tree Swallow
• Yellow Throated Euphonia
• Rose Throated Becard
• Turkey Vulture
• Black Vulture
• Social Flycatcher
• Cattle Egret
• Great Egret
• Magnificent Frigatebird
• Sandwich Tern
• Brown Pelican
• Double Crested Cormorant
• Pectoral Sandpiper

   We finally made our way down to the town of Campeche. We slept that night at the Hotel del Mar in Campeche.

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of skyscrapercity, healtoronto, revistaexplore, sedeviajes, wikipedia

Uxmal

   From the sandy beach of Celestun, we drove southwest to Ticul. This was the heart of the ancient civilization of the Puuc. There were ruins eveywhere. Deep in the jungle foliage, we spotted a Tapir, foraging for food. Berry and I were birding, but we regularly see wildlife during our comings and goings.

   There was a Green Jay (Cyanocorax Yncas), also known as the Incan Jay, on a boardwalk. We saw a Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes Simillis) behaving like most flycatchers we have seen. They perch in trees and fly out to catch insects in flight. They then fly back to the perch. Scanning the tops of small trees we call tree-topping. The tops of trees is the habitat of flycatchers, in the same way that ponds are the habitat of ducks.

   Here is a shot of the entire Uxmal complex. This was a major Mayan administrative city and there were ruins all over the place. There were detailed friezes with gargoyles on the ancient structures. We never stopped birding, but the pre-Columbian edifices were astounding to behold.

Uxmal

   For dinner that evening, we went to the city of Ticul and had "mexican pizza". This was pizza that tasted exactly like Mexican food. Instead of italian seasoning, the Mexican cosinero used chili powder and cumin to season his pizza. It was delicious, but it was untraditional, to say the least. We finally slept in the cute Hotel Plaza, there in Ticul. As we were leaving the next morning, Robert left the Spotting Scope under the bed. The manager of the hotel came running out with it in his hands.

Robert and Berry

photo courtesy of wikipedia