Mexico - Northern Yucatan - October 2024 - Day 6 - Wakax Hacienda and home

Day six and there is not a lot to tell. We had a long walk around Wakax Hacienda before breakfast, once again heading out into the forest via the yoga retreat and then returning via the lagoon. A Ferruginous Pygmy Owl was calling at dawn, and we also heard (but did not see) the Collared Forest-Falcon near the main swimming pool again so it must be resident on the estate. A Yellow-lored Amazon flew over and in a fruiting tree by the main lagoon we found Altimira Oriole, Hooded Oriole and Melodious Blackbird with upwards of ten Yellow-throated Euphonia. We also found a second lagoon off the entrance track that was being developed, presumably into something akin to the first one, with bridges, boardwalks, viewpoints and so on, and on this one were well over 200 Vaux's Swift coming down to drink. We also found a Carolina Wren in a brush pile. 

By now I think I had given up with my camera, all week it seemed to have been getting heavier and heavier, especially when compared to Mick's lovely new and extremely lightweight (by comparison) Olympus mirrorless kit. The end was drawing near I felt. Indeed once I got back I made the momentous and very sad decision to get rid of the DSLR and join the modern revolution. So this trip was the last with Canon - that 500mm f4 had served me brilliantly for over ten years, and when I finally sent it off I very nearly had second thoughts, especially when I saw the pittance that I was offered for it - lots of scratches and scuffs to the paintwork, and as everyone with an sense knows it's absolutely vital that a camera lens is totally pristine on the outside in order for it to be able to take a sharp photograph. Grrrr. 

Social Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

We took a leisurely breakfast at the restaurant and then set off again on another foray into the forest. This produced much the same set of birds as the first, or so it felt, but there were good numbers of Lesson's Motmot near the yoga platform, a pair of Turquoise-browed Motmot, three Pygmy Owls all piping away, lots of White-eyed Vireo, Yucatan Vireo and a Yellow-throated Vireo. We also found Tawny-winged Woodcreeper but overall we felt that Wakax Hacienda disappointed on the bird front, especially vs what we knew had been recorded here. Over the course of an afternoon and a morning we recorded just 63 species whereas we had imagined we would get over 100 and lots of our targets. In the event we saw just one new bird for the trip, Neotropic Cormorant.

We returned to the room, packed up the gear, washed off the grime and changed into our last remaining fresh clothes. It was time to go. We headed back to Tulum for another set of tacos, and then pointed the car towards Cancun. We made one final stop at the Yaax Che botanic garden but this served only to add a few mosquito bites and we shouldn't have bothered.

And that was it, well done if you made it this far, I am nothing if not stubborn by following this relentless day by day approach but if I didn't it would be an immense post. The other approach would be to just to show the map with the pins, add the trip list (which follows tomorrow), whack a few photos on and leave it at that. I'd find that somewhat unsatisfying, but it would get it out of the way a lot quicker!