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Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
from the April 1, 2006 Newsletter Written at Hacienda San Juan Lizárraga
one kilometer east of Telchac Pueblo, Yucatán, MÉXICO
and issued from Hotel Reef Yucatan 13 kms to the north
BIRDS ON A MUDFLAT
About a kilometer east of Hotel Reef the road crosses a canal through which saltwater pours into the lagoons when the tide is high, and returns to the ocean when the tide is low. Just beyond the bridge a finger of mud, gravel and rocks juts into the lagoon, at low tide rising just an inch or two above the water. This finger is what remains of the former highway after the last big hurricane's tidal surge. Birds love it. They probe its mud and sand for worms, and perch atop the scattered rocks which once were part of the causeway.
There's always a mixed flock of birds on the finger and this week I made a census. Sitting on the new causeway with a stiff, blustery, unusually cool wind at my back a day after a big norte plowed through, here's what I saw:
The Ruddy Turnstones are still in their gray winter plumage, though some are just beginning to show a little rustiness on their backs. They breed in the far north, well beyond the Arctic Circle, where nesting won't be possible for a long time, so their continuing winter plumage is understandable.
However, the plumage situation with the other species isn't as straightforward. The Semipalmated Plovers retain their winter plumage and like the turnstones breed in Northern Canada and Alaska but the Spotted Sandpiper retains its winter plumage, yet it breeds as far south as approximately Tennessee. Both the Piping Plover and the Willet nest in the northern US and southern Canada, but the plover wears its summer plumage while Willets are still in their winter plumage. About half the Laughing Gulls wear their black-headed summer plumage while some retain their winter plumage, yet most wear an intermediate plumage.
While making the census a Greater Yellowlegs worked along shore gathering energy for its flight to nesting grounds at Canada's middle latitudes. A flock of 75 American Flamingos flew far overhead in a big V formation, honking hoarsely almost like Canada Geese. They were headed west, following the coast. By the way Canada Geese don't make it to here.
A male and female White-lored Gnatcatcher kept together as they worked among bushes and weeds along the causeway, and a Mangrove Vireo complained of my presence with a buzzy call.
Last week I saw hundreds and hundreds of Barn Swallows, but during my two-hour morning mangrove walk this week I didn't see a single one. I'm worried that they may have begun their big flight across the Gulf just as the norte came upon them in mid ocean.