Birding in Cancun & Chichen Itza

Last weekend I traveled to Cancun, Mexico for a short stay over the Fourth of July. Traveling as a birder is always exciting because of the chance to see new birds you can’t see at home.

EDIT (Updated 2024): A second visit to Cancun provided an opportunity bring my camera and see a bunch of new birds, like the Laughing Falcon.

📷 I use a Canon R6 camera, and this lens for my bird photos.

I explored eBird sightings in Cancun prior to traveling so I could make mental notes of what species I might see and what I hoped to find.

eBird quick links

View birds recently reported in Cancun

View birds recently reported in Chichen Itza

We landed in Cancun in the evening and once we arrived at our Airbnb I began listening for birds calling out in the night air. Great-tailed Grackles (a San Antonio staple) and Mockingbirds could be heard vocalizing.

Cancun brought various tropical variations of birds I see back home in Texas. I spotted numerous Tropical Mockingbirds and Tropical Kingbirds (compare to Northern Mockingbirds and Western Kingbirds) around town.

The must-see three

There were three birds on my must-see list for this trip: Magnificent Frigatebird, Turqoise-browed Motmot, and the Plain Chachalaca. I adore the whimsical names of these birds so much, we couldn’t stop saying Chachalaca ad nauseam all weekend.

On my first morning there, I woke up early, grabbed my binoculars, and headed outside to wander around the hotel area and beach to see what birds I could casually find hanging out.

Scanning the sky, I saw several large dark-colored birds with very angular wings, the Magnificent Frigatebird! Pretty much right off the bat, I was seeing exactly the birds I wanted. On this casual stroll, I also spotted some familiar birds such as Royal Terns, Eurasian-collared Doves, and Rock Pigeons. Because I decided to not bring my camera, I had to be resourceful and shoot the photographs in this post using a combination of my binoculars and phone.

flying magnificent frigatebird — Magnificent Frigatebird. The males near breeding colonies have an inflatable red throat like a frog!

Malecon Tajamar

Within Cancun, there was one eBird Hotspot I wanted to check out: Malecon Tajamar, an outdoor walking spot outside the north area of the Zona Hotelera where you can find freshwater bodies, lots of vegetation and trees and a wide variety of water and tree birds.

My first visit there was later in the morning, and I only visited for a few minutes with my partner to check out the water and take some pictures. I visited two more times and on my longest trip there, I saw 21 species, including tons of lifers for me. That visit brought a cacophony of Chachalaca calls from all over the area. I only spotted a single Plain Chachalaca out in the open.

Here are a few photos of birds I saw at Malecon Tajamar:

Morelet's Seedeater

Tropical Kingbird

Squirrel Cuckoo

Black Catbird

Roadside Hawk

Hooded Oriole

Great Kiskadee

Groove-billed Ani

Ruddy Ground-Dove

Our travel style is to take an unplanned approach to our agenda. We mostly visit a new city and decide what to do on a whim depending on the mood. On Sunday we decided to go on a tour of Chichen Itza, the Mayan pyramid site which is one of the great wonders of the world.

Chichen Itza

A three-hour bus ride took us into the jungle to Chichen Itza and we filed our way inside.

The pyramid and surrounding ruins were beautiful and provided a beautiful backdrop for photos and videos. We skipped out on the formal tour in lieu of searching for birds and exploring on our own.

I spotted one Turquoise-browed Motmot for a split second in a tree near the exit. Our next stop on the tour took us to Cenote Hubiku. It was a beautiful swimming spot located in a giant sinkhole with water flowing into it from above. The grounds in Cenote Hubiku had Altamira Orioles, many more Motmots, and a plethora of other species flying around.

Clay-colored Thrush

Turquoise-browed Motmot

turqoise-browed-motmot-cenote-x-keken — Turquoise-browed Motmot

streaked flycatcher — Streaked Flycatcher

My partner spotted a small bunch of tiny bright yellow and black birds, which we learned are called Scrub Euphonia. I didn’t manage to capture a photo, but here is one from eBird.

I also caught a glimpse of a Rose-throated Becard.

All-in-all I saw 38 species with 21 lifers to add to my list. I utilized a new feature in eBird called Trip Reports. This allowed me to specify a date range and series of checklists to summarize into a sleek single page highlighting the places I visited, species seen, and media captured.

View Cancun Trip Report #1 on eBird View Cancun Trip Report #2 on eBird