Photograph of Turquoise-browed Momot

The fabulous Turquoise-browed Motmot, by Steve Garvie.

SOUTHERN MEXICO

Best Wildlife in Southern Mexico

Mammals
Black Howler and Black-handed (Geoffroy's) Spider Monkeys.

Birds
American Flamingo, Magnificent Frigatebird, Keel-billed Toucan, Blue-crowned and Turquoise-browed Motmots, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Lovely Cotinga, Red-capped Manakin, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, endemics and near-endemics Ocellated Turkey, Lesser Roadrunner, Mexican Sheartail, Russet-crowned Motmot, Yucatan Jay and Orange Oriole, as well as American White and Brown Pelicans, Anhinga, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Boat-billed Heron, Reddish Egret, Pinnated Bittern, Roseate Spoonbill, King Vulture, American Swallow-tailed and Snail Kites, Black-collared and White Hawks, Crested Caracara, Bat and Laughing Falcons, Collared Forest Falcon, Spotted Rail, Grey-necked Wood Rail, Limpkin, Double-striped Thick-knee, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Northern Jacana, Black skimmer, pigeons including White-crowned, parrots, Squirrel Cuckoo, owls including Mottled, Northern Potoo, hummingbirds including Violet Sabrewing, trogons, Belted, Green, Amazon and American Pygmy Kingfishers, White-necked Puffbird, Collared Aracari, woodcreepers, Scaled Antpitta, many flycatchers including Vermilion and Fork-tailed, Masked and Black-crowned Tityras, Green Shrike Vireo, Green Jay, wrens, Long-billed Gnatwren, Wood Thrush, wintering warblers including Magnolia, Yellow-throated, Blue-winged, Swainson's, Kentucky and Prothonotary, Ovenbird, Western Spindalis, Green and Red-legged Honeycreepers, Painted Bunting, orioles, and Chestnut-headed and Montezuma Oropendolas. Also a chance of tinamous, Jabiru, Aplomado Falcon, Sungrebe, Crested Owl, Tody Motmot and Northern Royal Flycatcher.

Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish
Whale Shark (Jun-Sep, mostly July), Manta Ray, Spotted Eagle Ray (usually in large numbers around Isla Cozumel in Jan-Feb), and Green and Hawksbill Turtles.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Southern Mexico

Best Times for Wildlife in Southern Mexico

The best time for Whale Sharks is June to September, especially July. Many birds can also be seen at this time but the birdlife is bolstered by wintering birds, notably warblers from North America, between October and March, and March-April is the peak time for birds because many wintering species are still present, migrating birds are moving through and many resident species are breeding and therefore at their most active.

Recommended Books etc. for Southern Mexico

Travellers' Wildlife Guides: Southern Mexico by L Beletsky. Arris Books, 2006.

National Audubon Society Field Guide to Tropical Marine Fishes by C L Smith. Alfred A Knopf, 1997.

A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico by F A Reid. OUP, 2009 (Second Edition).

A Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America by S Howell and S Webb. OUP, 1995.

A Field Guide to Mexican Birds by R Tory Peterson and E Chalif. Houghton Mifflin, 1999.

Where to watch birds in Mexico by S Howell. Helm, 1999.

A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America by J Glassberg. Sunstreak Books, 2007.

Trip Reports for Southern Mexico

Many trip reports, some for Southern Mexico, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Southern Mexico. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Southern Mexico' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Southern Mexico

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.

Accommodation in Southern Mexico


Some Organized Tours to Southern Mexico

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who run organized tours or can arrange custom tours to Southern Mexico include the following.