After a little more than 2 weeks traveling through Mexico ( without ZooChat ! ) I'm back at home again. We ( my wife and I ) traveled 2000 kilometers trough Yucatan, visited 4 zoological collections, made 6000 + pictures and video-clips, made a huge number of intresting observations and noted quite a number of species for the first time ( real lifers, lifers in the wild and lifers in captivity ). Real highlight were ( among others ) seeing my first hummingbirds in the wild ( at least 5 species ), my first wild Amazone-Parrots in the wild, a wunderfull pair of Citreoline trogons, a wild Roadrunner, Tanagers and a Red-necked Woodrail. Disapointments were being not able to geet into Chetumal Zoo ( it opened to late for our day-planning ), the bad weather ( most of the time ) and not able to vissit Cozumel Island ( also because of the bad weather ). Many of the birds I've seen still have to be indentified and I guess in many cases I'll need the help of others ZooChatters because with the American wablers and little wading birds I'm not very good. Also the anolis-species - from which I saw ( and photographed ) quite a number, I guess I'll need some help ! Seeing smaller mammal-species in the wild is alway quite difficult - at least in Europe but in Mexico I was very succesfull in seeing Yucatan spider monkeys, Agouti ( with young ), unidentified bats, common opossum, unidentified rats and Yucatan coatis! A group in which I also need some help are the many butterfly-species we've seen but I have to sort-out my picture and them will post them. Al together, a wonderfull trip and because of the missed trip to Cozumel, surtainly worth a second ( and a third, and fourth.......) time !
That was actualy the plan kiang and not all 6000 + are with animals ( but to be honest, most are... ).
Which zoological parks did you manage to visit? I went just to 2 of them, Xcaret and Acuario Interactivo, but was very near to Crococun and Belair. BTW, where did you see the spider monkeys, my family and I traveled for about the same distance out and around Cancun and didn´t manage to see any wild mammals, for the exception of one squirrel which I couldnt Identify. Link to the unidentified squirrel here: http://www.zoochat.com/727/squirrel-id-349775/ Which species of hummingbird did you manage to see?
The Yucatan spider monkeys I've seen at Crococun Zoo. Here a wild family-group with baby is living on the zoo-grounds'. The zoos visited are Parque Zoologico del Cenenario in Merida Aquario Interactivo in Cancun Crococun Zoo near Cancun Xcaret For the hummingbirds I still have to check my photos but sofar I'm already sure I saw the Buff-bellied Hummingbird and the Long-tailed Hermit. Photos from the zoos and wildlife will be soon be posted in the Gallery so keep an eye on that !
How was the Zoologico del centenario in Merida?... I wanted to go there, but it was a very long drive from Cancun to Merida, and we had planned to go there the same day we visited Chichen Itza (BTW, did you visit?) but we were very tired as it had been a very hot and sunny day so we just decided to go back and have some rest.
Merida Zoo is an old-fashioned zoo with a nice collection. Some of the enclosure are way out of time, others are of a more normal state. I hope I can find some time these days to write a little review. I didn't visit Chichen Itza because I heared it's very commercial and full of tourists, which I actually doesn't like....
Welcome back mate looking forward to reading your zoo reviews and the seeing the pictures. Was the weather all bad?
The first week was mostly cloudy with now and them some rain, then we had a real bad storm with 4 days of heavy rains and the last 2 days we had the weather you would expect n Mexico (Sunshine and 30 degree Celcius ).
estimado vogel, yes this is the same carlos. I have been greatly enjoying your wildlife photos. Great work and i know the weather conditions were awful. this has been a record setting year in all mexico for rain,though it has helped many drought affected areas. Amazed at the many photos of butterflies in all this rain. I hope you had sopa de lima and tamales de cochinita pibil with cerveza bohemia de nochebuena.and panuchos con ceviche.
