The Maya region encompasses a vast area of about 350,000 square kilometers that includes all of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico (Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo states), most of the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco, and much of Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador). The area is subdivided by both environmental factors and cultural differences into the mountainous Highlands, the steamy tropical forests of the Southern Lowlands, and the drier forest and scrubland of the Northern Lowlands. (MAP)

Although the actual origins of the ancient Maya are not known, there is evidence that people first occupied the Maya Highlands and the coastal pine savannas of northern Belize during the Paleoindian period, around 9000 B.C.

Increasing evidence for occupation of the Maya area continues through the Archaic period (7000 B.C. – 2000 B.C.), with semi-sedentary to permanent villages being established within the resource-rich environments of the Gulf Coast and Pacific Coast between 3000 and 2000 B.C.

With the introduction of domestic crops such as maize (corn), beans and squash into the Maya area by 2000 B.C., people began to move from the coast into the interior of the Southern Lowlands during the Early Preclassic period (2000-1000B.C.).

Permanent villages with elements of recognizably “Maya” culture were established in the Southern Lowlands near the end of the Early Preclassic period or beginning of the Middle Preclassic period, around 1100 B.C. By the beginning of the Late Preclassic period, (400 B.C. – A.D. 250), an elite segment of Maya society was clearly evident at sites of the Highlands and Southern Lowlands, and many civic-ceremonial centers displayed the earliest monumental public architecture.

It was during the Classic period (A.D. 250-900) that the most familiar elements of Maya culture flourished, particularly in the Southern Lowlands; impressive architecture using the distinctive corbel arch, erection of carved stone monuments (known as stelae) to commemorate important events in the lives of royal family members, the painting of elaborate polychrome ceramics, and the use of hieroglyphic writing. Cities such as Copan (Honduras) and Palenque (Chiapas, Mexico) displayed breathtaking heights in architecture and the arts, while political super-powers such as Tikal (Guatemala) and Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico) grew to enormous size. Recent translations of hieroglyphic texts carved on ancient monuments make it apparent that Maya society during the Classic period was a turbulent mix of warfare and alliances between city-states ruled by royal families that traced their lineages to divine ancestors. During the terminal part of the Classic period, many cities of the Southern Lowlands were abandoned, due perhaps to the effects of both increasing warfare and sustained droughts. The Northern Lowlands seem to flourish during this time of decline in the south, and many famous northern cities, such as Uxmal, Sayil, and Kabah were built. Chichen Itza developed into a regional power near the end of the Classic period, and dominated the Northern Lowlands throughout the early part of the Postclassic period (ca. A.D. 900-1520).

With the fall of Chichen Itza around A.D. 1250, the Northern Lowlands entered a period of political fragmentation, for a time dominated by the site of Mayapan, but then dividing into numerous feuding polities by the time of European contact in the early 16th century. In the Maya Lowlands, the Spanish “conquest” of the Maya took several decades, and in a very real sense was never actually realized. The so-called Caste War that began in the mid-1850s reasserted Maya control of much of the Yucatan Peninsula. The eastern side of the peninsula, which is today the state of Quintana Roo, remained an independent Maya stronghold into the early 1900s.

Hacienda Santa Maria is located within a unique environmental zone of the Northern Lowlands that has recently been defined as the Yalahau region. The Maya densely occupied this region in past times, as indicated by the many ancient ruins of civic-ceremonial centers and smaller communities.

The Yalahau region is located in the northeastern corner of the Yucatan Peninsula in one of the least investigated areas of the Northern Maya Lowlands. The region is characterized by unusually high amounts of rainfall (about 1,600 mm per year) in comparison to the rest of the Northern Lowlands. An extensive system of fresh-water wetlands dominates the landscape and is linked to a thick ground-water aquifer that is at least 200 meters in depth. This aquifer represents the largest source of fresh water in the northern lowlands, a region lacking surface rivers or major lakes. Pumping of ground water from this aquifer supplies all of the fresh-water needs of the city and resort community of Cancun.

The varied topography of the Yalahau region has created a rich mosaic of environmental zones including seasonal and perennial wetlands, well-drained uplands with tall, semi-deciduous tropical forest and lower forests of secondary growth. Preliminary biological surveys suggest that the Yalahau region has the highest level of biodiversity and the most endemic plant and animal species in the Yucatan Peninsula. Two reserves have been established in the Yalahau region to help preserve biodiversity and assure that resources are managed in a sustainable manner. These reserves are the El Eden Ecological Reserve, located 5 kilometers north of Hacienda Santa Maria, and the larger, government established, Yum Balam Protected Area that extends north from El Eden and includes coastal and offshore ecosystems.

The best places

Botanical Garden, Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marin, Central Vallarta, (Cenote Road ) Mamaloo Ranch in Puerto Morelos, Muyil, Sian Ka´an Biosphere Reserve, Kankun Lake, Coba Ruins, Punta Laguna, Ekbalam and Rio Lagartos

Expect more than 200 to 250 of birds

I t i n e r a r y

Day 01: Arrival at the International airport in Cancun and inmediate transfer to Hacienda Santa Maria Hotel

Day 02: Early morning at 05:00 deperture to Ekbalam and then return 12:00 to Hacienda Santa Maria. 14:00 lunch at 15:30 Birding around Hacienda

Day 03: Early Morning at 05:00 deperture to Coba and Punta Laguna and then return 12:00 to Hacienda Santa Maria 14:00 lunch at night Birding around Hacienda Santa Maria

Expect to see: Yucatan Poorwill, Yucatan Nightjar, Vermiculated Screech-Owl, Black-and-white Owl and Mottled Owl

Day 04: Early morning at 05:00 deperture to Rio Lagartos and then return 12:00 to Hacienta Santa Maria, lunch at 14:00 then at 15:30 Birding around Hacienda Santa Maria

Day 05: Early morning at 05:00 deperture to Central Vallarta ( Cenote Road ) and Mamaloo Ranch return at 12:00 Hacienda Santa Maria at 14:00 Lunch at night Birding around Hacienda Santa Maria

Day 06.- Early morning at 05:00 deperture to Muyil ( Sian Ka´an Biosphere Reserve ) and Kankun Lake at 12:00 return to Hacienda Santa Maria at 14:30 Lunch

Day 07.- Early morning at 05:00 deperture to Felipe Carrillo Puerto ( Vigia Chico Road ) Fullday

Day 08.- Early morning at 06:00 Birding at Hacienda Santa Maria breakfast at 10:00 and then departure to airport


Included

Breakfast, lunch and Dinner
Transporte
Fee on the Parks
Service Birding Guide

Bird Checklist
Hacienda Santa Maria
Quintana Roo, Mexico


Tinamidae
___ THICKET TINAMOU
Anatidae
___ Blue-winged Teal
Cracidae
___ Plain Chachalaca
___ Crested Guan
___ Great Curassow
Phasianidae
___ OCELLATED TURKEY
Odontophoridae
___ BLK.-THROATED BOBWHITE
Phalacrocoracidae
___ Neotropic Cormorant
Anhingidae
___ Anhinga
Fregatidae
___ Magnificent Frigatebird
Ardeidae
___ Great Blue Heron
___ Great Egret
___ Snowy Egret
___ Little Blue Heron
___ Tricolored Heron
___ Reddish Egret
___ Cattle Egret
___ Green Heron
___ Boat-billed Heron
___ Black-crowned Night-Heron
Cathartidae
___ Black Vulture
___ Turkey Vulture
___ Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
___ King Vulture
Accipitridae
___ Osprey
___ Gray-headed Kite
___ Hook-billed Kite
___ Swallow-tailed Kite
___ White-tailed Kite
___ Snail Kite
___ Double-toothed Kite
___ Sharp-shinned Hawk
___ Bicolored Hawk
___ Gray Hawk
___ Common Black-Hawk
___ Great Black-Hawk
___ Roadside Hawk
___ Short-tailed Hawk
___ Zone-tailed Hawk
___ Ornate Hawk-Eagle
Falconidae
___ Collared Forest-Falcon
___ Laughing Falcon
___ American Kestrel
___ Merlin
___ Aplomado Falcon
___ Bat Falcon
___ Peregrine Falcon
Rallidae
___ RUDDY CRAKE
Aramidae
___ Limpkin
Charadriidae
___ Killdeer
Jacanidae
___ Northern Jacana
Scolopacidae
___ Greater Yellowlegs
___ Solitary Sandpiper
___ Wilson’s Snipe
Laridae
___ Laughing Gull
Columbidae
___ Scaled Pigeon
___ WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON
___ Red-billed Pigeon
___ Eurasian Collared-Dove
___ White-winged Dove
___ Mourning Dove
___ Common Ground-Dove
___ Ruddy Ground-Dove
___ Blue Ground-Dove
___ White-tipped Dove
___ CARIBBEAN DOVE
___ Ruddy Quail-Dove
Psittacidae
___ OLIVE-THROATED PARAKEET
___ WHITE-FRONTED PARROT
___ YELLOW-LORED PARROT
Cuculidae
___ Black-billed Cuckoo
___ Mangrove Cuckoo
___ Squirrel Cuckoo
___ Groove-billed Ani
___ Pheasant Cuckoo
Tytonidae
___ Barn Owl
Strigidae
___ Vermiculated Screech-Owl
___ Mottled Owl
___ Black-and-white Owl
___ Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Caprimulgidae
___ Lesser Nighthawk
___ Common Nighthawk
___ Common Pauraque
___ YUCATAN POORWILL
___ YUCATAN NIGHTJAR
Apodidae
___ Vaux's Swift
Trochilidae
___ WEDGE-TAILED SABREWING
___ Green-breasted Mango
___ CANIVET'S EMERALD
___ WHITE-BELLIED EMERALD
___ BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD
___ CINNAMON HUMMINGBIRD
___ Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Trogonidae
___ BLACK-HEADED TROGON
___ Violaceous Trogon
___ Collared Trogon
Momotidae
___ Blue-crowned Motmot
___ TURQUOISE-BROWED MOTMOT
Alcedinidae
___ Belted Kingfisher
___ Green Kingfisher
Ramphastidae
___ Collared Aracari
___ Keel-billed Toucan
Picidae
___ RED-VENTED WOODPECKER
___ Golden-fronted Woodpecker
___ Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
___ Ladder-backed Woodpecker
___ Smoky-brown Woodpecker
___ Golden-olive Woodpecker
___ Lineated Woodpecker
___ PALE-BILLED WOODPECKER
Furnariidae
___ RUFOUS-BREASTED SPINETAIL
Dendrocolaptidae
___ TAWNY-WINGED WOODCREEPER
___ Ruddy Woodcreeper
___ Olivaceous Woodcreeper
___ N. Barred Woodcreeper
___ IVORY-BILLED WOODCREEPER
Thamnophilidae
___ Barred Antshrike
Formicariidae
___ Black-faced (MEXICAN) Antthrush
Tyrannidae
___ NO. BEARDLESS TYRANNULET
___ Greenish Elaenia
___ Yellow-bellied Elaenia
___ Ochre-bellied Flycatcher
___ Sepia-capped Flycatcher
___ NORTHERN BENTBILL
___ Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher
___ Eye-ringed Flatbill
___ Yellow-olive Flycatcher
___ STUB-TAILED SPADEBILL
___ Royal-Flycatcher
___ Olive-sided Flycatcher
___ Eastern Wood-Pewee
___ Tropical Pewee
___ Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
___ Acadian Flycatcher
___ Alder Flycatcher
(__ Traill´s Flycatcher)
___ Least Flycatcher
___ Eastern Phoebe
___ Vermilion Flycatcher
___ Bright-rumped Attila
___ YUCATAN FLYCATCHER
___ Dusky-capped Flycatcher
___ Great-crested Flycatcher
___ Brown-crested Flycatcher
___ Great Kiskadee
___ Boat-billed Flycatcher
___ Social Flycatcher
___ Streaked Flycatcher
___ Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
___ Piratic Flycatcher
___ Tropical Kingbird
___ COUCH'S KINGBIRD
___ Eastern Kingbird
INCERTAE SEDIS
___ Thrushlike Schiffornis
___ GRAY-COLLARED BECARD
___ Rose-throated Becard
___ Masked Tityra
___ Black-crowned Tityra
Vireonidae
___ White-eyed Vireo
___ Mangrove Vireo
___ Yellow-throated Vireo
___ Philadelphia Vireo
___ Red-eyed Vireo
___ Yellow-green Vireo
___ YUCATAN VIREO
___ Tawny-crowned Greenlet
___ Lesser Greenlet
___ Rufous-browed Peppershrike
Corvidae
___ Green Jay
___ Brown Jay
___ YUCATAN JAY
Hirundinidae
___ Purple Martin
___ Gray-breasted Martin