We have packages for Birding and Photography. Bring a group to share. Prices are for up to 6 persons. When booking two or more tours there are savings of up to 50usd/tour. We do not combine different groups of birders in advance.
Birding By Boat In Rio Lagartos
The Rio Lagartos Bio Reserve is the best place for birding in the Yucatan because of the remarkable variety of habitats here.
Much of the 150,000 acres in the reserve is estuary and beach(35miles long) and not accessible by road.
About 80kms of mangrove estuary .
Much of the reserve is only accessible by shallow draft launches or kayaks.
Our launches provide easy,safe and comfortable access to places and species that are difficult or impossible to otherwise see.
By boat we can often get quite close to birds for an unobstructed view. Suprisingly the majority of birds do not seem threatened by the boats.The launches also make it possible to bring extra clothing,a lunch,spotting scopes, and camera gear.We provide a cooler for cold drinks, bottled water and a bird identification book and binoculars to use if you need them.
A birding boat tour takes 4 hrs and can be designed to find the species you are looking for.Within the estuary there are a number of distinct habitats with different species.Boat birding can give
birders with physical challenges an opportunity for great birdwatching! The best times are early morning or later in the afternoon.
The birding boat trips are $4,200.00 pesos (4 hours) by reservation.
Contact Us
For a complete list of the species in the Bio Reserve see the bird list for Rio Lagartos.
Bird Lists for Rio Lagartos and the Yucatan to print or download
Trip Advisor Review “The best bird guide period”
The following is a partial list of species that can be seen on Birding boat trips in the Rio Lagartos Bio-Reserve..395 species have been counted
Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber ruber)
Brown pelican(Pelecanus occidentalis)
American white pelican(Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)
Double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Neotropical cormorantPhalacrocorax brasilianus (antes Phalacrocorax olivaceus)
Anhinga(Anhinga anhinga),
Black-bellied Plover – Pluvialis squatarola
Semipalmated Plover – Charadrius semipalmatus
Killdeer – Charadrius v. vociferus
Black-necked Stilt – Himantopus m. mexicanus
Greater Yellowlegs – Tringa melanoleuca
Lesser Yellowlegs – Tringa flavipes
Spotted Sandpiper – Actitis macularia
Western Sandpiper – Calidris mauri
Least Sandpiper – Calidris minutilla
Stilt Sandpiper – Calidris himantopus
Laughing Gull – Larus atricilla
Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia, formerly Sterna caspia )
Magnificent Frigatebird – Fregata magnificens
Bare throated Tiger-Heron ( Tigrisoma mexicanus)
Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius phillipsi),
Reddish Egrets (Egretta refescens rufescens),
Great blue heron( Ardea Herodias)
Tricolored heron (Egretta tricolor)
Little Blue Heron – Egretta caerulea
Cattle Egret – Bubulcus ibis ibis
Green Heron – Butorides virescens
Yellow-crowned Night Heron – Nycticorax violaceus
White Ibis – Eudocimus albus
Roseate Spoonbill – Platalea ajaja
Wood Stork – Mycteria americana
Great egret(Ardea alba), also known as Great White Egret, Common Egret, Large Egret or Great White Heron, is a large, widely-distributed egret.
Osprey(Pandion haliaetus),
Mangrove Cuckoo(Coccyzus minor)
Mangrove Vireo (Vireo pallens)
American Pygmy Kingfisher.(Chloroceryle aenea)
Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger niger)
Willets (Tringa semipalmata semipalmata),
Whimbrel(Numenius phaeopus)
Common Black-Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus utilensis)
Royal Terns (Thalasseus maximus maximus).
Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus smithsonianus)
Dunlins (Calidris alpina hodsonia),
White-rumped (Calidris fuscicollis),
Stilt (Calidris himantopus),
Least (Calidris minutilla)
Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri),
Sanderlings (Calidris alba),
Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres morinella)
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes).
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)
We also offer options in Flamingo Boat trips which are different than the bird watching boat trips. The trips are shorter(3 hours) and designed to bring visitors to the feeding grounds of the flamingos. Flamingo Lover’s tours are offered during the day and at sunset.
