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Birding and Photography 

in Rio Lagartos, Yucatan

Yucatan and Rio Lagartos Bird Lists(Below)

Yucatan Endemics

The most recent bird list compiled for the Ria Lagartos Biosphere Reserve was published in November 2012.You may download or print the lists to prepare for your birding in Rio Lagartos and the Yucatan or click below to view them. You will have to enlarge the files to read them easily(PDF) In the past few years Diego Nuñez has personally added 6 birds to the Rio Lagartos List.

The book is available from Diego Nuñez at Ria Maya Restaurant,At Liberia Gandhi in Plaza Galerias Merida  and Cancun and at  the Quinta Montes Molina on Paseo de Montejo
It is also available from the publisher
LA VACA INDEPENDIENTE SA DE CV.
RFC VIN921023FK3,
Ciencias No. 40,
Col. Escandón,
Deleg. Miguel Hidalgo
C.P. 11800
Méx. D.F.
Tels. 52714680 y 52715886.
Mtra. Carmen Fernandez [email protected]

Barbara MacKinnon is recognized as the Yucatan Peninsula’s most prominent bird life authority and has been a resident in the región for the better part of her 46 years in Mexico. She was the founding President of the conservation organization, Amigos de Sian Ka’an A.C.

MacKinnon is known for her years of training bird guides in the región about which she shared her experiences on the subject in a manual available free in English and Spanish on the internet and is being used throughout the world. She was the coordinator of the Yucatan Bird Festival – Toh – during its first four years and continues to document avian distribution on the península, a subject she has pursued over the past 40 years. In addition, she is regional sub-editor of North American Birds; reviewer for e-bird; and is the author of over sixty publications on birds and their conservation. She continues to give conferences and participate in regional and national bird conservation iniciatives. In 2006 she was awarded Mexico’s National Prize for Ecological Merit, given by that nation’s Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources, on behalf of her numerous contributions to natural resource conservation throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, and since then has received numerous other regional awards.

The Bird lists were compiled by Barbara MacKinnon

Barbara MacKinnon’s most recent contribution to the knowledge of Yucatan’s Birds is the publication of

“Sal a Pajarear Yucatan”

A YUCATAN PENINSULA BIRD GUIDE

The book is in use in the program” Sal a Pararear” in more than 22 communities in the Yucatan,Campeche,Chiapas,and Quintana Roo. The book is donated to be used by the children and adult volunteers .The children and adult volunteers are given binoculars and other materials to use in the program. The program is in it’s third year and expanding..Barbara MacKinnon directs the program and Waldemar Santamaria gives classes first to the adult volunteers and then workshops with the children.He returns on a regular basis to continue the birding and ecology classes and go on field trips with the groups. The communities are spread across the Yucatan Peninsula in the states of Campeche,Yucatan and Quintana Roo and some are in the most isolated areas.
The program is a remarkable working example of environmental
education at it’s best

Praise from

Dr. John W. Fitzpatrick
Director del Laboratorio de Ornitología,
Universidad de Cornell,

La familia de Sal a pajarear está creciendo! La primera de estas guías de
aves se publicó para la costa de Jalisco, y ahora tenemos ésta, muy completa,

para la península de Yucatán, producida por Barbara MacKinnon
con base en su experiencia de más de 35 años de campo en la región. Estos
libros constituyen herramientas fundamentales y maravillosas, ya quepermiten que cualquier persona aprenda acerca de las aves de esa región.
Además, se adapta de manera ideal al programa de conservación iniciado
por Claudia Madrazo para enseñar a los niños en las comunidades rurales
sobre las aves con la ayuda de instructores voluntarios.
La introducción cuenta con datos útiles e interesantes sobre migración,
hábitats y cómo identificar aves, todos ellos presentados mediante textos
amenos, sencillos y coloridos. Las fichas de cada especie incluyen fotografías sensacionales, consejos de identificación y mapas de distribución regional,con lo que se facilita que cualquier persona identifique gran mayoría de las especies registradas en esa gran área.
En todo el mundo se conoce a la península de Yucatán por el patrimonio
cultural maya, aunque también es rica en historia natural, cuya diversidad
de aves atrae a visitantes del planeta entero. Con una ubicación privilegiada, entre dos mares y conectada en su base con Centroamérica, se trata delhábitat de 50% de las especies de aves registradas en México.
En verdad espero que esta serie única de Sal a pajarear vaya incrementandosus títulos, pues hace de la observación de aves una experiencia divertida,además de accesible para gente de cualquier edad y ocupación. Estoy listo para utilizar este libro en mi próxima visita a la península de Yucatán: ¡uno de mis lugares favoritos del orbe!

John W. Fitzpatrick

Director del Laboratorio de Ornitología,
Universidad de Cornell,