Community bird monitoring is essential for building strategies to conserve ecosystems and the environmental services they provide to the community. The Tulum National Park monitoring brigade, through the Program for the Protection and Restoration of Ecosystems and Species at Risk (PROREST), produced this guide to identifying some of the common birds of this Protected Natural Area.
More than 140 species have been recorded in Tulum National Park, among them emblematic birds such as the ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata), the great curassow (Crax rubra) and the ornate hawk-eagle (Spizaetus ornatus).
Each entry gathers the bird's names, its seasonality and its risk category under Mexico's NOM-059 standard.
Photographs from the community monitoring itself; each photographer's credit is preserved.
Large seabird (122 cm); juveniles have a bright brown head that gradually turns white-and-yellow in adults. Ranges from the United States to Venezuela.
Large wading bird (60 cm). Juveniles and non-breeding adults have green legs with black in front; breeding adults have black legs. All show bright yellow feet, a black bill and a yellow eye-ring. Ranges from the United States to South America.
Large black seabird (102 cm). The male has a red throat pouch (gular sac); the female has a white breast and juveniles a white head. Deeply forked, scissor-like tail. Ranges from the southwestern United States to southern Ecuador.
Large scavenger (71 cm) recognized by its bald head, red in adults and gray in juveniles. The underwing shows black feathers in front and gray behind. Ranges from Canada to South America.
Tiny owl (18 cm) with rufous and brown morphs, a rufous tail barred with dark lines, and fine white streaks on the crown. Ranges from the southwestern United States to northern Argentina.
Large raptor (62 cm). Head and underparts mostly white, back dark brown, with a brown band running from the eye down to the nape. Found nearly worldwide, except South America.
Common regional dove (30 cm), brown, distinguished as the only one with large white bands on the lower edge of the wing, very obvious in flight. Widespread across the Americas.
Common regional dove (32 cm) with a beige body and pale brown tail, marked by a black half-moon collar on the nape. Ranges from Canada to the Caribbean.
Medium bird (23 cm) with green plumage, an olive-brown breast and a white eye-ring. Long, pointed tail. Ranges from eastern Mexico to western Panama.
Medium bird (27 cm) with a white forehead, red face and yellowish bill. In flight the male shows a red patch on the leading edge of the wing. Similar to the Yucatan parrot but without dark cheek marks or a yellow forehead. Ranges from Mexico to Costa Rica.
Medium-sized trogon (27 cm), recognized by its eye-ring and the white blocks on the underside of the tail. The male differs from the female by its black head and blue-green back. Ranges from southeastern Mexico to northern Costa Rica.
Small bird (11 cm), grayish yellow. Identified by white wing bars and the yellow spot between the eye and bill. Similar to the white-eyed vireo but without an eye-ring and with yellow on breast and throat. Ranges from Mexico to Costa Rica.
Small bird (15 cm) with an olive-gray back and pale yellow belly, a dark line through the eye and a broad white eyebrow. Endemic to the region: found in Quintana Roo and on islands off Belize and Honduras.
Small bird (11 cm), similar to the mangrove vireo. Marked by white eyes, yellow eyebrow and eye-ring, olive back, white wing bars and yellow flanks. Ranges from the eastern United States to Nicaragua, wintering in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Small bird (12 cm); a yellow face frames the black eyes, plumage mostly yellow with dark tips. Males show rufous streaks on the breast. Ranges from Canada to Peru, wintering in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Small bird (13 cm), yellow with an olive back. The male has a distinctive black hood; in the female, white tail spots set it apart. Ranges from the eastern United States to Panama; a winter resident.
Small bird (13 cm); males are black with orange patches on wings, tail and sides. Females and juveniles have a gray head, olive back and yellow patches. Ranges from Canada to Brazil.
Small bird (15 cm), deep yellow on head and breast, with a white rump and blue-gray wings and tail. Ranges from the eastern United States to South America, wintering in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Small bird (13 cm), olive above with a bright yellow throat. Adult males have a black mask edged with gray. Ranges from Canada to northern South America; considered a winter resident.
Small bird (15 cm). Like the Louisiana waterthrush, it has a brown back and white underparts with dark streaks and a pale eyebrow. Told apart by its cream eyebrow and darker streaking. Ranges from Canada to Peru; considered a winter resident.
Medium bird (20 cm) with glossy black plumage, told from other black birds by its slender bill. Endemic to the Yucatan Peninsula, ranging to northern Belize and Honduras.
Medium bird (22 cm), plain gray with a dark crown and rufous undertail, its silhouette like the black catbird's. Ranges from Canada to Panama, wintering in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Medium bird (24 cm), gray to silvery above and white below, with a gray tail and gray-and-black wings. Ranges from southern Mexico to northeastern South America.
Several species of swallows (A) and swifts (B) occur in Tulum National Park; the commonest genera are Stelgidopteryx (swallows) and Chaetura (swifts). Swifts gather in flocks of up to hundreds. They are told apart by their silhouette in flight.
Small bird (13 cm); the bill is straight with a black tip in males, and black above / reddish below in females and juveniles. Recognized by its cinnamon breast and belly. Ranges from Mexico to Costa Rica.
Tiny bird (9 cm) with a green back, white belly and olive tail. The base of the bill is reddish. Ranges from Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua.
Medium birds (22 cm), yellow-bellied with a gray head and back and brown wings and tail. In the field the only way to tell them apart is by voice. Tropical kingbird ranges Mexico to Peru; Couch's, Texas to Guatemala.
Medium bird (20 cm), heavily streaked, with a bright yellow belly, rufous-brown tail, black bill and white eyebrow. Ranges from Canada to Panama; a summer resident in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Medium birds (24 cm), yellow-bellied, with brown (kiskadee) or olive (boat-billed) wings and tail. The main difference between them is the size and shape of the bill. They range from the United States to South America.
Small-to-medium bird (18 cm), common in Tulum National Park. It is the smallest of the kiskadee-type flycatchers, told from the others by its smaller bill. Ranges from Mexico to Peru.
Small-to-medium bird (20 cm) with a brown back, yellow rump, streaked breast and a hooked bill tip. Ranges from Mexico to Ecuador and Brazil.
Small bird (17 cm) with a large head, dark gray crown, gray body and brown wings. Females and juveniles have a brown back; males have a dark gray back and a rose-red throat. Ranges from the United States to Panama.
Medium bird (29–41 cm). Males are blue-black with a long tail; the smaller females are dark brown. Told from other black birds by the long bill and yellow-to-white eyes. Ranges from the United States to Peru.
Medium bird (26 cm), deep black. Told from the grackle by its shorter bill, dark eyes and characteristic song. Ranges from Mexico to Costa Rica.
Medium bird (24 cm); the largest oriole in the region. Males are told by the yellow forehead and cheeks and the yellow triangle on the wing. Females are pale yellow with a gray back. Ranges from the United States to Belize and Nicaragua.
Small-to-medium bird (19 cm). Males differ from the Altamira oriole by their black forehead and cheeks, white wing bars and slimmer bill. Females are pale yellow with a gray back. Ranges from the United States to Belize.
Medium bird (25 cm) with a gray body, black-and-white barred back and a red rump. Females have a gray crown with red only on forehead and nape. Very similar to the Yucatan woodpecker, which is smaller and shorter-billed. Ranges from the United States to Central America.
Medium bird (33 cm). Told from similar woodpeckers by a distinctive white band running across the whole face. Males are recognized by the red on cheeks and forehead. Ranges from Mexico to northern Argentina.
Medium bird (33 cm), common in Tulum National Park. Adults have blue wings and a black body, bill and eye-ring; juveniles are white-bodied with a yellow bill, legs and eye-ring. Endemic to the Yucatan Peninsula, northern Belize and Guatemala.
Medium-to-large bird (48 cm), grayish brown with pale underparts and a long, white-tipped tail. The red of its throat is sometimes visible. Ranges from southeastern Mexico to Brazil.
This guide was produced by the community monitoring brigade of Tulum National Park. Cover photograph: Valeria Juárez Lucero.
With thanks to the management of Tulum National Park and to the rangers who collaborated in the monitoring program, and to the Program for the Protection and Restoration of Ecosystems and Species at Risk (PROREST).