Our first stop was in the village of San Filipe, on the northern coast of the Yucatan.
The houses reminded us of eastern Caribbean villages and places in the Bahamas with their wide board walls.
The next stop was Rio Lagartos, very near San Filipe. After we'd checked into our hotel, we took a boat trip into the large lagoon that parallels the northern coast of the Yucatan. It's famous for birds.
I'm glad this isn't our boat filled with brown pelicans.
The red beaked birds are skimmers and they do just that, barely touching the water with their beaks. I apologize for the bird pictures, but I was thrilled to see some of these critters and so I took their portraits knowing that they don't compare with good bird pictures. Google them and I'm sure you'll find much better. I also worry that something will happen to the computer and I may lose my photos. The blog will retain some of our trip safely on-line.
The lagoon also has crocodiles. The guide said they were "tranquillo."
And to demonstrate this he dangled a fish on a line and lured the fellow in for a bite--the guide's bite of him. The crocodile seemed bored and I wondered if the fellow were tranquilized in some way and urged to stay in one spot so that the guides can thrill the tourists.
Anhinga. We'd seen these before in Florida, but it's still a treat.
White ibis. Again, we've seen these in Florida, but not so close. They aren't as exciting as the scarlet ibis we saw in Venezuela, but we don't have these in Wyoming either.
Wood stork. Probably the ugliest bird around. They, too, are found in the Everglades, but they are quite rare. We also saw a roseate spoonbill too far to photograph.
There were lots of flamingos, but we didn't get close. The picture below is to prove that we saw some.
Before the flamingos took off, they were standing on the same sand bar as these white pelicans. I like to think these are the same ones who summer at Oakwood Lakes in eastern South Dakota.
This is the first time I've ever seen a magnificent frigate bird at rest. It's almost sundown.
On a bridge, which crosses the lagoon to a salt factory, men fish with the same kind of nets we saw in the Rio Dulce in Guatemala.
And finally, some of those nets drying in town.
There were many birds that I didn't get good photos of--great white and great blue herons, night herons, snowy egrets, vultures, hawks, osprey, tiger egrets, cormorants, and that elusive roseate spoonbill.
