Birding in the Yucatan Peninsula

Birding in the Yucatan Peninsula is a network of biologist and birder guides led by Joel F. Ortega, a sustainable-tourism specialist who has built one of the larger local guide cooperatives on the peninsula. The team brings together eight Yucatecan and Mayan guides with five to twenty-plus years of field experience, and several hold the federal NOM-09 alternative-tourism guide credential. Tours run from Merida, Tulum and Puerto Morelos out to Celestun, Rio Lagartos, the Xocen Maya forest reserve, Calakmul and Cozumel, and target the full Yucatan endemic suite plus the Sian Ka'an wetland specialties. The roster is set up so that clients can be matched with guides whose strengths range from photography and conservation education to deep Maya-cultural interpretation.