Top 20 Most Common Bird in Yucatan

Yucatan is a paradisiac region nestled between the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, boasting rich biodiversity. It is home to 20 common bird species, each showcasing distinct characteristics, intriguing behaviors and stunning adaptations to their tropical environment. This vibrant avifauna contributes significantly to Yucatan's unique ecosystem.

Most Common Bird

Great-tailed Grackle

1. Great-tailed Grackle

The medium-sized great-tailed Grackle is notable for its long tail, shaped like a V, and deep black coloring offset by bright yellow eyes. This loud bird can be easily found just by following the sharp sounds of its calls and shrieks. Males in particular shriek and ruffle up their feathers to defend their territory or if they feel threatened.
White-winged Dove

2. White-winged Dove

The medium-sized, distinctively patterned white-winged Doves practically live on Saguaro cactus, consuming its nectar, pollen, fruit, and seeds. In fact, they are so dependent on this plant that they match their migration schedule to its fruiting schedule. White-winged Doves were heavily hunted in Texas in the 20th century and their population dropped from 12 million to fewer than 1 million by 1939. Since then proactive hunting management and the species ability to adapt to urban living has helped their numbers rebound.
Golden-fronted Woodpecker

3. Golden-fronted Woodpecker

The golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) is a North American woodpecker. Its preferred habitat is mesquite, riparian woodlands, and tropical rainforest. It is distributed from Texas and Oklahoma in the United States through Mexico to Honduras and northern Nicaragua. Cooke listed this species as an abundant resident of the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in 1884.
Tropical Mockingbird

4. Tropical Mockingbird

The tropical Mockingbird is named after its wide range throughout the coastal tropics of Central and South America. These birds are common in their natural habitats and can also regularly be seen sitting on telephone wires. They are very similar to the long-tailed mockingbird (Mimus longicaudatus) in appearance and call, but the two ranges do not overlap.
Social Flycatcher

5. Social Flycatcher

In appearance, the social flycatcher resembles a smaller boat-billed flycatcher or great kiskadee. The adult is 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in) long and weighs 24–27 g (0.85–0.95 oz). The head is dark grey with a strong white eyestripe and a usually concealed orange to vermilion crown stripe. The upperparts are olive-brown, and the wings and tail are brown with only faint rufous fringes. The underparts are yellow and the throat is white. Young birds have a paler eye mask, reduced crown stripe, and have chestnut fringes to the wing and tail feathers. The call is a sharp peeurrr and the dawn song is a chips-k’-cheery. As the specific epithet similis (Latin for "the similar one") indicates, this species looks much like its closest living relative the rusty-margined flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis), and also like the white-bearded flycatcher (Phelpsia inornatus), white-ringed flycatcher (Conopias albovittatus) and lesser kiskadee (Pitangus/Philohydor lictor). In fact, except at close range, these are all but indistinguishable from appearance alone. They and the two larger similar species mentioned above share much of their range. Though they all are apparently fairly close relatives, the group to which they seem to belong also includes species with rather different head-pattern, like the grey-capped flycatcher which also belongs to Myiozetetes.
Ruddy Ground Dove

6. Ruddy Ground Dove

The Rosttäubchen (Columbina talpacoti) is a kind of the pigeons birds, which is counted among the subfamily of the American Kleintauben. The species occurs from the extreme south of North America to South America and is considered as not endangered in its population.
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

7. Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

The blue-gray gnatcatcher or blue-grey gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) is a very small songbird, 10–13 cm (3.9–5.1 in) in length, 6.3 in (16 cm) in wingspan, and weighing only 5–7 g (0.18–0.25 oz). Adult males are blue-gray on the upperparts with white underparts, have a slender dark bill, and a long black tail edged in white. Females are less blue, while juveniles are greenish-gray. Both sexes have a white eye ring. The blue-gray gnatcatcher's breeding habitat includes open deciduous woods and shrublands in southern Ontario, the eastern and southwestern United States, and Mexico. Though gnatcatcher species are common and increasing in number while expanding to the northeast, it is the only one to breed in Eastern North America. Both parents build a cone-like nest on a horizontal tree branch, and share feeding the young. The incubation period is 13 days for both sexes, and two broods may be raised in a season. These birds migrate to the southern United States, Mexico, northern Central America-(Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras), Cuba, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Cayman Islands. They forage actively in trees or shrubs, mainly eating insects, insect eggs and spiders. They may hover over foliage while snatching prey (gleaning), or fly to catch insects in flight (hawking). The tail is often held upright while defending territory or searching for food.
Greyish Saltator

8. Greyish Saltator

On average, the greyish saltator is 20 cm long and weighs 52 g. The plumage depends on age and subspecies, but in general this bird has grey or greyish-olive upperparts, a white stripe over the eye, a narrow white throat, a grey breast and a buff or cinnamon belly. The common call is a long-drawn upward slur, ch'wheeet or ch'kweeee, sometimes with a more elaborate beginning, as hi'whee chu weeeeh. The song is a warble, usually fairly short, varying from nasal to mellow.
Cinnamon Hummingbird

9. Cinnamon Hummingbird

The cinnamon hummingbird (Amazilia rutila) is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It is found from northwestern Mexico to Costa Rica. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest. A medium-sized hummingbird, the species measures about 10 cm (3.9 in) and weighs around 5 g (0.18 oz). The upperparts are metallic bronze green while the underparts cinnamon, paler on the chin and upper throat, the wings are dark. Bill is red with a black tip.
Great Kiskadee

10. Great Kiskadee

The great Kiskadee is a large bird with bold markings that make this flycatcher easily recognizable. is a bright-colored bird that prefers woodland habitats close to water or open areas. It eats a lot of insects, but also forages for seeds and berries and is known to dive into shallow water for small fish.
Clay-colored Thrush

11. Clay-colored Thrush

The clay-colored Thrush is a stunning bird known for its melodious song and distinctive appearance. With its clay-colored upperparts, rusty underparts, and dark brown crown, it stands out in its habitats, which can range from forests to suburban parks. It feeds on various food sources including insects, fruits, and berries. The bird has a melodious song consisting of clear, ringing phrases.
Couch's Kingbird

12. Couch's Kingbird

It is about 7 inches long. It has a large head and bill. It has a dark, forked tail. The head is pale gray with contrasting darker cheeks. The upperparts are grayish-olive. It has a pale throat and a darker breast. The lower breast is bright yellow. Juveniles have browner underparts than the adult and pale edges to their wings.
Melodious Blackbird

13. Melodious Blackbird

The adult is a medium-sized blackbird with a rounded tail. The male is 25.5 cm (10.0 in) long and weighs 108 g (3.8 oz). The slightly smaller female is 23 cm (9.1 in) long and weighs 95 g (3.4 oz). The adult plumage is entirely black with a bluish gloss, and the bill, legs and feet are also black. The iris is brown. Females are identically plumaged to the males; young birds are brownish black and lack iridescence. There are no subspecies.
Green Jay

14. Green Jay

The Inca jay is 29.5–30.5 cm (11.6–12.0 in) in length. The crown can appear mostly white, with blue limited to the frontal crest and nape. A black bib forms a broad band up to the sides of the head as well as a stripe through the eye line and one above it. The breast and underparts typically are bright yellow. The upper parts are rich green. The color of the iris is bright yellow.
Black Vulture

15. Black Vulture

Although quite dapper in appearance, the black Vulture's name comes from the Latin vulturus meaning “tearer" and that is just what that hooked beak is for. These birds are highly social, with fierce family loyalty and will share food with relatives and with their young long after the babies have fledged. Because they lack a voice box, their calls are limited to grunts and hisses.
Eurasian Collared-dove

16. Eurasian Collared-dove

This plump, pretty dove with a square-tipped tail is known for bobbing its head and flicking its tail while walking. Though nice to look at, many people are not pleased at the sight of a eurasian Collared-dove walking along. In North America they are considered an invasive species, and one that carries a disease-creating parasite that can spread to native dove populations through birdbaths, feeders, or even through hawks preying on them.
Altamira Oriole

17. Altamira Oriole

Both males and females have a black mandible and throat, as well as a black back and long black tail. Wings are black, but the remiges and rectrices (flight feathers) are fringed with white. These form a single white wing bar and white wing spots when folded. The secondary coverts form orange epaulets. The underside is almost uniformly orange or yellowish-orange. In general, immature specimens have an olive back, and a dull yellow on its head and its body. The first-year bird is similar to the adult, but it has an olive, not black, back, and yellow-olive tail.
Groove-billed Ani

18. Groove-billed Ani

The groove-billed ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) is a tropical bird in the cuckoo family with a long tail and a large, curved beak. It is a resident species throughout most of its range, from southern Texas, central Mexico and The Bahamas, through Central America, to northern Colombia and Venezuela, and coastal Ecuador and Peru. It only retreats from the northern limits of its range in Texas and northern Mexico during winter. The groove-billed ani is about 34 cm (13 in) long, and weighs 70–90 g (2.5–3.2 oz). Wingspan ranges from 41-46 cm (16-18 in). It is completely black, with a very long tail almost as long as its body. It has a huge bill with lengthwise grooves running the length of the upper mandible. It is very similar to the smooth-billed ani, some specimens of which have bills as small as the groove-billed and with grooves on the basal half. The two species are best distinguished by voice and range. In flight, the ani alternates between quick, choppy flaps and short glides. Like other anis, the groove-billed is found in open and partly open country, such as pastures, savanna, and orchards. It feeds largely on a mixed diet of insects, seeds, and fruits. The groove-billed ani lives in small groups of one to five breeding pairs. They defend a single territory and lay their eggs in one communal nest. All group members incubate the eggs and care for the young.
Rufous-browed Peppershrike

19. Rufous-browed Peppershrike

The rufous-browed peppershrike (Cyclarhis gujanensis) is a passerine bird in the vireo family. It is widespread and often common in woodland, forest edge, and cultivation with some tall trees from Mexico and Trinidad south to Argentina and Uruguay. The adult rufous-browed peppershrike is approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) long and weighs 28 g (0.99 oz). It is bull-headed with a thick, somewhat shrike-like bill, which typically is blackish below and pinkish-grey above. The head is grey with a strong rufous eyebrow. The crown is often tinged with brown. The upperparts are green, and the yellow throat and breast shade into a white belly. The subspecies ochrocephala from the south-eastern part of its range has a shorter rufous eyebrow and a brown-tinged crown, while the subspecies virenticeps, contrerasi and saturata from north-western Peru and western Ecuador have greenish-yellow (not grey, as in the "typical" subspecies) nape, auriculars and cheeks. The song is a whistled phrase with the rhythm "Do you wash every week?", but there are extensive variations depending on both individual and range. It is often heard but hard to see as it feeds on insects and spiders high in the foliage, though it has been observed to take small lizards as well. The nest is a flimsy cup high in a tree with a typical clutch of two or three pinkish-white eggs lightly blotched with brown. Like most vireos, the peppershrike ejects parasitic cowbird eggs.
Turquoise-browed Motmot

20. Turquoise-browed Motmot

The turquoise-browed motmot (Eumomota superciliosa) also known as Torogoz, is a colourful, medium-sized bird of the motmot family, Momotidae. It inhabits Central America from south-east Mexico (mostly the Yucatán Peninsula), to Costa Rica, where it is common and not considered threatened. It lives in fairly open habitats such as forest edge, gallery forest and scrubland. It is more conspicuous than other motmots, often perching in the open on wires and fences. From these perches it scans for prey, such as insects and small reptiles. White eggs (3–6) are laid in a long tunnel nest in an earth bank or sometimes in a quarry or fresh-water well. Its name originates from the turquoise color of its brow. It was first declared as the official national bird of El Salvador in 1999, where the bird is known as Torogoz. The bird is 34 cm (13 in) long and weighs 65 g (2.3 oz). It has a mostly grey-blue body with a rufous back and belly. There is a bright blue strip above the eye and a blue-bordered black patch on the throat. The flight feathers and upperside of the tail are blue. The tips of the tail feathers are shaped like rackets and the bare feather shafts are longer than in other motmots. Although it is often said that motmots pluck the barbs off their tail to create the racketed shape, this is not true; the barbs are weakly attached and fall off due to abrasion with substrates and with routine preening. Unlike most bird species, where only males express elaborate traits, the turquoise-browed motmot expresses the extraordinary racketed tail in both sexes. Research indicates that the tail has evolved to function differently for the sexes. Males apparently use their tail as a sexual signal, as males with longer tails have greater pairing success and reproductive success. In addition to this function, the tail is used by both sexes in a wag-display, whereby the tail is moved back-and-forth in a pendulous fashion. The wag-display is performed in a context unrelated to mating: both sexes perform the wag-display in the presence of a predator, and the display is thought to confer naturally selected benefits by communicating to the predator that it has been seen and that pursuit will not result in capture. This form of interspecific communication is referred to as a pursuit-deterrent signal. The call is nasal, croaking and far-carrying. The turquoise-browed motmot is a well-known bird in its range and has been chosen as the national bird of both El Salvador and Nicaragua. It has acquired a number of local names including guardabarranco ("ravine-guard") in Nicaragua, Torogoz in El Salvador (based on its call) and pájaro reloj ("clock bird") in the Yucatán, based on its habit of wagging its tail like a pendulum. In Costa Rica it is known as momoto cejiceleste or the far-less flattering pájaro bobo ("foolish bird"), owing to its tendency to allow humans to come very near it without flying away.
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