There are so many parks and green spaces here in Merida. And so many of them are well used and well maintained.
As a part of our monthly Bird (Yucatan Bird Club) outing we recently visited a 'new' park for me - Parque Arqueoecologico Xoclan. This is one of those used, but not maintained parks.
It covers a huge expanse of acerage, And has groomed walkways in place. What this park needs is a thorough cleanup, lighting, and police patrol for a while to establish its safety and for the population to feel comfortable and start using it. You can see the size on Google Maps here
We went to Parque Arqueoecologico Xoclan on Sunday, 17 June. I think our group was small because it was Fathers Day. There were seven of us.
This park was created over a site where materials for construction were once mined. This has created a very interesting landscape. There are even some unimproved Mayan ruins on this site. There is some water on the excavated side of the park which has created some interesting diversity if flora. Campo or Selva plants on one side of the walkway and riparian zone on the other.
Our birding was actually pretty good, in spite of the heavy humid slightly overcast weather. We even found a kiskadee nest high up in a tree; none of us had ever seen one before. We also saw a few ground squirrels, a rare sighting inside the city.
you might be able to see some of the facebook fotos here
We identified about 25 species, I'll have to wait for Cherie to type up the list as she was keeping the notes. Many of the birders this morning have very fine cameras, and I've seen some of the photos posted on facebook already.
Unfortunately my little Panasonic point n shoot couldn't rise to the task.
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| How the morning began, from my backyard. |
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| it's an odd eerie landscape. |
