[Ría de Celestún] [Wildlife] [List of Birds] [Flowers]

Wildlife

Main wintering area for greater flamingos, nesting beaches for endangered sea turtles, endemic plants and birds in coastal dune scrubs; estuary "nurseries" for countless fish and marine species; highly productive mangrove communities; two endangered crocodile species; migrant and wintering waterbirds, shorebirds and songbirds.

The birds

Over 300 bird species can be found in Celestún's Special Biosphere Reserve: cardinals, orioles, motmots, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, flycatchers, kingfishers, cormorants, magnificent fregate birds, herons, egrets, white ibises, wood storks, ospreys, hawks, vultures, sandpipers, roadrunners, owls, pelicans, etc. There are some endemic birds such as the Yucatan wren, the black-throated bobwhite and the Mexican sheartail hummingbird. Celestún is considered the fourth largest wintering ground for ducks in the Gulf region. In winter you're likely to observe over 13 migrant duck species. But surely the most popular bird and the most sought after is the Pink Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber ruber).

The flamingo is one of the most graceful and spectacular birds, but also one that depends on a fragile ecosystem - hypersaline lagoons - for survival. The Northern Hemisphere's only mainland flamingo population lives along the North and West Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

The flamingo feeds and nests in flocks of several thousand birds huddled together in knee-deep water or wading along muddy salt flats. It feeds on small organisms that it filters from the water through a complex mechanism in its large, specially adapted bill.

List of birds sighted in the surroundings of Eco Paraíso »»

The reptiles

Turtles

From the 8 species surviving in the world, 7 exist in Mexico and 4 nest in the coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula: Green turtle (Chelonia mydas mydas), loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). They spend their whole life in the water except for the brief moments the females come ashore to nest and lay their eggs.

A female sea turtle arrives ashore at her nesting beach at night in the months of April, May, June or July. She might nest two or four times during a single nesting season. Though she is fast and well suited to the water, she is slow, awkward and in danger on land. She drops about one hundred white eggs that look like ping-pong balls into a hole that she previously scooped out using her back flippers. When she finishes, she covers the nest with sand and slowly lumbers back to the sea. The eggs are ready to hatch about two months later.

All eight species are endangered or threatened. They are killed for meat and leather; their eggs are taken for food and aphrodisiacs. Their nesting sites are destroyed for industrial development. They are ground up by dredges, run over by pleasure boats, poisoned by pollution, strangled by trash and drowned by fishline and net.

Crocodiles

There are two crocodile species in Mexico, the american crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) and the moreleti crocodile (Crocodylus moreleti). The latter is found in the Celestún estuary. Despite their armor, which protects them from most predators, all crocodilians are threatened by extinction. Hunting them for their skins for luxury leathers and destruction of their habitat have made humans responsible for their precarious situation.

The order Crocodylia includes 3 families of the largest reptiles living today. They are a living vestige of a group called archosaurus of the Mesozoic Era which dates back 225 to 65 million years. Their most characteristic features are internal. Despite their ancient history, they are the most advanced reptiles, having an enlarged brain and cerebral cortex indicating their increased ability to learn.

Other important reptiles can be found in the region such as land turtles, boa constrictors, iguanas and geckos.

Nature Trails

Walk our interpretative nature trails to discover some of the beauty of the nature around us!