Biology 101 Mexican Style - Mexico 2007 - part 2

My first full day of vacation went well. I walked around town and said “Hola” to my friends. I walked on the beach. And I went to Leticia’s for lunch. Leticia’s is one of the dozen or so enramada restaurants, named after the flat thatched roofs that provide shade. I had camaronillas. Those are shrimp tacos. And they’re one of my favorites.

In the afternoon Laura stopped by with a biologist from the Metropolitan University in Mexico City. He is leading a group of 18 biology students who are in the village to study birds in the lagoon and how they are affected by the types of vegetation that grow there. He invited me to come along in the morning on a tour of the lagoon to document the species of birds that are present. I gladly accepted.

We met at the lagoon at 8 a.m. The 3 boats that Laura arranged for the previous day weren’t there. About 10 minutes after 8 a local boy showed up. The professor explained the situation and the boy took off down the beach. A few minutes passed and a small boat appeared. They assured us that 20 of us could fit easily. We disagreed. The young boy waded across the mouth of the lagoon and came back announcing he had found another boat.

We were on our way!

The professor introduced me as a photographer who has published a book of photography of the region and that I wanted to document their trip for possible inclusion in a future book. Well, I had a book of photos printed as a gift for my friend Laura and she had shown it to him. I’m not sure what kind of story she told him. But, the students were impressed!

On the canopy of one of the boats was a sign that said “Wat Choo Heds”. Just then, “Crack!” One of the students smacked her head on the canopy. That’s when I realized the sign was a poor translation.

As the boat pulled away from shore the students started  watching.

It only took a few seconds before we started seeing birds. Here are some that we saw.

Storks

Neotropic Cormorrant

 
Snowy Egret

 
Cormorrants, Pelican, and Great Blue Heron

 
Magnificent Frigatebird

A couple of times the water was so shallow the captain had to raise the motor of the boat and got out and pushed.

In addition to the birds we also saw some of the locals out fishing and collecting crabs and shrimp.

 
Looking for crabs

 
Shrimpers

 
Fishing For Liza

 
After a couple of hours we returned to the shore. We shook hands and parted ways. I went to Nayito’s restaurant for lunch. The students went to have lunch before returning to the lagoon to set traps and nets. The professor invited me to return in a couple of days to watch the capturing, weighing, measuring, and banding of the birds. Again, I accepted.

The rest of my day was spent swimming in the ocean, eating fish tacos, reading, and napping in a hammock.

Hasta Pronto, amigos…