Celstun Biosphere Reserve near Merida (flamingos)
 

We will be visiting Merida for their Hanal Pixan (Day of the Dead) events in late October - early November. We would also like to visit the Celestun Biosphere Reserve with the flamingos being one of our main interests. Will this particular time of year be an active time for the flamingos i.e. will there be tons to see? Thanks for any/all information.

Great question, kwood!

My understanding -- which could very easily be wrong! -- is that the majority of the flock normally returns to Celestun by that time of year BUT the timing of migrations of birds in much of the world has been changing in recent years, so I'm not sure any guarantees are possible.

FWIW, I mistimed my visit to Celestun in mid-April 2008: My visit was apparently JUST after the main nesting flock left for Rio Lagartos -- and as I understand it, the vast majority of the migrators are those who are of nesting age. Even though a HUGE number of birds had apparently already left, I saw a flock of thousands, and it was impressive!

Perhaps more to the point, if seeing these magnificent birds is a priority, you might be able to monitor the flocks and adjust your plans accordingly....

Hope that helps!

Celestun is a bit over 1 1/2 hours from Merida.
Rio Lagartos is just under 3 hours from Merida.
Both are options for seeing flamingos.

@ SambaChula -- Do you know where travelers can get information about when the breeding flocks migrate between Celestun and Rio Lagartos? I've found it easy to learn that one CAN see flamingos at each location; I've found it MUCH more difficult to obtain reliable, valid, and current information about when the breeding flocks migrate. And that, of course, can make the difference between seeing thousands of birds or seeing 10 times more -- or even many, many more -- than that.

Thanks, everybody!! Great info!!!