Rio Largartos Biosphere Reserve

One of the main things on our bucket list for the area around Valladolid was to head out to Rio Largartos, about a 1 1/2 hour drive to the coast. The mangrove area is a protected environmental reserve and well known for the flamingos. There were many other birds as well! 

We went with Rio Lagartos Adventures and the owner, Diego, picked us up at our hotel in Valladolid. In Rio Lagartos, he left us with his daughter, Andrea, who was an excellent guide for the 4-hour boat tour. She explained that Rio Largartos is very mis-named. The Spanish explorers who first came to the area thought they had found a river (rio) when it's actually a lagoon. And "largartos" means alligator but it's actually crocodiles that are in the area. Although wikipedia indicates they named it for lizards which is another meaning for the word lagartos. 

I was quite sceptical about how my photos were going to turn out as most of them were at the maximum capacity of my 600mm zoom lens. Combined with the fact that, without reading glasses, what I see isn't all that clear so I really have no clue if things are in focus or not. Point and shoot and hope for the best! LOL! While there were lots of duds, I was pleasantly surprised to get a few decent ones as well. 

The movements of the flamingos while they search for food are hilarious. They sort of shuffle their feet and their necks hinge back and forth as the dig with their beaks as well.
It's a well choreographed little dance.

You don't really notice the black in their wings until they take flight.

Double crested cormorant

Brown pelican

Osprey

Snowy egret

Great blue heron

Guatamalan cracker butterfly

Green heron

Kingbird

Willet

Wood stork

Osprey with fish for lunch

Of the 4-hour tour, we were on land for about an hour and walked through a forest area with a board walk that was sketchy at best! Lots of missing and slanted boards. This is where we saw most of the crocodiles. Andrea took the three photos at the bottom of this post. 

Overall, it was a great day and it was nice to see so many birds!

Baby crocodile

With our guide, Andrea