When we traveled to Mexico for my first time, Tom told me about Isla Contoy, a “birding island”. Of course I immediately knew I wanted to visit that island. While we didn’t make it during that trip, now we finally did! Located close to Isla Mujeres, it is an amazing day trip for any birding enthusiast and nature lover.

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Isla Contoy: Nature Destination in the Riviera Maya

Because Isla Contoy is a ecological reserve and a Mexican national park, no one lives on the island. Instead of people, the island is a favorite hang-out spot for magnificent frigate birds, cormorants, caiman crocodiles, iguanas and hermit crabs.

Contoy island is pretty small, only 5 miles in length and has a surface area of only a bit more than a square mile. (for comparison: it is about 1/1,000th of the area of nearby Sian Ka’an) Isla Contoy is the most important nesting place of sea birds in all of the Mexican Caribbean.

Birds of Isla Contoy

Not surprising, this nature paradise has a lot of different birds, but the most visible and awesome ones are the soaring magnificent frigate birds. Did you know there are recorded instances of these prehistoric looking birds soaring for weeks without stopping while barely flapping their wings?

• Magnificent frigate birds. Have you ever seen a living pterodactyl?
• Double crested cormorants. Dracula birds.
• Vultures. Yes, they are hoping you will die so that they can eat you.

Introducing you to some of the most common birds on the island. For complete ebird check lists, check here.

Magnificent Frigate Birds: Pirates of the Sea

One of my favorite birds, the magnificent frigate bird is a fantastic flyer. For while they soar high, until they get hungry and dive down to swoop up prey from the water’s surface.

Unlike other sea birds, they are unable to swim, their feathers are simply not designed for it. Rather than risking drowning, they will take the easy way out when they can, by stealing food from other sea birds, like pelicans. Little did I know that piracy and bullying was not restricted to the human race, but abounds in birds also.

When we arrived at Isla Contoy, the first birds we noticed were big swarms of these frigate birds. Looking like bees flying out from a hive, it turned out these were actually giant, 6-foot wing-span birds, lazily floating on the thermals.

Sure, we had seen these birds before, but usually not in these kinds of numbers. When you visit Contoy Island, you can see these masses of frigate birds for yourself!

Double Crested Cormorants: Dracula!

Common in New England, I was surprised to see quite some double crested cormorants here. Researching more, I found out that these birds migrate to Mexico for the winter. Smart creatures!

Cormorants are quite adept divers, but do need to dry their wings in between feeding sessions. Seeing them with their wings stretched out in the sun always reminds me of Dracula.

Another place where we have seen these cool creatures was at Everglades National Park, one of our national birding paradises.

Vultures: Garbage Disposal Crew

During our tour of Isla Contoy, staring up at the flotillas of frigate birds, I suddenly spotted a random vulture flying among them. First I thought “Cool how she fits right in with the frigate birds!” but it didn’t take long before one of the frigate birds broke formation and explained to the vulture that she could not fly with them because she looked weird.

Undauntedly, the vulture flew off and pretended it never wanted to join the frigate games anyway. Their antics reminded me of high school cliques drama.

With a keen sense of smell, turkey vultures are like the garbage disposal units of the island. They are able to detect carrion from a mile away and are always happy to snack on fresh corpses. Their head is featherless to keep it easier to stay clean in the pursuit of innards.

Other Contoy Island Creatures

Apart from birds, Contoy Island hosts other interesting animals, like caiman crocodiles and hermit crabs. Sadly we didn’t get to see the caimans, but there was an abundance of hermit crabs right next to our lunch picnic tables. Very entertaining to watch them pick up their shells and run around!

Isla Contoy Practical Info

Because Isla Contoy is a national park and the number of visitors is maximum 200 a day, you can’t really get there on your own. Instead, we used a tour company, which worked out ok, although we would have loved to spend more time on the island.

Advantage of using the tour company was that they provided all food and drink for the day and that we got to snorkel on the Ixlache reef. Now if you think snorkeling is a nice and relaxed activity, the opposite was true on the day we did the tour.

The sea was very rough and active, and they gave us warnings about only attempting this if you were an experienced, strong swimmer, since the boat moved while we snorkeled, so you can’t change your mind halfway.

Even with the rough sea, it still was fun to snorkel, although we decided not to bring the gopro.

At the end of the day, this tour stopped on Isla Mujeres, where we could buy souvenirs or visit the beach, but we really would have preferred to spend more time on Isla Contoy.

Info for People with Disabilities (ADA Access) at Isla Contoy

It would be hard to get a wheelchair on the boat and on the island, wheelchair accessibility is limited. Although I don’t use a wheelchair, I had a hard time with my MS and heat induced lassitude. As I said, I would have loved to visit the lagoon, but due to exhaustion by walking in the sand, I simply could not do it. Would love to get back for a longer time and bring my trusted hiking poles.

Wheel chairs can make it to the small visitor center and the lunch space, but it would be impossible to get to the top of the hill they were using as a lookout post over the island.

Tours to Isla Contoy

Since the only way to get to the island is with an official tour, here is a list of tours to Isla Contoy.

Conclusion: Isla Contoy

When you are in the Riviera Maya and you get tired of laying around in the sun and drinking cocktails (Flaming Coffee for the win :), consider a day trip to this island. It is a breath taking place and a great way to spend time without too many people.

Have you been to Isla Contoy? Do you have other nature preserves in Mexico to recommend? Please let us know in the comments!

Other Birding Locations World Wide

• Never Smile at a Crocodile! Beginner’s guide to Birding in the Everglades;
• Birds, Dolphins and Fish Poop: Discover Sian Ka’an, a UNESCO World Heritage Site;
• Eagles galore!
• Invasive Alien Birds in Hawai’i: don’t get fooled by their beauty;
• Life time bucket list: follow Thousands of Snow Geese;
• Watch a heron take out a crocodile!
• The best birding in Costa Rica;
• Explore Isla Contoy in Calcun;
• When hiking is too hard: birds on the Manoa Falls Trail;
• Kennebunkport Maine has good birding hotspots;
• Famous bird painting for booklovers: Where is The Goldfinch Painting now? and how it doesn’t even LOOK like a goldfinch;
• Lots of incidental birding on an Alaska Cruise;
• Last but not least: why birding is the best way to socially distance;

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