Mexican Critters Rule!

The day started with a stunning sunrise over the Sierra Madre mountains.  As is our habit most mornings, Robert and I joined the ranks of joggers, cyclists, and walkers on Cardenia Street, the main street that runs parallel to the beach.  We walk for several miles on groomed walkways past many resorts, until it is time to turn around and 'boogie' back to the solitude of our tree house for porridge and fruit.  Today, we met some of our animal friends, the coatimundi, who inhabit the densely marshy woods near the lush and very expensive hotel complexes.  The coatimundi have been conditioned in this area to wait each morning for the tourists to come out of their hotels with food scraps and feed them.

Here are 4  interesting facts about this cousin of the racoon ...

1.  Coatis often hold their taisl erect so as to keep troops of coatis together in tall vegetation. 
2.  These intelligent "hog-nose" racoons have a very flexible snout.
3.  Coatis are omnivores and their diet consists mainly of ground litter invertebrates, such as tarantula, and fruit.   They also eat small vertebrate prey, such as lizards, rodents, small birds, birds' eggs, and crocodile eggs.
4.  They can be kept as pets and it is possible to litter train them.  Keep in mind that they are "wild" unlike the dog and cats in our houses today.

The pelican is a popular bird on Bucerias' beach.  It can have a wing span of 10 feet and can fly as high as 10,000 feet soaring on the thermals.  When it eats, the pelican catches prey in its large gular sack, squeezes the water out the side of its bill, moves the food until it is facing head-down in its throat, and swallows.

Sue is amazing with her camera ...  http://youtu.be/B3M5t52CTyg