Wine-throated Hummingbird male at Filadelfia Estate.
Most of the regional endemic birds of Guatemala live in the mountains. A nice example is the Wine-throated Hummingbird which lives around Antigua Guatemala City and near Atitlan Lake.
Wine-throated Hummingbird female.
During my weekly birding walk in Filadelfia Estate Resort I found this couple of hummers and had the chance to photograph them.
Here you can see them together…
Horned Guan, an endangered bird
One of the most amazing bird in Guatemala is Horned Guan. This cracid is restricted to highland in Southern Mexico and central Guatemala.
A best place to look for it is San Pedro Volcano Ecological Park, but you need to hike 4 hours to get a chance to see it.
The good news is that you can have 180 other bird species for birding during the quest.
A sample of the bird list:
What do you think?
Resplendent Quetzal, a simbol of liberty...
Yesterday Guatemalans celebrated our Independence Day. This is always a good opportunity to remember our national symbols and birders enjoy sights of Resplendent Quetzal everywhere.
This is a shot from my friend Benedicto Grijalva near Biotopo del Quetzal National Park on a birding walk a year ago.
Viva Guatemala!
Great-tailed Grackle, a bird you can see everywhere...
When you visit Guatemala you will see Great-tailed Grackles in every town. From lowlands to highlands these birds have found the way to dominate any space to become the most common bird.
Most people don’t like them because they’re invasive and noisy but you can change you mind after seeing this magnificent male picture.
Bushy-crested Jay, a noisy bird...
Guatemala is a perfect place to observe this regional endemic bird, just in the middle of the distribution range that includes highlands from Southern Mexico to Nicaragua. If you go birding to highlands you can’t miss this noisy bird present near coffee plantations in family groups.
Rock Pigeon
Guatemala bird diversity includes three bird species introduced by human intervention. It doesn’t matter if it happened on purpose or by accident: Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow and Cattle Egret.
Cattle Egret
Rock Pigeon came from Asia, Cattle Egret from Africa and House Sparrow from Europe.
House Sparrow
Rufous-collared Sparrow, a common bird in the city.
During my birding walk on Saturday morning at Cerrito del Carmen I got a couple of migrant birds. Here is the complete bird list, in the heart of Guatemala City.
I hope to get more this week but you can see these pictures.
Blue-gray Tanager, a bird you don't want to miss!
The first Black-and-white Warbler this season...
I got back to Cerrito del Carmen this morning searching for my first migrant bird. I walked about 15 minutes looking every movement in the canopy and took some pictures of House Wrens and Black-headed Siskin when a couple of Black-and-white Warbler appeared in front of me… Cool!
I will be alert when other species come and hope to have better images than this one.
Let’s go birding!
Cerrito del Carmen Church. This is the place where Guatemala City was founded in 1776.
Antigua Guatemala City.
Antigua Guatemala is the name Guatemalans use to call former country’s capital city. Nowadays is one of the most important tourism spot and a wonderful birding destination.
If you walk 15 minutes from the central park you can easily find birds like Bushy-crested Jay or the local race of Northern Flicker (some people call it Guatemalan Flicker).
Bushy-crested Jay
Guatemalan coffee is famous by its quality around the world. Near Antigua you’re going to find some coffee farms that offer birding trails where you can have some sights you will never forget. Filadelfia Estate Resort is a place you can’t miss if you visit the city.
After a birding walk the taste of a good Guatemalan cup of coffee is just perfect.
Guatemala City Downtown.
A good friend of mine told me once “Don’t miss any bird…”
Each time I got an opportunity for birding in a place with small chances to get “surprises” the sentence has a lot of meaning.
I live in Old Guatemala City area, a traditional neighborhood were the city had its origin. A small park named Cerrito del Carmen is the only patch of trees in five miles around and it’s a perfect place to get all kind of bird sights you wouldn’t expect.
This is the best shot I got of a Zone-tailed Hawk this Sunday morning. Great bird to start my walk!
Zone-tailed Hawk. Guatemala City 2009.
This space is dedicated to share details of my field trips, pictures and personal notes about birding and wildlife observations.
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