Bird Watching Guatemala Blog

Miguel Marin, an expert member of Bird Watching Guatemala Project Photo by Maynor Ovando San Miguel is a small village just five minutes in a boat ride from Flores Island in Petén lowlands. And like many places in Guatemala is a great birding hotspot. Miguel Marin is an extraordinary birder and a terrific birding guide who lives in this small bird paradise. Mangrove Swallow After years leading birding groups he has got an extra sense to find birds, sometimes people say that Miguel has a treat with birds because just in the moment he speaks about a bird, it comes in front of your eyes. He knows perfectly every bird that can be found in his domains and as members of the Bird Watching Guatemala birding staff I took a couple of hours to walk with him around the place. Northern Jacana I was thinking that my chances to get many birds were low because of the rainy weather but my expert friend had no problem to show me 52 bird species in this short visit. Miguel has been recording patiently

Louisiana Waterthrush ( Seiurus motacilla ) La primera ave migratoria que observé esta temporada en Guatemala fue un Louisiana Waterthrush en mi visita al sitio arqueológico El Perú - Waká el 4 de agosto de este año. Curiosamente esta especie y el Magnolia Warbler fueron los últimos que observé a finales de mayo. Observando y tomando nota de los acontecimientos de cuales somos testigos podemos colaborar a demostrar los cambios que ocurren en las diferentes poblaciones animales del mundo. Posted by Maynor Ovando http://www.birdwatchingguatemala.com/ is a registered trademark of Martsam Tour & Travel Copyright® 2,008 http://www.birdwatchingguatemala.com/ http://www.martsam.com/

Lemuel, Melvin and me birding at Ixpanpajul Photo by Maynor Ovando A couple of weeks ago I joined to Melvin and Lemuel, two of the best birding guides in Guatemala, to an early birding walk in Ecological Park Ixpanpajul. We started at 6:00 in the morning and the sound of Blue-crowned Motmot, Clay-colored Robin and Great Tinamou was announcing the sunrise. Vermillion Flycatcher (female) The first bird in sight was a female Vermillion Flycatcher and then a complete flycatcher parade was in front of our eyes, including Yellowish Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee and Tropical Kingbird. Through the dense vegetation surrounding the trail we observed Green-backed Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Red-throated Ant-tanager, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper and Olivaceous Woodcreeper. Bronzed Cowbird Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Yellow Warblers, Black-and-white Warblers, Blue-gray Tanagers, Bronzed Cowbirds and hundreds of Northern Rough-winged Swallows were easy to see. Two hour

Bare- throated Tiger-heron Last days have been rainy and wet on Guatemala’s highlands and the direct effect on Peten lowlands is flood on areas along rivers. I went with my friends Melvin and Diego from Martsam Tour & Travel to birding around Ceibal and the experience was extraordinary. Hundreds of aquatic and shorebirds feeding on the extended ponds like Great-blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret, Great Egret and Bare-throated Tiger Heron. Gray-necked Wood-rail Through the bushes we saw Ruddy Crake, Mangrove Vireo, Gray-necked Wood-rail and Least Grebe. Over clean branches we had this great sight of the Amazon Kingfisher and a couple of Snail Kite. Amazon Kingfisher By the end of the day we had a bird list of 98 species. Posted by Maynor Ovando www.birdwatchingguatemala.com is a registered trademark of Martsam Tour & Travel Copyright® 2,008 www.birdwatchingguatemala.com www.martsam.com