Bird Watching Guatemala Blog

Atitlan Lake Photo by Maynor Ovando Have you heard about the New 7 Wonders of Nature? It’s a global campaign to choose 7 nature sites to declare them Treasures of the World. Atitlan Lake is a nominated candidate for this contest and it makes sense due to the beautiful views you can get in every angle you have of it. But birders have a better reason to support this nomination: the incredible bird diversity. Resplendent Quetzal Only around Atitlan Lake you can tick in a couple of days an amazing bird list like this: Belted Flycatcher Azure-rumped Tanager Horned Guan Resplendent Quetzal Blue-tailed Hummingbird Slender Sheartail Rufous Sabrewing Bar-winged Oriole Bushy-crested Jay Pink-headed Warbler Hooded Grosbeak Highland Guan Green-throated Mountain-gem Blue-throated Motmot Rufous-collared Robin Black Robin Black-capped Swallow Rufous-browed Wren Black-throated Jay Chestnut-sided Shrike-vireo Prevost’s Ground-sparrow Unicolored Jay Yellow-eyed Junco Black-capped Siskin Northern Flicke...

Black-throated Green-warbler (female) Photo by Maynor Ovando MoSI is the abbreviation for Monitoreo de Sobreviviencia Invernal - Monitoring Overwintering Survival Program is a research managed by the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) along Latin America to estimate statistics of overwintering and survival rates and indices of physical conditions of a group of 25 target bird species. The MoSI program is based in a protocol of 5 pulses of mist net operation in an area of at least 20 ha, called a “MoSI Station”. This station is placed in a habitat of interest where the target bird species can be captured in good numbers. Wing feather examination Photo by Maynor Ovando A pulse is equivalent to 16 mist nets operated during 3 consecutive days; it means 15 days of work for a winter season. The protocol ask for specific information like weight, sex, age (determined by feather examination and skull pneumatization) and finally banding individuals to track them in future pulses. All data c...

American Ornithologists' Union Website This organization commonly called AOU is the oldest one in America dedicated to the formal study of birds. This year the AOU celebrates its 125th Anniversary, during these years its members have developed an extended and diverse ornithological society open to scientific ornithologists, students, conservationists and birders. The AOU website provide excellent information about birds in North America and one of the most important work shared is the Check-list of North and South American Birds. The Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of North and Middle American Birds produces an official Check-list of North American Birds, with the purpose of creating a standard classification and nomenclature. Actually the check-list includes 2046 bird species known in the geographic area from North Pole to boundary shared by Panama and Colombia, including Hawaiian Islands and some Antillean Islands. Every year Guatemalans check the publication propo...