Bird Watching Guatemala Blog

Rainy season in Guatemala started in May and will be finish in late October and a good weather forecast is really important when you are planning a birding trip. Bird behavior is affected by low temperatures and high humidity; it is really hard bird watching with poor light. Have you ever try birding like this? The good thing is that in Guatemala rain is predictable in the most important birding areas. Usually in Western Highlands mornings are clear and warm, great for birding! Afternoons and nights are stormy and rainy and give a chance to travel to different places or visit towns and get close to live Mayan cultures Perfect weather for birding in the morning... In Northern Lowlands all time is good for rain, morning, afternoon or night, but short in time. Maybe you started to walk early in the morning with no clouds in the sky and just when you are in the middle of the forest, suddenly a hard rain begins and lasts for an hour or so, but then clouds disappear and you can continue agai...

Birding in highlands is a surprising experience, if you have been in lowlands you know how many different colored species you can observe in a couple of hours, but in the mountains it is just a challenge to look for birds, mostly green or blue, through the green trees. My friends Bill Thompson III (left) and Simon Thompson birding in Cerro Alux Can you see the bird? Guatemala’s national bird is Resplendent Quetzal but no so many people have watched it, in most cases because they don’t know where and when to look for, but a lot of people has heard and seen a Mountain Trogon. In many communities the common name for this trogon is “Quetzalillo” which means little quetzal. I really like the elegant form of these birds, the magic combination of colors, the unmistakable sound of the call, the adrenaline running in my blood when finally I can spot it and enjoy the sight. Mountain Trogon Posted by Maynor Ovando www.birdwatchingguatemala.com is a registered trademark of Martsam Tour & ...

Highlands Photo by Maynor Ovando Guatemala has a lot of good reasons to travel along. The diversity of landscapes is one of them. The size of the country allows taking a car and visiting a thorn scrub area in one hour ride and enjoying a perfect cloud forest two hours later. I’ve been traveling and working in lowlands of Petén in the north of Guatemala but I live in Guatemala City in the middle of central highlands so I usually go birding and look for the regional endemic birds of northern Central America. There’s like 35 five species you can find between Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Western Honduras and Western El Salvador and more than 30 are found in the highlands, birds like Blue-throated Motmot, Black-capped Swallow, Bushy-crested Jay, Pink-headed Warbler, Green-throated Mountain-gem, Bar-winged Oriole, Black-throated Jay, Rufous-collared Thrush or the mythical Horned Guan. I will go birding in Alta Verapaz area in a few days to meet these jewels and I will post some pictures in a...