Here are some more birds you could see if go with birding guide Gustavo Canas-Valle on his trips to Guatemala, a Central American hot spot. For more info on the trip inself, see my earlier blog.
Birds, top to bottom: Rufous Sabrewing.
Black-and-white Owl.
Orange-breasted Falcon.
Azure-rumped Tanager.
Black Robin.
Collared Trogon.
Emerald Toucanet.
Blue-tailed Hummingbird.
GUATEMALA COUNTRYSIDE
Atilan Lake.
Rainforest.
Tikal, a Mayan city.
I just got off the line (Skype-line) with Gustavo Canas-Valle. He’s Neblina Forest Tours’ man for Guatemala birding tours. My life list is starting to itch. Just picturing the three hard-to-see species of motmot is enough to get me making travel plans.
Gustavo leads two-week tours that will get you to 80% of Guatemala’s good habitats. This small country is less than 350-miles across at its greatest extent. The distance from Pacific to Caribbean, about 200 miles. And it has that famous Central American topography: from narrow coastal plains to up to parallel mountain ridges with high valleys and plateau in between. That makes for great bird and habitat diversity. on Gustavo’s trips you will go from sea level to around 7000 feet in elevation.
Back to those motmots Gustavo mentioned. You got your Russet-crowned Motmot, lover of dry forests. Then there is Turquoise-browed. And to round out the color spectrum, a Blue-throated. Gustavo also reports the Horned Guan is easier to find in Guatemala than in Mexico’s Chiapas. And it is a bird worth the hike. Other Guatemala goodies: Pink-headed Warbler, Bushy-crested Jay and various parrot species. Among the woodpeckers that abound is the Guatemalan Woodpecker.
To read a first-person account of the trek to find the Honred Guan, click here for a birder’s blog.
Photos from top to bottom: Resplendent Quetzal.
Blue-throated Motmot.
Brow-hooded Parrot.
Partnership for International Birding 