Always Bring Binoculars

Volcán de San Pedro and water taxis, Panajachel, Lake Atitlán

Volcanos and birds around mile-high Lake Atitlán

There are certain people, places, and works of art whose beauty stops us in our tracks. They cause us to take in a breath, and then exhale with a belly-deep “whoa.” The stained glass in Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia, and a dawn arrival at Machu Picchu after 4 days on the Inka Trail, did this to me. Mark Rothko paintings have as well. My trip to Guatemala added a new such place to my list: Lake Atitlán. The sparkling blue lake fills the caldera of a massive ancient volcano. It’s surrounded by picturesque villages and a trio of green forested volcanos. In every direction, from every angle, it’s beautiful.

The second biggest town along the lake is Panajachel, where my group stayed for a couple of nights. As luck would have it for a birder, we weren’t right in town. Instead, we were at the lakefront Hotel San Buenaventura. The place felt more like a retreat (some of the group were getting White Lotus vibes), with lush grounds and an aquamarine pool with great lake views.

White-faced Ground Sparrow

Azure-crowned Hummingbird

Morelet’s Seedeater

Cinnamon-bellied Saltator

After we checked in to our delightful red brick split-level suites, I walked around. The back half of the property is covered in trees, and was full of birds. The lake sits at just about a mile above sea level, nearly the same as Antigua’s elevation. As a result, the expected species in the area were basically the same. I added a lifer Boat-billed Flycatcher, White-faced Ground Sparrow, and Morelet’s Seedeater on my walk. A bank of red flowers attracted some hummingbirds, including an Azure-crowned Hummingbird. I even spotted 4 white-nosed coati moving through the trees.

Later in the afternoon, I walked up and down Calle San Buenaventura, the road that connects our hotel and Panajachel. Again, the birding was good. A Greater Pewee was sallying from a wire over the road. Along the edge of the road, a lifer Rusty Sparrow hopped into view. A pair of Rose-throated Becards were coming repeatedly to a big nest. I also got good looks at Guatemala’s cool version of Bushtit, tricked out with a thick black face mask. It was also visiting a nest, as was a Tropical Mockingbird. I had ever seen so many birds visiting nests.

Bushtit

Guatemalan Flicker

Rusty Sparrow

Band-backed Wren

White-nosed Coati

Greater Pewee

You didn’t have to be on the trails to see birds. Hanging out at the hotel’s lake front, I saw Common Gallinule and American Coots on the water. A Green Heron flew past me a couple of times. Coming to a big snag of a tree were Guatamalan Flickers, Black-vented Orioles, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. The birds, the natural beauty, and the wonderful companions of my tour group made this a highlight of the trip. Indeed, my only regret from Panajachel was tasting the Pollo Campero fried-chicken flavored Lay’s potato chips. They were gross. Really gross.

Lakefront at Hotel San Buenaventura

A Trip Across the Lake

During our stay, we took a water taxi across the lake to Santiago Atitlán. This town sits between the volcanoes in the picture above. The morning boat ride was serene (just a single Laughing Gull and Brown Pelican on the lake during our ride). Our tour of Santiago Atitlán included some tragic sites from Guatemala’s decades-long internal conflict. We stopped at the Parque de la Paz, the site of a massacre of 13 villagers by the Guatemalan army in 1990. And we visited the St. James the Apostle church, where Father Stanley Rother was murdered in 1981.

We then hopped on our water taxi and went to IMAP, a group working to promote food sovereignty, biodiversity protection, agroecological education, and the empowerment of small-scale farmers. After learning about their efforts, buying a hat, and enjoying a delicious lunch, I managed 20 minutes of birding. The target was a Slender Sheartail, a small hummingbird of the highlands with an arched bill and, on males, a long forked tail. One had been reported a few days previous. As luck would have it, a local birder was present when we arrived and showed me where it had been appearing. With my time running out, I finally got a quick glimpse of a female.

Slender Sheartail

Rufous-collared Sparrow

The Lake Atitlán area was fantastic. And I wasn’t done with it yet. When my group tour ended, I spent a few days not far from Santiago Atitlán. In a future post, I’ll cover that visit to Los Tarrales Nature Preserve and a hike to the top of Volcán de Pedro in the search of a Horned Guan.

Blue-and-white Mockingbird, Antigua, Guatemala

A Week in the Guatemala Highlands

The academic life can be farcical at times. Administration is tragic. But on the main, it’s a wonderful life. Recently, I lucked into an amazing opportunity to spend a little over a week in the Guatemala highlands on a mission-inspired immersion trip organized by my university. I would be the only birder in the group, and there wasn’t a way to hide it. Happily, it was a kind and curious group, and they were willing to tolerate my obsession. Not only that, by the end, I was getting photos of birds they’d seen asking me to identify them. One sent me a cellphone shot of a Russett-naped Wood rail, a bird I’ve never seen before. Fun stuff.

Our first destination was Antigua, a town about 45-60 minutes from the smog-choked, traffic-jammed capitol of Guatemala City. Some people call Antigua an UNESCO World Heritage site. Our tour guide Miguel called it a city-sized monument to 17th century Spanish colonialism. The endless cobblestone streets quickly wear out their charm, but it’s a beautiful spot. Like almost everywhere in the Guatemalan highlands, it’s surrounded by majestic volcanos. There’s the extinct Volcan de Agua south of town, and Volcan Acatenango and the active Volcan de Fuego further to the southwest.

Rooftop view of volcanos and (center left) an all-white Indian Peacock

I’d flown in a day ahead of our start date so I could squeeze in some birding before the group touring began. Previous trips to Costa Rica and the Yucatan Peninsula meant that I’d already seen a good number of the tropical birds that awaited me in Guatemala. But I nevertheless had a chance at adding 3 dozen new species to my life list if I got the time and got lucky. My first stop in Antigua was a nearby hotspot I’d found in eBird.

Finca El Pilar, Antigua

I flew into Guatemala City at 5:30am, arrived in Antigua at 6:35, dropped off my luggage at my hotel and grabbed some empanadas from a shop on the central square, and was at Finca El Pilar by 7:15am. A little over a mile from the center of Antigua, Finca el Pilar is a private nature preserve. An $8 entry fee (entrance booth opens at 7am) lets you wander a trail that takes you through dry forest, pine-oak, and (if you make it high enough) some cloud forest habitat. The trail is well-maintained, steadily ascends a ravine, and has more flights of wooden stairs than a body adjusting to humidity might prefer. Just past the start of the trail are some hummingbird feeders that are worth your time. There’s a collection of flowers and bushes nearby where many of them perch, awaiting an open slot at a feeder. In about 20 minutes, I picked out 8 different species, 4 of which were lifers.

Violet Sabrewing

Rufous Sabrewing

Green-throated Mountain-Gem

White-eared Hummingbird

Berylline Hummingbird

Rivoli’s Hummingbird

It’s hard to tell scale from the pictures, but those sabrewings are really big. The male Violet Sabrewing is almost twice the size of the White-eared Hummingbird. And they really hum when they fly past.

From the hummingbird feeders, the trail proceeds steadily up a densely forested ravine. There were lots of birds singing and calling, most of them unseen. Frustration was beginning to set in when I finally found a section of the trail where, thanks to the steep stairs, I was near canopy level. A Blue-throated Motmot was twitching its tail back-and-forth like a clock pendulum. A Rose-throated Becard pair were coming and going from one of their spectacularly large nests. Some Brown-backed Solitaires were singing their impossibly long and lyrical song. Slate-throated Redstarts were the most numerous warbler along the trail. I also got my first looks at Golden-Olive Woodpecker, Bushy-crested Jay, and three new wren species. Consistent with tropical birding, don’t expect sustained clear views of these birds.

Covered trails

30 foot tall roots

Stairs for days

All told, I added 15 lifers that first morning at Finca El Pilar. If I hadn’t had to meet my touring group at 11am, I would’ve stayed on the trails until the afternoon. A week later when we were back in Antigua, I squeezed in another visit at Finca El Pilar. This time, rather than motoring up the trail to see what was ahead, I proceeded more slowly. When I made it to a mirador (lookout), I parked myself down for 45 minutes. It was peaceful and just what I needed after a week of travel. During my sit, birds emerged all around me. Others worked their way past me through the trees. Vultures soared overhead. I got my only trip looks at Collared Trogon and Elegant Euphonia. I added 3 more lifers (a sharp White-winged Tanager pair, a White-eared Ground-Sparrow, and a Rufous-and-white Wren).

Blue-throated Motmot

Boat-billed Flycatcher

Rose-throated Becard

Elegant Euphonia

White-eared Ground-Sparrow

White-winged Tanager

One surprising moment on this second visit was at the hummingbird feeders. A Rufous Sabrewing (a big hummer) zoomed up and hovered loudly next to me before it probed my left ear with its long bill! I’ve never had that happen before. I highly recommend a few hours at Finca El Pilar.

Santo Domingo del Cerro

Just above Antigua (a little closer even than Finca El Pilar) is a place called Santo Domingo del Cerro. It’s a fancy-pants hotel on top of a hill surrounded by some too-expensive restaurants and a couple of museums with an interesting collection of big sculptures on the grounds. There were some good eBird reports from here, so I decided to check it out in the afternoon of day one.

Having worn myself out on the slopes of Finca El Pilar earlier in the day, and running on empty after a red-eye flight, I decided to take an uber up the steep hill. An Uber motorcycle ride (really) was just 11 quetzales (that’s their money; you don’t pay in spectacular bird carcasses). I didn’t have a helmet, but few locals were wearing them. The slow pace of traffic in Antigua had me convinced I would survive. Despite the ride being a mile long, we stopped for gas along the way. Then, halfway to the top, the little motor on the dude’s bike lost the battle with the steep hill, and we came to a stop. You get what you pay for.

Singing Quail

Rufous-collared Robin

Lesson’s Motmot

Bushy-crested Jay

I got some good views on the unplanned walk up. A pair of Singing Quails rustled in the leaves. A Lesson’s Motmot fed on berries. I discovered at the top that most of the grounds and best habitat are off limits. But there was an area full of trees and some small lawns I was able to explore. The birding was decent. I was able to add Black-capped Swallow, Rufous-collared Robin, and Guatemalan Flicker to my life list.

Some walks around the city of Antigua didn’t produce any other lifers. But if you’re into Great-tailed Grackles and Clay-colored Thrushes, you won’t be disappointed. They’re everywhere.

Birding Guatemala: Lake Atitlán & Panajachel