Birding News and Features

Welcome to eBird Guatemala

eBird Guatemala is an online data storage developed by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and National Audubon Society.

Register and keep your personal lists of birds seen in Guatemala. eBird Guatemala enables you to see statistics and graphics of bird records you and others reported. By using eBird you make a valuable contribution to the study and conservation of birds in the Americas.

Citizen Science: Christmas Bird Counts in Guatemala

Since 2006, Guatemala is back on the map of Christmas Bird Counts in the Americas. Currently two counts are registered–Tikal (GMTK) and Atitlan Volcano­ (GMAV)–both coordinated by Cayaya Birding. In 2008, 48 birders participated at Atitlan Volcano, and  42 in Tikal. At Atitlan Volcano 229 bird species were recorded, and in Tikal 193 species. Among the observers were several birdwatching novices, showing that Christmas Bird Counts help the Guatemalan birding community to grow. Illustrated reports on all Christmas Bird Counts in Tikal and at Atitlan Volcano are available online at:

http://www.cayaya-birding.com/birdcount.htm

To see results of all Christmas Bird Counts throughout the Americas visit the website of the Audubon Society at:

Honduran Emerald Rediscovered in Western Honduras!

In November 2008, a team of American and Honduran researchers and conservationists traveled to western Honduras in search of the critically endangered endemic Honduran Emerald (Amazilia luciae) in the Department of Santa Barbara. The principal cause of its decline is habitat destruction, with approximately 90% of its original habitat lost, and the remaining pieces  occurring in isolated patches of arid thorn-forest and scrub of the interior valleys of northern Honduras.  Based on specimen data, the species was originally known to occur in four Honduran departments; Cortés and Santa Barbara in western Honduras, and Yoro and Olancho in northeastern Honduras.  Despite efforts to find the species in western Honduras, it has not been detected there since 1935. Because of its status as critically endangered and “Red Listed” by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the fragmented nature of its habitat, the rediscovery of these additional populations is of major conservation importance.