Antigua, Guatemala

After a week and a half of work, we ended up our trip at Antigua, Guatemala for an evening and morning of walking around the colonial city before flying back to the states. Not a lot of birds right in the town center, but did see a Beryline Hummingbird in the courtyard of our hotel. Driving back down to the airport in Guatemala City, a Bushy-crested Jay flew across the road, as did an Acorn Woodpecker--as if to send me on my way with a flash of color. We're already planning additional ethnoornithology research in the Ch'orti' and Q'eqchi' areas, and I'm hoping to find a way to support and expand the bird monitoring and conservation activites of Proeval Raxmu and the Ornithological Society of Guatemala. Guatemala has some spectacular birds, as well as some huge conservation and other social challenges. Many North American birds winter or migrate through Guatemala, further linking it to Canada and the United States. Its one big world, and we're all in it together.