Q'eqchi' Birds

 My most recent article with Kerry Hull based on our Maya Ethnoornithology research has been published in the journal Human Ecology. Here is a read only link to the article.

2026 Year of the Gwitawo'yo

Gwitawo'yo is the Northern/Eastern Shoshoni name for the Black-billed Magpie. 

Since I started the year in Northern Utah, this was the first bird I saw and heard to start 2026, and I want to honor it with a name from those who knew it before it was "discovered" or scientifically described by Joseph Sabine in 1823.

While I haven't found any Gwitawo'yo tales from the Northern or Eastern Shoshone yet, here is a fun one from their more southern Timbisha Shoshone cousins, where magpies win a race against Coyote.

Photo by Polinova (CC BY-SA 4.0)