Bird Lore from Santiago Atitlan, the House of Birds

The Tz'utujil Mayan town of Santiago Atitlan on the shores of Lake Atitlan is known in Tz'utujil as the "House of Birds". We asked a lot of folks why it has that name, and were told that birds used to be abundant there, nesting in the rooftops of thatched houses. Most of the people we were able to talk to there are not as closely tied to the forest or fields as their predecessors, so we weren't able to get as many bird names or stories as we did in the Mopan or Q'eqchi' areas, but we still collected some interesting accounts of using hummingbirds as cures for epilepsy and as love potions!


One of the most striking things about Santiago Atitlan are the birds embroidered onto the traditional blouses and men's short pants. A nice hand-embroidered pair of pants there will run you over $500. That's some expensive shorts! While most folks may not know a whole lot about birds in the town, birds are still extremely important symbols of identity for town residents (check out one of our friend's pants below).

Pygmy-Owl in Antigua

While walking around colonial Antigua, Guatemala, we spotted this little guy on a wire above the busy sidewalk (yeah, look carefully, he's that little dot). While Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls in Texas and Arizona are usually found in areas with native habitat, I've seen these guys in some pretty urban areas of Mexico and Guatemala--though this one may take the cake. An arrow in this lower photo shows where this bird was relative to the sheet-metal rooftops of this bustling area!



Antigua's a great city, but not the safest place for tourists to explore beyond the central areas. Unlike most parts of the US, it isn't considered safe for birders in Guatemala to just wander across the countryside looking for birds, so most birding takes place on private lands or preserves. Fortunately, a new birding spot that is only a seven minute taxi ride from downtown Antigua is set to open soon, so on my next trip I look forward to doing a bit more exploring beyond the confines of the city!

Fake cactus wren nest video

I've already blogged about the fake cactus wren nests in California over at Audubon Birdscapes. Now the LA Times has a short video:

Birding Lubaantun Mayan Ruins

Unfortunately, most Mayan archaeological sites don't open up first thing in the morning, when the birds are most active. By the time we got in to the ruins at Lubaantun (where the original Crystal Skull was supposedly found), the sun was up and the birds were getting quiet. We still managed to see some nice birds, including our first White-collared Swifts of the trip, and heard a Slaty-breasted Tinamou calling from the slope down to the creek behind the ruins. Other goodies included Black-headed Trogon, Black-cowled Oriole, and Passerini's Tanager.

Q'eqchi' and Mopan Maya Bird Traditions

We met Francisco at the Deer Dance, and he drove us several places in his pickup truck. A Q'eqchi' Maya who came to Belize from Guatemala as a small boy, and married to a Mopan woman, Francisco spent his younger years hunting and farming and absorbing a lot of local bird names and stories. We had a great time hanging out with him as he told us how birds helped him find game while hunting, or how they influence the corn crops. As people give up hunting and farming, they start to lose this kind of knowledge, so it was great to find it still alive and well...for the time being. While the average American can identify less than 20 bird species, we routinely found Mayans who knew many, many more. Francisco could tell us about more than double that many.

Birding the Mopan Mayan Village of San Jose, Belize

A highlight of our research trip was spending three nights in the village of San Jose, deep in the Toledo District of Belize near the Guatemalan border. Thanks to the Toledo Ecotourism Association, we were able to sleep in the guest house in the village, and take meals with the local families. We also got excellent guiding from the members of the cooperative that run the guest house, and were able to leave after three days with over 120 Mopan Mayan bird names and some great local stories.

Most of the village is without electricity, though a few people have solar panels or generators, and most folks in the village still grow almost all their own rice and corn and other food. This is also where they grow the cacao for Mayan Gold Chocolate. One of our highlights was seeing the nest of a Little Tinamou, complete with two eggs, in the middle of a cacao orchard.

Accommodations in the guest house were cosy and the food was great--usually I was more concerned about getting sick at a lodge or hotel than when eating with the local folks. Nothing like handmade corn tortillas and palm heart for breakfast!

Since we were mostly collecting bird and plant names, our hikes each day didn't take us very far, but someone with more time for hiking and less time for note-taking can get to some nice primary forests, ceremonial caves, and other spectacular areas. We spent mornings hiking around, and afternoons going over bird books and recordings of bird calls with our guides. Our guides were knowledgable about local birds, and that was what we really wanted. My favorite local bird name: Totoweh for the Barred Antshrike, based on its long call of totototototototototweh, with all the notes on one pitch then twisting up at the end. Most birds are named for their calls, which makes learning bird calls much easier!

Hiking around the village we saw got looks at lots of birds including Bat Falcon, Striped Cuckoo, and White-crowned Parrots. One of my personal favorites was the Orange-billed Sparrow. Also great to see dozens of Vaux's Swifts, and to note how at stubby-winged these Central American birds look compared to the Chimney Swifts back in the States.

I highly recommend a stay in San Jose for anyone who wants to get to know some great people with some great traditions and way of life. You can contact the Toledo Ecotourism Association online, or write directly to the TEA Guest House, San Jose Village, Toledo District, Belize (Central America).

Birding Blue Creek, Belize

Through the Toledo Ecotourism Association, we hooked up with Sylvano Sho, an expert Mopan Maya naturalist and authority on local medicinal plants, for a couple days of birding and research in Blue Creek, a small village about an hour from Big Falls. We were able to get dozens of Mopan and Q'eqchi' bird names and some great stories from Sylvano, and enjoyed staying with and dining with his family.

Besides being extremely beautiful, Blue Creek was also full of birds. Nice forests come right down to the village along the creek, and open rice fields in the village host hundreds of ducks, herons, and storks. We got great looks at two Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures perched near the road, as well as Muscovy, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Limpkin, Northern Jacana, Ruddy Crake, and Wood Storks.

After sweating buckets for several days, it was nice to take a dip in the creek. Even with the strong current, it was pretty bumpy floating over the rapids without an inner tube. I got pretty banged up, but it was worth it!

Mopan Maya Deer Dance, San Antonio, Belize

While scheduling our week of collecting Mopan and Q'eqchi' Mayan bird names and folklore, we heard that one of the local communities was doing their annual Deer Dance, a traditional Mayan celebration tied to hunting and the local village saint. So Monday morning, bright and early, we hired a driver to take us out to San Antonio, the largest Mopan Mayan town in southern Belize.

When we got there, we were welcomed and invited to head over to the house of the local patron who was putting on the dance, giving us a nice behind-the-scenes look at the dance preparations. The participants had finished a big dance and party the night before, and had spent all night watching over the village saint and the ceremonial "greasy pole" that would be erected at the end of the dance.

After a few hours of marimba music, practicing some dance steps, and being ceremonially incensed with copal smoke, the dancers went down to the soccer field in town to start the all day dancing.

At the end of the dancing, the men put up the "greasy pole", a sixty foot pole covered with lard and soap with a prize on top. Teams of men who had helped bring in the pole took turns trying to climb the pole to get the prize in order to share the money and rum with their teammates.

It was quite a sight to see modern Maya erecting a sacred ceiba tree in the ceremonial ground next to the church--as Maya have been doing for perhaps thousands of years.

We learned a lot about the dance, and the difficulties in staging it each year. Basically, the local patron who sponsors the dance for three years (shown here with his wife and the village saint), has to foot most of the bill, and its quite a chore. Hopefully they can get some sponsorship to keep the dance going in future years.

The villagers were quite inviting in sharing this celebration with us. If you're thinking of somewhere to go next August, you couldn't do better than to spend a couple days at the Deer Dance in San Antonio! Check out the Toledo Ecotourism Association for more info on visiting San Antonio. See here for notes from someone who attended the dance in 1989.

On the bird front, not a whole lot of birds in the village--Common Tody Flycatcher welcomed us as we arrived in town, and Red-lored Amazons and Olive-throated Parakeets flew over during the dance.

The Lodge at Big Falls, Belize

Our base of operations for our first few days in Belize was The Lodge at Big Falls. Almost 30 acres of secondary forest and nice bungalows. We saw more than 50 species right at the lodge over the few days we slept there--highlights being Black-and-White Owl, Mottled Owl, and Vermiculated Screech-Owl. The Black-and-White Owl comes out in the evening and calls from the edge of the forest near the swimming pool. We had up to three Mottled Owls calling from right behind our bungalow. We also added Collared Forest-Falcon to the property list. Lots of fun! If you go, ask for Steven their local birding guide. He's a young Q'eqchi' Mayan guy and great with the local birds.

Birding Punta Gorda, Belize

After a long delayed flight to Guatemala City, we started our two week research trip to Guatemala and Belize with a five hour bus ride to Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean coast and an hour boat ride across to Punta Gorda, Belize. Lots of Magnificent Frigatebirds over the water, along with migrating Black Terns. At one point a nice Brown Noddy flew right past our boat when we were in Belizean waters. Not a lot of birds in Punta Gorda, its just a small town on the water. But our guest house featured the national bird, a good omen of things to come!

One difference between birding in Guatemala and birding in Belize--the price! Most prices were close to American, and some were even higher. Personal favorite--a gallon of cranberry juice for more than US $10! Needless to say, no cranberry juice for us this trip!

Condor Project a Bust?

Latest word from the American Ornithological Union--condors may never be fully self-sustaining in the wild (see story here). Is it worth $5 million a year to keep them around? This question has been asked for decades, but with the birds so dependent on humans to keep them free from lead, the feasibility of this project keeps coming back up.

Famous Condor Dies

The California Condor featured in this YouTube video died this weekend from led poisoning.

Welcome Back Nighthawks

Last night on the drive back home from the airport, I saw a couple Common Nighthawks wing past at dusk. I'll be looking for them from my yard the next few days for my 2008 BIGBY list. Good to be back in the states, but could use some more great homemade tortillas! A series of posts and photos on my trip to Guatemala and Belize will appear over the next few days, so stay tuned.

Chocolate Quetzals

I love quetzals. I love chocolate. So this chocolate quetzal sculpture really caught my eye!

Toucan Sam

While I'm in Belize looking at real toucans, here's an old classic for you...



And of course, proving that our special talents and abilities can lead to our downfall, this twisted version of a fallen Toucan Sam (WARNING: not for children!)...

Real Life v. Commercial Birds

Is it just me, or are real birds more interesting than those concocted by folks selling beer?

Yellow-billed Magpies are in a world of hurt

Yellow-billed Magpies, native only to California, have proven extremely vulnerable to West Nile Virus infections. An article in the latest volume of the Auk (see abstract here) estimates that almost half the population of these birds died between 2003 and 2005. Previously, I'd speculated on this decline based on results of the latest Great Backyard Bird Count. While I usually like being right, I hate to be right when it comes to predicting bad news for birds.

Out the Door

I'm off for two weeks of collecting Mayan bird names and folklore in Belize and Guatemala. I've got some fun posts ready to go live while I'm gone, and will update when I can. Think happy thoughts of tinamous, guans, and hummingbirds for me--and I'll do the same for all y'all!

Jabiru envy!!!

There's one of these big boys in south Texas right now. Don't you wish you were there!?!

Magpies smart, or just vain?

According to this story, magpies share the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror--a trait thought to be shared by relatively few species, including humans. The part of the story that didn't make it into the papers: magpies spending hours in front of the mirror putting on their "game face" before a job interview!