From Lifer Warblers to Highland Rarities, This Guatemala Christmas Bird Count Was Full of Thrills

On the day earlier than the Atitlán Christmas Hen Depend (CBC) in western Guatemala, the group chat created to coordinate the occasion started to fill with messages. Keen birders first shared information of a curious customer: a Black-throated Blue Warbler—an uncommon sight on this a part of the nation—transferring by the highlands. Quickly pleasure shifted to a different rarity, a Prairie Warbler, noticed hopping by the low shrubs of a close-by city referred to as San Pedro La Laguna. 

Though he knew the rely weekend can be exhausting, Marlon Calderón went out of his approach to monitor down the warblers. As coordinator of BirdZone Atitlán, a neighborhood birding and conservation collective that has organized the native CBC for the previous eight years, Calderón needed to make sure the birds may very well be discovered once more and logged in the course of the weekend’s rely. Additionally—the 2 species had been each lifers for him. Mission achieved, he headed to the lodge on Lake Atitlán that may function headquarters for the rely, held the primary weekend of January. “It’s a great way to start out the yr,” he says. 

Due partially to its different terrain and ecosystems, Guatemala holds a rare range of birds, from regional endemics to long-distance migrants that journey 1000’s of miles annually between Central America and their breeding grounds in North America. BirdZone conducts two rely circles, every with a number of routes, within the mountains and river valleys round Lake Atitlán—an 1,100-foot deep caldera lake fashioned by an historic volcanic eruption.  In a area the place 90 p.c of the inhabitants is Maya, non secular and cultural traditions have helped drive conservation, together with by state-registered “sacred locations” preserved for ceremonies that additionally profit birds and different wildlife. Nonetheless, a lot of Atitlán’s landscapes have been remodeled by human use, threatening the birds that depend on them.

Native information and management is important to the Atitlán CBC—and to all of BirdZone’s work. Based in 2014 by an initiative by Audubon and native companions, the group trains residents as ecotourism birding guides, enabling them to construct livelihoods which can be each financially and environmentally sustainable. The guides additionally go to native colleges to speak about conservation and take part in hands-on reforestation tasks in degraded areas. “That’s our biggest success,” Calderón says. “They’re not simply guides—they’re environmental stewards. They moved from asking, ‘What is going to nature give me?’ to asking, ‘How can I contribute to conserving biodiversity?’”

This yr’s CBC included two rely circles, with routes round Lake Atitlán to locations as different as a nature reserve simply exterior the area’s largest metropolis, a sustainable Guatemalan fir tree farm, and the slopes of San Pedro volcano. Volunteers—round 40 this yr—come from everywhere in the nation to take part, however each route is led by a neighborhood information, educated by BirdZone, which Calderón says has significance far past the weekend’s rely: “Having our personal data permits us to judge how efficient conservation efforts in our area actually are in defending birds.” Apart from the CBC, BirdZone guides additionally take part within the Central American Waterbird Census in February, International Huge Day occasions in Could and October, and a mid-year rely of shorebirds and waders—all endeavors that each construct and depend on native information.

On Friday night time earlier than the rely, guides and volunteers gathered on the lodge to make introductions and select routes. Calderón kicked issues off by asking everybody to share their birding expertise and expectations for the weekend. Some shyly admitted it was their first CBC—and even their first time birding. Extra seasoned contributors shared recommendation and anecdotes from earlier years. Pajarear hace comunidad—“birding builds neighborhood”—turned an impromptu slogan that echoed by their tales. 

For BirdZone information Benjamín Hernández, the Atitlán CBC has change into an annual custom. “The Christmas Hen Depend brings us collectively,” he says. “As mates, as guides, and as folks.” He participated on each days of the rely, first serving to lead a route on Saturday to San Andrés Semetabaj, an archaeological web site within the mountains north of Lake Atitlán. His group included three girls who had traveled to participate within the CBC from Chimaltenango, a area to the east, nearer to Guatemala Metropolis. It was not solely their first CBC, but additionally their first time birding in Atitlán. “As a result of I haven’t seen most of the birds right here, for me all of them are lifers,” says Gabriela Gil.

Hernández, one of many first BirdZone trainees, now serves as a mentor to the following class of up-and-coming birding guides. Geared up with a digital camera, his function throughout this yr’s CBC was to doc the birders, reasonably than birds, whereas a more recent information he’d helped prepare took the lead. However he admits it’s troublesome to show off the birding a part of his mind.

“It is onerous to not go birdwatching,” Hernández says. “It’s such as you’re all the time birding.” The group’s official chief, Eduardo Buch, appreciated Hernández’s experience, which was particularly useful with figuring out woodpeckers, warblers, and hummingbirds by ear. “He’s like a recorder. He is aware of calls and songs by coronary heart. Each time we meet, I be taught one thing new from him,” Buch says. 

As they tallied birds, Hernández talked together with his group concerning the significance of forest safety for migratory species. He makes a degree of sharing what he can about conservation with the folks he encounters day-after-day. “It’s the muse of every little thing, as a result of by doing this, I do know I’m serving to others change into extra conscious of birds,” Hernández says. 

All through the weekend, the CBC group chat buzzed with studies of thrilling sightings: a Nice Horned Owl right here, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak there. Volunteers surveying excessive within the mountains noticed the a lot sought-after Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Everilda Buchan’s guidelines included two beautiful species discovered solely within the highlands of Central America and southern Mexico: Pink-headed Warbler and Wine-throated Hummingbird. Her group surveyed Chuiraxamoló Regional Ecological Park within the highlands west of Lake Atitlán. Buchan is one in every of 4 girls educated as BirdZone guides and is especially captivated with working with kids in her house neighborhood on reforestation tasks. Her fellow information, Sarah Quiejú, who usually incorporates birds into her work and conventional Tz’utujil Maya textiles, says the participation of ladies is important to provide BirdZone’s surveys “a broader perspective.” She believes that being a girl in a male-dominated area permits her to note elements others might overlook, comparable to feminine birds’ behaviors and interactions between species: “Particulars we really feel are sometimes not taken under consideration throughout counts.”

To Calderón, that’s the worth of community-driven conservation. Various views are an asset to the Atitlán CBC and all of BirdZone’s work, and the rely itself is a approach to strengthen relationships between contributors by their shared love of birds. On the weekend’s closing occasion, he thanked the guides and volunteers for his or her devotion to the area’s avian inhabitants, which he calls indicators of the well being of the area’s exceptional ecosystems. “Because of this we’re grateful you confirmed up,” Calderón mentioned.

With each route’s guidelines added up, this yr’s Atitlán CBC recorded a powerful whole of 184 species; throughout final yr’s CBC, just 41 counts—out of two,693 whole—recorded extra species. The Atitlán list included the endangered Horned Guan, colourful highland birds comparable to Blue-throated Motmot and Mountain Trogon, and a dozen types of hummingbirds. Because the contributors congratulated each other and talked about their experiences within the area, some made plans to maintain trying, on their very own time, for thrilling species they’d missed in the course of the weekend.

Even after everybody headed house, the CBC group chat continued to buzz with notifications. Volunteers and BirdZone guides shared their private weekend lists, images, and thank yous. And for the birders who had but to identify the Black-throated Blue Warbler—the hunt continued.