Guatemala
Day 1
After taking an Uber from Guatemala City to Antigua and arriving earlier than expected, I decided to go birding at Finca El Pilar for a few hours. Unfortunately, I discovered it was closed Dec 24 and 25. This meant I needed to change up my plans a little. I birded the entrance road and then went downtown to the central park where I found Pacific Parakeets. The pictures were pretty bad, so I won't be sharing them here! 😆
Day 2
I had planned to go to Finca El Pilar today, but since it was closed, I decided get an Uber to Rincon Suizo area near Tecpán instead. There's a dirt road about a half mile down the road from the Rincon Suizo restaurant where you can walk for many miles up to Finca El Espinero. This property was closed, but there was plenty of good birding along the road until reaching the property. My main targets were Pink-headed Warbler and Garnet-throated Hummingbird. I was successful with both! I finished the day birding the short paved path behind the Rincon Suizo restaurant where I got Blue-throated Motmot.
A really horrible picture, but a species I was thrilled to see.
Day 3
I was finally able to bird Finca El Pilar, one of the best birding hotspots in the area. You can hike all the way up to the summit which is about 16 km round trip. I didn't go all the way to the top today. I probably made it about half way and spent some time at the feeders at at the beginning. Below are some of the highlights from the day.
Day 4
This was the big day where I hiked all the way to the top of Finca El Pilar. I walked as fast as I could as to spend as much time at the summit as I could before closing time. There were a number of interesting birds that could theoretically be seen at the summit but that only target I successfully found was Wine-throated Hummingbird.
Day 5
This was only a partial day as I had to catch my shuttle back to the airport in Guatemala City. Here's a few of the hgihtlights from the day.
