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

On the day before the Atitlán Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in western Guatemala, the group chat created to coordinate the event began to fill with messages. Eager birders first shared news of a curious visitor: a Black-throated Blue Warbler—an unusual sight in this part of the country—moving through the highlands. Soon excitement shifted to another rarity, a Prairie Warbler, spotted hopping through the low shrubs of a nearby town called San Pedro La Laguna. 

Although he knew the count weekend would be exhausting, Marlon Calderón went out of his way to track down the warblers. As coordinator of BirdZone Atitlán, a community birding and conservation collective that has organized the local CBC for the past eight years, Calderón wanted to be sure the birds could be found again and logged during the weekend’s count. Also—the two species were both lifers for him. Mission accomplished, he headed to the hotel on Lake Atitlán that would serve as headquarters for the count, held the first weekend of January. “It’s a good way to start the year,” he says. 

Due in part to its varied terrain and ecosystems, Guatemala holds an extraordinary diversity of birds, from regional endemics to long-distance migrants that travel thousands of miles each year between Central America and their breeding grounds in North America. BirdZone conducts two count circles, each with several routes, in the mountains and river valleys around Lake Atitlán—an 1,100-foot deep caldera lake formed by an ancient volcanic eruption.  In a region where 90 percent of the population is Maya, spiritual and cultural traditions have helped drive conservation, including through state-registered “sacred places” preserved for ceremonies that also benefit birds and other wildlife. Still, much of Atitlán’s landscapes have been transformed by human use, threatening the birds that rely on them.

Local knowledge and leadership is essential to the Atitlán CBC—and to all of BirdZone’s work. Founded in 2014 through an initiative by Audubon and local partners, the organization trains residents as ecotourism birding guides, enabling them to build livelihoods that are both financially and environmentally sustainable. The guides also visit local schools to talk about conservation and participate in hands-on reforestation projects in degraded areas. “That’s our greatest success,” Calderón says. “They’re not just guides—they’re environmental stewards. They moved from asking, ‘What will nature give me?’ to asking, ‘How can I contribute to conserving biodiversity?’”

This year’s CBC included two count circles, with routes around Lake Atitlán to destinations as varied as a nature reserve just outside the region’s largest city, a sustainable Guatemalan fir tree farm, and the slopes of San Pedro volcano. Volunteers—around 40 this year—come from all over the country to participate, but every route is led by a local guide, trained by BirdZone, which Calderón says has significance far beyond the weekend’s count: “Having our own records allows us to evaluate how effective conservation efforts in our region really are in protecting birds.” Besides the CBC, BirdZone guides also participate in the Central American Waterbird Census in February, Global Big Day events in May and October, and a mid-year count of shorebirds and waders—all endeavors that both build and rely on local knowledge.

On Friday night before the count, guides and volunteers gathered at the hotel to make introductions and choose routes. Calderón kicked things off by asking everyone to share their birding experience and expectations for the weekend. Some shyly admitted it was their first CBC—or even their first time birding. More seasoned participants shared advice and anecdotes from previous years. Pajarear hace comunidad—“birding builds community”—became an impromptu slogan that echoed through their stories. 

For BirdZone guide Benjamín Hernández, the Atitlán CBC has become an annual tradition. “The Christmas Bird Count brings us together,” he says. “As friends, as guides, and as people.” He participated on both days of the count, first helping lead a route on Saturday to San Andrés Semetabaj, an archaeological site in the mountains north of Lake Atitlán. His group included three women who had traveled to take part in the CBC from Chimaltenango, a region to the east, closer to Guatemala City. It was not only their first CBC, but also their first time birding in Atitlán. “Because I haven’t seen many of the birds here, for me all of them are lifers,” says Gabriela Gil.

Hernández, one of the first BirdZone trainees, now serves as a mentor to the next class of up-and-coming birding guides. Equipped with a camera, his role during this year’s CBC was to document the birders, rather than birds, while a newer guide he’d helped train took the lead. But he admits it’s difficult to turn off the birding part of his brain.

“It's hard not to go birdwatching,” Hernández says. “It’s like you’re always birding.” The group’s official leader, Eduardo Wich, appreciated Hernández’s expertise, which was especially helpful with identifying woodpeckers, warblers, and hummingbirds by ear. “He’s like a recorder. He knows calls and songs by heart. Every time we meet, I learn something new from him,” Wich says. 

As they tallied birds, Hernández talked with his group about the importance of forest protection for migratory species. He makes a point of sharing what he can about conservation with the people he encounters every day. “It’s the foundation of everything, because by doing this, I know I’m helping others become more aware of birds,” Hernández says. 

Throughout the weekend, the CBC group chat buzzed with reports of exciting sightings: a Great Horned Owl here, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak there. Volunteers surveying high in the mountains spotted the much sought-after Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Everilda Buchan’s checklist included two stunning species found only in the highlands of Central America and southern Mexico: Pink-headed Warbler and Wine-throated Hummingbird. Her group surveyed Chuiraxamoló Regional Ecological Park in the highlands west of Lake Atitlán. Buchan is one of four women trained as BirdZone guides and is particularly passionate about working with children in her home community on reforestation projects. Her fellow guide, Sarah Quiejú, who often incorporates birds into her paintings and traditional Tz’utujil Maya textiles, says the participation of women is essential to give BirdZone’s surveys “a broader perspective.” She believes that being a woman in a male-dominated field allows her to notice aspects others may overlook, such as female birds’ behaviors and interactions between species: “Details we feel are often not taken into account during counts.”

To Calderón, that’s the value of community-driven conservation. Diverse perspectives are an asset to the Atitlán CBC and all of BirdZone’s work, and the count itself is a way to strengthen relationships between participants through their shared love of birds. At the weekend's closing event, he thanked the guides and volunteers for their devotion to the region’s avian inhabitants, which he calls indicators of the health of the region’s remarkable ecosystems. “This is why we’re grateful you showed up,” Calderón said.

With every route’s checklist added up, this year’s Atitlán CBC recorded an impressive total of 184 species; during last year’s CBC, just 41 counts—out of 2,693 total—recorded more species. The Atitlán list included the endangered Horned Guan, colorful highland birds such as Blue-throated Motmot and Mountain Trogon, and a dozen varieties of hummingbirds. As the participants congratulated one another and talked about their experiences in the field, some made plans to keep looking, on their own time, for exciting species they’d missed during the weekend.

Even after everyone headed home, the CBC group chat continued to buzz with notifications. Volunteers and BirdZone guides shared their personal weekend lists, photos, and thank yous. And for the birders who had yet to spot the Black-throated Blue Warbler—the hunt continued.