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One of the coolest and most confiding reptiles I’ve encountered in the tropics is the Striped Basilisk Lizard (Basiliscus vittatus). This remarkable little monster is also known as the Brown Basilisk, but it shares a more glamorous nickname and ability with other lizards in its genus.

The genus Basiliscus, in the same family as iguanas, includes [...]

Most of my time in Guatemala was spent in some type of forest or another, which is exactly how I like it. To me, the Neotropics are all about rain forests and cloud forests and the other assorted flavors of vegetation and altitude. But if you spend any time at all in the Petén region, [...]

Guatemala’s 2008 International Birding Encounter truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, an adventure I’ll always remember as much for my fellow participants as for the absolutely mind-blowing birding. While I’ve endeavored to keep the name-dropping to a minimum, the truth is that most of the people I spent time with are famous (or notorious) in some [...]

Some names conjure visions of such reckless tropical adventure that one might grow dizzy just to hear, let alone speak them. Ixpanpajul. Swinging through dense, steamy jungles. Ixpanpajul. Traversing swaying, sun-drenched spans high above mouldering ruins. Ixpanpajul! Drums beating, heart thumping, manakins, motmots, cassowaries curassows… Ixpanpajul!!!
Parque Natural Ixpanpajul is an action-packed slice of lowland [...]

Chronicles of my Guatemalan birding adventures are still forthcoming but I thought it might be nice to focus on one special bird from the tropics. The Northern Jacana (Jacana spinosa) is a striking wader that ranges from Mexico to Panama. With its attenuated, spindly toes and day-glo orange shield, the jacana looks like a close [...]

So there I was in Guatemala, where it’s cool to eat cookies before dawn. A murderer’s row of local and international scientists, conservationists, guides, tourism agents, optics ambassadors, and birding industry writers, editors, and organizers queued up, well before sunrise of course, for the short flight from Guatemala City to the Peten. Time in the [...]

So there I was in Guatemala, where the living is easy. Our motley crew of American, Guatemalan, and British birders abandoned the sweet pine oak habitat of Cerro Alux for the delights of a lush, deliciously vertical finca outside Antigua. Finca El Pilar cultivates coffee under a biodiverse canopy of dry, deciduous forest. Of course, [...]

So there I was in Guatemala, where the people are good looking and the coffee is strong. The highlands birding of the previous evening had only made me hungry for more, so an international contingent including Mike Freiberg, Brian Bland of Sunbird Tours, and Tim Appleton of British Birdfair fame convened before daybreak. We were [...]

Have you ever started your day knowing that the word “mundane” just wasn’t going to apply? That’s how I felt this morning when I woke up in GUATEMALA! I’m here to participate in the fourth Birding Encounter courtesy of the Guatemala Tourism Commission. This noble enterprise has been conceived to promote bird watching and ecotourism [...]

Summer isn’t even over yet and I’m already thinking about our next trip abroad. Maybe you are too. If so, you must consider Central America. Not only is the natural beauty spectacular and the Maya ruins fascinating, but Central America is a birding paradise. During our week in Belize this past [...]