Guatemala 2008: Tikal Waterbirds

Tikal really is one of a kind, and it was hard to spend only half a day there this time–particularly since I’d succumbed to a minor ailment and wasn’t able to appreciate everything as much as I might have done in the full blossom of valetude.

But even for the puny, Tikal’s birds are something else. Orange-breasted Falcon took the prize, of course, but a Great Currasow incubating eggs on a nest 15 feet up in a tree was a sight I’d never expected to see. Many of the parrot species we’d seen flash across the sky in the days preceding perched unconcerned at close range at Tikal, including Brown-hooded, a life psittacid for me. And Baltimore Orioles and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks met the nostalgia quota for a midwestern boy.

Pace our incredible experiences with the falcons, I most enjoyed some quiet minutes with Mark at a small pool near the restaurant. Others had seen a Ruddy Crake in the morning, while I lingered behind to watch the earth spin; I couldn’t find the crake, but there was plenty else to admire. A Limpkin fed and preened unconcerned just a few feet from us.

Just behind was a Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, probably my favorite of all the ardeids I’ve managed to see (and a great subject for a trivia question, come to think of it–I’ll put it in my next newsletter).

A fine little American Pygmy-Kingfisher was actively hunting the pond, too, perching for seconds at a time on the twigs behind the Limpkin. And the mad genius loci of Tikal, Gray-necked Wood-Rail, was around every bend and behind every clump of water hyacinth.

I know what I’m going to be next Halloween.