Guatemala 2008: Pacaya

Pacaya Volcano, with its hot lava flows and vast fields of  fantastically curled sharp basalt, is a wonder, and the views of other volcanoes nearby nearly as good. This one, I believe, is called Fuego, suitably enough, and it spat smoke and steam every few minutes while we watched it from the slopes of Pacaya.

The birding was not overwhelmingly exciting on Pacaya, but who can complain when the characteristic avian voices belong to Rufous-collared Sparrows and Gray Silky-flycatchers by the hundreds?

Here, too, we saw our only Eastern Bluebirds of the trip, and the occasional flock of smaller passerines included most of the common gleaners and bugeaters of the area.