Vivero Verapaz and the Café El Tirol in its new location:
The day started out innocently enough, “I’ll just carry my binoculars
along as I walk the kids to the bus stop.” But the distractions started
immediately. Our house in Cobán is situated just three lots down from
the Vivero Verapaz, home to one of the largest collections of orchids in Central
America. Trees and meadows flank both sides of the dirt road that connects our
neighborhood to the main road.
Walking out our gate, we noticed the female Rose-throated Becard (Pachyramphus aglaiae) alight on the phone line, the male sitting in the tree. The Rose-throated Becards are common in the trees in front of our house, and this pair has nested here at least once before.
The large oak trees in front of the Vivero yielded some great looks at a family of Band-backed Wrens (Campylorhynchus zonatus). We also saw a Golden-olive Woodpecker (Piculus rubiginosus) and the ubiquitous Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Centurus aurifrons) both in the same tree with the wrens.
The small, scrubby roadside trees held a pair of Rufous-capped Warblers (Basileuterus rufifrons) flirting about in the lower branches and cocking their tails. Beyond the roadside trees, in the meadow among the small bushes and tall grasses, we got a great look at a pair of White-naped (Yellow-throated) Brushfinches (Atlapetes albinucha). A handful of Black-headed Saltators (Saltator atriceps) flew over in a noisy band. Time to move on. The bus pulls up at 6:30 AM everyday, but today holds so much bird activity that its hard to make it on time. A dozen or so Chestnut-headed Oropendolas (Psarocolius wagleri) fly over and land in the trees tempting us to stop, but we press on up the last hill to the bus stop.
After the children are whisked away, on the 1978 model Blue Bird school bus, I have a chance to slow down again and look around. I walk back down the hill along the tree lined dirt road. The calls of Melodious Blackbirds (Dives dives) and Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) fill the air. At the bottom of the hill, I pause at the dry streambed. This is normally running most of the year. A Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) flies into my view, a bit odd seeing that the streambed is dry. A Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula) crosses the road and flies into the trees on the hillside of the Vivero. Four days earlier we had seen a Spot-breasted Oriole (Icterus pectoralis) in this same area so my eyes are alert to any flash of orange. Today held another species of the same genus, the Yellow-backed Oriole (Icterus chrysater), common in our front yard.
Back home, Tara and I take a minute to finish our coffee on our front porch.), Tennessee Warblers (Vermivora peregrina), Black-throated Green Wablers (Dendroica virens) and a Magnolia Warblers (Dendroica magnolia) patrol the flowering tree in front of our house. They give us great looks coming within three meters at eye level.
Suddenly, Tara spots something in the tree just across the road. It is low down within the branches. “All black with a bright white bill and a yellow eye.” I lift my binoculars to the area she is pointing. By a stoke of luck my eye falls on the bird. It is a Yellow-billed Cacique (Amblycercus holosericeus). This skulky is mainly distributed in the lowlands but ranges locally up to 1800 m, like the Long-billed Hermit (Phaethornis longirostris) a lowland bird that is often seen in and around Cobán. Cobán is a special place since it is possible to see here both highland and lowland species.
All told my walk to the bus stop and back and our twenty minute coffee time
on the porch yielded a list of 25 species.
Rob Cahill
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