TIKAL NATIONAL PARK & LIST 
GUATEMALA

PETEN (Compass)

Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl 
Protected/registered status 
Best Time for visit (16-17th December, 2004)

 

Birding Site Guide

The ruins at Tikal were reached in an hour and a quarter from Flores by minibus. The area has some excellent lowland tropical rain forest and a high diversity of birds. I spent the first day birdwatching around the ruins and the second at the disused airstrip and along trails into some good (mosquito infested) forest away from the public. The aguada between the carpark and the ruins and 2 ponds next to the airstrip were also checked for water birds. I saw both my target species, Crested Guan & Ocellated Turkey, by the side of the road on the way in. Tame Ocellated Turkeys were also common next to the car park. I saw a total of 82 species including 9 lifers. 


Species seen 

  • Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
  • Green Heron Butorides virescens
  • Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
  • Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
  • Roadside Hawk Buteo magnirostris
  • Crested Guan Penelope purpurascens
  • Great Curassow Crax rubra Near-threatened
  • Ocellated Turkey Meleagris ocellata Near-threatened
  • Spotted Wood-Quail Odontophorus guttatus
  • Gray-necked Wood-Rail Aramides cajanea
  • Purple Gallinule Porphyrio martinica
  • Ruddy Quail-Dove ? Geotrygon montana
  • Olive-throated Parakeet Aratinga nana
  • White-crowned Parrot Pionus senilis
  • White-fronted Parrot Amazona albifrons
  • Red-lored Parrot Amazona autumnalis
  • Mealy Parrot Amazona farinosa
  • Groove-billed Ani Crotophaga sulcirostris
  • Little Hermit Phaethornis
  • Western Long-tailed Hermit Phaethornis longirostris
  • Wedge-tailed Sabrewing Campylopterus curvipennis
  • Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Amazilia tzacatl
  • White-bellied Emerald Agyrtria candida
  • Purple-crowned Fairy Heliothryx barroti
  • Tody Motmot Hylomanes momotula
  • Collared Aracari Pteroglossus torquatus
  • Keel-billed Toucan Ramphastos sulfuratus
  • Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
  • Smoky-brown Woodpecker Veniliornis fumigatus
  • Golden-olive Woodpecker Piculus rubiginosus
  • Lineated Woodpecker Dryocopus lineatus
  • Pale-billed Woodpecker Campephilus guatemalensis
  • Plain Xenops Xenops minutus
  • Ruddy Woodcreeper Dendrocincla homochroa
  • Olivaceous Woodcreeper Sittasomus griseicapillus
  • Northern Barred-Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptes sanctithomae
  • Ivory-billed Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus flavigaster
  • Barred Antshrike Thamnophilus doliatus
  • Dot-winged Antwren Microrhopias quixensis
  • Dusky Antbird Cercomacra tyrannina
  • Black-faced Antthrush Formicarius analis
  • Greenish Elaenia Myiopagis viridicata
  • Northern Bentbill Oncostoma cinereigulare
  • Eye-ringed Flatbill Rhynchocyclus brevirostris
  • Yellow-olive Flycatcher Tolmomyias sulphurescens
  • Stub-tailed Spadebill Platyrinchus cancrominus
  • Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher Terenotriccus erythrurus
  • Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher Myiobius sulphureipygius
  • Yellow-bellied Flycatcher ? Empidonax flaviventris
  • Dusky-capped Flycatcher ? Myiarchus tuberculifer
  • Brown-crested Flycatcher Myiarchus tyrannulus
  • Social Flycatcher Myiozetetes similis
  • Couch's Kingbird Tyrannus couchii
  • Thrush-like Schiffornis Schiffornis turdinus
  • Masked Tityra Tityra semifasciata
  • Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
  • White-breasted Wood-Wren Henicorhina leucosticta
  • Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
  • Wood Thrush Hylocichla mustelina
  • Clay-colored Robin Turdus grayi
  • Brown Jay Cyanocorax morio
  • White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
  • Tawny-crowned Greenlet Hylophilus ochraceiceps
  • Lesser Greenlet Hylophilus decurtatus
  • Magnolia Warbler Dendroica magnolia
  • Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia
  • Worm-eating Warbler Helmitheros vermivorus
  • Ovenbird Seiurus aurocapilla
  • Louisiana Waterthrush Seiurus motacilla
  • Hooded Warbler Wilsonia citrina
  • Golden-crowned Warbler Basileuterus culicivorus
  • Red-crowned Ant-Tanager Habia rubica
  • Red-throated Ant-Tanager Habia fuscicauda
  • Summer Tanager Piranga rubra
  • Yellow-throated Euphonia Euphonia hirundinacea
  • Olive-backed Euphonia Euphonia gouldi
  • White-collared Seedeater Sporophila torqueola
  • Blue Bunting ? Cyanocompsa parellina
  • Melodious Blackbird Dives dives
  • Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
  • Black-cowled Oriole Icterus prosthemelas
  • Montezuma Oropendola Gymnostinops montezuma


Other Fauna 
A total of -- species of mammals. 

There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles. 

Flora 

Author: Charles Hesse

 

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