agami who art in heaven

The highlight of the Peten leg of my recent trip to Guatemala was this excellent Agami heron - a dream come true.

Erythemis simplicicollis - first for Guatemala?

On the afternoon of 22nd November I found this Eastern pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) whilst checking the ponds by the entrance gate at Tikal. It may be the first documented record for the country, although if so this record just fills a gap in the known range rather than extending the species range as such.

Postcard from Tikal

 Owl butterflies are often found along dark trails in the forest in Central America, this one is yellow-fronted owl butterfly (Caligo telamonius).

We went fishing for tarantulas on one day at Tikal and got one straight away. Although this Mexican red-rumped tarantula (Brachypelma vagans) had 'just' been found by one of the park maintenance team on one of the trails.

A huge gang of white-nosed coatimundis rules the parking area at Tikal.

Grey-necked wood-rail is tame near the the small ponds by the entrance gate.

Wet weather before we arrived soon turned to sun and brought out the army ant swarms and their attendant birds. This ruddy woodcreeper was hopping about like a mad thing and was unconcerned by our presence.

Postcard from Tikal

One of the highlights of Tikal was the pilgimage to Temple IV to visit one of the more reliable orange-breasted falcon sites in the world. It did not disappoint. Thanks go to John Cahill for securing access to the back of the temple for these views.

 We worked hard for ocellated turkey in the Yucatan in 1999, at Tikal in 2012 things got ugly on every lawn...

 Collared aracari.

The outstanding highlight of the Tikal leg of the tour was the ease with which we could get good views of pheasant cuckoo. We were put onto this bird initially by John Cahill and it was superbly entertaining over the next three days.

Keel-billed toucan.