Lake Atitlán - Cerro Paquisis

In Atitlán, we had two trail options, one trail, led to the fabulous Resplendent Quetzal!, and the other to the stunning Horned Guan! Not an easy choice by any means, as both are iconic for Guatemalan birding. Most of the group decided for the Quetzal trail, as the Guan hike can easily turn into a 10 hour journey.

Horned Guan trail.

We set out very early in the morning from Santiago Atitlán to Cerro Paquisis were we would begin our adventure to look for this mythical regional endemic of the high mountains and volcanoes of Guatemala.
The moon shined down at us, the Mexican Whip-poor-will's sang, it was a wonderful start to our journey.
After a quick box breakfast, we heard a low "humm, humm", the Horned Guan was close by! We quickly walked further up the trail, and there it was, perched on a Canac tree further down the mountain at eye level, the magnificent Horned Guan! Moments later, it started climing up the tree and started to call it's unmistakeable croaking call.

In the evening, we went looking for waterbirds at the lake, and we were not disappointed. Purple Gallinules, Teals, Herons and Egrets, but perhaps the most noticeable catch was a Sora feeding in the reeds not far from us!Läs mer