Finca El Pilar - Antigua, Guatemala

While in Antigua, Guatemala, I arranged for a birding trip at Finca El Pilar, a private nature reserve just outside Antigua. It would just be for a few hours and gave Judy a chance to sleep in. I was picked up at the front desk of the Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo, where we were staying, at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2026. Bobby, my guide drove us there, about a 20 minute drive. On the way over I saw my favorite bird of the day, a bushy-crested jay, on a lot with lots of trees and other vegetation, near the road. 

Bushy-crested jay, a lifer.

As we got to Finca El Pilar, where we had to wait for an attendant to open a locked gate, Bobby spotted a bronzed cowbird standing in a nearby tree. 

Bronzed cowbird, another lifer. 

We parked and started to walk gradually uphill, past gardens and a swimming pool, and pretty soon found a grouping of about five hummingbird feeders, just off the trail, with nearby vegetation that the hummingbirds also used to land on. I sat with my camera while Bobby called out the hummingbirds that he saw. I eventually photographed five species of hummingbird, all lifers, in about 30 minutes, that I later posted on iNaturalist, and had input in identification. It was quite dark and some of my photos did not turn out well. Bobby identified an emerald-chinned hummingbird and Rivoli's hummingbird that I did not get photos of. Bobby also did not identify (or identify correctly) an azure-crowned hummingbird that I did photograph, which was identified on iNaturalist. 

An azure-crowned hummingbird. 

Berylline hummingbird

Rufous sabrewing, here and below. 

White-eared hummingbird

Green-throated mountain-gem, here and below (same bird). 

The hummingbird station was my favorite part of the morning. On our way back out we spent some more time there. We continued on, gradually uphill, until we hit sections with towers with wooden steps that went up quite steeply. The higher elevation was not as productive on this morning. Bobby heard and saw a few white-tipped doves and I just could not see them. I finally had him point to an area and I took photos and by enlarging my camera screen eventually found one hidden near the base of a tree, another lifer. I later read that they are very difficult to see because they do blend in with the vegetation, often stay on the ground, and do not go out into the open very often. 

Even with this photo cropped and zeroed in, it is still hard to see the white-tipped dove. 

A red-billed pigeon, another lifer, was standing as sentinel in a tree and a got a poor photo of it. 

Red-billed pigeon. This photo does not do it justice. They are beautiful birds. 

Bobby noted a number of singing quail. They were loud and had beautiful calls. I would not have suspected quail. I finally got a glimpse of one as it shuttled across an open area in the vegetation, but was not able to get a photo. I was able to photograph several other birds that I have seen before:

Very poor photo of a clay-colored thrush.

A beautiful collared trogon.

A slate-throated redstart. I have another very poor photo of one that I saw somewhere else. 

Wilson's warbler. Bobby was trying to help me see this warbler in the thick vegetation. It constantly moved, usually among the vegetation. I finally got some photos of it. 

Finally, near the hummingbird feeders, there was some standing water that was part of a pond. Bobby pointed out a frog which iNaturalist identified as a highland frog.

Highland frog