Azure-Crowned Hummingbird

On March 21, 2026 we were in Antigua, Guatemala and I had a morning birding outing with a guide, Bobby, at La Finca El Pilar, a private nature reserve outside Antigua, which covers 543.6 acres. It covers an elevation between 5,249 feet and 7,874 feet. Near the bottom of the trail there are hummingbird feeders which we spent quite a bit of time at. Bobby would call out hummingbirds as they were at the feeders or nearby on vegetation, as I photographed away, but azure-crowned was not a hummingbird Bobby mentioned. 

I saw subspecies cyanocephala which is found from eastern and southern Mexico (south from southern Tamaulipas) to eastern Honduras and north-central Nicaragua. Males of the subspecies cyanocephala have a bright metallic blue crown and females a duller blue to greenish blue crown. The bills have a black maxilla and a dull pink mandible with a black outer third (easily seen in the illustration below). They have greenish bronze to bronze green rump, uppertail coverts and tail. The underparts are white with metallic bronze green sides to the breast and duller bronze green flanks. Immatures are similar to adults, but duller. 

I posted this photo on iNaturalist and identified it as a green-throated mountain-gem. ryanandrews disagreed and identified it as an azure-crowned hummingbird (he is the 9th highest identifier of azure-crowned hummingbirds with 80 identifications). Another person then disagreed, identifying it like I did, as a green-throated mountain-gem. Then ryanandrews sent a message to sabrewing, the highest (by far) identifier of azure-crowned hummingbirds with 477 identifications (number two is at 176) to weigh in. sabrewing did and agree it was a violet-crowned hummingbird. 

I went back and put my photo through Lightroom again, increasing the concentration of blue to see if it would jump out on the head a little bit more. It did, but not by much. The lighting was not great and my photo is not great and so I am a little bit at a loss. It could be an adult female that has a duller blue to greenish-blue crown, or an adolescent (maybe an adolescent female) that is duller. The Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America gives a few clues to the identification. It notes the throat is white with a speckled border. That jumps out. It also notes that the blue crown is "visible in good light." It was definately not good light. Again, I appreciate iNaturalist which exposes the photos to others. If I'd been using ebird I would have put it down completely differently 

Illustration of ssp. cyanocephala from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Rufous Mourner

Mourners are part of the genus Rhytipterna, with three species. The rufous mourner is my first mourner. There are two subspecies and I saw the nominate ssp. holerythra, found on the Atlantic slope from Southern Mexico (norther Oaxaca) south to Panama and northern Colombia (east to Santander). I saw it in Tikal NP in Guatemala. It was early in the morning and not a bird my guide noted. 

I have submitted it to iNaturalist but no identifiers are confirmed it. The second option on iNaturalist was a scarlet-rumped tanager. What really confirms it for me is the pale-based black bill, based on photos from Birds of the World, which looks quite a bit different than the scarlet-rumped tanager's bill. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Common Squirrel-Cuckoo

We were in Tikal NP in Guatemala with our guide, Rony, in an area thick with trees. Rony heard the call of a squirrel-cuckoo and was trying to find it. He'd walked up the trail a ways and while I waited I noticed a bird sitting motionless and quietly in the top of a tree. I took a few photos and showed them to Rony when we re-connected, and asked him what it was? He looked closely and then said he thought it was a squirrel cuckoo, but perhaps was an adolescent. I've posted it on iNaturalist and one identifier has confirmed it, the number 4 identifier of common squirrel-cuckoos with 808 identifications. 

There are 13 subspecies. Those west and north of the Andes have greenish-yellow eye-rings and those east and south of the Andes have red eye-rings. Northern populations have shorter tails. I saw ssp. thermophila, also known as the "Middle American" common squirrel-cuckoo. It is found in eastern Mexico (eastern San Luis Potosi and southern Tamaulipas south to Veracruz, Yucatan and the Isthmus of Tehuantapec, south through Central America to Panama and northwestern Colombia. AI notes that the differences of an adolescent from an adult are: (a) adolescents have a grayish bill, instead of a yellow or yellow-green bill; (b) they have a gray eye-ring instead of a red or yellow-green eye-ring; (c) the tail feathers are narrower and less pointed (this is particularly evident); (d) the plumage is more lax, fluffy and shaggy; and (e) the throat is grayer, not as rich in color as the adult's chestnut throat. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Wood Thrush

We saw a wood thrush in Tikal NP, Guatemala with our guide Rony. It was heavily wooded and quite dark with the thick over-story. I've seen quite a few species of thrush and thought I may have previously seen a wood thrush, but no, it was a lifer.  

As you can see from the range, they are very prevalent in the eastern half of the U.S., where they are summer residents, and through Central America, where they are winter residents. It breeds most commonly in the Appalachian Mountains and parts of the Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.). 

Rose-Throated Becard

Another one of the few birds I spotted on my own in Tikal NP, Guatemala was the rose-throated becard. We were with our guide, Rony, down a small dirt road that led to somewhat of a garbage dump. It was early light and visibility wasn't great. I took a photo of the bird while Rony was distracted elsewhere, and showed it to Rony a little later. The photo was quite dark. He said he thought it was a becard and was trying to see if it had red on the throat which would make it a rose-throated becard. When I got home and worked on the photo in Lightroom I was able to lighten it up and saw the red on the throat. My photo looks more like a female with a red throat, but that's probably from my messing around with the color. 

It is my second species of becard. I saw a barred becard in Ecuador. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

AI notes that the subspecies insularis is found in the Yucatan Peninsula, northern Guatemala and Belize, which includes Tikal NP. Males are gray with a black cap and a small, hard-to-see rose-colored throat patch. Females have a rusty back, pale underside and dark cap. 

Plumbeous Kite

In Tikal NP, Guatemala our guide, Rony, identified a plumbeous kite standing high in a large dead tree amidst the Mayan ruins. The thing that stood out for me, weirdly, was the name. What the heck is "plumbeous"? Well, it turns out that plumbeous means dull, or lead-gray in color. 

They are slate-gray with paler head and underparts, a short black tail with two to three white bands on the undersurface, orange legs and red eyes. It has rufous patches on its primaries. You can see the white bands and bits of the rufous patch in the photo above. It closely resembles the Mississippi kite which is not as dark a gray. has white secondary patches and lacks the rufous wing patch.  

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of it flying from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Montezuma Oropendola

One of the birds I really looked forward to seeing in Tikal NP in Guatemala was the Montezuma oropendola. I'd never heard of an oropendola until we visited Colombia a few years ago and saw both the russet-backed and chestnut-headed oropendola. The oropendolas, at least the ones I've seen, are large, elongated and have huge bills. I'd read that the Montezuma oropendola nested near the Mayan ruins in Tikal and I gave it a decent chance I'd see one. I hadn't anticipated that we would find it nesting in a huge tree in the Central Plaza, between Temple I and Temple II, below the North Acropolis. The sun was not conducive to seeing them well, but I could see they were among tear-dropped shaped nests. It wasn't until I got home and was able to lighten up the shadows that I got a good look at them. 

Blue cheek patch and pink wattle are easily seen here. 

A female below and male above, illustrating the size differential between the two.

A female near a nest.

Adult males are mainly chestnut with a blackish head and rump and a tail that is bright yellow except for two dark central feathers. It has a bare blue cheek patch, a pink wattle, a brown iris and a long black bill with a red tip. Females are similar but are smaller and have a smaller wattle. Males are 100% larger than females in body mass. They live in colonies, each with a dominant polygynous male which mates with most of the females. The females build the hanging woven nests of fibers and vines and she incubates the eggs. There are typically 30 nests in a colony, but up to 172 have been recorded. Females average two eggs per nest, but only one is fledged and only one-third of the nests are successful. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.