Birding with a different kind of Ambassador

               Which people or groups might be called the Ambassadors for birding In Honduras?  There are a number of candidates from among the entities that make up the birding culture in the country. 

Here in Honduras, the Birding Culture is a fascinating mix, not only of individual birders, but also of organizations that are related to birding in some way.  One of the main institutions in the country is the Honduran Ornithological Association (AHSO).  I wrote a bit about ASHO in an earlier post.  

ASHO is the umbrella institution supporting

bird clubs and bird monitoring in Honduras.

Photo credit: Jody Enck

This institution is an umbrella organization for all the bird clubs in Honduras, and it pays particular attention to ensuring that all the clubs have strategic plans, and that birders in clubs strive to maintain the highest levels of integrity when it comes to identification and reporting of birds.  Along these lines, I think it is fair to say that ASHO reflects the scientific and academic research aspects of birding in Honduras.

If you’ve been paying attention to this blog, you know there are about seven or eight birding clubs in the country.  I just spent the last two days in Gracias meeting with Las Tanunas (Lesser Roadrunners) and a school-based group of teens called the Hummingbirds.  I’ll write more about that incredible visit soon.  These clubs and their members are the backbone of the local birding culture.  They draw their members from the local

Members of Club Cotinga giving a presentation about 

recent birding activities.  Photo credit: Club Cotinga

community, provide outreach to schools and other local organizations, and bring awareness of birds and threats to bird habitat to others in their communities.  Some club members act as bird guides for local residents of Hondurans on vacation to a different part of the country.  They also have established eBird hotspots at great birding locations.  Despite these clubs being the backbone of the birding culture in Honduras, it is possible that visiting birders might never come in contact with the clubs because their existence is not widely known outside of the country.

Another important institution that is part of the birding culture is the network of eco-tourism lodges in the country, and the local bird guides associated with those lodges.  There are some fantastic lodges here where one can stay and be led on great bird hikes.  These include, but are not limited to, Pico Bonito and Rio Santiago on the north coast, Panacam lodge near Lake Yojoa, and Hotel Marina Copan in the west near the Copan Ruinas. 

Pico Bonito Lodge is just one of the splendid eco-tourism

lodges birders can encounter when exploring the birding

culture of Honduras.  Photo Credit: Pico Bonito Lodge.

These lodges and their guides are not part of ASHO, and usually are not formally linked to any of the clubs.  Certainly, though, visiting birders often have direct contact with this institutional aspect of the Honduran birding culture.

There also are a small number of independent guides who are not associated with any of the eco-lodges.  One if Robert Gallardo, who produced a Field Guide to the Birds of Honduras in 2014).  In addition to leading tours, Robert also puts on both bird identification workshops as well as beginner and advanced tour guide training. 

William Orellana and Katinka Domen, of Beaks and Peaks Birding and Adventure Tours, also operate independently from any eco-lodges.  I wrote in one of my first posts from Honduras about William’s vision for Beaks and Peaks.  Now, 18 days into my Honduran odyssey, I have a much better appreciation of just how important these visionaries are to the birding culture in the country. 

 William is a native Honduran who grew up in the small, colonial-era city (it’s church was constructed in 1611) of Gracias in Lempira Department.  He took me there on Friday and Saturday of this week to meet some of the local residents, to see how birds are woven into the fabric of local livelihoods, and to meet with Las Tanunas and the Hummingbirds.  I got to spend some time with Katinka a little earlier on my travels here in Honduras, including during the Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz and on my quick trip to the north coast (blog post here).  After these all these experiences, I think William and Katinka deserve to be considered two of the important Ambassadors for Birding in Honduras.  Below are a few vignettes to show why.

Vignette 1.  Breakfast at Reserva Natural Privada el Consejero near the city of La Esperanza in Intibuca Department.

Beaks and Peaks helped a local landowner realize his dream

of establishing a nature reserve where visitors can come

and have an authentic Honduran nature experience.

Photo credit: Jody Enck.

 Julio is a landowning environmentalist in an area where environmentalists are few and far between.  His small reserve protects a relatively intact patch of high elevation pine forest.  He has a love of birds and other things in nature (he is an expert in mushrooms!).  William and Katinka found out that Julio was interested in birds and wanted to start a hummingbird garden on his property.  Starting in September of 2016, Beaks and Peaks invested time, labor, money, and goodwill in helping Julio establish the first bird-feeding garden in western Honduras.  This garden includes about a dozen hummingbird feeders and a number of native plants that flower in late winter when hummingbirds are looking for plant nectar. 

Julio and me having coffee in the hummingbird garden.  La

Esperanza is the highest-elevation city in Honduras.  It was

quite chilly when we visited although not cold enough to snow

like it did back in Ithaca, NY the previous night. 

Photo credit: William Orellana.

Within just a few days of the feeders being hung up, hummingbirds began using them.  In fact, the first species to take advantage of feeders was a migrant Ruby-throated Hummingbird from North America.  Now, 8 species of hummingbird have been recorded among the 68 total species observed there.  When we stopped to visit and have breakfast with Julio and his family, we saw Mexican Violetear, White-eared Hummingbird, and Azure-crowned Hummingbird, and Magnificent Hummingbird.    After the birds started coming, William and Katinka helped get the word out among members of the birding community that this was a place to see some great birds.  They helped create an eBird hotspot for the site, and they started bringing guest there on Beaks and Peaks tours.

William Orellana of Beaks and Peaks

enjoying an outdoor breakfast prepared

in Julio's home in the background.

Photo credit: Jody Enck.

      A group of birders from the Missouri Audubon Society was so impressed with their recent visit and Julio's hospitality that they are working with him and Beaks and Peaks to obtain a grant so that Julio can build a larger kitchen to offer breakfast to larger groups than he now can handle.  If you ever find yourself on the Central American highway 11-A west of La Esperanza, be sure to stop in and visit this private reserve.

Julio lost several acres of pine trees to an infestation of

pine bark beetle.  He is using some of the wood to build a

new home.  He sold some other timber, and is using that

money to dig a new well.  Photo credit: Jody Enck.

  

Vignette 2.  Visiting the shop of local artist Jose Adelberto Ayala (“Beto”) in Gracias.

               William and I took a little tour of Gracias after our arrival.  Because William grew up in Gracias and visits regularly, he knows many of the people here.  One of the residents we ran into was Beto, who invited us to see his artist shop.  William often talks with Beto about his artwork and about birds.  Beto says that he

"Beto" and me in his artist shop.  He incorporates birds

into his artwork for the non-birding public -- the

"normal people" of gracias.  Photo credit: William Orellana.

may not go birding, but he can bring birds into the lives of non-birders (“normal people”) by painting realistic bird portraits on items that residents use in their lives.  Although Beto may have incorporated birds into his artwork anyway, encouragement from William helped empower him to bring his love of birds to the “normal people” of Gracias.

Vignette 3.  Staying at Guancascos Hotel and Restaurant in Gracias.

Established in 1993, Guancascos Hotel and Restaurant sits on a hillside below the San Cristobal fortress, and was the very first hotel in Honduras to receive an international certificate in sustainable tourism.  I stayed there one night and enjoyed fantastic hospitality and great food in the restaurant on a patio overlooking the town.  We also meet there on Saturday morning with Las Tanunas and the Hummingbirds.

One of the incredible bird murals that greet

you when you enter the Guanacascos Hotel

and Restaurant.  Photo credit: Jody Enck.

Owner Frony Miedema caters to people seeking a connection to nature.  The hotel offers things like hikes up into Celaque National Park (the highest peak in Honduras), and various other nature expeditions and cultural tours of the area.  When you enter the premises, you know right away that birders are welcome here.  Right inside the door are photos of local birds taken by William, along with large bird murals on the walls. 

When Beaks and Peaks brings bird tours to Gracias to explore

Some photos taken by William Orellana

of Beaks and Peaks are incorporated into

bird posters at Guancascos Hotel and

Restaurant to highlight how bird- and

birder-friendly the Gracias area is.  Photo

credit: Jody Enck.

Celaque National Park and other nearby birding sites, they stay here.  It’s an example of one birding business collaborating with the broader tourism sector.  It’s about relationship building.  It’s about not only getting people interested in birds or showing people birds, but ensuring that the infrastructure is sustained to meet the needs of birders in Honduras.

Vignette 4.  Empowering women birders in Honduras.

               In my travels within Honduras, I have come to realize that women birders are a minority here.  This differs from at least some populations of birders in the U.S.  For example, women account for about 70% of members and others who use the services of the Cornell Lab of Orni

Katinka Domen (center) of Beaks and Peaks Birding

and Adventure Tours is a role model empowering

female birders in Honduras.  Photo credit: Katinka Domen.

thology in the U.S.  Katinka Domen is the only woman guide in all of Honduras.  It was clear during the Lake Yojoa

Blitz that she is a role model for women birders here.  She also is an inspiration for others I have met on my travels who do not yet belong to a birding club – in part because they are so male dominated – but who are interested in birds and birding.  Katinka’s opportunity to be recognized as a role model for women birders is likely to grow in the future as she has been asked to write an article about being the only female bird guide in Honduras.

Vignette 5.  Closing the loop back to the birding culture – Las Tanunas and the Hummingbirds.

               Las Tanunas is a group of about 15-20, mostly young men who go birding very frequently, get incredibly excited about seeing the great birds in the area, and who reach out to other community members through school programs and inviting their friends to try out birding.  I’ll write more about them and the Hummingbirds soon. 

Birding with Las Tanunas and the Hummingbirds along the Rio Grande

near Gracias, Lempira Department, Honduras.  Photo credit: Jody Enck.

               This is William’s hometown club.  Although he does not live here anymore, he is good friends with many of the club members.  One of the important roles William plays with Tanunas and the Hummingbirds is to help them envision future possibilities of raising public awareness about birds and the need for conservation of birds and their habitats. 

               As a member of the ASHO board, William worked with Tanunas to develop their strategic plan.  He also is working with the club to produce a letter that will go out to other institutions in the community – tourism bureau, municipal government, schools, etc. – letting them know that the bird club exists and can provide a wide range of services and types of information to members of the community about birds and conservation.  It’s about integrating birds and birding into the broader life of the community.  When I met with Las Tanunas and the Hummingbirds to discuss the sister birding club idea (more on that in another post), William also encouraged Las Tanunas to consider just what the relationship was with the school-based Hummingbird group.  After some spirited and passionate discussion, Tanunas voted to consider the Hummingbirds to be full members of Las Tanunas.

Participants in our joint meeting with Club Las Tanunas and Club Hummingbirds

at Guancascos Hotel and Restaurant in Gracias.  Photo credit: Guancascos Hotel and

Restaurant.

               These vignettes provide just a glimpse into ways that William and Katinka envision a broad, integrated, and collaborative birding culture for Honduras that is inclusive, sustainable, and empowering for all the individuals who are part of that culture.  They don't only want to take people on tours or help club members learn how to identify and monitor birds.  They try hard to provide any visitor with a full experience of connections between birds, birders, other local community members. Certainly, everyone who is part of the birding culture in Honduras is in some way a Birding Ambassador.  But it also is clear to me that William and Katinka help grow and sustain the birding culture here in ways that other entities don’t.  I think that also makes them an inspiration to birders everywhere.