Establishing Sister Birding Club Relationships Between the U.S. and Honduras -- A Few, Small Steps

               Four days of bird monitoring around the Lake Yojoa area with new friends from many of the birding clubs in Honduras culminated in an exciting closing ceremony on Sunday 16 October 2016.  All of the sponsors received recognition for their roles in helping make the Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz a success.  Their thanks were well-deserved.  Thirty field trips to various locations in the area resulted in 299 bird species recorded.  More importantly from a conservation perspective, the Blitz contributed data for monitoring of bird abundance and diversity in these locations.

               The Blitz also provided a wonderful opportunity for birders from clubs around the country to meet, go birding together, and support each other.  ASHO, the Honduras Ornithological Association, deserves a lot of credit for fostering the development of birders through the local clubs.  One aspect of support provided to the clubs attending the Blitz was that a representative from each participating club received a copy of the brand new guide to birds of northern Central America by Jesse Fagan and Oliver Komar.  Club members can share this resource when they go on field trips in their local areas.

               I was honored (and a bit surprised) to be given the chance to speak to the gathered group about my dream of establishing sister birding clubs between North and Central America.  Quite nervously, I started to give my prepared elevator speech in Spanish.  About three sentences into my speech, I realized I wanted to share a deeper sense of what I had gotten out of my experience with the Honduran birders at the Blitz.  Thankfully, Oliver Komar graciously translated what I had to say after that.

               My main point was that the reality of my experiences with birders at the Blitz was even better than my wildest dreams.  I was energized by the enthusiasm, knowledge, desire, and helpfulness of all the participants.  The Honduran clubs love the birds here, including all the Neotropical migratory species they share with us in the U.S.  We have so much to share and to learn from each other, and I was really excited by how receptive everyone was to the idea of sister clubs.  Overall, the future of birds and of birding in Honduras is in great hands through the work of ASHO and the birding clubs here. 

Throughout the Blitz, ASHO provided a chance for data to be collected and for clubs to interact and support each other.  A few other visitors also provided some support.  Wilmer Fernández, a native Honduran now living in Minnesota, brought several soccer uniforms to donate to participants who play soccer.  John van Dort, originally from the Netherlands and now living in southern Honduras, donated several binoculars. 

Over the course of the Blitz, I had given many of my new friends some of the items donated by members of the Cayuga Bird Club and by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in an informal, low-key way, just one friend to another.  Then at the closing ceremony, I was provided the opportunity to publicly donate two pairs of binoculars from the Cayuga Bird Club to members of one of the newest birding clubs in Honduras, the Jilgueros (Solitaires) from La Paz department.

Here I am presenting binoculars donated by members of the Cayuga Bird Club in

Ithaca, NY (thanks Donna Scott and Wes Blauvelt) to Sarahí Morales and David Hernández

of Club Jilgueros (Solitaires) from La Paz department.  Photo credit: Mayron Mejía.

Each birder who took part in the Blitz was presented with a certificate of participation.  I received mine from Alejandra Reyes, director of protected areas for Honduras. Overall, the atmosphere of the closing ceremonies reflected well the excitement, dedication, and support for each other that I had experienced throughout the blitz.  Even as a visitor from the U.S., I felt empowered by the ceremony to do more for birds and birding.

Here I am receiving my participation certificate from Alejandra Reyes, Director of

Protected Areas in Honduras.  Photo credit: Mayron Mejía.  

My participation in the Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz allowed me to start individual-level relationships with some new birding friends.  By the end of the event, we had started to work together to develop club-to-club relationships between the Cayuga Bird Club, to which I belong, and several of the birding clubs in Honduras.  I am really looking forward to working with others to nurture these relationships as they develop. 

 

All of the participants in the 2016 Lake Yojoa Birding Blitz in Honduras. 

I am standing in the back row, 5th person from the right.  Photo credit: Mayron Mejía.