Some mesoamerican critters

I have seen just a few interesting animals, as I have only been in Guatemala for a week so far, and most of it has been dedicated to studying spanish at the Escuela de la montaña, about one hour down from Quetzaltenango.

This is the white-throated magpie-jay, Calocitta formosa.


Actually from the Reserva Biológica Huitepec, in Chiapas, this is the slate coloured solitaire, Myadestes unicolor. Most of the birds are impossible to photograph as they reside in the canopy, like the mountain trogon, or they hide in the low plants, like the quails and wrens (although the band-backed wrens act and sound like flocks of angry magpies).


I just came back from a trip to the Finca Santa Anita la Unión, a community of former guerrilla members, where I got to see one of the few remaining Ceiba trees remaining in this part of Guatemala. A quick look at the trunk will explain why they are almost extinct here.


This is a Dendrobates - looking tree frog, that I caught in the school's garden last night.


And this mushroom I found in Chiapas brought back some memories. It looks just like Geastrum striatum, a cool and common fungus in France.


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