In El Golfete, Livingston you can find an aquatic garden, also known as a botanic garden, a magical place where you can find many water lilies, Nymphoides indica and Nymphea ampla. It is a very photogenic place! While we were taking pictures of the water lilies we saw a Jacana (Jacana spinose) that in the…
Gray lined Hawk (Buteo nitidus) a raptor bird seen at Lampara River
In a tall Cahue tree that was in Lampara River in El Golfete, Livingston, Izabal, during the September expedition we saw a gray lined hawk. It is the first time we have photographed it during the Livingston Biodiversity Project. It was calm and allowed itself to be photographed very well. Buteo nitidus is an extremely…
Cicadas: The singers of the forest
It is very likely that during a walk through the forest you have heard the sound of thousands of cycads singing. Although they are rarely observed because they are mainly found in the treetops (or because some manage to camouflage themselves very well with the color of the barks from the trees) we can hear…
Celebrate the biggest feline of America
The Jaguar (Panthera onca) is one of the most frequently encountered images in Mesoamerican art and iconography, in either naturalistic, stylized, or anthropomorphic form. Art is one of the ways in which people represent how they conceive of themselves, and their place in the world The appearance and frequency of jaguar motifs, as with any…
World Animal Day: Threatened Animals in Central America
The Census of Marine Life scientists estimated the total number of species on Earth (the most precise calculation ever offered), announcing 6.5 million species found on land and 2.2 million (about 25 percent of the total) dwelling in the ocean depths, that means about 8.7 million. Can you imagine how many exotic animals you don’t…
Meet the sea turtles that visit the coasts of Guatemala
June is a special month for the environment, on the 8th we celebrate The World Oceans Day and on the 16th World Sea Turtles Day. These days have been recognized to raise awareness of the impacts that human activities are generating on the ocean and the inhabitants who depend on it. Our oceans have been…
The amazing Birds Island in Livingston, Izabal
It is located about 45 minutes away from Livingston center, by boat. You will be able to see the bird nests really on the mangroves close to the shore so you can see the mothers giving food to their chicks. The boat can get really close so you can take amazing pictures of some egrett…
Tropical bird sanctuary in the Guatemalan caribbean
With their clean feathers, their unique sound, the birds that live on the Livingston shores gave us an unintended spectacle during the sunset. Pelicans, seagulls, egrets (Ardea alba, Egretta thula), cormorants, kingbirds, were some of the birds we could identify flying through the Río Dulce tall canyon, in Livingston. We saw many birds interact, including…
A Paradise Of Vanilla Orchids In The Guatemalan Caribean
The last expedition was one of the most awaited by FLAAR Mesoamérica team. We went to Livingston, a municipal area from Izabal department in Guatemala, located 15 km. aprox. by boat across Puerto Barrios city. The paths we found in our expedition inside the tropical jungle are home to many native plants. We have a…
“El Niño Dormido” a unique species in the world
Guatemala and its multiple ecosystems hide a wide variety of flora and fauna. In one of the most particular landscapes, the dry tropical forest, the country’s “desert”, hidden in caves lives one of the biggest reptiles of Central America. Surrounded by trees, cactus, and folktales the Heloderma claims for protection and recognition because of its…