Arrive at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City, Guatemala. *Please schedule your flight to arrive no later than 2:00 pm. You will meet our local representative outside the airport after clearing immigration and customs and transfer to Antigua, about an hour away depending on traffic. This evening enjoy a welcome talk on your upcoming journey.

After breakfast, travel to Finca El Pilar, a private reserve with great pine-oak forest and excellent trails for birding. Walk the trails looking for various species and visit the hummingbird feeders. In the afternoon, we continue to Finca Los Andes, at the southern slopes of the Atitlán Volcano. The cloud forest that lies between the tea gardens and the coffee fields are abundant in wildlife, especially birds, among them the elusive Resplendent Quetzal. Los Andes is also home to the rare Cabanis’s Tanager, also known as the Azure-rumped Tanager. This small, blue, exquisite bird’s highly localized habitat is shared by hundreds of local and migrating species, including a host of hummingbirds, orioles, flycatchers, trogons and motmots. Sixty percent of the reserve is original forest, most of it along the slopes of the dormant volcano. In 2001, Los Andes was declared a private nature reserve, and it is a founding member of Guatemala’s Association of Private Nature Reserves. The Reserve works closely with the residents to promote self-sufficiency, health and education. Present programs for conservation include artificial nests for the Quetzals. The reserve has a reforestation program approved by INAB (The National Forestry Institute), as well as eucalyptus forests planted for firewood. Coffee and quinine prunings also supply lumber and firewood. Financial and technical assistance are provided to buy and install efficient wood burning stoves in the workers’ houses. Los Andes has its own hydroelectric plant, which generates all the power used on the estate.

Today we will continue with birding at the reserve. The local residents are being trained as guides to provide them with an alternate source of income and hunting has been prohibited. Hummingbird feeders at the lodge may attract the Blue-tailed Hummingbird as well as Violet and Rufous Sabrewings. The rarer Wine-throated Hummingbird may also appear. We will drive in pickup trucks up to the higher forest above the tea plantations where a nice set of trails may allow us to find the Resplendent Quetzal. Tody Motmots and Emerald Toucanets, as well as deep forest species such as Singing Quail, Spotted Nightingale-Thrush and Scaled Antpitta, are also present. Tonight after dinner, there will be an optional walk for owling.

Enjoy early morning birding around the lodge followed by breakfast. Afterwards we transfer to Finca Los Tarrales, located not too far from Finca Los Andes, on the flanks of the same mountain. However, the elevation and humidity profile differ and so does the bird life, with birds from lowland to highland habitats, and good access to various types of forest. Los Tarrales ranges in altitude from 700 to 3,500 m (2,300 to 11,500 ft) and is home to diverse wildlife, including more than 340 bird species. The reserve is part of the Atitlán Important Bird Area, and harbors 21 regional endemic bird species, including Horned Guan, Highland Guan, Azure-rumped Tanager, and Blue-tailed Hummingbird. The abundance of migratory birds here, including Swainson’s Thrush, Tennessee, Magnolia, and Black-and-white Warblers, Western Tanager, and Orchard Oriole, is impressive. It is a good place for raptors as well, including the Black Hawk-Eagle, and sometimes the gorgeous Black-and-white Owl. Morning and evening are great for commuting parrots, with four species of parakeets and parrots typically seen. During the two days we have here, we will be birding the lower and upper trails, working on finding some great diversity of birds. We will look for displaying Long-tailed Manakins. During lunch we will take some time to enjoy the feeders where Orchard, Altamira, Spot-breasted and Baltimore Orioles come to feed along with Rufous-naped Wrens and Yellow-throated Euphonias.

Continue birding in the Los Tarrales Private Reserve. The reserve is private and self-sustained; costs for its conservation covered from income in the zone from multiple uses (coffee, ornamentals, and honey) and through providing tourism services. Sixty Maya Kaqchikel families live within the protected area, working in production of coffee and ornamentals, as forest rangers, and in tourism. Several enthusiastic and knowledgeable local guides show the bird and wildlife and explain the production of coffee and ornamental plants. Los Tarrales is providing social services for the people living within the protected area. A private primary school is run in order to ensure the children’s education. Classes in nature, science, and conservation are included in the educational program. (School visit on weekdays when school is in session)

Following birding in the morning, we transfer to the town of Santiago Atitlán in time for lunch. In the afternoon, we will have opportunities to see a few new species. If we are lucky, we may find the uncommon Slender Sheartail hummingbird or the unique-looking Prevost’s Ground-Sparrow. Santiago Atitlán is a hub of Maya culture and there may be an opportunity to meet some locals who are part of the Audubon bird tourism initiative. The National Audubon Society has partnered with Asociación Vivamos Mejor (AVM), a private nonprofit development organization committed to improving the quality of life of rural communities surrounding Lake Atitlán. AVM focuses on Sustainable Watersheds and Resiliency to Climate Change as a strategy for promoting sustainable development. Along with our primary group leader, at each location we will be having a local guide involved in the project.

This morning we enjoy birding at Parque Mirador del Rey Tepepul, a 3,500-hectare park, mostly forest with a wide altitudinal range. Although new to the bird tourism scene, this park has great birds, including the Yellow-naped Parrot, Blue-crowned Chlorophonia, and the Azure-rumped Tanager. In the afternoon we visit Santiago de Atitlán, a wonderful village with an incredible number of women's cooperatives and women's groups. The groups do fine weaving of textiles on the traditional back strap loom and to a lesser degree the Spanish floor loom. The village is also a hub for the use of natural dyed fabric. This afternoon we will have time to explore the village and then return to the hotel.

Bird tourism is also new to the San Juan La Laguna area. We will seek out the rare and gorgeous Belted Flycatcher along the lower slopes of the volcano. We may also come across the Lesser Roadrunner and other dry forest species, such as Prevost's Ground Sparrow.

In the morning we will take a boat to Panajachel to visit the Atitlan Reserve This area could give us a chance to find the Inca Dove, House Wren, Great-tailed Grackle, Bornzed Cowbird, Yellow-winged Tanager, Melodious Blackbird, Vaux's Switft. We will bird the morning here, then have lunch in town. This afternoon is free to enjoy some shopping or relax and take in views of Lake Atitlán from our hotel. Before dinner we will meet a representative of Asociación Vivamos Mejor and learn more about their work with local communities surrounding Lake Atitlán.

This morning we will visit Corazon del Bosque, a reserve located higher up in the oak-pine forest zone. The star bird at Corazon del Bosque is the gorgeous and uncommon Pink-headed Warbler. As we look for the warbler we may see Mountain Trogon, Spotted Woodcreeper, Yellowish Flycatcher, Rufous-browed Wren, Olive Warbler, Crescent-chested Warbler, White-naped Brush-Finch and the local form of the Yellow-eyed Junco, which many consider a separate species: the Guatemalan Junco. After our visit, we will head back to Guatemala City and enjoy lunch at a local restaurant en route. We arrive in Guatemala City in the late afternoon. Refresh, then enjoy our Farewell Dinner at the hotel.

Transfer to Guatemala City Airport to take your flight home. Breakfast will be available depending on your flight time.