Bird guide of the Pacific coast of Guatemala presented

Story by: Jorge Rodriguez Photography by: Jorge Rodriguez Translated by: Carlos Duarte vie 17, Dic 2021

The Pacific coast of Guatemala already has a specialized guide of all species of birds, resident and migratory, that inhabit the different marine-coastal ecosystems, thanks to the work carried out by two Guatemalan biologists, Bianca Bosarreyes and Varinia Sagastume, who have worked in shorebird monitoring since 2019.

According to Bosarreyes, the idea of making this guide came about because, although there are already very complete and free mobile applications, not everyone can use them. “We realized that people in rural communities don’t always have high-end phones and can’t use apps like Merlin,” said the biologist. She added that, although there are also physically printed guides, the vast majority are in English, and do not specialize in areas as specific as the Guatemalan Pacific.

This guide is part of a program financed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which seeks to provide new capacities to the inhabitants of coastal communities, such as Sipacate, where tourism and the conservation of ecosystems present great opportunities for sustainable development for their inhabitants.

“We managed to deliver some 40 guides to people from the Sipacate community. They were very excited because that opens up a new field of learning and work for them. This will be the basis for them to conserve the birds and their habitats ”, added Bosarreyes.

Both Bosarreyes and Sagastume began, in 2019, to work with the shorebirds of Guatemala, because the country was the only one in the entire American continent, where no systematic monitoring was carried out, so there was a lack of essential data for the implementation of conservation strategies for this type of birds.

Different projects and initiatives

Varinia Sagastume paints part of an interpretive mural dedicated to migratory shorebirds, located in El Paredón, Sipacate. Photo: Jorge Rodríguez/Viatori

Since then, in different projects and initiatives, both biologists, with the collaboration of other institutions such as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Cornell University Coastal Solutions Scholars Program, the United States Forest Service (USFS) and Environment for the Americas.

“This material will be used for educational and conservation purposes,” said Sagastume, who in turn works, together with Cornell, a project to create and implement good practices with shrimp and salt farmers in areas such as Las Lisas, Sipacate and Monterrico. , all in the Guatemalan Pacific.

Together with WCS, they have also been involved in holding shorebirds and migratory festivals, they have conducted training workshops for local teachers, with the aim of raising awareness about the protection of marine-coastal ecosystems for the benefit of the birds, and participated in the creation of an interpretive mural, located in El Paredón, whose objective is to add knowledge to the tourist scene, since it is one of the most popular beaches for local and international tourism.

You can download the guide at the following link.

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