Honduras:
Mayan Ruins, Motmots, & Mountain-Gems
January 10-19, 2022
Your place on this Venture is reserved when your completed registration form and deposit of $300/person has been received. Deposit may be made via the ‘book now’ button above, or by contacting the Ventures office. We accept credit cards for an additional fee (2.9% for MC, Visa, Discover; 3.9% for AmEx), but you may also pay by bank transfer, cash, check, or money order (payable to ‘VENTURES BIRDING’) sent to PO Box 1095, Skyland, NC 28776. This Venture is limited to 10 participants.
Cost of Honduras Venture: $3,495 per person from San Pedro Sula, based on double occupancy (Single supplement $300) Price includes: All ground transportation and accommodations, all meals, admission fees, information packet & bird checklist, and services of one Ventures tour leader and one local guide. Not included: Alcoholic beverages, gratuities, laundry, and items of a personal nature
With over 760 species recorded within its mostly forested borders, Honduras is undoubtedly one of the best countries for birding in Central America. Its size and location within the Northern Central America region means that it is home to a number of highly sought-after regional endemics or otherwise range-restricted species such as Highland Guan, Blue-throated & Keel-billed Motmots, Bushy-crested & Black-throated Jays, Rufous-browed Wren, and Blue-and-white Mockingbird among others, and an assortment of spectacular hummingbirds including Green-breasted and Green-throated Mountain-Gems, Garnet-throated, Amethyst-throated, Wine-throated, Sparkling-tailed, Azure-crowned, Berylline, and White-eared Hummingbirds. Most notably, the country is home to one true endemic, the beautiful and declining Honduran Emerald, one of many avian jewels we will endeavor to see on this trip.
Our new 9-day tour visits a diverse variety of habitats across the mountainous interior of Honduras, beginning among the tropical-dry and pine forests overlooking the World Heritage Mayan city of Copan, near the Guatemalan border. Here we visit several world class archaeological sites within the Copan complex, including El Rastrojón, Las Sepulturas, plus the main ruins at Copan. From there we move east through arid uplands, making a stop for the critically-endangered Honduran Emerald, before continuing to the lush wetlands and rainforests of Lake Yojoa, Honduras’s largest freshwater lake. We will spend a couple nights at the cozy PANACAM lodge, a well-known birding lodge with its own observation tower, nestled in the mountains of Cerro Azul Meambar National Park. Lastly, we will ascend to the 6,500-foot pine-oak and lush cloud forests of Opatoro/Guajiquiro Reserve and La Tigra National Park near Tegucigalpa, home to a colorful assortment of hummingbirds, toucans, parrots, orchids, and the incomparable Resplendent Quetzal.
Primary Target Birds (registrants will receive a full list of expected species):
Highland Guan, Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridge, Crested Bobwhite, Ocellated Quail, Singing Quail, White-faced Quail-Dove, Lesser Ground-Cuckoo, Lesser Roadrunner, Great Swallow-tailed Swift, numerous hummingbirds including Green-breasted Mango, Violet Sabrewing, Mexican Violetear, Green-throated & Green-breasted Mountain-Gems, Amethyst-throated, Emerald-chinned, Sparkling-tailed, Azure-crowned, White-eared, Wine-throated, Berylline Hummingbirds, Black-crested Coquette, and the endemic Honduran Emerald; Ruddy Crake, Mottled & Fulvous Owls, Resplendent Quetzal, Elegant & Mountain Trogons; Tody, Blue-throated, Lesson's, Keel-billed, & Turquoise-browed Motmots, Emerald Toucanet, Scarlet Macaw, Black-faced Antthrush, Stub-tailed Spadebill, Greater Pewee, Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Bushy-crested, Black-throated, and Green Jays, Black-capped Swallow, Rufous-browed Wren, Black Thrush, Rufous-collared Robin, Brown-backed & Slate-colored Solitaires, Blue-and-white Mockingbird, Blue-crowned Chlorophonia, Elegant Euphonia, Black-headed Siskin, Crescent-chested Warbler, Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer, White-faced Ground-Sparrow, Green-backed Sparrow, Blue Bunting, Black-vented Oriole, Chestnut-headed & Montezuma Oropendolas, and many, many more.