Pine-oak & cloud forest · lakes
Montebello Lakes
Highland forest & quetzals
The forested lakes of Montebello sit right on the Guatemalan border, an hour from Comitán, with pine-oak and cloud forest running down to the water's edge. We collect you from your accommodation early and time our arrival for first light, which is when the Resplendent Quetzal is most active and the reason the day starts when it does.
The Camino de Cinco Lagos is the heart of the morning. Along it we look for Azure-hooded Jay, Northern Emerald-Toucanet, Black-throated Jay and Strong-billed Woodcreeper, with Slate-colored Solitaire and Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush singing from cover, Barred Parakeets going over, and Common Chlorospingus and Gray-breasted Wood-Wren working the understorey.
We carry on to the lake at El Pojoj, where the cast changes: Green-throated Mountain-gem and Collared Trogon, Brown-backed Solitaire and Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, Black-throated Green Warbler among the wintering birds, and Plain Chachalaca in the canopy.
Lunch is local, with homemade tortillas, looking out over the crystalline lakes while Unicolored Jays, Yellow-backed Orioles and Grace's Warbler move through the trees around the table.
The afternoon depends on the weather. Either the archaeological site at Chinkultic, for Cabanis's Wren, White-tailed Hawk and White-tipped Dove alongside the view from the top of the pyramids; or the nearby wetlands, for Osprey, Wood Stork, Pinnated Bittern, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Belted Kingfisher, Vermilion and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Common Moorhen, Common Yellowthroat and Grass Wren. Either way we return to Comitán at the end of the day.
Target birds
From the field
A selection of birds from this route. Tap to enlarge.