Posted August 1, 2023
The department of El Progreso has unique biological diversity in the region however, that has been little known and admired by the population; since among the different ecosystems present in the department, the most outstanding is the Dry Forest, also known as thorny forest, scrubland, chaparral o xerophytic forest, alluding to its characteristic. Dry forests have generally been associated with low attractiveness, because they are composed of plant communities comprised of trees with small structures, scattered, losing their leaves during the dry season of the year, as well various shrubby plants. However, they have a unique diversity with many endemic flora and fauna species.
Dry forests in Guatemala occupy 4.49% of the country’s total area. These are being affected by the expansion of the agricultural frontier, the formation of pasture, and the extraction of wood for firewood. The research in this area is very limited, despite being one of the places with the greatest endemism in Guatemala. Even though several studies have been carried out in the dry forest, there are few records of fauna, especially for the department of El Progreso.
Calocitta formosa (White-throated magpie-jay). El Rancho, El Progreso. Edwin Solares, 2023.
In the months of May to July, the research team of FLAAR Mesoamérica made trips to the dry forest in the department of El Progreso and Zacapa to document the blooms of some plant species and to document the fauna of the forest. During the trips, four species of birds and one reptile were recorded. The registered birds were Calocitta formosa (White-throated magpie-jay), Eumomota superciliosa (Turquoise-browed Motmot), Polioptila albiloris (White-lored Gnatcatcher), and Icterus pectoralis (Spot-breasted Oriole). The reptile found was Aspidoscelis motaguae (giant whiptail).
Calocitta formosa (White-throated magpie-jay)
Is a large Central American species of magpie-jay. It is associated with a wide range of habitats from arid environments to semi-humid woodlands, from sea level up to 1,250 m, although occasionally higher than 800 m. It occurs rarely in columnar cacti forests but is common in thorn forests, gallery forests, deciduous woodland, and forest edges. The species has a particularly long tail and a slightly curved crest of feathers on the head. White-throated magpie-jays are omnivorous, consuming a wide range of animal and plant matter. Its primary ecosystem role is as seed dispersers because they frequently ingest various types of berries, fruits, and seeds.
Calocitta formosa (White-throated magpie-jay). El Rancho, El Progreso. Edwin Solares, 2023.
Eumomota superciliosa (Turquoise-browed Motmot)
Also known as torogoz and guardabarranco, is a colorful medium-sized bird of the Motmot family. It inhabits Central America from southeast Mexico to Costa Rica. It is not considered a threatened species and it lives in open habitats such as forest edge, gallery forest, and scrubland. Its name derives from the turquoise color of its brows. The flight feathers and the upper side of the tail are blue, and the tips of all feathers are shaped like rackets. Although it is often said that motmots pluck barbs off their tail to create the shape, this is not true, the barbs are weakly attached and fall off due to abrasion with substrates and with routine preening. The specimen found did not have these feathers. Also, these species are secondary and tertiary consumers, omnivorous and fairly common, therefore they are helpful in controlling insect species. They aid in seed dispersion of Stemmadenia donnell-smithii and Guaiacum sanctum (which is being studied by the team recently).
Eumomota superciliosa (Turquoise-browed Motmot). El Rancho, El Progreso. Edwin Solares, 2023.
Polioptila albioloris (white-lored gnatcher)
It is found from central Guatemala south through Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua into northwestern Costa Rica. It inhabits arid to semi-arid biomes including scrublands, thorn forests, deciduous woodland, and secondary forest. Its diet is a variety of adult insects, caterpillars, and spiders. The IUCN has assessed this species as being of Least Concern.
Polioptila albiloris (White-lored Gnatcatcher). Agua Caliente, Zacapa. Edwin Solares, 2023.
Icterus pectoralis (Spot-breasted Oriole)
It is a mid-sized songbird and generally typical oriole with a bright orange body and with a black bib and black spotting on the sides of the breast. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, and heavily degraded former forest. Its distribution ranges only on the Pacific side of Central America and the population is established enough to be countable for birdwatchers. Little is known about the role spot-breasted orioles play in their ecosystem, but studies proposed that they likely pollinate flowers from which it gets nectar, disperse seeds of berries and other fruits, and impact the population of insects and other prays.
Icterus pectoralis (Spot-breasted Oriole). El Progreso. Edwin Solares, 2023.
Aspidoscelis motaguae
Also known as giant whiptail or huico gigante. It is a species of teiid lizard native to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Whiptails are active hunters that will eat everything they can overpower, mostly insects and other arthropods. As heat-loving animals, they are often found in the open areas primarily on hot, sunny days, whereas they retreat to their burrows when the sky is cloudy.
Aspidoscelis motaguae (giant whiptail). El Progreso. Edwin Solares, 2023.
These have been just a few records that we have obtained in recent trips, hundreds of species of fauna remain undocumented, so we will be working on it.
Written by Flor Morales.
