The orange-breasted falcon (Falco deiroleucus) is a beautiful species, but rare to see. Although its natural distribution is wide and occurs from the southeast of Mexico and Central America, to Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia; only a few pair of nests have been spoted at Peten thus far. It is possible to observe them in El Mirador National Park and Tikal National Park, as was did during the last expedition of our current project in the Reserva de Biósfera Maya.
Falco deiroleucus in Temple IV, Mundo Perdido. Parque Nacional Tikal, Petén, Guatemala
Photographs by Haniel López. October, 2022
On our last fieldtrip in October 2022, one of our goals was to photograph this amazing falcon and we succeeded! It was spotted in a tree next to Temple IV, in the complex known as the "Mundo Perdido." This documentation was very important because the species is in danger of extinction due to illegal hunting and the deterioration of the forest caused by human activities.
Currently, the Peregrine Fund organization has the only colony of captive orange-breasted hawks in the world to achieve their reproduction and save the species from extinction. In Tikal, the Peregrine Fund has provided its support by monitoring adult individuals and facilitating the reproduction between wild individuals. This resulted in the successful birth of two healthy chicks. Both were marked with rings to keep track of their survival.
Falco deiroleucus in Temple IV, Mundo Perdido. Parque Nacional Tikal, Petén, Guatemala
Photographs by Haniel López. October, 2022
About this species
Here you can find its taxonomic classification and some information about its characteristics.
KINGDOM
Animalia
PHYLUM
Chordata
CLASS
Birds
ORDER
Falconiformes
FAMILY
Falconidae
GENUS
Falco
SPECIES
F. DeiroleucusF.
Generally, it can be seen alone or in pairs.
Their nesting occurs on large cliffs or emergent trees, in lowland areas or montane primary forest.
It is one of the few species of the genus Falco that can be found in tropical forests.
Its average size is 28 to 34 cm.
Their diet includes bats and a great variety of birds such as pigeons, trogons, woodpeckers, among others; for which the ecological function of regulating populations of certain species is attributed to it.
On our June field trip in Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre, part of the Reserva de Biósfera Maya, Petén; we were documenting savanna ecosystems -as we have been doing for the last couple years- and we get to hear a very peculiar sound. As we were getting closer, we get able to see it… A Laughing falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans) in front of us! By its common name you can imagine the sound that produces.
Herpetotheres cachinnans
H. cachinnas is a raptor species, inhabiting tropical and subtropical zones from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, in a variety of habitat types such as forest edges, riverine woodlands, savannas and secondary forests (Caldeira et al 2014).
Laughing falcon is not the only common name for this bird, it is also called snake hawk and the reason is that snakes comprise the majority of its diet, big and small, venomous and non-venomous, arboreal and terrestrial. The falcon pounces on snakes with great force, hitting the ground with an audible thud. When it catches a snake, it holds it just behind the head with its beak. Then it readily bites off the snake's head. However, it also will pray on lizards, small mammals, birds, fish, and large insects, such as grasshoppers (Caldeira et al, 2014; The Peregrine Fund, n.d.).
An interesting fact from H. cachinnas is that sometimes nests close to ants, because even if the ants doesn’t bother the falcons, the attack other animals that come close, helping the falcon protect its netslings from predator.
Taxonomy:
Kingdom
ANIMALI
Phylum
CHORDATA
Class
BIRDS
Order
FALCONIFORMES
Family
FALCONIDAE
Genus
HERPETOTHERES
Species
H. CACHINNANS
H. cachinnas in Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre, June 2022
Photographies by Emanuel Chocooj
The laughing falcon in the Popol Vuh
It is very impressive when you find some of the fauna that is part of the sacred book of the Maya, because you are in the authentically atmosphere was their worldview was conceive. Nicholas Hellmuth explained how the Laughing falcon appears in the Popol Vuh:
The Laughing falcon is very important; it is also called the snake hawk. But this bird is the bird of the Popol vuh. In the Popol Vuh is considered to be a macaw and in Copan ruins in Honduras, the sacred bird is a macaw, in every aspect, kind of a symbol logo. But in other maya sites the bird that sits on the tree that has the calabash is the Laughing falcon and in my PhD dissertation I devote time for that and I showed and I incised the shell that shows two of the aspect again in the Popol Vuh, the grandmother gives a message to a flee, or an insect. The insect is eaten by a frog or a toad who carries it further, a snake eats the toad and carries the message further and the laughing falcon eats the snake. The when it gets to Xibalba the bird regurgitates the snake and regurgitates the toad but then has a little trouble regurgitating the flee.
We know the relevance of the Popol Vuh, but it was Michael Coe from Yale Univesity, he is the one who really showed the relevance of the Popol Vuh and the hero twins. And then in my PhD in the 1980’s at the Graz University in Austria showed more of the Popol Vuh that was not widely known, because every person knows a little bit about it – I don’t know everything – but Michael Coe introduce it and I was able to follow it up and find even more basis more plates, more bowls that shows the hero twins and shows the laughing falcon and I am also the one who notice on top of the tree, it was not a Macaw, it was a bird with a snake in his mouth and that’s the snake hawk which is the laughing falcon.
Bibliography
CALDEIRA, H., ESTEVES, L., DE FREITAS, B and G. ZORZIN
2014
The reptile hunter’s menu: A review of the prey species of Laughing Falcons, Herpetotheres cachinnans (Aves: Falconiformes). North-western Journal of Zoology 10 (2): 445-453.
Larvae of butterflies and moths come in amazing different sizes, shapes, and coloration. Yesterday Victor Mendoza found the green larva we show here. It is the largest I have seen in many decades of photographing larva in the rain forests of Guatemala.
We found this along the trail from Plan Grande Tatin toward the Cueva del Tigre, Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala.
We will do a photo essay showing all our macro photographs by Nicholas Hellmuth and by David Arrivillaga (FLAAR Mesoamerica). But to start here are photographs with an iPhone 13 Pro Max, held within a few centimeters of this creature to get these views. Since most larvae are dangerous to touch, we did not touch it. And we left it in the same place that we found it (on the ground).
We now initiate library research to figure out what family and what genus this creature is.
If you want to study insects, Guatemala is a great place.
El Búho recently invited Dr Nicholas Hellmuth to speak about his experience in Guatemala and to share more about what we do at FLAAR Mesoamerica and MayanToons. Here is the video of the interview held in Spanish.
Watching dolphins in the sea is an incredible spectacle, something beautifully unmatched. It makes you feel peace, excitement and joy at the same time.
On April 7, the FLAAR Mesoamerica team made an express fieldtrip to Livingston. It was on this trip where we had the opportunity to watch this incredible moment, we were heading to Tapón Creek crossing Amatique Bay when suddenly we observed that the dolphins jumped next to our boat, they could be seen to the right and to the left.
The species that we observed in Amatique Bay is Tursiops truncatus, commonly called bottlenose dolphins or locally called “Toninas” in Livingston. Dolphins belong to the order CETACEO of the mammalia taxonomic class, this means that dolphins are certainly marine mammals.
Video by Victor Mendoza. April 7th 2022. iPhone 11. Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) sighting in Livingston.
Bottlenose dolphins are social animals known for their playful behavior. Many times, they are found living in groups called pods. These groups can contain just a couple of members, or hundreds of members when different pods join. Bottlenose dolphins hunt in groups, taking turns chasing schools of fish or catching fish against mud or sand banks (NCEAS, 2004).
FLAAR Mesoamerica has had the opportunity to document several sightings of these amazing marine mammals. This time it was possible to observe them on the coast of Punta de Cocolí around 10 in the morning. Regarding their physical appearance, they were approximately 8 feet long, so we deduced that it was a pod of adult dolphins. Alexander Cuz, our boat captain told us that they were feeding according to their behavior. They were light gray in color and we could see how one dolphin jumped on its back and we appreciated its white chest.
If you are very lucky you can live this incredible experience if you visit Livingston, Izabal!
Bibliography
Centro Nacional de Análisis Ecológicos y de Síntesis: NCEAS
2004
Delfín Nariz de Botella. Mamíferos merinos del Proyecto: Kids Do Ecology
