We have found scientific illustrations by three capable artists:
a bird and peccary by Henke
a dozen illustrations of animals by Joan Branca
Nice set of illustrations by Wendy Addison
Addison and Branca helped as volunteers on FLAAR projects half a century ago. Both are alive and well and still doing eye-catching art designs. We estimate Henke was also a student assisting us in Guatemala; since we don’t have a first name we have not yet located this individual.
Mario Vasquez, CONAP co-administrator of PNYNN has asked us (FLAAR and FLAAR Mesoamerica) to add additional research on fauna to our long-term dedicated field work and library research on plants and animals of PNYNN. So we will produce two FLAAR reports on fauna of Yaxha: one with drawings by Joan Branca; and a second report with drawings by Wendy Addison. We hope to find more by Henke as well; we show here the only two we have found so far:
Ara macao, an endangered species no longer found in Central Peten (so not at Yaxha, Nakum, Naranjo, or Tikal). This macaw is a patron logo of Copan Ruinas, Honduras.
Victor estimates this is a rendering of a Tayassu pecari, white lipped peccary. I will do more research since there is also the collared peccary (and on the drawing I see the base of its white diagonal band).
To publish all these illustrations will take a while since we need to identify the genus species, common name in English, in Spanish, and in either Q’eqchi’ or Peten Itza Maya language. But we wanted to show samples first.
After we publish a first edition of each of their scientific illustrations, we will see which important species of mammals and reptiles we should add. Wendy Addison kindly told us she could accomplish additional illustrations for a more comprehensive coverage of the mammals and reptiles of Yaxha (for these creatures we will focus on the ones that appear in Classic Maya murals, on carved stone monuments, or painted or incised on ceramic vases, bowls, lids, plates, or are seen as 3-dimensional figurines of birds, reptiles, or mammals.
We will have two additional pages on this website later this summer: one with samples of the drawings of Joan Branca, and the other with illustrations by Wendy Addison.
Photograph by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth, with a Nikon D5 Camera, Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4e FL ED VR lens. 1/30 sec, f/11, ISO 5000
Today we are making available our extensive bibliography on Alouatta pigra, the more common black howler monkey of Peten and surrounding areas of Mesoamerica (southern Mexico and Central America).
The entire bibliography will be available as a FLAAR report as a .pdf in coming months, but in the meantime, for students, zoology professors, and people around the world who are curious about the howler monkey, on this page you can find lots to read.
Photographed May 10, 2021 by Lucas Cuz, Q'eqchi' Mayan photographer of flora and fauna and park ranger in nearby nature reserves.
This nice crisp high-resolution photo of this gorgeous green lizard was photographed by plant scout Lucas Cuz, who lives in aldea El Rosario and works in Tapon and Taponcito nature reserves of FUNDAECO.
We provide cell phones with high-quality digital camera (usually a high-end Google Pixel phone since they have better macro than most other brands), plus we provide productive plant scouts with a computer.
Plant scouts also photograph butterflies, larvae of butterflies and moths, and fauna in addition to remarkable Neotropical plants where they live or where they work in remote rain forest nature preserves.
We found and photographed two Great Blue Herons in the marshes inland from the Pacific Ocean coast of Guatemala. These tule reed marshes and mangrove swamps are west of Monterrico, Guatemala.
Next week we will be looking for waterbirds in Chocon Machacas Nature Reserve, Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala, so on the Caribbean side of Central America.
It sure helps to have an 800mm prime telephoto lens on a Nikon D5 camera. Because if you get closer, the birds simply fly away.
This is not like Florida or other national parks where you can have a blind to hide in; here in the swamps and marshes of Guatemala there is nowhere to put a blind. All photography is from a boat (rocking in the wind and low waves).
Photograph by Nicholas Hellmuth, January 17, 2021, FLAAR Photo Archive of Fauna of Guatemala.
We thank Axel Cuellar, CECON, and his colleagues and two sons for helping arrange the boat each day so we could find and photograph diverse species of waterbirds on January 16 and January 17, 2021.
