From March 25 - 31, 2017 I birded the central Pacific highlands and the Parque Regional Municipal Todos Santos Cuchamatán in Guatemala. Click on the links below to see some of the great birds I saw thanks to the skills and knowledge of Guatemala-based BIRDING EXPEDITIONS.
NOTE: I was birding first, photographing second (as usual) on this trip, thus the quality of the photos below varies greatly from "very good" to "pretty crappy". In most cases our views of a bird were much better than the photos obtained of it; part of the purpose of this gallery is to show just how many good birds can be seen - if you use a really good locally based birding tour company such as Birding Expeditions.
Photos of Black-capped Swallows (Atticora pileata) that were foraging over a small agricultural field on Cerro Zunil near Fuentes Georgina. Not good photos, but they provide a rare view of the dorsal surface, and show that the mantle and upper back are obviously paler than the uppertail coverts, rump, wing coverts and secondaries, creating a saddle effect. This contrast can be seen on this very rare dorsal image of a perched individual. This contrast on the dorsal surface is not described or illustrated in any of the references I have been able to read - this includes the two field guides that cover the range, the Hirundine monograph, and online resources (including the Cornell page linked-to previously):
