Sabes Aves
New member
One day I was with the board of managers of the indigenous communal park Montetik, in San Cristóbal de las Casas, shooting a one minute video to promote their site as a birding destination. People from around the globe visit this site to see the pink-headed warbler; a beautiful, yet unknown, species.
We took some video shots at the lower section of their forest and decided to go all the way up, to the view point to take a panning scene. At the top, it began to rain and we had to shelter at some rock formations. We were joking among us about how we would be scolded by our women at home for coming back all wet from the rain. Among all the tzotzil man in representation of the park there was a kid accompanying his dad. I asked him some questions and with his shy answers I discovered that it was his first time visiting the viewpoint and seeing this part of the forest. He also told me that he knew about the pink-headed warbler, that foreigners come to visit to see that bird but that he had never seen it. "That is so illogical!" I thought to myself "why does this kid not seen this forest? he belongs to the community who manages this forest. And why has he not seen the pink-headed warbler?". Pretty quickly I guessed that he is not the only kind who has not seen his forest.
I decided to plan a birding session for the kids of this community, called El Aguaje. I asked around with the local birding community if they could burrow their binoculars and I asked the authorities of the community if they would agree that we would take the kids to do some birding. They gave us a green light and quite soon I was on my way to the first birding session. I was parking the car and saw a huge group of kids running to a formation. When I stepped out of the car all the kids in chorus welcomed us. It was heart warming. We had too little binoculars but we shared so that all kids could see. The first session was good, we saw garnet-throated hummingbirds up close. You, as a reader of this story, know how that works exactly; you just need to see one charismatic bird and you are hooked.
We had many birding sessions with the kids for approximately six months, and little by little the group got reduced to those who were really interested in birdwatching. At that point we had a one to one kid to binocular ratio. The sessions were always in the evening because their parents allowed them to take part of the activity only then. So we never had enough time to go to the higher areas were we could find the pink-headed warbler because it always ran out of daylight.
But one day we managed to get to the higher section of their park with plenty of time. The higher section of that forest is just so different from the rest. It looks like a botanical garden. The trees and the ground are covered with bromeliads, orchids, ferns and agaves. The trees are old tall oaks and pines. And while walking in narrow trail with fog, adding to the magic of the forest, I heard the characteristic chip call of the warbler. We all went silent and started creeping behind a rock and there it was, a pink-headed warbler! The kids were all over the moon, they finally met the steward of their park, confidently foraging close to us. That was about three years ago and now one girl of El Aguaje has become also a birding guide. her father also guides birdwatchers.
This year I started taking kids from another indigenous community who own land that includes high altitude pine-oak forest. Some of the last patches that are suitable for the pink-headed warbler and other endangered species such as the unspotted saw-whet owl and ocellated quail. Hopefully this effort will inspire them to preserve their forests and will bring a new generation of birding guides.
We took some video shots at the lower section of their forest and decided to go all the way up, to the view point to take a panning scene. At the top, it began to rain and we had to shelter at some rock formations. We were joking among us about how we would be scolded by our women at home for coming back all wet from the rain. Among all the tzotzil man in representation of the park there was a kid accompanying his dad. I asked him some questions and with his shy answers I discovered that it was his first time visiting the viewpoint and seeing this part of the forest. He also told me that he knew about the pink-headed warbler, that foreigners come to visit to see that bird but that he had never seen it. "That is so illogical!" I thought to myself "why does this kid not seen this forest? he belongs to the community who manages this forest. And why has he not seen the pink-headed warbler?". Pretty quickly I guessed that he is not the only kind who has not seen his forest.
I decided to plan a birding session for the kids of this community, called El Aguaje. I asked around with the local birding community if they could burrow their binoculars and I asked the authorities of the community if they would agree that we would take the kids to do some birding. They gave us a green light and quite soon I was on my way to the first birding session. I was parking the car and saw a huge group of kids running to a formation. When I stepped out of the car all the kids in chorus welcomed us. It was heart warming. We had too little binoculars but we shared so that all kids could see. The first session was good, we saw garnet-throated hummingbirds up close. You, as a reader of this story, know how that works exactly; you just need to see one charismatic bird and you are hooked.
We had many birding sessions with the kids for approximately six months, and little by little the group got reduced to those who were really interested in birdwatching. At that point we had a one to one kid to binocular ratio. The sessions were always in the evening because their parents allowed them to take part of the activity only then. So we never had enough time to go to the higher areas were we could find the pink-headed warbler because it always ran out of daylight.
But one day we managed to get to the higher section of their park with plenty of time. The higher section of that forest is just so different from the rest. It looks like a botanical garden. The trees and the ground are covered with bromeliads, orchids, ferns and agaves. The trees are old tall oaks and pines. And while walking in narrow trail with fog, adding to the magic of the forest, I heard the characteristic chip call of the warbler. We all went silent and started creeping behind a rock and there it was, a pink-headed warbler! The kids were all over the moon, they finally met the steward of their park, confidently foraging close to us. That was about three years ago and now one girl of El Aguaje has become also a birding guide. her father also guides birdwatchers.
This year I started taking kids from another indigenous community who own land that includes high altitude pine-oak forest. Some of the last patches that are suitable for the pink-headed warbler and other endangered species such as the unspotted saw-whet owl and ocellated quail. Hopefully this effort will inspire them to preserve their forests and will bring a new generation of birding guides.
