Posted July 03, 2017

Found what appeared to be a very pregnant opossum in our Mayan ethnobotanical garden (in the hills overlooking Guatemala City). It did not hiss, nor run away fast. It simply climbed up the vines on the wall (surrounding the property).

Posted June 20, 2017

Quetzal came to the Cecropia (Guarumo) tree for food, 5:10 pm, Ranchitos del Quetzal, June 15, 2017.

Photo by Nicholas Hellmuth, Nikon D5, AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8E FL ED VR lens on Gitzo tripod with Wimberley WH-200 gimbal tripod head II), overcast sky. Pure sunlight (almost no flash would reach as far away as this bird was).

This is cropped down since a 400mm lens will simply not capture a view of any bird at this distance. We hope to have a 600mm lens by July, but frankly I estimate that the only way to photograph a bird this far away would be to use a Swarovski digiscoping system.

The quetzals come to feed on the guarumo treetops about 5 to 6 am and 5 to 6 pm (the worst possible times of day for “sunlight” photography in a rainy cloud forest).

Posted Jun 22, 2017

Photo of Egretta tricolor, Garza tricolor, en el Canal de Chiquimulilla.

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We are working on preparing tips and suggestions How-to do bird photography, or better titles, how to improve your bird photography. We will be working on this the entire year.

Today we offer a set of fine art giclee quality images of the tricolored heron, Egretta tricolor, photographed along the Canal de Chiquimulilla, near Monterrico, Guatemala, Central America. We list the camera, lens, ISO, speed, and f.stop used for freezing the bird in flight.

For many years we have cooperated with the pleasant and knowledgeable team at CECON in Monterrico. Alex Cuellar and other capable guides from Monterrico have taken us in boats so we can photograph Neotropical flowers, crabs, birds, tule swamps, and mangrove swamps.

CECON is a university institute dedicated to protecting the fragile eco-systems of several different parts of Guatemala.

Posted June 20, 2017

Photo of Yellow-winged Cacique, in Monterrico, Guatemala.

During the last 8 months we have focused our field trips on finding and photographing all birds of Guatemala which construct long hanging woven nests.

Montezuma oropendola nests are the most impressive, but we want to find every other genus and species with similar pendant woven nests. After finding many Chestnut-headed oropendola nest colonies, we then found many Altimira oriole nests.

Then two weeks ago we found lots and lots of hanging nests of cacique birds, thanks to the local knowledge of Axel Cuellar, CECON guide, Monterrico, Guatemala (on the Pacific Ocean coast of Guatemala).

Now we will be looking for hanging nests of all other oriole species (since we already have found Altimira oriole in many different locations). Of course some orioles have basket-shaped nests: these we are not looking for.

We hope that a zoology (or industrial design) student can be inspired to do a MS thesis or PhD dissertation to create a 3D video of how these birds weave such impressive nests. We will give such a student all our information on where to find each tree in Guatemala that has this kind of tall hanging woven nest.

Birdwatching is popular worldwide, and we recommend you come to Guatemala and visit Monterrico for more than the beaches. Enjoy the amazing birds and then explore the nearby Canal de Chiquimulilla.

leafhopper, by Erick Flores, FLAAR Photo Archive

Posted March 16, 2017

The FLAAR philosophy is to document that most insects are not harmful to humans. We understand that many people don’t like insects. But spraying pesticide, insecticide, and other poisonous chemicals in your garden or home can potentially cause eventual cancer or other expensive diseases to YOU and to your CHILDREN.

The insects we show here I found on the seed pods of the yellow-flowered Cassia tree which grows next to our house. This Cassia fistula is not native to Guatemala, but is a common garden tree. Until I can get seeds of the gorgeous lavender flowered Cassia grandis plant of Peten, Belize and other areas of the Mayan forests, we keep the Cassia fistula.

Membracis mexicana, periquito de nanche, leafhopper. They are known to like avocado trees: there is an avocado tree 2 meters away, plus in the yards of houses on both sides of our yard. They are listed as a plague for nance trees; there is a nance tree 3 meters away. So these insects are happy in our tree area, 1500 meters above sea level, in the hills of Zona 15, overlooking several volcanoes on the horizon.

I love learning about how these insects go through their growth stages: how they change color; how they interact with the ants.

Of course you should get rid of mosquitos and insects which can spread diseases which are worse than pesticides. But in general, thousands of kinds of insects are part of our eco-system, and we should not simply exterminate them (especially not with pesticide and insecticide).

Photo of Membracis mexicana, periquito de nanche among some Cassia seed pods

Posted March 29, 2017

One of our many goals is to show to the world the remarkable and diverse Neotropical eco-systems of Guatemala (and adjacent parts of Mesoamerica).

One of many ways by which we can bring the fragile eco-systems to the entire world is to recreate a series of idealized renderings of the plants and animals. These scenes will eventually be in the animated films which we will produce with potential partners (with the FLAAR team providing the knowledge and inspiration for the Neotropical flora and fauna of Mesoamerica and an experienced animation company coordinating with us to bring this to a worldwide audience).

As soon as funds are available we will also do 360 degree panorama photographs of good examples of each eco-system of the Mayan and Xinca areas (the people who lived in Guatemala before the arrival of the Spaniards).

As soon as funds are available we will also do 360 degree panorama photographs of good examples of each eco-system of the Mayan and Xinca areas (the people who lived in Guatemala before the arrival of the Spaniards).

Here is a portion of our first 360 "moving" rain forest scene. You can experience this best from your iPhone, iPad, Android, or comparable tablet, via this link to the full 360 scene on Mayan Toons on Facebook.

 

We prefer to start with entertaining scenes, and we now show the first rendition of an idealized Neotropical scene of the Mayan areas. This is the work of many of the capable student intern illustrators and university-trained illustrators and graphic designers.

In the coming months we will present:

• Water-birds of the Mayan world (based on 8 years of research by Nicholas for his PhD dissertation at Karl-Franzens Universitaet, Graz, Austria, on the Surface of the Underwaterworld iconography and cosmology of the Early Classic and Late Classic Maya).
• Terrestrial and arboreal birds of the Mayan forests.
• Colorful and exotic beetles of the Mayan eco-systems.
• Reptiles and amphibians of the lakes, rivers, and swamps of Guatemala.
• Mammals of the Mayan forests (the 360-degree view here is the start of this, more animals will be added in future drawings).