Petén, Guatemala, May 8, 2026.- Every spring, millions of migratory birds cross the continent and reappear in forests and urban parks across North America. Their survival depends, in large part, on what happens months earlier in the forests of Mesoamerica.
Global Big Day, the worldwide birding event led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will place a special focus this year on two “sister landscapes” linked by shared migratory birds: the Selva Maya of Guatemala, and the Appalachian Blue Ridge forests of North Carolina. On May 9, the Cornell Lab will send a team of birders to each landscape to celebrate that the same migratory species that depend on the Selva Maya – part of the Great Maya Forest Biocultural Corridor that connects Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize – during the winter months and migration concentrate in Appalachia’s forests during the breeding season.
The joyful return of migratory birds each spring to Appalachia and other forest landscapes of the eastern U.S. and Canada, including parks in and around New York City, depends on the health of the largest tropical forest left north of the Amazon – the Selva Maya. For species like the Wood Thrush, Kentucky Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, and Magnolia Warbler, this forest is essential to their survival during the winter months and migration.
But this globally important forest is disappearing. It is urgently threatened by illegal cattle ranching, wildfires, and land-use change. In recent years, these pressures have replaced forest cover with pasture grass, degraded the soil, and altered the structure and function of ecosystems. If we lose this great forest, we will lose the birds we share — the birds that connect us across borders.
Yet the Selva Maya is also a concrete example of how deforestation trends can be reversed when communities are at the center of conservation.
Local communities and partner organizations, in coordination with the government of Guatemala — particularly the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP), the park service — are driving restoration efforts that go far beyond planting trees. They are recovering degraded areas, protecting standing forest, and creating restoration-based employment in a win-win model in which conservation and livelihoods advance hand in hand.
The results are beginning to show: when local governance is strengthened, the forest recovers, and birds return. Wood Thrushes and Kentucky Warblers are already foraging among the leaf litter beneath a new forest canopy. And that return is not only local. Months later, it is reflected in the Appalachian Blue Ridge, Central Park, and beyond in the successful return of these winged travelers — evidence of a direct connection between what happens in the Selva Maya and what happens on the other side of the continent.
Global Big Day also highlights the role of the global birding community, and the way that migratory birds connect people across countries and cultures. Millions of people participate by recording species observations on the free eBird platform, generating critical data that help us understand the status of bird populations and identify where we need to invest to conserve them.
Kentucky Warbler by Matt Misewicz | Cornell Lab of Ornithology-Macaulay Library
As part of Global Big Day, Guatemala will host a unique field experience bringing together local and international birders, scientists, community members, and decision-makers. Over two days along the Ruta Carmelita, participants will visit restoration sites and explore Puerto Arturo, a community-managed wetland ecosystem that is emerging as a new birding destination.
From there, they will join the global species count on May 9 alongside millions of people around the world.
More than an event, this is an opportunity to see how forest recovery in Guatemala sustains the miracle of bird migration that connects countries, ecosystems, and people.
For more information, visit: dl.allaboutbirds.org/bigday2026 | guatemala@wcs.org | mesoamerica@wcs.org Press: Claudia Novelo Alpuche — cnovelo@wcs.org