The Five Great Forests of Mesoamerica

I absolutely love this short video from the Cornell School of Ornithology. It talks about the five great forests of Mesoamerica, where so many of the migratory birds from North America go to spend the winter. It’s shocking to think at the density of birds that inhabit these forests and just how critical they are. I’m thankful that they are mostly still intact, but they’re under just increasing threat.

The five forests are –

1. Selva Maya – spanning Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala
2. The Moskitia – spanning Honduras and Nicaragua
3. Indio-Maíz Tortuguero – crossing Nicaragua and Costa Rica
4. La Amistad – spanning Costa Rica and Panama
5. The Darién – between Panama and Colombia

The videos describes them as “the last large blocks of tropical forest remaining in Mesoamerica” and are critically important for migratory birds, with over half of the 314 migratory bird species studied using these forests during their annual cycle.