Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve

Macaw Mountain is a bird park and nature reserve located in Copán Ruinas, a village in Honduras' mountainous west close to the border with Guatemala. Macaw Mountain has its roots in a bird rescue center for macaws and parrots that was started many years ago in the Bay Islands area on the Caribbean north side of Honduras. In 2001 it moved its operations to its current location. Over the years the park has become a well-established name and it is currently the number 2 tourist attraction in the Copán valley, a region that is mostly visited for its archaeological park that encompasses the ruins of an ancient Maya city and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Together with governmental, non-governmental and private partners, Macaw Mountain is developing pioneering bird conservation and restoration projects in several locations in Honduras. The park has already succeeded in re-introducing a wild population of the Scarlet Macaw, the national bird of Honduras, to the archaeological park and the populated areas of the surrounding valley. This initiative, which also had a significant educational component, has been recognized by the World Parrot Trust as a truly unique feat.