Birds In the Mayan ArtMany birds form part of the supernatural hierarchy that inhabits the Maya Universe, and they occupy the highest ranks. Their most frequent association is with heaven if they nest in trees and with the entrance to the underworld if they are aquatic birds.
Birds could have attracted the attention of the Maya population through their song, their plumage, their looks, their natural history, or their use as food. That is why birds represented in prehispanic art show dominant traits such as beaks and feathers. However, they can rarely be precisely identified as one species or another. In spite of this, several examples do show details that can suggest a particular species.
One of the most commonly represented birds in Maya art is the Celestial Bird, which was thought to inhabit the crown of the four trees that marked the cardinal points and the World Tree, located at the axis mundi, or center of the earth.
This bird, of many colors and long feathers, could have been inspired by macaw, toucan, or quetzal feathers. Because the extraordinary thing about birds in general is their color and plumage, common birds without any exceptional characteristics, such as some songbirds, appear in Maya art painted only in black or white.
From: Maya Art of Tikal
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