The Monterrico-Hawaii Nature Reserve was established in 1977 by congress  in order to protect an extended ecosystem of lagoons and mangrove woods of the channel of Chiquimulilla which is separated from by a tongue of land sometimes less than a kilometer in size. This variability in habitats and sufficient food reserve favores a big diversity of birds of which the most common ones are the herons.

Other birds which can be seen: White-bellied chachalaca, limpkin, Black crowned night-heron, mangrove-vireo, yellow warbler, yellow winged cacique. In all there have been more than 200 species registered – migratory and residents.