<p>The Q’eqchi’ Maya of Guatemala and Belize maintain a rich and widely shared vocabulary for birds as well as an associated body of ethnographically documented knowledge about avian behavior. Drawing on comparative fieldwork in both regions, this article documents Q’eqchi’ bird terminology and examines how birds function as prognosticators whose calls, appearances, and flight patterns are interpreted as meaningful signs. We analyze these communicative and predictive roles across six domains central to everyday and ritual life: hunting, agriculture, rain and drought, death, curing, and a broader range of favorable and unfavorable portents. Across these domains, specific species and vocalizations are understood to provide warnings, confirmations, and forecasts that guide decisions about work, travel, health, and ritual practice. Rather than treating birds solely as ecological indicators, Q’eqchi’ interpretations situate avian signs within a cosmological framework in which humans attend to nonhuman messengers that mediate between present conditions and emerging futures. By tracing both continuity and regional variation in naming practices and interpretations, the article highlights the persistence and adaptive significance of avian prognostication in contemporary Q’eqchi’ communities and contributes to comparative research on ethno-ornithology, semiotics, and Indigenous environmental knowledge.</p>