Belize Tour Report 2009

THANKSGIVING IN BELIZE
November 20 – December 2, 2009

The seven members of my group arrived on November 20th at Belize International Airport where I picked them up and proceeded to our hotel. The failing light left little time to see any birds, though I had spotted a Cinnamon Hummingbird earlier. We were able to relocate it the next day in the hotel courtyard, along with Great Kiskadee and Social Flycatcher.

As usual, after breakfast, we headed out on our first full day for the Belize Zoo. Some people wonder why we would go to a zoo on a birding trip. Simple enough! The Belize Zoo is operated by Belize Audubon and is devoted solely to native species. It’s a great opportunity to see birds, mammals and reptiles of Belize, such as Jaguar, Tapir, Harpy Eagle, and many others. It’s is well-planned zoo and there are many free-flying bird species. We found some tropical flycatchers, including Common Tody-Flycatcher, Yellow-Olive Flycatcher, and Tropical Pewee as well as Olive-throated Parakeet, Blue-gray Tanager, Red-legged Honeycreeper, Gray and Black-headed Saltator. Along the way to the zoo, we found Common Black-Hawk and numerous waders. Migrant warblers were in evidence everywhere with American Redstart, Magnolia, Black-and-white and Hooded Warblers the most common.

After lunch, we headed for Crooked Tree Sanctuary. As earlier, much of where we traveled was coastal savannah or agricultural land. Along the way up Northern Highway, we found our first Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures. Roadside Hawks were abundant along the road and were seen daily for the rest of the trip. There were lots of waders and Neotropic Cormorants at the Crooked Tree lagoons, as well as a skulking Mangrove Vireo and our first Laughing Falcon. The water level was too high for shorebirds, though we did have a Solitary Sandpiper earlier in the day.

The following morning, we were picked up by Lamanai Outpost staff. We drove to their landing on the New River where we met our excellent local guide, Nathan, and boarded our boat to Lamanai Outpost. The trip was less birdy than usual, something we found for a couple of days. According to locals, the rainy season was not very rainy until the previous couple of weeks when it really picked up (it should have been over). We had quite a few significant showers during our stay at Lamanai, but it didn’t interfere with our birding outings. Normally, on our hour boat ride to the lodge we find numerous Snail Kites, yet we didn’t see a single one. We did have our first Northern Jacanas, an Amazon Kingfisher (often the most difficult to find), as well as Ringed, Belted and Green Kingfishers. Anhinga were abundant too. This is a beautiful ride through mangrove forests regardless of how many birds are present.

Lamanai Outpost is located on the New River Lagoon just outside the ancient Mayan city of Lamanai — impressive, as well as a fine place for birding. The ruins are nested in tropical broadleaf rainforest. The small native village of Indian Church outside the lodge is dominated by scrub habitat and is excellent for parrots. We were treated to great looks at perched White-fronted, White-crowned, Mealy, Yellow-headed, and Olive-throated Parrots. We also found our first Keel-billed Toucans and Collared Aracaris.

We took our highly-anticipated night jungle safari by boat our first night and, after a slow start, we were rewarded with incredible views of two Agami Herons perched within feet of us on low-hanging branches over the water. These birds are extremely difficult to find so we were all excited! Northern Potoo, Gray-necked Wood-Rail, Ringed Kingfisher, Snail Kite (finally), and Morrelet’s Crocodile were all seen up close and personal.

The next morning, we found our first Limpkin as we boated to the ruins. Black-headed and Slaty-tailed Trogon were seen well, though we only had fleeting looks at Violaceous Trogon. We were lucky enough to observe a Snail Kite hunting for apple snail, snatching one, and bringing it back its perch where it methodically removed and consumed the contents from the shell.

Ivory-billed Woodcreeper was fairly common, but many of the woodcreepers, antbirds, antwrens, ant-tanagers and such were surprisingly absent. The lack of army ant swarms certainly had some effect — most likely kept down by the heavy rainfall in the previous two weeks. Not until our last morning were we able to find some of these birds. Red-throated Ant-tanager, Barred Antshrike, great looks at Black-faced Antthrush, Streak-headed, Olivaceous, Wedge-billed, and Tawny-winged Woodcreeper were all found along the old sugar mill trail.

Our trip to the savannah by boat was more successful. We head great looks at Yucatan Jay from the boat. Shortly after landing, we spotted a Yellow-lored (Yucatan) Parrot perched on top of a tree. Everyone had fine looks through the scope. Our next excellent find was a subadult Aplomado Falcon perched close by. Finally, we had brief looks at a Yucatan Flycatcher. Though we didn’t get all the Yucatan endemics, we were quite satisfied with our morning. After lunch, we observed a White-collared Puffbird perched behind the lodge. Black-cowled, Orchard, Baltimore, Hooded, and Yellow-tailed Orioles were all seen around the lodge and the village. Hummingbird diversity was low with the most common the Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and Stripe-throated and Long-billed Hermits. That evening, we boated out into the lagoon and down a river at the far end. We checked Jabiru nests at both ends of the lagoon, but no sign of them. Typically, they arrive in early November and begin repairing their nests from the previous. Unfortunately, not this year!

After three nights spent in the idyllic solitude of Lamanai Outpost, we headed overland to Chan Chich Lodge. It rained most of the way, so we didn’t see very much. We had hoped the rice fields would yield a Jabiru, but it was really pouring rain at that point, and we didn’t see anything significant aside from a small flock of Semipalmated Sandpipers. On the road into Chan Chich, we saw our first Occelated Turkeys and Great Currasows. Both are rare outside of the Chan Chich/Rio Bravo area, but they are in abundant numbers there.

Chan Chich is built in the center of the ancient Mayan city of Chan Chich, most of it unexcavated. It would be difficult to find a more pleasant tropical setting. The rain ceased upon our arrival and did not resume during our stay. The temperature was quite pleasant making for some unusually comfortable tropical birding. The cabanas are nicely appointed, and the food is excellent. We immediately arranged to have Gilberto, my favorite Chan Chich guide, accompany us for most of our trip. He has an exceptional ear and seems to know where every bird in the area is lurking. We were quickly greeted by large numbers of parrots, most perched in plain sight. Our walk down the road yielded Cinnamon Becard and Pale-billed Woodpecker as well.

We had a nice trip to the escarpment, usually good for many raptor species. Whiskered Puffbirds were seen along the route. Distant King Vulture, Black Hawk-Eagle and Short-tailed Hawk were seen, and the juvenile Ornate Hawk-Eagle that usually roosts in a tree close to its nest was heard, but not seen. Fortunately, we had great looks the day before at adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle soaring and then perched. Other highlights at Chan Chich included an even more impressive adult Ornate Hawk-Eagle about 50 feet in front of our open vehicle at Laguna Seca. We were unable to locate any Pinnated Bitterns on this excursion, but we did have good looks at Bare-throated Tiger-Heron.

Although many birds were more difficult to find than usual, Gilberto was finally able to locate a Tody Motmot that all saw very well. He also helped us find Rufous Piha and Rufous Mourner along with one of my favorite birds, Stub-tailed Spade-bill. Little by little, we began to fill out our list of tropical specialties. Still, we hadn’t found an army ant swarm. Moments before we were to leave for our flight back to Belize City, Gilberto alerted us to an ant swarm he had just located deep off the trail in the rainforest, but within minutes of us. We all hurried along and were rewarded with great looks at Barred, Ivory-billed, Ruddy, Strong-billed, Tawny-winged, Wedge-billed, and Olivaceous Woodcreepers as well as Gray-headed Tanager. We boarded our van with very happy hearts!

Upon our return to Belize City, we were met by Hidden Valley staff. We made the trip back up the Western Highway past the Belize Zoo and onto Mountain Pine Ridge where Hidden Valley is located. After our arrival, we headed out to King Vulture Falls where we quickly found the endangered Orange-breasted Falcon and got wonderful pictures within 20 feet of the bird. He landed almost right next to us, much closer than I’ve ever seen one come. After satiating ourselves with this beautiful bird, we went to look for Stygian Owl, which was easily found by our local guide, Rick. We happily returned to the Inn for an excellent dinner.

In the morning, we located a cooperative Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Rusty Sparrow, and Gray-crowned Yellowthroat. Later, we found Rufous-capped Warbler among others. We departed at 6:00 AM the next morning for our all-day trip to Caracol ruins on the Guatemala border. Since an incident several years ago involving a Guatemalan gang that crossed the border and robbed some tourists, the Belizean Army and police have provided an armed escort to Caracol. Since then, there have been no further incidents (the perpetrators were found and arrested as well). We picked up our escort just before the Macal River. As we crossed the river, Rick spotted a pair of Scarlet Macaws, a bird I hoped we would see there, but they disappeared behind a hill before anyone else could get on them.

At the ruins, we spent some time walking around, Some of us climbed the acropolis where we had magnificent views in every direction. This has been an excellent raptor-viewing platform in the past, but it was a bit slow on this day. We did have great looks of a soaring Great Black-Hawk (initially, hoping it might be one of the Solitary Eagles that have been nesting in the area). The tail bands and tail length quickly ruled that out. Notably, earlier this year, the Peregrine Fund found a nesting pair of Solitary Eagles close to Hidden Valley along with at least two Black-and-white Hawk-Eagles’ nests. Unfortunately, we didn’t see either on this trip.

Although the trip started slowly due to the rain, we still recorded 266 bird species with 8 heard only. We saw a number of mammals including coatimundi, agouti, Yucatan squirrel and gray fox. Our butterfly folks were rewarded with a large number, some of which they had not yet identified by trip’s end. Turtles, crocodiles, and tree frogs/toads were also seen, but no snakes.

We’ll return for Thanksgiving again next year. Belize is a lovely place to visit and very birder-friendly. The infrastructure is exceptional, and the birding is not as demanding as some of the Latin American countries.

Forrest Davis

More on Belize 2009:
Tour bird list
Gallery of photographs

Use this link to check out all the details of this tour, or this one to make a booking.

Photo captions and credits (from the top of the page): Laughing Falcon (F. Davis); Lamanai Outpost (Randy Bode); Orange-breasted Falcon (Marianne Phillips); Limpkin, Bar at Chan Chich, Ruddy Woodcreeper (Randy Bode); Hidden Valley Inn (F. Davis); Great Black Hawk (Randy Bode).