20 June to 30 June 2006

Our first trip to Belize and the American tropics--and, for me, any country besides the U.S. and Canada--was to leave the Sacramento International Airport at 0630 on Monday, June 19.  After arriving at the airport, we learned that our flight had been cancelled due to thunderstorms in Houston.  Since we had spent most of the night packing, we came back home and went to sleep for much of the day.  We finally were underway just after midnight on June 20, and arrived in Belize that afternoon.  Our first life bird was a Tropical Mockingbird at the airport.

  Social Flycatchers were just about everywhere we went.

The tour was led by David Wyatt and Steve James, biology teachers at Sacramento City College and friends of ours, under the auspices of International Zoological Expeditions; there were 24 of us.  As it turned out, there were only two other birders on the trip with us, but we were able to find a lot of great birds on our own.  In addition to the birds, other highlights came in the form of mist-netting bats, behind the scenes tours of Belize Zoo, the insects (not including the mosquitoes and roaches), the scenery, the herps, and the sea life at South Water Caye.

  Groove-billed Ani

On the flip side, it rained much of the time we were there and the humidity was really bad.  The rain was actually a relief much of the time and we stayed out dawn to dark despite the rain until slowing way down at South Water Caye (pronounced “key”).  I was impressed with the operation at the Tropical Education Center and the Belize Zoo.  The facilities at Blue Creek are poor—and it was there that the food was especially meager.  I’m not much of a water person, so the time for me at South Water Caye was a bit too large a proportion of the trip (especially since we lost one of our land days due to the flight problems), though the better facilities was a nice change from Blue Creek.

 The ubiquitous Yellow-green Vireo

We were bused to T.E.C. from the airport and arrived at ~1530.  The heat and humidity was a real shock to the system.  Still, right out of the bus, we found Yellow-green Vireos (everywhere!) and Social Flycatchers (nearly everywhere).  We got set up in our “cabana” and then toured the Belize Zoo.  After dinner at T.E.C., we went back to the zoo for a night tour; the mammals are much more active at night.

  Spider Monkey, Belize Zoo

 Jabiru, Belize Zoo

 Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Belize Zoo

 Black Howler howling on night tour of zoo.

The first morning was the only one where I wasn’t up at first light.  Sunrise was ~0520 and I wasn’t in the field until nearly 0600.  To say we were tired after two days of disrupted sleep and adjusting to the heat would be a gross understatement.  The habitat at T.E.C. is open forest with a mix of pines and broadleaf.  There is water and some raised boardwalks; despite that, we missed many of the marsh birds we were hoping to find.

 Barred Antshrike male

 and female--note band

 Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Sharon Matola, the zoo manager, offered us a morning tour to feed the Harpy Eagle (part of a recovery program for the species in Belize) and a “problem” jaguar.  Instead of being shot, problem jaguars that are killing cattle or otherwise conflicting with the human population are captured and ”tamed.”  In addition to making them available to other zoos, it keeps their genes around for future recovery efforts.  While waiting for our turn to see the jaguar, we saw a flyover Jabiru!

Then it was off to the reconstructed Mayan site Xunantunich.  We had a tour from a local guide and the walk up produced a lot of new birds and interesting plants and insects.  We heard a Blue-crowned Motmot, but sadly missed seeing one on the entire trip.  I saw a Lineated Woodpecker in a tree while walking down the steps at Xunantunich.  Unfortunately, Kimya was around the corner and the folks behind me wanted me to shut up and keep moving.

 Striped Basilisk

 Masked Tityra

That evening, we returned to T.E.C. and the bat biologists in the group set up mist nests.  The first capture was an Artibeus sp:  a fruit-eating bat who left behind a fig in the mist net—a very charismatic creature.

This gray fox with a rat was our first find of Thursday morning.  The Barred Antshrikes sang, but we didn’t see them again.

 Red-legged Honeycreepers

 Buff-throated Saltator with a nest nearby

 Scrub Euphonia

After breakfast, we took a long bus ride to the south of the country.  On route, we ate lunch and saw two Swallow-tailed Kites and a King Vulture—both lifers.

We stayed three nights at Blue Creek.  The broadleaf forest was my favorite habitat visited on this trip, though the facilities were rundown and dirty.  We weren’t aware that we’d be staying nine people in a very small bunkhouse.  Fortunately, we’d brought two mosquito nets just in case.  The heavy rains meant that the water was not blue; it was way up from the previous tour that Dave and Steve had run in March of 05.

 Blue Creek

At Blue Creek, local Mayan children gather to carry bags to the lodge.  They are very insistent and there are more of them than we had bags.  Most of them are ten years old or less, so they can only carry a limited amount, but they try to carry as much as they can for $2 to $5 a bag.  The trail was muddy from the rain, so I would have rather have paid them NOT to carry, I mean drag, my bags through the mud, but there really wasn’t a choice without being a real jerk.  My smaller bag took off up the hill with all of my valuables in it and I helped a very small kid carry my larger bag.  I suspect it’s an important part of the local economy, but it’s hard not to feel like an imperialist in the process.

 Another Artibeus.  Photo by Kimya

 Mastiff bat.  Photo by Kimya

Marine Toad (aka Cane Toad):  no, we didn't lick it.

  Mottled Owl juv, I think

On Saturday, June 24, we took a “bird walk” at Blue Creek.  It was an attempt to see Keel-billed Toucans, but perhaps the steady rain kept them hidden.  The guide didn’t have binoculars, but did know many of the local birds.  In general, the guided tour portion of the activities at Blue Creek was pretty unorganized; perhaps this was due to it being the off season, but the manager of the facility was missing the first day and it was pretty haphazard.

 Yum!

After the bird walk, I continued with a howler monkey tour.  Kimya turned back because the creek was rising and the crossing was uncertain.  When the tour returned, we had to wade through strong knee-deep water.  I’m glad I continued, since the open country looking back at the mountains was really gorgeous.  I saw several life birds, including Montezuma Oropendola at a nesting colony, Bananaquits, a Gray-crowned Yellowthroat (which we missed in Texas in Feb.), and, best, a Pale-billed Woodpecker that Dave spotted—it was great to see a Campephilus in the wild.  Ruddy Crakes called loudly, but remained hidden.  I left my good camera in the bunk house due to the rain.  We heard howlers in the distance, but didn’t see them.

Green Kingfisher.  We saw three species at Blue Creek, including the

American Pygmy and the Amazon, and a Ringed Kingfisher near

Xunantunich.

Squirrel Cuckoo shortly after mating.

Very large mating walking sticks.

 Orange-billed Sparrow

The bus ride to Dangriga produced a highlight:  several Fork-tailed Flycatchers. 

The bus driver and his assistant were more than that:  they were tour guides too, and stopped the bus for me to get a few quick photos.  Dangriga, the heart of Garifuna culture (a combination of escaped African slaves and native Caribbean people), was very poor.  As we drove through the city, many of the dwellings were as small and in worse shape than a rundown tool shed.  Kimya and I commented that just about everywhere you go, there are black people living in crippling poverty—a very depressing side of travel.

From there, after waiting two hours for an incomplete lunch at Pelican Beach “Resort,” we took a boat to South Water Caye.  Now, I had been trying to wring as many birds and other experiences out of the trip as I could, but there was far less for me to do at South Water, so, at first with some withdrawals, I took it much easier there.  The accommodations were still very simple, with cold water, and kind of like camping indoors, but Kimya and I again had a full-sized bed; the mosquito net was still a necessity. 

 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron from our deck at

South Water Caye

By this point, everyone had red spots all over them.  We had been pretty vigilant to keep the bugs off of us, especially at Blue Creek, where it seemed like bot flies were a real possibility.  Despite many mosquitoes, I began wearing short sleeves and shorts (very rare for me).  The island is 14 acres, and some of it is off limits, so we covered it pretty well after the first day.  The fish and other sea creatures visible from the dock were very interesting, though.  Highlights were spotted eagle rays (amazing!), sting rays, needle fish, sea horses, puffer fish, barracudas, banded coral shrimp, and two or three kinds of sea cucumbers (one called donkey dung—it looks more like human dung…).  Several of the people on the tour spent a lot of time fishing for bonefish.

South Water Caye from Carrie Bow Caye

I snorkeled at least once each day.  I love the creatures, but I don’t feel at home in the water, so that limits my time there.  On our last night, we did a night snorkel, and a few of us got to watch a large octopus that shone pink, orange, and green in our lights.  Conch (pronounced “conk”) shells were scattered all over, though I’m not sure I saw a living example.  I had a cheap underwater camera with me, but it was so often overcast that I never thought it worthwhile to take it with me.

We spent much of the days napping, protected from the bugs by our net.  Kimya read most of a new Augusten Burroughs book to me called POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS; he has an interesting and funny take on what’s been a very difficult life.  She also read, and I started, the very interesting THE WORLD IN A PHRASE:  a brief history of the aphorism by James Geary.  Aphorisms were one theme of the trip.  The following by Schopenhauer (1788 to 1860) would have come in handy at times at Blue Creek (if we only we had read it by then):

                “A good supply of resignation is of the first importance in providing for the journey of life.  It is a supply which we shall have to extract from disappointed hopes; and the sooner we do it, the better for the rest of the journey.”

The birds on the island were very limited.  The Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, and Double-crested Cormorants were common on the sea shore, and there was a regular flyover of an Osprey or two.  Kimya spotted a single Brown Booby one day.  There were also occasional sightings of Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Green Herons.  I was surprised to find a single Whimbrel and three Ruddy Turnstones.  On a tour of Twin Cayes (Twinkies?), we saw a White-crowned Pigeon and a flyover Black-bellied Plover.  Vireo-like song could have been Yucatan Vireo, but…  The common land birds on South Water were limited:  Great-tailed Grackle—males and females, plus immatures.  In addition, we were buzzed at least once a day by a hummingbird or two.  I got quick looks, once, of a male and a female Green Mango.  On Monday, June 26, we found a much unexpected life bird:  a Gray Kingbird; according to BIRDS OF BELIZE, they are rare at anytime on the cayes, and this was out of season.

 Gray Kingbird

In a snorkel tour to the very small Carrie Bow Caye, where we also had a tour of the Smithsonian facilities there, I had my only exposure to the living portion of the coral reef.  I was struck by how much of the coral was dead, especially the branching corals.  I’m not sure if this was an example or not, but the whole reef system is in jeopardy from many human-caused factors, not the least of which, global climate change.  The corals are dying, and this system may be gone in a very short time.  Plus, with forecasts of a possible 20-foot sea level rise from the melting of Greenland or parts of Antarctica, well, the islands, standing less than 10 feet out of the water at the very highest, would be gone and the reef would be buried under more water.  Just before we left on the trip, we saw Gore’s movie, an Inconvenient Truth.  It’s much more than inconvenient, if you ask me, and that was on my mind the entire time we were in the Caribbean.

 Sea turtle tracks in the sand.  Note flipper marks at sides of skid.  The nest was obvious along the path.

A highlight of the island activities was a group walk along the reef where we saw brittle stars, a sea hare (a large slug), lots of urchins, and several large snails.  We had a flyover small tern that may have been a Roseate, but didn’t see it well.  

Reticulated brittle star

We took an early rough boat trip past Man of War Caye on our way back to Dangriga.  The Brown Boobies and frigates were great, and we could hear, but not see, Mangrove Warblers. 

Brown Booby

 Frigatebird chick

From there, we had the same bus drivers take us back to Belize City and the airport.  Along the way, we stopped at Cheers not far from Belmopan for lunch.  There were a lot of birds there, including Vermilion Flycatchers (adult male and subadult male) and an Azure-crowned Hummingbird.  It was a long flight home through Houston, and I watched the movie Glory Road on the plane.  It’s a great story, though it came across a little as an After School Special.  The most interesting part was during the credits, when there were interviews of the actual players from the team.  I think I’d rather see a documentary than this movie, but it did pass the time.

Aside from some rough spots, it was a good trip and it gets better in retrospect.  I wish I’d had better results with my photos, but it was often quite dark and wet.  We saw a lot of good stuff and missed even more.  Out of necessity, this is just a thumbnail sketch, and looking at my notes, I could have easily gone on for ten times as long, but I’ll spare you.  We met a number of really interesting people in our tour group.  One of the best aspects was getting to know Gene Trapp and Jo Ellen Ryan, with whom we had only crossed paths in the past.  It turns out that we share a lot in common and they are really cool (of course, that assessment is coming from a couple of bird nerds!).

Speaking of bird nerds, Kimya and I must have been discussing the finer points of id on one of the many small yellow flycatchers or some such, and overheard a member of the group who shall remain nameless here conversing with another:  “I can’t think of another word for it; I guess “bird nerds” is all I can come up with.”  I immediately responded, “We can hear you.  Bird nerds have very good ears!”

In looking around our modest house crammed to the gills with consumer items, it’s hard not to think of how the other half lives.  At least in Blue Creek and elsewhere in the countryside, the people seem to have some control over their destinies, though they live a very spare life in the resource department—far more sustainable than ours.  Dangriga is another story.  The look of resignation on many of the faces, the same the world over, whether it’s a Dust Bowl photo by Dorothea Lange or some ravaged part of Africa:  there but for fortune...

For a more complete photo essay, click here:  http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/chrisconard2002/my_photos

The web site of the Belize Zoo and T.E.C. is here: http://www.belizezoo.org/

They lead bird tours that I would consider joining.

The list of birds I saw is below.  I put a number before those that were life birds.

Plain Chachalaca

Brown Booby, Brown Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant

Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird

1-Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, 2-Jabiru, Wood Stork

Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, 3-King Vulture, Osprey, 4-Swallow-tailed Kite, Common Black-Hawk

5-Roadside Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Aplomado Falcon

(Ruddy Crake heard), 6-Gray-necked Wood-Rail

Black-bellied Plover, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, (Probable Roseate Tern)

Rock Pigeon, 7-Pale-vented Pigeon, White-crowned Pigeon, Ruddy Ground-Dove

8-Blue Ground-Dove, 9-Gray-fronted Dove

10-Olive-throated Parakeet, 11-White-crowned Parrot, 12-Yellow-lored Parrot, 13-Yellow-headed Parrot

14-Squirrel Cuckoo, Groove-billed Ani

Barn Owl, 15-Mottled Owl

Common Nighthawk, Common Pauraque

(Probable White-collared Swift), Vaux's Swift

16-Band-tailed Barbthroat, 17-Long-billed Hermit, 18-Green-breasted Mango

19-Azure-crowned Hummingbird, 20-Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

21-Black-headed Trogon

(Blue-crowned Motmot heard)

Ringed Kingfisher, 22-Amazon Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher

23-American Pygmy Kingfisher

Acorn Woodpecker, (Probable Black-cheeked Woodpecker), Golden-fronted Woodpecker

24-Golden-olive Woodpecker, 25-Lineated Woodpecker, 26-Pale-billed Woodpecker

27-Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, 28-Ivory-billed Woodcreeper

29-Barred Antshrike

30-Yellow-bellied Tyrannulet, 31-Yellow-bellied Elaenia, (32)-Northern Bentbill--photo in photo essay (thoughts?), 33-Common Tody-Flycatcher, 34-Royal Flycatcher, 35-Tropical Pewee

Vermilion Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, 36-Boat-billed Flycatcher, 37-Social Flycatcher

Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, 38-Piratic Flycatcher, 39-Gray Kingbird, Tropical Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird, 40-Fork-tailed Flycatcher, 41-Rose-throated Becard, 42-Masked Tityra

43-White-collared Manakin

44-Mangrove Vireo, 45-Yellow-green Vireo

Brown Jay

46-Gray-breasted Martin, 47-Mangrove Swallow

48-Spot-breasted Wren, House Wren, 49-White-breasted Wood-Wren

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Clay-colored Robin

50-Tropical Mockingbird

(Mangrove (Yellow) Warbler heard), Grace's Warbler, 51-Gray-crowned Yellowthroat

52-Bananaquit, 53-Passerini's Tanager, 54-Blue-gray Tanager, 55-Yellow-winged Tanager

56-Scrub Euphonia, 57-Yellow-throated Euphonia, 58-Olive-backed Euphonia

59-Red-legged Honeycreeper