Birding in Belize

You may have heard that Belize is an amazing destination for birding. Well, you better belize-it. Sorry – I just had to. We spent the last 2 weeks traipsing through Belize, testing our Belize Bird List in the field. It’s a fairly small country, but remarkably uncrowded and under-developed. The thing I enjoyed the most about this trip is how knowledgable and genuinely fascinated the locals are with their natural environment. We didn’t plan ahead, and instead showed up on the proverbial doorstep of half a dozen national parks. Not only was there always someone available to take us on guided walk, but I was impressed with how well many of these guides could imitate and coax out otherwise shy species. See our full Belize Bird album on Flickr.

Crooked Tree

Crooked Tree Village | Belize District. 501-633-3398 | becksbedandbreakfast.com
We chose Beck’s B&B to stay based on reviews, and because it was close to the Bird’s Eye View lodge where we would do some birding. We didn’t expect that the property itself, nestled in the pine forest would provide such fruitful bird watching opportunities. The co-owner Robert is knowledgable about the local species and offers guided walks around the property. the beautiful flowering courtyard attracts a non-stop parade of oriole’s and hummingbirds. We saw our first 74 species during our 2 night stay in Crooked Tree, with the majority of these sightings on Beck’s property.

Female vermilion flycatcher – Pyrocephalus rubinus. Crooked Tree, Belize.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird – Amazilia tzacatl. Crooked Tree, Belize.

With water levels low, we took a boat into the lagoon to spot some herons and kingfishers and of course the iconic Jabiru stork. Our guide was Michael of Bird’s Eye View Lodge who was able to point out many of the more hidden birds that would have escaped our notice.

American Pygmy Kingfisher – Chloroceryle aenea. Crooked Tree, Belize.

Green Kingfisher – Chloroceryle americana. Crooked Tree.

Jabiru – Jabiru mycteria. Crooked Tree.

Snowy Egret – Egretta thula. Crooked Tree, Belize.

Boat-billed Heron – Cochlearius cochlearius. Crooked Tree, Belize.

Blue Hole National Park

Not to be confused with the other Blue Hole on Lighthouse Reef, this is the inland  destination. The forested trail and fresh water cave, creates an ideal environment for bird watching. With the help of local park guide Joshua, we quickly spotted emerald green jacamars and a pair of lesson’s motmots.

Red-throated Ant-Tanager – Habia fuscicauda. Blue Hole National Park, Belize.

Scaly-breasted hummingbird – Phaeochroa cuvierii. Blue Hole National Park, Belize.

Lesson’s Motmot – Momotus lessonii. Blue Hole National Park, Belize.

Banana Bank

We stayed at Banana Bank for the opportunity to bird watch by horseback. The go-to guide of Banana Bank was unavailable and so we were pleasantly surprised to find that our horseback guide, Caesar was still extremely knowledgable about the birds. Within minutes of our first trail ride, we saw both the keel-billed and collared aracari as well as many parrots and doves. A couple of tame great curassow prowl the yard, nipping at you if you get too close.

Great Curassow – Crax rubra. Banana Bank, Belize.

Green Hills Butterfly Ranch

Technically this stop is for gazing at butterflies, but thanks to the location, flowering gardens and plenty of hummingbird feeders, this is a great stop for birds. We were able to identify 6 species of hummingbird at the feeders in less than 20 minutes, including the violet white-necked jacobin and the white-bellied emerald.

White-necked Jacobin – Florisuga mellivora. Green Hills Butterfly Farm, Belize.

White-bellied Emerald – Amazilia candida. Green Hills Butterfly Farm, Belize.

Cockscomb Basin

Here we met the talented bird whisperer, Luti. He was not only great at identifying birds by sound, but he could call them right out of the  bush. Nearing the end of our trip, I thought it would be hard to find new birds, but not the case. I was able to add over 30 new species to our count by visiting this park. Highlights were the white-crowned parrot, yellow-faced grassquit and the chestnut-headed oropendola’s, busy in and around their pendulum nests.

Hopkins

Charlie, of Hopkins Kultcha Tours, took me on an early morning ride around the edges of town for some good birding. The keel-billed toucans were out in a noisy flock, along with plenty of parakeets and song birds. It was surprising how many new species I was able to add to my list, so close to town.

Caye Caulker

This tiny island is full of tourists but somehow the birds still maintain their presence. The small trail next to the airstrip on the south end of the island is a friendly meeting place for birders any time of day. We met local guide Jonathon Urbina (635-7404) who was able to quickly identify the various shore birds and vireo we spotted before running into him.

 

Ruddy Turnstone – Arenaria interpres. Caye Caulker, Belize.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – Nyctanassa violacea. Caye Caulker, Belize.

Complete Sightings List (191 Species)

1. Amazon kingfisher
2. American bittern
3. American coot
4. Acorn woodpecker
5. Agami heron
6. American bittern
7. American Pygmy kingfisher
8. American redstart
9. American White ibis
10. American Yellow warbler (mangrove sub)
11. Anhinga
12. Aracari
13. Baltimore oriole
14. Bananaquit
15. Bare-throated tiger heron
16. Barn swallow
17. Barred antshrike (sound)
18. Belted kingfisher
19. Black catbird
20. Black-and-white warbler
21. Black-cowled oriole
22. Black-colored hawk
23. Black-crested coquette
24. Black-crowned night heron
25. Black-crowned tityra
26. black-faced grosbeak
27. Black-headed trogan
28. Black-headed soltator
29. Black phoebe
30. Black-necked stilt
31. Black vulture
32. Blue-black grassquit
33. Blue-black grosbeak
34. Blue ground dove
35. Blue-throated sapphire
36. Blue-winged teal
37. Boat-billed heron
38. Brown jay
39. Brown pelican
40. Buff throated saltator
41. Caspian tern
42. Cattle egret
43. Chestnut-headed oropendola
44. Chestnut-sided warbler (f)
45. Cinnamon hummingbird
46. Clay-colored robin
47. Common black hawk
48. Common nighthawk
49. Common pauraque
50. Common tody flycatcher
51. Common yellow-throat
52. Crested quan
53. Dot-wing antwren
54. Dusky flycatcher
55. Eastern meadowlark
56. Eurasian collared dove
57. Fork-tailed flycatcher
58. Golden-breasted woodpecker
59. Golden-hooded tanager
60. Grace’s warbler
61. Great egret
62. Great blue heron
63. Great currasow
64. Great black hawk
65. Great kiskadee
66. Great-tailed grackle
67. Green-breasted mango
68. Green heron
69. Green kingfisher
70. Grey-breasted Martin
71. Grey catbird
72. Grey-chested dove
73. Grey hawk
74. Grey-headed dove
75. Greyish saltator
76. Grey plover (Black-bellied plover)
77. Groove-billed ani
78. Hooded oriole
79. Hooded warbler
80. Hook-billed kite
81. House wren
82. Inca jay
83. Indigo bunting
84. Ivory billed woodcreeper
85. Jabiru stork
86. Jamaican parakeet / Olive-throated parakeet
87. Keel-billed toucan
88. Killdeer
89. Laughing falcon
90. Laughing gull
91. Least flycatcher
92. Least grebe
93. Least sandpiper
94. Lesser yellow-headed vulture
95. Lessons motmot
96. Limpkin
97. Little blue heron
98. Long-tailed hermit
99. Louisiana waterthrush
100. Magnificent frigatebird
101. Magnolia warbler
102. Mangrove swallow
103. Masked tatyara
104. Melodious blackbird
105. montezumas oropendola
106. Neotropic cormorant
107. Northern bentbill flycatcher
108. Northern jacana
109. Northern parula
110. Northern rough-wing swallow
111. Northern shifornis
112. Northern waterthrush
113. Ocher-belly flycatcher
114. Orange-billed sparrow
115. Orchard oriole
116. Oven bird
117. Pale-billed woodpecker
118. Passerini’s tanager
119. Pinnated bittern
120. Plain chachalaca
121. Plumbeous kite
122. Prothonotary warbler
123. Purple-crowned fairy
124. Purple Martin
125. Red-capped manniken
126. Red-legged honeycreeper
127. Red-lored parrot
128. Red-throated ant tanager
129. Ringed kingfisher
130. Roadside hawk
131. Rock pigeon
132. Roseate spoonbill
133. Rose-breasted grosbeak
134. Rough-winged swallow
135. Royal tern
136. Ruddy ground dove
137. Ruddy turnstone
138. Rufous-breasted spinetail
139. Rufous-tailed hummingbird
140. Rufous-tailed jacamar
141. Sandwich tern (add photo to ELB)
142. Scaly-breasted hummingbird
143. Shiny cowbird
144. Short-billed pigeon
145. Slaty-tailed trogan
146. Snail kite
147. Snowy egret
148. Spot-breasted wren (sound)
149. Social flycatcher
150. Spot breasted wren
151. Spotted sandpiper
152. Squirrel cuckoo
153. Sulfur-rumped flycatcher
154. Summer tanager
155. Sun grebe
156. Thick-billed finch
157. Tri-colored heron
158. Tropical kingbird
159. Tropical mockingbird
160. Turkey vulture
161. Vermillion flycatcher
162. Violaceous trogon (gartered)
163. Violet sabrewing
164. Wedge-tailed sabrewing
165. Western osprey
166. White-bellied emerald
167. White-collared seed eater
168. White-collared swift
169. White-crowned parrot
170. White-crowned pigeon
171. White-eyed vireo
172. White-fronted amazon
173. White-necked jacobin
174. White-tipped dove
175. White-winged dove
176. Willet
177. Wood stork
178. Wood thrush
179. Yellow-backed oriole
180. Yellow-bellied flycatcher
181. Yellow-billed cacique
182. Yellow-crowned night heron
183. Yellow-faced grassquit
184. Yellow-headed parrot
185. Yellow-olive flycatcher
186. Yellow-throated warbler
187. Yellow-winged tanager
188. Yucatan flycatcher
189. Yucatan jay
190. Yucatan vireo
191. Yucatan woodpecker

 

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