BIrds known and unknown

The first two photos are of one of the commoner sights here. We regularly see large flocks of turkey vultures, but up to now they have remained stubbornly elusive whenever I've had the camera with me. (As always, you should be able to 'click' your mouse on any of the photographs to see an enlarged version).

Close up, they are unattractive birds, especially when they descend to the side of the road to feast on road kill. But soaring they are quite impressive, and move surprisingly fast. Locals refer to these birds as "johnny crow". This bird was photographed just a few hundred yards from our house.

I'm not at all certain about identifying the next bird in this post, and I'd appreciate any comments. The two photographs below were taken of the same bird within minutes of each other - but the automatic systems on my camera have given the second photograph a very green cast. The actual colours were as seen in the first picture.

What is it? It's quite a small bird, and flew low and very fast over the river when it wasn't perched on an overhanging branch. My best guess is a 'mangrove swallow', which my guide describes as the smallest of the Belizean swallows (about 4 1/2 "), and fairly common inland near rivers and lagoons.

This next one, however, I cannot identify at all. It was photographed on Caye Caulker, one of the offshore islands, and is pigeon sized. It has a distinctive beak, white under wings and the dark bar below the eye. And it has a clearly forked tail. That should help me identify it, but I'm unable to match this image to anything in my guide. Any suggestions?

Driving up to the northern town of Corozal from our home in Belmopan, we first drive east towards Belize City, then turn on to the northern highway. About 10 miles north of the turn off we saw a spectacular number of lilies, wonderful in the morning sunshine. Sadly we had no time to stop on the way out, but made sure we stopped on our way home. This is where we saw these Northern Jacanas. They seem to have disproportionately long legs for their body size, and when they spreads their wings they have glorious bright yellow underwing plumage.

We expected to see hummingbirds in Belize. Even one of our main roads is named the "hummingbird highway". But in reality we have seen very few. Perhaps because I've been seduced by the artistic photographs of hummingbirds hovering and feeding on flamboyant tropical flowers. I should have been looking up at the phone cables instead! This one - a cinnamon hummingbird, I think - was photographed in the middle of a built up area in the southern coastal town of Placencia.

Also in Placencia were these Ground Doves. I assume these are "common" ground doves - the distinctive feature is apparently the 'scaling' on the chest. But the guide insists that they are "found exclusively in open country". These two were on a patch of barren land between two houses in the town centre. Perhaps they were lost?


And the final entry in this episode full of uncertain identifications is this bird, photographed at the Belize Botanical Gardens, near St Ignacio in the west of Belize. I was very pleased with the photograph, and was sure identification wouldn't be a problem. But again (I'm beginning to get used to this!) the bird I saw doesn't obviously match any of the descriptions in my guide.

I think it is probably a Greater Peewee. Unfortunately the description in the guide is full of comparatives: "darker, browner, with less wing - back contrast; no eye-ring, longer primary projection and wingbars less well defined" - only helpful if you know the other flycatchers it is being compared with! So I could be wrong again. Being a bad birdwatcher seems to be all about uncertain identifications. But you get to notice some wonderful birds along the way.

July - birds on the coast

Nearly two months since the last post. I've had one or two opportunities to see some new birds in that time, but somehow not found the time to post the photos. So apologies for the long delay

We've had visitors in July (Kieran and Lucy), so we had to take them to the coast. In fact we managed three different bits of coast, and each of them produced some birds for us to see.


I'll start with a double crested Cormorant, seen off Caye Caulker. This was our second trip to this wonderful little island. I've posted a photo of the other cormorant (neotropic) already. And to be honest, at first glance they are very similar. However, the neotropic cormorant does have some white and grey plumage around the beak, while this one is all black. And I'm helped to make a firm identification by the guidebooks, which assures me that the neotropic is always found inland. This was definitely not inland, but at least 10 miles off the mainland, so double crested cormorant it is.



Even a really bad birdwatcher can spot a pelican. We've seen them quite often when we've been near the coast, but never had the camera to hand. This one was happy to put on a display; sitting watching for a while, then flying to catch a fish, then sitting on the surface and eating it.

There are two varieties of Pelican in Belize. This is the commoner brown pelican, which isn't really brown at all. It's a mid grey colour, darker beneath, with a white neck and yellow head.

These two pictures come from the lagoon at Cancun, in Mexico. So not really "in Belize" at all, despite the name I gave the blog. But we had a couple of days up in Cancun, at the northern end of the Yucatan peninsula. This bird was in the undergrowth by a main road in the main hotel zone. I'm fairly sure it's a 'little blue heron.' (There is also a 'great blue heron', but that one has yellow legs, and a white plume at the back of its head.)


And so to the final bird for this post. This time, the bird identification guide really hasn't been helpful. Because when we first saw this bird, I was sure I knew what it was. We saw it fishing, plummeting down into the water to catch its prey. So it was some sort of sea eagle or fish eagle. If I'd seen it in the UK, I would have said it was an osprey.

I still think it probably is. But none of the images in my identification guide look anything like these three photographs. In particular, this bird has a very distinctive 'wrist', with the seven feathers at the ends of the wings swept back when it is in flight. Nothing like that in the book ...

So for the moment, I'll take this as a reminder to try to identify the bird I've actually seen, rather than the one the book suggests I might see. I think this is an osprey. If I'm wrong, do let me know!



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