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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