Hummingbird at Camalote

It's December ... and the last post to this blog was in August. That wasn't the plan .. but a combination of severe floods during Sept / October, when many of the roads were closed, and then a longish period of illness in November have got in the way of birdwatching. Apologies over: on to the photos.


We're back, with something I hadn't expected to see. The last few days we have been at a retreat centre in Camalote, about 3 miles from Belmopan. And there I found a hummingbird sitting in its nest. I didn't know hummingbirds nested in December in Belize; I didn't know what a hummingbird nest looked like; I didn't go looking for this. But having stumbled upon it, I wanted to share it with you. The small lightbulb gives a good sense of scale - and perhaps provides some additional warmth overnight, when the temperature in December can drop to 15 celsius.


This is a rufous tailed hummingbird - the commonest one in Belize. I think we had a photograph of another one in an earlier post. For most of the time this little bird remained completely stationary; then suddenly it would move to a nearby hibiscus bush to feed, before returning just as rapidly to the nest. Only when I got too close with the camera did it dart into the trees, complaining at us with a surprisingly loud chek - chek - chek sound.

As with previous posts, you should be able to access a larger version of the photograph if you click your mouse on it. This bird gave me a lot of joy today. Seeing it for the first time - calling a friend across to see it, and borrowing his binoculars to take a closer look, then returning later in the day to photograph it. It's hard to be too downcast when there's such jewels of miniature beauty in the world. Enjoy!