To download this report as a pdf click here.
For more great photos from this trip, check out participant Linda Chittum’s flickr gallery here.
We arrived on schedule, touched down and got the first two birds of the trip, Tropical Mockingbird and Turkey Vulture at the airport. Nothing crazy, but at least one of those birds has ‘tropical’ in the name. We loaded the van and started the long drive to Stann Creek. Along the way we stopped along the road at a few ponds and were lucky enough to find a Black-collared Hawk which surprisingly turned out to be the only one of the trip. Just past dusk we arrived at the Tutzil Nah Cottages just outside the Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary. This is a family owned operation which was very ‘rustic’, offering simple, basic meals and lodging. Although we had a nice visit I wouldn’t recommend this for the light-hearted traveler because it lacks the amenities you may be accustom to. The Chun’s are great folks and excellent guides for the Scarlet Macaw hike, although we did not get the Macaw during this visit we had a good time during our stay with Julian and Gregorio.
We got an early start to hike the Red Bank area that Scarlet Macaw are regularly seen ‘in flight’, but did not have the good fortune to see any today. It rained a light drizzle throughout the morning during the hike but not so much that it dampened our day. We did make a few stops along the return route on side roads and had good birds such as: Laughing Falcon, Gray Hawk, Forked-tailed Flycatcher, Squirrel Cuckoo, Grooved-billed Ani, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed Toucan, Pale-billed Woodpecker, Rufous-breasted Spinetail (Regional Endemic), Barred Antshrike, Brown Jay, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Green-backed Sparrow, Ruddy Crake (Great views of these guys coming out on the road!), and Blue-black Grosbeak.
After lunch we took a side trip into the coastal area of Hopkins and birded for several hours. We had a flock of Brown Pelicans fishing and playing along the coastline, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Yucatan Vireo, Mangrove Cuckoo, White Ibis, White-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Black-bellied Plover, Willet, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Caspian Tern, Sandwich Tern, and Ruddy Ground-Dove just to name a few. Not bad!
Returning to the ‘cottages’ just before dinner, we enjoyed a simple Mayan meal served family style. After dinner we took off for the night-walk through the Cockscomb Preserve in hopes of sighting a Jaguar. The walk was gentle; however, it is done completely in the dark with only the guide having a flashlight to use for spotting movement from time to time. We had headlamps that we could put on ‘red’ low-light glow and use in the really difficult terrain areas. I had Raymond to hang onto, and lead me through the dark. My thinking of course, I didn’t want to go down alone, we could both tumble if I tripped. Raymond is so good to me! There were tree stumps and roots to manage and some natural steps in the earth to handle. We did enjoy several species of frog, we heard Vermiculated Screech-Owl and Mottled Owl; we had fantastic looks at a Common Pauraque sitting on her nest right in the middle of the trail and a Wood Thrush all puffed up sleeping in a tree. A few of us got a quick look at a Paca sneaking through the night. It was a special feeling to be in the jungle, mostly alone, at night.
We left the Stann Creek area and began our drive to the Cayo District for duPlooy’s Lodge. On the way we picked up a few more participants from the airport and then stopped at Cheer’s, at a local eatery on Western Highway, and had a very good meal (everything from your basic burger to Mayan staples and specialties) with excellent birding on the open air patio. This is a very cool local business with great birding while you eat and relax; I definitely recommend stopping here. Approaching the lodge on the road to duPlooy’s we made several stops for birds, we saw: Blue-black Grassquit, Variable Seedeater, Yellow-faced Grassquit, Bronzed Cowbird, Broad-winged Hawk, Aztec (Olive-throated) Parakeet, White-crowned Parrot, and White-fronted Parrot.
Once we all got checked in at duPlooy’s and took a short rest we were back outside birding until dinner and then birding the canopy walk and night birding after dinner. While at duPlooy’s we saw Plain Chachalaca, Band-backed Wren, Spot-breasted Wren, Golden-crowned Warbler, Summer Tanager, Yellow-winged Tanager, Blue-crowned Motmot, Tropical Pewee, Masked Tityra, Bat Falcon, Barn Owl, Tropical Pygmy Owl, Mottled Owl, Black-headed Saltator, Lineated Woodpecker, Black-headed Trogon, Common-Tody Flycatcher, White-collared Manakin, Masked Tityra, White-breasted Wood-Wren, Red-throated Ant-Tanager, and Ivory-billed Woodcreeper. The canopy deck host cute arboreal mammals called Kinkajous every night and what fun entertainment they are! The fruit tray is full of delicious treats and you can feed them bananas if you have one.
Today we visited a neighboring lodge, Black Rock Lodge, owned by Kelly and Cameron Boyd, who were delightful to visit with and their General Manager, Geronimo, who took us on an awesome bird walk!! The target bird for this visit was the Orange-breasted Falcon, which we got immediately after getting out of the van, walking about 100 yards toward the lodge. There it was sitting on a perch on the far cliff, barely visible by binoculars but pretty good looks through the scope. Other birds we scored on this visit were: Swallow-tailed Kite, White Hawk, Black Hawk-Eagle, Yellow-winged Tanager, Black-cowled Oriole, Yellow-throated Euphonia, Prothonotary Warbler, Blue Ground-Dove, Gartered (Violaceous) Trogon, Rose-throated Becard, Masked Tityra, Kentucky Warbler, Green Honeycreeper, and Red-legged honeycreeper. We heard, but did not see the Tody Motmot! What a great day!
Up at the crack-of-dark (4am ugh!) and drove to the Douglas de Silva Station to meet our caravan to the Caracol ruins. Let me just say that the staff at duPlooy’s ROCK! The kitchen made us fresh cinnamon rolls and cheese biscuits, coffee to go and egg burritos! No lie, at 4am this was ready for us to take off with.
We arrived at Caracol at little before 7am and immediately caught Scarlet Macaws in flight and then on the road into the park, Great Curassow, Crested Guan and Ocellated Turkey all right on the road! The ruins provided the setting for King Vulture, Plumbeous Kite, American Kestrel, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Black-headed Trogon, Green Kingfisher, White-necked Puffbird, White-whiskered Puffbird, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Black-and-white Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Long-billed Gnatwren and Plain Xenops. And the scored of the day for me – the Black-headed Siskin in the Mountain Pine Ridge on the drive back– a real beauty! For anyone who has never seen Mayan Ruins, these ancient structures are incredibly impressive. Climbing to the top of them is a breathtaking experience!
Today we took it easy. We departed for Xunantunich Archaeological Site at a lazy 7am – a short drive just west of duPlooy’s and across the river. The hand cranked ferry was a lot of fun; Raymond took the gears and cranked us across the river. Several folks took a hand at working the ferry for the river crossing. The ruins were spectacular and we had good sightings of more than 30 Montezuma Oropendola nest’s with the parents taking turns flying in and out feeding their young. We saw Worm-eating Warbler, Ovenbird, Rufous-Tailed Jacamar, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Howler Monkeys with babies, how cute!
After crossing the on ferry back we took a few minutes to do some local shopping at the booth’s set-up with local crafts and wares. A variety of Belizean and Guamanian souvenirs at extremely reasonable prices are available. Then onto lunch at Benny’s for a good meal on the open porch. On the road back to duPlooy’s we spent additional time birding and had a very cute immature Northern Jacana in a watering hole.
Today we were off to Bird’s Eye View Lodge at Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. Along the way we stopped at Cheer’s for lunch again and took a few hours at the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. It was hot and dry today so we elected to drive to the lagoon rather than walk and bird our way back by vehicle. We met a rasta-man at the lagoon who was camping and cooking up his lunch, he entertained a few pictures for one of our participants. We had good sightings of Red-Capped Manakin, Tennessee Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Blue-gray Tanager, Golden-hooded Tanager and Yellow-tailed Oriole. It was insane-good-birding!
Upon arrival at Crooked Tree we worked the causeway entrance onto the isle for several hours – which was crazy with birds. We had Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, American White Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant, Jabiru (about 20), Roseate Spoonbill, Magnificent Frigatebird, Reddish Egret, and Northern Jacana. We really had to drag ourselves off the causeway to get to the lodge and get checked-in. The numbers of birds here are simply astounding. Literally thousands of waders throughout the lake!
We arrived at Bird’s Eye View Lodge and took a little time to settle in our rooms before dinner; then we hit the open air porch outside of the dining room with great views of the Jabiru in the lagoon. The covered hammock area was a big hit, nice breeze and comfy hammock….dozing off would have been on the agenda for sure if it hadn’t been for the birds! I’ve never seen so many Jabiru at one time, there must have been 30! Looking at a Jabiru standing next to a Wood Stork makes the Stork look little. The lagoon was very active with Snail Kite, Egrets – all of Ibis, Jacana’s, Jabiru, it was crazy! We also saw Gray-necked Wood-Rail, Sora, Limpkin, Common Pauraque and Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture.
Sunrise breakfast and then off to the boats! Lenny took us out in two boats because the lagoon was low and he didn’t want to ‘sandbar’ us. We had a great time with up close views of all the birds on the lagoon. It is just too awesome to even describe being out in the water with 200 Snail Kites up close, and catching snails no less! We had awesome looks at an American Pygmy-Kingfisher who just sat for the longest time while everyone got great pictures. We had lifers for several with the Agami Heron and Boat-billed Heron. All available species of the Herons were present for this heron convention: Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and Tricolored Heron, it’s just crazy! The boat trip is an essential part of staying at Birds Eye View. Being out on the lagoon amongst the waterbirds and getting some up-close views is fantastic!
After lunch we drove to the site best known for a multitude of Oriole’s and Tanager’s. We had wonderful looks at Black-cowled Oriole, Hooded Oriole, Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole, Altamira Oriole, Yellow-tailed Oriole, Yellow-billed Cacique, Scrub Euphonia, Swainson’s Warbler, and White-bellied Emerald.
We got another early start to drive to Lamanai Ruins to the north in the Orange Walk District. We walked along the path that circles the ruins and had good looks at Black-throated Bobwhite, Bat Falcon, Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Golden-olive Woodpecker, Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Tawny-winged Woodcreeper, Plain Xenops, Northern Bentbill, Stub-tailed Spadebill, Bright-rumped Attila, Black-crowned Tityra, and Black-faced Antthrush.
After some great early morning birding near the lodge (Yucatan Jay, Yucatan Flycatcher, Yellow-headed Parrot, Crane Hawk, and more!) we packed up – hit the road and headed home. A great trip with a ton of lifers for most and a handful of lifers for those that didn’t think they had many left to get. Great fun, great people! Next year we will make some modification to the trip, dropping Stann Creek area and adding Tikal for 2 nights in Guatemala. Check it out! Belize is un-Belizable!
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