If you’re like me, then you’ve often wondered, “Where the heck do birds go at night?” Say you’re spending the day birding some migration mecca or perhaps a mature tropical jungle. There are birds EVERYWHERE! More than you can look at! More than you can count! The kind of day where all hopes of an accurate ebird list go out the window and you resign to estimating numbers after the madness ends at sunset. And, at sunset, the madness does just that, it ends. A rather unceremonious conclusion to an otherwise magical day. The last whisper of the sun dashes beyond the horizon and if it weren’t for the occasional owl whistle you’d be wondering if there were birds here at all.
Now, I’ve spent countless dark hours walking around jungles, marshes, mountains, grasslands, you name it I’ve been there at night. I’ve seen snakes, frogs, mice, foxes, bears, opossums, moths, crocodiles, deer, men with guns, all kinds of things! But only very, very rarely have I run into non-nocturnal birds. I know they’re there, but man they are good at hiding! And nearly every time I have found them it’s usually something that comes blasting out of a bush I’m about to step on with no more than the sound of excitement, the brush of a wing and an alarm call. It gives you a heart attack and goes down on the ebird list as “passerine species” with the comment “nearly killed me.”
Except this one time in Belize…
Last March, I was guiding a BRANT tour to Belize; the group was being escorted around the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary by a local wildlife guide and park ranger at night. Our target was to get a glimpse of a Jaguar which, to be honest, was probably not going to happen, but it was a great excuse to get the group out for some night time exploring. We saw lots of great creatures including a Common Pauraque on a nest, lots of interesting frogs, anoles, geckos, and even a small (harmless) snake!
From left the right: Common Pauraque on Nest, Unidentified Gecko, Mountain Toad
But at one point our guide shined his light up into the canopy directly above us and illuminated this little guy…
Roosting Wood Thrush
It took us a minute to figure out what exactly was going on here. Someone suggested it might be a Wood Thrush, but what happened to it’s head!? Well, this was the elusive sleeping passerine! I don’t know if we were just lucky, or maybe this guy had gotten into some fermented berries and passed out above the trail, but whatever happened it was awesome! A totally undisturbed, adorable, ball of feathers with his head tightly tucked under his wing. How cool is that! Just goes to show what kind of amazing moments you run into when you stay up entirely too late.
And now it has me wondering, has anyone else had this type of experience? Or maybe just another “Holy Cow!” moment from the middle of the night that they’d like to share?
Cheers and good (night) birding!
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