Grand Belize Mar 11—21, 2010
Posted by Barry Zimmer
Barry Zimmer
Barry Zimmer has been birding since the age of eight. His main areas of expertise lie in North and Central America, but his travels have taken him throughout much of the wo...Related Trips
We were standing at the edge of Bull's Point in the Mountain Pine Ridge of Belize staring down into the vast expanse of broadleaf forest below. Two pairs of stunning White Hawks were circling lazily about in the distance. We had about another ten minutes of birding time to go before we had to leave to catch our charter flight to Chan Chich. Suddenly a large dark raptor appeared at eye level, quite close but partially blocked by a tree in front of us. When it broke into the open we could see its slaty-gray body, broad and long wings, and very stubby tail with a single white band—an adult Solitary Eagle! I had previously seen only one in my life over 20 years ago. We watched this magnificent raptor for about three minutes as it circled about the ridge, and were even able to get photos. This amazing bird was voted the group's favorite bird of the tour—on a trip absolutely chock-full of amazing highlights.
We began with two days of birding at Crooked Tree Sanctuary and Caye Caulker. Water levels at Crooked Tree were low, as we had hoped, concentrating the waterbirds into small areas. Some species were present in the hundreds, others in the thousands: Wood Storks, Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, egrets, cormorants, Northern Jacanas—all too numerous to count. From our breakfast spot, we had 22 magnificent Jabirus in view at once! A boat trip out into the lagoon proved amazingly productive with 5 Agami Herons (2 in full view in the open for extended periods!), 6 American Pygmy Kingfishers (1 as close as eight feet away), several stunning Black-collared Hawks, comical Boat-billed Herons, and Gray-necked Wood-Rails among the highlights. Land birding in the area yielded the regionally endemic Yucatan Woodpecker and Yucatan Jay in addition to Yellow-headed Parrot, Rose-throated Becard, and Black-headed Trogon. An afternoon flight to Caye Caulker gave us great views of the rarely seen Rufous-necked Wood-Rail, "Mangrove" Warbler, Yucatan Vireo, and White-crowned Pigeon.
Our two days at Hidden Valley Lodge in the Mountain Pine Ridge had other treats in store for us besides the Solitary Eagle. A roosting Stygian Owl (one of the hardest New World owls to add to one's list), an Orange-breasted Falcon at 30 feet for over fifteen minutes, 16 Black-headed Siskins in the same tree, and bathing King Vultures topped the list. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl gave great views near our rooms, as did Rusty Sparrow, Blue-crowned Motmot, and Gray-crowned Yellowthroat. Feeders outside the dining room hosted Yellow-tailed and Yellow-backed orioles, Hepatic Tanager, Green and Brown jays, and Acorn Woodpecker.
The final six days of our trip were spent at what I consider to be the finest ecotourist lodge in the world, Chan Chich. Nestled into the plaza of ancient Mayan ruins and sitting in the middle of nearly 300,000 acres of protected forest, this place is a naturalist's paradise. Birds abound, with parrots, toucans, trogons, manakins, Ocellated Turkeys, and Crested Guans all regularly sighted just outside our rooms. Many special birds can be found in this region and we had excellent luck with most. Great Curassow, Tody Motmot, Strong-billed Woodcreeper, Yucatan Flycatcher, Gray-throated Chat, and Rose-throated Tanager were among some of the most special finds. We had an incredible 30 species of raptors for the trip which included Hook-billed Kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, Double-toothed Kite, Gray-headed Kite, Crane Hawk, Great Black-Hawk, White Hawk, Laughing Falcon, Bat Falcon, Barred Forest-Falcon, and Ornate (scope views of perched adult) and Black-and-white hawk-eagles. Other notables included Plain-breasted Ground-Dove, Purple-crowned Fairy, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Emerald Toucanet, Black-faced Antthrush, Ruddy and Tawny-winged woodcreepers (at a great ant swarm), and Black-throated Shrike-Tanager. We also had great luck with mammals including 2 rarely seen red brocket deer and a prolonged study of a gorgeous ocelot, in addition to more regular fare such as Mexican black howler monkey, Central American spider monkey, and white-nosed coatimundi.
In all we tallied just under 300 species of birds (including many rarely seen species), saw some wonderful mammals and butterflies, and with the exception of a hot first day, enjoyed fantastic, mild weather. All this and a Solitary Eagle!