I Hear The Birding In Belize Is Excellent. What Can You Tell Me About It?

             The English-speaking Caribbean nation of Belize is giving Costa Rica
a run for its money as the top birding destination of Central America.Much of the  jungle, swamp, and brushy areas of Belize are undeveloped and thus contain exotic birds. The Audubon Society is very active there.

             Highlights include the keel-billed toucan (the national bird), roseate spoonbills, white ibis, flamingoes, tanagers, flycatchers, jabiru storks,  or open do lashanging upside-down from their 6-foot-long nests, green jays, frigate birds, egrets and herons, hummingbirds, raptors and vultures, and, if you are very lucky, the resplendent
quetzal, with its meter-long tail, on the Guatemalan border.Good spots to bird are the lagoons of the offshore cays, Crooked Tree Lagoon, the Maya Mountains, and the northwest jungles.

             In 2002, I went to Crooked Tree to stay in Sam Tillet's Hotel, which
provides birding tours of the nearby lagoon. An Audubon-trained guide (speaking in a thick Creole accent) took us out on very reasonably priced boat tours in the morning and lateafternoon. In addition to great marsh birds, we saw crocodiles and monkeys.

             The boat ride up the New River to the Mayan ruins of Lamani not only provided a look at an impressive archaeological site, but had the added benefit of excellent birding. We saw jabirus on their nests, three species of trogons, and a flycatcher with long, forked tail feathers. Our young boatman was a superb birder and informative ruins guide.

             The trails of the Coxcomb Jaguar Reserve gave us glimpses of raptors,
parrots, and mot-mots.