Photo of the Day

I was coming down the stairs and I noticed this House Finch sitting in our magnolia tree. The bird feeder is nearby and almost all the birds that come to feed are House Finches. This is a male with the red coloring. The red gets brighter during mating season in the spring, but they have some color all year. The color also depends on the berries they're eating. Given how common they are now (we had them in Saskatoon too) it's surprising that 100 years ago they were only resident in Mexico and the American southwest.

I ran downstairs, grabbed my camera (with the telephoto already on), and ran back up. Luckily he stayed put and I got a few photos (through the window) before he took off.

PS. These photos put me over 25,000 for the year. That's a record for me - averaging 500 per week. (Not that quantity in itself is anything to brag about.)

Belize Birding

We had planned to go to the Crooked Tree nature reserve but it was flooded from recent storms so we booked a day of birding around Belize city with Birdwatching Belize. It ended up raining all day and we cut the outing short but we're not serious birders and we were happy to see the birds we did. Some of them were familiar and some were new to us.

With all the rain, there was water everywhere and more shore birds than there would have been normally. Like these Jacanas

I didn't realize at first that this was a juvenile Jacana - the coloring is very different.

This Willet was one of the first birds we saw.

Wood Storks are funny looking creatures.

Herons and ibis were keeping the stork company

I've seen whistling ducks in zoos, but not in the wild before.

Stilts are related to avocets and like them, seem like elgent birds.

We were looking at some other birds and didn't realize at first that this Tiger Heron was sitting on a branch right close to us. Lovely markings.

We saw several kinds of vultures, including this yellow-headed.

There weren't many hawks around in the rain. This Common Black Hawk was sitting on a power pole looking soggy.

Golden-fronted Woodpeckers seem quite common here but I was still happy to get a good look and photos of this one. They are colorful birds.

There were lots of little birds flitting about. It was a question of which ones would sit still long enough to photograph.

I remember seeing Vermillion Flycatchers in Big Bend National Park in Texas.

From a distance, it was hard to tell the Groove-billed Ani apart from the grackles. This one also looks a little damp.

Several times when we were looking for birds we spotted iguanas in the trees. At a restaurant two large iguanas crawled over the hedge beside us.

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Belize Zoo

We really enjoyed visiting the Belize Zoo. All the animals are local and all have been rescued. We paid for a private behind the scenes tour so we got to hear the stories behind all the animals and even got to feed a few of them. We wouldn't have gotten such good views without our guide to call them over. Unfortunately, most of the enclosures had heavy mesh walls so I didn't take as many photographs as I would have liked.

The Howler monkeys were the most cooperative. They were feeding in the trees right beside the walkway. (One of the advantages of native animals is that they eat the local plants.)

The Spider monkeys are always fun to watch but they move too fast to get good photographs.

Until he outgrew it, the crocodile used to like to lie on the bench to sun himself. In my imagination I could see someone sitting down and getting a surprise :-)

He came to get a chunk of meat thrown into his pond.

A closeup of a second crocodile.

I always like to see the Javalinas (Collared Peccaries) in the southern US. At first it looked like there were only a few here, until they all came running to see if they'd get fed. Apparently a wild one comes to visit the captive ones occasionally.

They had quite a few Brown Pelicans with various injuries that prevented them from being released. (e.g. damaged wings)

Of course, there were also a few unofficial residents. I spotted this Gray Cracker butterfly when we first entered the zoo.

This Black Pondhawk dragonfly was hanging around the crocodile pond.

A group of Chachalacas were sharing the tapir's dish of fruits and vegetables.

The best sighting was this venomous but beautiful Coral snake which crossed the path in front of us. I was too slow to get a photo of it on the path, only this shot as it disappeared into the undergrowth.

Whereas I got up close and personal with the Boa. (photo thanks to Shelley)

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Belize - More Photos

Miscellaneous photos from Turneffe and St George's.

We didn't see any big iguanas on Turneffe but there were some small Black Spiny-tailed Iguanas. The young ones tend to have more green color.

St George's had some bigger ones.

They are good climbers (as well as digging burrows).

There were lots of little lizards. I think they are Brown Anoles.

We saw the most Caribbean Land Hermit Crabs on Halfmoon Caye but there were some on the other islands.

We saw lots of holes that I assume were made by fiddler crabs but this was one of the few that I actually found out in the open and cornered for a photograph. Only the males have the large "major" claw.

I also found a few crabs on the side of the dock. They tended to stay half in the water, making them hard to photograph.

I think this is a Nimble Spray Crab, known for hiding in sea urchins.

At first I wasn't sure what these were - some kind of algae or anemone? I realized they are Upsidedown Mangrove Jellies. Occasionally one would be off the bottom and pulsing its bell like other sea jellies.

There were lots of little fish in the shallow water close to shore.

And small barracudas, presumably hunting the other little fish. I found this foot-long one stranded on the shore. There was no one around so I'm not sure how it got there. Maybe a larger fish chased it right out of the water? I put it back in the water and it slowly recovered and swam away.

There were also a few Red Cushion Sea Stars in the shallows.

At St George's we were lucky to see a pair of dolphins go by. We didn't get very good photos unfortunately.

Everywhere we went in Belize there were numerous dragonflies patrolling the air. I'm not sure what kind they were since they never perched. Luckily there were also a few other kinds that did perch so I could photograph them.

There weren't a lot of butterflies but I found a few.

I didn't see a lot of other insects (although something was biting us) other than a few interesting beetles.

There were lots of big hibiscus bushes that make my struggling little house plant seem rather feeble. But surprisingly, there wasn't much Bougainvillea.

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