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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