Birding in Belize and Rotan

[Mangojh2]

Hello everyone,

 

 

This is kims account, I am her bf Nathan, she has graciously allowed me to use.

 

I was just wondering if any of you are birders (bird watchers, tickers, twitchers, etc)? If so what did you do for birding when you were in Belize on your shore excursion? Did you hire a guide? Where did you go? Obviously you have extremely limited time but I still want to make the best of it. I have had great experiences on Cozumel (well a rain forest near playa del carmen), Jamaica (excellent guide there Barret adventures), Grand Caymen (Queen Elizabeth Botanical Gardens).

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer for Belize and Rotan.

[driftwood]

. . . you might enjoy visiting the Belize Zoo bird page on the WEB at

 

http://www.belizezoo.org/zoo/zoo/bird.html

 

Roatan is just an island off the coast of Honduras which has become a pit stop for cruise ships--I suppose they have birds, but I would also suppose that all birds found there would also be found in Belize, which is an entire Central American country with quite a variety of habitats for birds. A search of the www for Belize (or Central American) bird books might be helpful.

[driftwood]

WHILE WE ARE WAITING FOR A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR ORNITHOLOPTICAL FRIENDS, here is another website I should have thought of to share with you--THE BELIZE AUDUBON SOCIETY:

 

http://www.belizeaudubon.org/home.htm

 

It looks pretty nice to me--they are EXTREMELY active in Belize--and you might get a few pen pals or guides or advice from them!--and of course the site itself is quite attractive . . . . :D

[Mangojh2]

WHILE WE ARE WAITING FOR A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR ORNITHOLOPTICAL FRIENDS, here is another website I should have thought of to share with you--THE BELIZE AUDUBON SOCIETY:

 

http://www.belizeaudubon.org/home.htm

 

It looks pretty nice to me--they are EXTREMELY active in Belize--and you might get a few pen pals or guides or advice from them!--and of course the site itself is quite attractive . . . . :D

 

TYVM for your help! I gave them a shout. Hopefully I will get a response. I appreciate all of the advice and help you have given me!

[OttoCal]

All the bird watching we did was in southern belize, but the local guides were all excellent.

 

As I'm sure you know, the best birding is in the wee hours of the morning- I wanted to go out in search of the Scarlet Macaws which stop in Belize in late January, but no one would get up at 5 am to go with me- we met people who did go and saw some great stuff.

 

You would see tons of birds on any jungle adventure, if you have your binoculars, or a good guide. I would say that we didn't see much of anything birdwise at Xunantunich- but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

 

I'll try to look at my notes to see if I can give you a list of some of the birds we saw.

[Mangojh2]

All the bird watching we did was in southern belize, but the local guides were all excellent.

 

As I'm sure you know, the best birding is in the wee hours of the morning- I wanted to go out in search of the Scarlet Macaws which stop in Belize in late January, but no one would get up at 5 am to go with me- we met people who did go and saw some great stuff.

 

You would see tons of birds on any jungle adventure, if you have your binoculars, or a good guide. I would say that we didn't see much of anything birdwise at Xunantunich- but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

 

I'll try to look at my notes to see if I can give you a list of some of the birds we saw.

 

Are these places near Belize city? I am going here on a cruise, so I need information on birding in or around Belize city from the Cruise ship tyvm.

[becwe]

Are these places near Belize city? I am going here on a cruise, so I need information on birding in or around Belize city from the Cruise ship tyvm.

Asking the same question again.

Any birding places close to Belize City easy to get to on a cruise stop (march 1 on the Pearl).

Not a serious birder, but wouldn't mind a nice walk/hike with the possibility of seeing something "pretty" through the binoculars.

[driftwood]

The fact is that there are birds you may well never have seen walking around the streets of Belize City--herons and egrets and frigate birds and pelicans and gulls--and others nesting (usually fairly well-concealed) in the trees surrounding the Radisson Fort George Hotel, two blocks north of the Cruiseship Terminal. Good birders won't have much trouble spotting them, I think, but most of us may only detect them by their beautiful singing. The taxi drivers in the Radisson Taxi Drivers' Association (sitting on the bench outside the hotel) can point out many of them and give you their names--most of them are fairly small, smaller than a robin.

 

If you think you will see parrot-like birds in Belize City, however, you are overly optimistic. These are in the western jungles of Belize, some thirty to sixty miles inland. The surest place to visit--thirty miles inland--and see some exotic Belizean birds is in the Belize Zoo--and there you may see the Jabiru Stork, the Scarlet Macaw, at least one toucanet (don't get your fingers near it), some exotic owls and raptors. The now-famous Daniel Itzá* is a taxi driver at the Radisson, VERY safe and VERY familiar with native fauna, who took us to and guided us through the Belize Zoo when we visited last January. He is also very reasonable if you book him personally OUTSIDE the hotel. Just ask anyone sitting on the Radisson Taxi Drivers' Association Bench to point Daniel out. He drives a very attractive dark blue Toyota van--or he did last January, anyway.

 

A tour of the Belize Zoo is considered a "half-day" tour, so there is no danger of missing your ship, assuming it is in Belize waters for five hours or more.

 

*A good article you might like to read--a little beyond topic--is to be found at

 

http://www.denverpost.com/travel/ci_11266822

[Sally Forth]

I just did a review on an airboat tour we did to the salt water lagoons near Belize City. They hand out a plasticized card on the birds of Belize, and I added twelve birds to my list that I had never seen before.

 

Viv

[Mangojh2]

I just did a review on an airboat tour we did to the salt water lagoons near Belize City. They hand out a plasticized card on the birds of Belize, and I added twelve birds to my list that I had never seen before.

 

Viv

 

Hey Viv glad to hear it! Do you mind sharing what they were? Thanks!

 

I did not do too bad! We went on a tour that consisted of seeing some ruins (altun ha) and then going down the Old river back to the cruise ship terminal. The ruins were very rushed so I saw nothing out of the ordinary because I had to stay with the group and the focus was the history of course. But I did sneak some quick jungle breaks. Mostly saw North American Migratory birds I see here in Michigan in their Southern home (smart/lucky blokes).

 

The river boat tour was pretty awesome for seeing birds and exotic wildlife you may not see here in the states. Some of the highlights included.

 

Birds: Bare-throated tiger Heron (only lifer), Mangrove Swallow, Couch's Kingbird, A hawk-eagle (was really high up and am not sure of its exact identity yet) Little-blue Heron, Yellow-crowned night heron, Pelican, Frigate bird, Sandwich Tern, Royal Tern, Laughing Gulls, Banaquit.

 

Reptiles: Crocodile, Turtle (sorry don't know the kind), 2 kinds of Iguana

 

Mammals: Insect bat (size of a quarter, 6 of them clinging to the shady side of a Royal palm sleeping the day away, VERY COOL), Howler Monkey (horrible view of two individuals unfortunately), Manatee

 

Incidentally the ship had some interesting and weird wildlife as well (other then our neighbors). At night there were hitchhiker bats that were flying around the boat (harmless). Also some heron was flying around the boat at night. Again on one of my sleepless nights (I wanted to marry our deck, something about being on the open ocean, just love it) there was some strange white bird that was dipping in and out of the wake from the ship, but keeping pace with it. Also saw many flying fish and a Jelly fish they call man-o-war I think (it has a translucent Air sack that sticks out of the water and uses to take it all over the open water). Also one day a migratory Sparrow called a Lincolns Sparrow Landed on our deck rail and then was gone like that.

 

I have a ton of pictures I can upload if anyone is interested.

 

Anyway hope you all have fun! It was a great cruise!

[Sally Forth]

Oh, wow, you did really well. I need to do some work to see if some of the ones we saw are actually ones I've seen before but known by different names in Belize. They handed out a plasticized chart and I wish I'd bought one. Now I have to flip through books.

 

We saw the herons you saw plus a blue (funny, because we have a big heron preserve near us and I had no idea they were in Belize), kingbirds, bittersn, pygmy kingfisher, northern jacana, two kites that I need to research because I can't read my writing, a stork (but not the giant one), black-collared hawk, snowy egrets, cattle egrets, a woodrail, a giant grackle, white ibis, and what I thought was a turkey vulture, but it's hard to tell when you are going so fast!

 

Right now, in the prairie between Abbotsford BC and Chilliwack, about 60 miles east of Vancouver, we have thousands and thousands of trumpeter swans.

 

Viv

[becwe]

I just did a review on an airboat tour we did to the salt water lagoons near Belize City. They hand out a plasticized card on the birds of Belize, and I added twelve birds to my list that I had never seen before.

 

Viv

Where do I find the review?

[Sally Forth]

Go to the Reviews section for Norwegian Spirit and look down to the part on ports of call. I had it nicely done with points, but that got all mixed up when I pasted it in.

 

Viv