Belize Trip Report - the following is a composite of our fantastic 2002 - 2007 trips.

While most countries in the neotropics have much to offer birdwatchers and general nature enthusiasts,  the small Central American country of Belize stands out as one of the finest destinations for nature-based travel.  Belize's unique combination of low population, friendly people, largely intact landscape, impressive conservation ethic, wonderful tourism infrastructure, and, above all, great biological richness make for an unforgettable kaleidoscope of colorful birds, mammals, butterflies, plants, and more.

My trips to Belize have been some of the most enjoyable and naturally action-packed adventures I've experienced.  After each year's visit, I'm always left with the same thought - "Belize just keeps getting better."  One of the keys, of course, to seeing, enjoying, and learning about the birds and natural history of any locale is having a comfortable and convenient home base, and  Belize offers some excellent accommodations.  Another key is timing.  February is the transition month between Belize's rainy season and the dry season.  Temperatures are pleasant, humidity is mild, and wildlife activity is excellent.

Our trip begins at the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary where we stay at the perfectly situated Bird's Eye View Lodge.  With sunrises and sunsets to die for, a spectacularly rich freshwater lagoon, and the warm hospitality of our hosts, the Crooked Tree area makes for a perfect beginning to the trip.  The bird life in the area is amazing.  We routinely find pygmy kingfisher, agami heron, black-collared hawk, and grey-headed kite along the lagoon and one of its tributaries, Spanish Creek.  Red-vented (Yucatan) woodpecker, rufous-breasted spinetail, common tody-flycatcher, laughing falcon, jabiru, snail kite, gray-necked wood rail, and many other species are found around the lodge itself.

From Crooked Tree, we head to the New River Lagoon and the Lamanai Outpost Lodge where a daily smorgasbord of toucans, brown jays, tityras, chachalacas, trogons, and other birds are common.  While there we visit the amazing Lamanai ruins and explore the waters by boat at sunset and after dark.  While walking the ruin trail and enjoying the many birds, we've seen gray fox, agouti, coati, and collared peccary as well the strikingly aquamarine speckled racer and the beautifully patterned fer-de-lance.  Avian highlights in the forest include royal and sepia-caped flycatchers, stub-tailed spadebill, black-faced ant-thrush, gray-collared becard, white-crowned and brown-hooded parrots, black-throated shrike tanager, northern bentbill, spot- breasted and white-breasted wood wrens, white-necked puffbird, plain xenops, blue bunting, and olive-backed and yellow-throated euphonias.  In the savanna, we've enjoyed long and glorious views of aplomado falcons, yellow-headed parrots, and yellow-lored (Yucatan) parrots  while also finding open-country species such as Yucatan flycatcher and plain-breasted ground-dove.  Black catbird, rufous-browed peppershrike, and grey-throated chat have been seen along the river edge..

While exploring the Lamanai ruins, we've enjoyed fruiting figs with toucans, robins, manakins, and four species of trogon (black-headed, violaceous, slaty-tailed, and collared).  Black Howler monkeys, whose calls are a frequent feature at dawn and dusk, are frequently seen, and basilisk lizards, fairly common in the area, are always a treat as they drop from streamside branches and skitter away across the water's surface.

The night boat trip along the New River Lagoon and its tributaries is magical.  With the jet-black water reflecting the sky's many stars (the milky way, several red giants, gas clusters, and Jupiter and its moons are usually well seen), we've enjoyed nocturnal treats such as Morelet's crocodile, Yucatan nightjar, northern potoo, greater fishing bat, Mexican porcupine, beautiful provision tree flowers, and many diurnal birds sleeping in the safety of branches overhanging the water.

A fitting end to our Lamanai stay is a late afternoon boat ride on the New River lagoon and its beautifully forested tributaries.  Provision trees, logwood, mimosas, and various vines line the banks and glow gorgeously in the tropical sunset light.  Turtles slip off logs and a variety of birds streak across the open water.  White-necked jacobins and green-breasted mangos hawk small insects over mirror-smooth streams, while nesting jabiru storks exchange places for the evening shifts of incubation and foraging.

From Lamanai, we head to my single favorite location in Belize, Pook's Hill Lodge, a 300-acre property bordering the 6700-acre Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve.  On our way there we stop at the wonderful Belize Zoo.  "Zoo" is perhaps a misnomer for this living museum and educational center which blends seamlessly with the surrounding forest.  In addition to seeing and learning about Belizean wildlife, the zoo is a good spot for common tody flycatcher, rufous-browed peppershrike, blue-gray tanager, and olive sparrow. 

The birding at Pook's Hill is some of the best in the country with astounding numbers and variety.  It is not unusual to find all three of Belize's toucans (keel-billed toucan, collared aracari, and emerald toucanet), 5-6 species of parrots, tody motmot, and dozens of other birds in a pre-breakfast outing.  Crimson-collared and Passerini's tanagers are fairly common, many hummingbirds are possible at the flowering Erythrina and Hamelia trees, there is a pair of resident spectacled owls, and species like barred and great antshrikes, dusky antbird, scaly-throated leaftosser, and four species of tinamou can be found on the trails.

One late morning walk at Pook's provided us with glimpses of the arboreal tamandua while afternoon forays have resulted in large coati troops and a red brocket deer.  Tapir and jaguar tracks are not uncommon.  At night we've found nine-banded armadillo and common opossum as well as many bats, fireflies and interesting arthropods such as tailless whip scorpions.  Afternoon inner-tube floats along Roaring Creek are a cool and relaxing way to enjoy Amazon kingfishers.

One of the major highlights at Pook's Hill are the native Hamelia and Calliandra shrubs around the lodge.  The Hamelia's fruit is a magnet for manakins, black-headed saltators, black-faced grosbeaks and other frugivores, while its flowers are visited by several species of hummingbirds.  The nectar-rich calliandra flower attract bats by night and red-legged honeycreepers and many orioles in the early morning and late afternoon. 

Ray and Vicki, our hosts at Pook's Hill, have done a superb job of creating a lodge that blends beautifully with the rich forest, is light on the land, and is imbued with an inspiring conservation ethic.  Pook's Hill is always one of the biggest highlights of our trip.

From Pook's Hill, we travel southwest into the Mountain Pine Ridge.  Along the way, we stop at the Green Hills Butterfly Farm, which can be very good for birds, but is, of course, known for the many striking species of butterflies they raise.  The higher elevations of the mountain pine ridge include a large area of pine forest which is home to a suite of species not found in other parts of the country.  Our stay at the luxurious Hidden Valley Inn is made all the better by the warmth of our hosts, Craig and Lisa Milner.  Many of the pines in the area have died due to a large bark beetle infestation in 2000, but the ecology of the beetle infestations is fascinating, and surprisingly it hasn't seemed to deter the birdlife which remains rich.  The thick understory of melastomes, tiger fern, St. John's wort, and a variety of other herbaceous plants provide habitat for rufous-capped warblers, rusty sparrows, and yellow-faced grassquits.  The pines themselves harbor hepatic tanagers, acorn woodpeckers and Grace's warblers as well as red-lored parrots, green jays, laughing falcons, Montezuma oropendula, cedar waxwings and resident greater pewees and plumbeous vireos.  The inn itself is home to yellow-tailed and yellow-backed orioles, yellow-bellied elaenia, golden-hooded tanager, black-headed saltator, black-headed siskin, and azure-crowned hummingbird.  Other big highlights at Hidden Valley are day-roosting Stygian owls which we usually see extremely well.  

From Hidden Valley we travel to Caracol, a remote area of spectacular Mayan ruins and vast intact forest.  We often have the area all to ourselves for several hours in the morning.  The setting at Caracol is impressive, as is the forest.  Fruiting figs can provide feathered parades with black-faced grosbeak, white-throated robin, toucans, masked tityra, and emerald toucanet.  We've had wonderful views of black hawk eagle, white hawk, great black hawk, and crane hawk from the temple tops.  In 2005, one of the temple-top wonders was a fantastic and prolonged view of the rare Solitary Eagle.  On another trip, while enjoying the magnificent 360 degree view from atop Ca'ana, the Sky Palace, we also enjoyed the view in the canopy of an eye-level fruiting fig adjacent to the temple's summit.  For years I have been asked if I have a favorite bird, and I usually respond by saying that I have hundreds of them, but there is one that stands out.  In the canopy of the fig, in full sun, and less than 40 feet away was a group of lovely cotingas, including a male who simply glowed from within.  Watching this fruit-eating seed disperser in perfect light atop this amazing ruin in such a spectacular area was anunforgettable and all-time neotropical highlight.  While the cotinga was spectacular, so, too, was a keel-billed motmot, which perched in the open where we had stunning scope views for about 15 minutes.  Crested guans and ocellated turkeys on the road in and a beautiful male great curassow on the way out have been special treats.

From Hidden Valley Inn, we hike several of the trails including the trail to King Vulture Falls where the majesty of this watery spectacle was once matched by close-up views of a pair of orange-breasted falcons in beautiful light.  We've also consistently seen this rare tropical falcon at Hidden Valley Falls. Hikes along the motmot trail weave through a little hermit lek and a hike to Butterfly Falls is rewarded with gorgeous scenery and what may be the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen.

Belize is incomparable for its combination of fine accommodations, outstanding food and service, habitat and species diversity, and rich culture.  I have been fortunate to share this magical place and its rich wildlife with many friends and look forward each year to returning.

Last updated: August 11, 2007.