This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Birds of Belize by Steve N. The first is that the illustrations by Dale Dyer are based, and largely seem to be the same, as the illustrations for his previous guide Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama (co-authored with Andrew Vallely, PUP, 2018). Why are these issues?
Oh Belize. A beautiful country on Central America’s coast, Belize boasts spectacular diving and snorkeling, immense cave systems, beautiful rivers, dense jungles, and of course, hundreds and hundreds of birds. My husband and I arrived in Belize just after a late afternoon thunderstorm.
Our company is based in Guatemala but also offers tours in Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico. Guatemala has the most reliable places to observe the mythical Horned Guan. We work hard to provide the richest and most rewarding experience of the Neotropics. Besides nature, cultural experiences are a highlight when you visit Guatemala.
A wonderful variety of bird species are waiting to be seen and among them are many a birder’s favorite avian group, the wood-warblers. Among the most desired bird species during May migration, brightly colored, beautiful and boldly patterned, how can a birder not get hooked on spring warblers? Great Green Macaw!
So, if you are going to write a field guide on the birds of the countries south and east of Mexico–Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—it makes the utmost sense that you embrace the whole geographic area. Each species account lists the basics—common name, scientific name, measurements in inches and centimeters.
Belize gave me my first opportunity to see the jungle for myself, as well as its avian treasures! I had one goal for our birding morning: to spot a Keel-billed Toucan , the national bird of Belize. With their ridiculously large bills and comical air, they are another bird species that seems thought up by Disney himself.
Next to me was a copy of “Birds of Central America” with a somewhat longish subtitle “Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama” by Vallely and Dyer from 2018. In over 200 plates, this field guide covers more than 800 regularly occurring bird species found in Costa Rica.
They are species that breed in the US and then spend the winter in Central and South America, eating what’s avialable–especially fruit. This is a photo that my friend Larry Sirvio took in Belize. Okay, so you are not going to see oropendolas coming to fruit, but why not Scarlet Tanagers or Summer Tanagers ?
Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rican, and Panama , just published in October, is a field guide that was ten years in the making. Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. SPECIES ACCOUNTS.
If the avian realm had self-conscious, talking ambassadors, “spokebirds”, which species would partake in birding conferences? Without careful attention paid to the needs of the shyer birds, such conventions would run the risk of being overrun with the bolder species, the birds that love the spotlight. Ditto for the Kea.
In all of North America, only one avian species serves as both the beloved mascot of seven states as well as the totem to two professional sports teams (and an infinity of amateur ones!) However, Cardinalis phoeniceus is a South American species. Rather, this icon is extremely adaptable and eye-catching.
The Poor Knights were internationally famous and often turned up in those inevitable lists of “top places to dive&# along with Cocos Island, Sipadan, the Great Barrier Reef, Truk Lagoon, Bikini Atoll and the Blue Hole in Belize. Also present off the wall were the large predatory Kingfish.
Not that it one could expect to see one in Costa Rica but could the species be annual? In checking eBird images of possible Pacific and American Golden-Plovers, I found several possible records for Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Belize from the months of November to April. Might a few occur appear in Costa Rica during migration?
But then we remember that special birding moment when we saw a wood-warbler freezing it out with the rest of us (and thus sacrificing itself for the count) when it should be chasing bugs in Belize. Since this is an organic farm, the growing areas also provide lots of habitat for migrants and many local species, and are thus very birdy.
For some it allows you to enjoy the marvel of nature, for others it allows you to tick the many amazing species of fish and sea life that is down there (even the occasional vagrant). Diving has taken me to places like Belize, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Egypt, places that coincidentally are fun to bird. Kina, or Sea Urchin.
While in Belize back in August one of the outings we signed up for was a boat ride along the Sittee River, a mangrove-lined and placid river that flows into the Caribbean just south of Hopkins. Perhaps we had grown jaded from our previous amazing excursions but even an hour-long, morning walk brought me more species than the boat ride.
I’ve been back from Belize for several days now and have fully recovered from the chiggers, the sunburn, the sand flies, the rum, and the exhaustion of international travel. (I How annoying that females of the species lack the namesake throat! I know, I know, poor me, right?) ” This one is a Grayish Saltator. .”
In Belize I cruised above reefs few people had ever seen. You may not get the species counts that the race delivers, but you’ll have memories burned into your skull. In the Bahamas I swam in a pod of feeding dolphins. In California I smelt the breath a Blue Whale as it passed feet beneath my boat.
The guide presents 69 species and 1 subspecies, from “NEW WORLD VULTURES: Cathartiformes” to “OSPREY: Pandioninae” to “FAMILY: Accipitridae” (Kites, Hawks, Eagles, Hawk-Eagles), to “FALONIDS: Falconidae” (Falcons, Forest-Falcons, Caracaras, Kestrels, Merlin). The order is roughly taxonomic, with the priority showing similar species together.
The hope and claim is that transferring this process to gull identification works more easily and just as accurately (at least for species) as an examination of plumage and molt patterns. Species Accounts. Gulls Simplified covers 25 species. From the Laughing Gull species account. These vary according to species.
1,712 species, 12% of which are endemics. News flash–I just received the trip report from Carlos, and the tally is 419 species recorded, of which 16 were heard only; plus Ian and I saw an additional species before the tour started, courtesy of Paulo Boute. Oh my gosh! I shouldn’t have been surprised. Any suggestions?
Having never birded in Mexico at all I was initially concerned about identifying the myriad species that can be seen. But my experiences in Belize and Honduras give me a good basis in the birds of the region and I have plenty of time to study and learn what to expect with the endemics.
She also had amazing stories of birding in Belize and Costa Rica, and we swapped favorite birding tales during the 2.5 No, we didn’t find any new turtle tracks, but we did record 18 bird species. hours of walking.
Now when you’re working at your best, overcoming the odds to incubate your eggs through a snowstorm or nudging your fledgling into their first tentative forays off the nest or adopting a baby from a completely different species as your own (that was top-notch work, guys, really excellent), you totally have them into you.
It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands.
Then the fun really started… The eBird interface came back saying that a whopping 251 species needed clarification. For example, we all know that many species had their scientific names changed with lots of familiar genera swapped out. Then again, at 1 in the morning, who cares where Xunantunich in Belize is located.
I once visited Crooked Tree in Belize for a few days without hitting any of the great spots because I didn’t really know what I was doing. Silver-eyes , the common species of white-eye, were common as well, and a Grey Fantail was swooping around in typical style. This often happens to me, because I’m rather vague.
Catbirds are a group of rather distantly related species all named for the fact that they make sounds that remind some of a cat meowing. Birds called catbirds include two species in the New World family, Mimidae, four from the bowerbird family, Ptilonorhynchidae, and one from the Old World babblers, Timaliidae. So what are catbirds?
When you compare the species richness not per country, but per square kilometre, that is when you get a more realistic picture, and then those tiny tropical countries rightfully stand out in the spotlights. No, I am not talking of Brazil or Columbia, they are not just in the tropics but more importantly, they are officially huge.
Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama make up Central America. But I’ll remind you that there are some 10,000 bird species, so this region has a bird list that represents 10% of that diversity. Species draswings are on the left leaf while descriptions and range maps on the left.
FIELD GUIDES : We were blessed with a Central American double-header this spring with the publication of Birds of Belize and Birds of Costa Rica , both by Steve N.G. Both guides contain Howell’s expert species descriptions and Dyer’s beautiful scientific illustrations—an unbeatable combination. Howell and Dale Dyer.
After a brief look at a map, my rough guesstimate is that the territory from Guatemala and Belize south to the Darien gap is roughly equal to New England, or Florida and the eastern parts of Georgia and the Carolinas north to the Virginia line. Central America is much smaller than the land encompassed within the borders of Canada and the USA.
9 beats, birded 9 countries this month; Belize , Guatamala , Costa Rica, UK, Iran, USA, Greece, Australia and Mexico. They submitted 144 checklists, noting 628 species adding 72 to the year’s running total bringing it to 1890. Come on the Orientals, we are still in this! Yucatan Vireo (from a previous trip).
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 30+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content