February 10-17, 2024 with Chris Benesh & local guide
Belize is a fantastic, easy to reach destination at the top of Central America. Our short and sweet tour made the most of our time there by visiting two diverse destinations, Lamanai Outpost Lodge and Black Rock Lodge. At each we had the pleasure of working with highly skilled and personable local guides, making for a highly enriched experience. Things got started for us upon being met at the Belize Airport and taken first by van and then by boat to Indian Creek. The ride along the New River is spectacular and scenic, and there were a few avian goodies along the way. We started off our first full day at Lamanai by birding on the grounds and adjacent Indian Creek. After a hearty breakfast, we headed over by boat to the Mayan site of Lamanai where we saw nearly 50 species in our morning there. Then that afternoon we took a walk out toward the airstrip and had a nice time seeing a few new ones including Yucatan Flycatcher.
The following day we again birded around the lodge before breakfast. Then after breakfast, we headed toward the Indian Creek Rice Fields with numerous stops along the way. Once we made it to the ricefields, the number of birds was staggering. Estimates of 2500 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, and over 2000 Blue-winged Teal were striking. We had a good Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture here. We then went and spent more time at the Mayan site, with a really good mix of birds for an afternoon. After dinner, we took a spotlighting (and thermal scope) cruise on the New River Lagoon. We had great Northern Potoo, Yucatan Flycatcher, roosting Sungrebe and Russet-naped Wood-Rails, Agami Heron, and a few mammals including several Mexican Hairy Porcupines. What a trip!
The next morning we headed across the lagoon and up Dawson Creek to the pine savanna there. Here we added Yellow-headed Parrot, White-fronted Parrot, and Yellow-lored Parrot. We also had great looks at Gray-crowned Yellowthroat here. After breakfast, we headed to the Mayan site again for some last birding there. Northern Schiffornis was among the highlights on this visit. The afternoon was reserved for a sunset cruise on the lagoon. That evening we walked into some good forest and had great looks at Mottled Owl and Middle American Screech-Owl.
Our last morning at Lamanai was special, as Eduardo took us up Irish Creek for an amazing morning of some 60 species. White-collared Manakin, Gray-throated Chat, and Mangrove Vireo were some of the highlights. After our lunch, we headed over to the airstrip and said our goodbyes to Eduardo and took our short, scenic flight to Cayo where we were met by Isaias. We had time for a brief afternoon walk at BRL with White Hawk well seen in the scope.
The following morning was a fireworks display of great sightings! Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle, White Hawk, Orange-breasted Falcon, Pheasant Cuckoo, Rose-throated Tanager, White-whiskered Puffbird, more Gray-throated Chats, and so on. We found enough to keep us happy for much of the day here.
Our last full day was spent traveling to Mountain Pine Ridge. We made a number of stops along the way to pick up Cabanis’s Wren, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Crane Hawk, Golden-olive Woodpecker, Collared Trogon, Hepatic Tanager, Black Hawk-Eagle, Great Black-Hawk, Green Shrike-Vireo, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Rusty Sparrow, Black-headed Siskin, Grace’s Warbler, and more. Our final stop for the day was at the Rio Frio Cave. Here were Crested Guan, Slaty-breasted Tinamou, Gartered Trogon, Green Shrike-Vireo, Red-crowned and Red-throated ant-tanagers, and Black-faced Grosbeaks.
Our final day consisted of driving back to Belize City for our flights with an extended stop at Monkey Bay where we added Zone-tailed Hawk, Rufous-breasted Spinetail, Yellow-tailed Oriole, and three species of saltator, making for a fine final stop.
Thanks to all of you for making this trip so much fun. I really love birding in Belize and I hope that you do as well. Thanks to Eduardo and Isaias for their expertise.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/271470
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/bze24TRIPLIST.pdf
Good birding, Chris Benesh