November 21-29, 2025 with Chris Benesh
Weather played a factor in the Belize Short and Sweet tour of November 2025. Severe weather in Dallas set in motion travel delays for a few of us. Once we were all together in Belize, things really took off for the best. Beginning based at the comfortable Lamanai Outpost Lodge, we had four days to explore this wonderfully rich birding destination. Local guide Eduardo Ruano was his usual amazing self and tirelessly took us to the right places to see the species we were after. Also along was guide in training David Blanco, who was a welcome addition and a bundle of good, positive energy.
So many highlights during our stay at Lamanai Outpost Lodge located on the banks of the New River Lagoon in Orange Walk District. We had a couple of productive walks around the village of Indian Church, visits to the Lamanai archeological site, and several boat trips on the lagoon and its tributaries, Dawson Creek and Indian Creek. One of the these was a nighttime spotlight (and thermal scope) cruise.
Once we said our farewells to Eduardo and the staff of Lamanai, we boarded our flight to the Cayo District where we were met by Isaias Morataya, a seasoned Black Rock Lodge guide. Isaias took good care of us during the entirety of our stay at the lodge, with visits to Mountain Pine Ridge (including 1000 Foot Falls), the Green Hills Butterfly Ranch, Slate Creek Lookout, and the archeological site of Caracal, once one of the largest of the Mayan cities during the classic period. An unseasonal low pressure system was lurking nearby, bringing a surprising amount of rain to the region. Fortunately for us, the heaviest of it fell overnight, though we did experience some impressive rain at times.
We had quite a few highlights. A few that stood out included the Mayan Antthrush strutting across the trail in front of us one afternoon at Lamanai. Another was the Tody Motmot which eluded us for so long before finally revealing itself to us. The Orange-breasted Falcon that showed so well for us at 1000 Foot Falls was tremendous. The Pinnated Bittern that lurked in the rice fields near Indian Church was exciting, as was the Jabiru there as well. Others shared by you included Black-headed Siskin, Red-capped Manakin, King Vulture, American Pygmy-Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, Gray-headed Kite, Crimson-collared Tanager, Great Currasow, Sungrebe, Purple-crowned Fairy, and Golden-olive Woodpecker.
The group can often make the trip and you all were fabulous and did just that. It was a treat to bird with friends new and old.
Mammals Seen:
Proboscis Bat (Rhynchonycteris naso)
Greater Sac-winged Bat (Saccopteryx bilineata)
Merriam's Long-tongued Bat (Glossophaga mutica)
Central American Black Howler (Alouatta pigra)
Central American Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi)
Yucatan Squirrel (Sciurus yucatanensis)
Deppe's Squirrel (Sciurus deppei)
Mexican Hairy Porcupine (Coendou mexicanus)
Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata)
Northern Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus)
White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica)
Tayra (Eira barbara)
Other Critters Seen:
Green Iguana (Iguana iguana)
Brown (Striped) Basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus)
Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus)
Terciopelo (Fer-de-lance) (Bothrops asper)
Morelet’s Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii)
Giant Toad (Rhinella horribilis)
Central American Gulf Coast Toad (Incilius valliceps)
Mexican Treefrog (Smilisca baudinii)
Teapen Rosebelly Lizard (Sceloporus teapensis)
Yucatán Banded Gecko (Coleonyx elegans)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/435639
You can see my iNaturalist report of non-avian taxa at this link: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/belize-november-2025
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/bze25bTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Chris