BIRDWATCHING With Bubba 2.5

2008-07-16T08:40:00.001-07:00

BIRDWATCHING
WITHBUBBA
Elbert Greer
Copyright © 2008 by Elbert Greer. 47589-GREE
ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4363-5583-4
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
This book was printed in the United States of America.
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A GUIDE TO BIRDWATCHING IN BELIZE
The Revised Edition, 2.5 of Birdwatching with Bubba
Write in this book. Hea! You! My Reader . . . . .get a pencil or a pen and take notes, make recordings,
write down your thoughts, ear mark pages, sketch birds, make maps. This is not a sacred library book.
Stick it in your bag and carry it birdwatching. Have a healthy disrespect.
I’ve left blank pages and spaces for the purpose of recording your experiences and observations.
Your notes create a value for the book. 2.5 is the revised and illustrated version of Birdwatching with
Bubba. Quickly discovering Bubba and I couldn’t photograph all these birds we solicited the help of
a number of friends and closet birdwatchers. In 2.5 I’ve included maps and written directions to find
Belizean birding sites and included dates of seasons, such as when the wet lands are wet and when they
are dry enough to explore. Bubba and I hoped on all the organized popular tours and have included
tips on comfort, hazards and obstacles as well as how to get the opportunity for the most likely sighting
of the bird you’re looking for, all with the hopes you will use this book to have an unforgettable
adventure in Belize birdwatching with Bubba.
Photo Credits
Bill Taylor, Marty Casado, Maya, K. Verdeck, Pamala Wilson and Elbert Greer.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 3
Open Roads Best of Belize
“The island’s greatest bird guru is Elbert Greer, who writes a weekly column about birds for the
San Pedro Sun.”
SAN PEDRO SUN
“A humorous gonzo style of bird watchers guide to Belize”
THE BELIZE SUN
“In 1934 Peterson removed the shotgun from bird study with his famous bird books. He developed
a technique of identifying birds using markings and colors as seen alive and in their natural habitat.
A black bird with red wings was a Red-Winged Blackbird. This simple and obvious description is the
core of the system that is now called ‘The Peterson System’.
Bubba in his book ‘Birdwatching with Bubba’ follows this same system and takes it another step
forward with humor, helping serious birders with where to look for a Roadside Hawk.”
BUBBA
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
PREFACE
Some say I have the fever from living alone on an island to long and am talking to my Dog. I say they
haven’t been listening to what he’s saying.
I am by most people’s fantasies one of the luckiest men on the planet. I’ve built myself a little beach
house on a small island in the Caribbean off the coast of Belize. It sits overlooking the barrier reef in the
middle of two acres of coconut trees. I purchased the land from a coconut farmer. The older mestizos in
the village on the other side of the island call it a Cocal. I named it ‘Dos Perros Negros’ in honor of a black
Labrador named Bubba that I have lived with for the last 12 years.
There is a river without a bridge between my end of the island and the village with little more than
a beach path for six miles to reach our Cocal. Bubba and I come and go by boat along the reef. It’s a fine
boat, 23 feet of fiberglass with a good engine. In a way it is my car. I keep it at my dock on the Caribbean
side where we fish and nap in the hammock under the palapa.
In 1934 Alex Huxley wrote, “If the world had any ends, Belize would certainly be one of them. It is
not on the way from anywhere to anywhere else. “
Belize, an obscure British colony known as British Honduras until independence in September 1981,
is a not so well known, relatively new nation. It has one of the lowest population densities in the world,
an extraordinarily rich ethnic and linguistic mix, abundant forest and marine resources, significant
potential for eco-tourism, an important role as conduit in the international drug trade, and a strong
colonial heritage, my new home.
I have become a Belizean citizen and tour guide, taking tourist from the village SCUBA diving on the
barrier reef, fishing and bird watching in the jungle. It’s a nice way to make a living. I have as good a time
as they do . . . you think I’m lucky also, don’t you.
Bubba and I set out to write this book about birds almost 10 years ago. I was a teacher in Memphis.
Bubba seems to think I had a mid—life crises, I tell myself I just got bored, either way I ended up here,
talking to a confused birddog that thinks ornithology is his calling.
I’ve made this book as a collection the stories and photographs we published in the local newspaper.
The stories are printed here as they were published in our ‘bird of the week’ column for the San Pedro Sun
and Belize Sun.
Belize is not a large country, about the size of Maine, but it has the most varied habitats within its
borders you will ever find. These rich habitats support a variety of exotic avifauna that has not yet been
accurately numbered. Those who try and count them such as The Belize Audubon Society, come up with
figures like 560 species.
The names of the locations are real and right where the book says they are. It’s not a guidebook but if
you wish to read it as such, I used all the bars and bartenders’ correct names so you won’t get lost. We tried
to make all the bird information as accurate as possible, but that’s not at all what ‘BIRD WATCHING
WITH BUBBA’ is about, as you will see.
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BUBBA
There was no time. It was dark. I felt small. I wasn’t afraid, tired or hungry. There was no anxiety.
It seemed that I was alone but at the same time I felt that I was a part of something other than myself,
something larger. Then suddenly it ended and began again at once with pain. I was lost, cold, hungry,
scared and crying when she found me. She licked my body clean with her tongue, slapped my face with it
then nudged me under her leg against her warm belly, where I found my first joy.
I remember then thinking of life as warm and good, my mother’s teat was plump, and all I wanted was
to suck and sleep.
Time was vague but I suppose it was two weeks ago I opened my eyes and discovered myself in a row
of black comrades enjoying the same ecstasy. Time flowed forward in an indistinguishable mixture of day
and night until at some point I noticed my mother, the clan of suckling and myself were all laid out on
paper with odd black markings.
It started with boredom! I studied the small symbols beneath us and in time understood and read what
seemed to be accounts of human behavior.
Each day I awoke to a fresh floor of newsprint from a publication called “The Commercial Appeal.”
I read about terrorist bombings, elections, crime and stock exchanges but my favorite has become a random
collection of complex idioms known as ‘Comics’. Comics seem to revolve around the art of not taking life
too seriously. I was reading one Sunday afternoon on this favorite page of mine a story about two men
walking down a road that I can only imagine represented life. One was expressing concern about a dilemma
of his. It seems that his brother thought he was a chicken. The second man replied that this would easily
be resolved by taking his brother to a doctor. “No, you don’t understand,” said the first man, “my family
needs the eggs!”.
Upon reading this, a sudden profound consciousness seemed to strike me. I exist for a reason. Someone
must extend themselves in life to provide these eggs. This surely must be my destiny.
With an elated feeling I roamed the yard until I found a shady spot under a tree. I lay to rest with
a curious yellow bird looking down at me from its perch. And as I lay contemplating my new found destiny
and watching a flea crawl through the fine fur of my round belly, I noticed something odd. Two large black
gourd-like protrusions between my legs, I’m sure they weren’t there yesterday! I was compelled to return to
my siblings for a comparison study. Abruptly tumbling each revealed that I alone had the affliction.
I remembered something I had read in Ann Lander’s column. One of her readers made the comment
that a man’s brains were between his legs. I must be a man and these undoubtedly are my brains. My life
was beginning to gel. I was the first of the lot to open my eyes and the first to walk; now I’ve got brains!
Life seems to be a collection of wonderful discoveries.
I returned to the shade of my tree and its little bird to absorb the day and nap and dream. Life has so
much to offer to a man like me.
I awoke to a commotion in the yard. Two humans, a man and a woman were lifting my sisters over their
heads one at a time and peering underneath. The yard was a scramble of screaming and crying puppies.
Before I could run to the safety of my mother’s house, the female grabbed the flesh behind my neck and
flipped me over to examine my bottom side. “Babe, look, this one has them.” Her eyes were hidden behind
a large pair of gauche designer sunglasses but she seemed to be staring at my new brains. “Isn’t he cute”
The male put his hand under my belly and raised me over his head looking directly at my brains, then
into my eyes and said, “ Are you sure, because once we make this decision it . . . .” She cut him short by
saying, “I’m sure, and this is the best one.”
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
He unfolded a newspaper he had held under his arm, spread it out in a cardboard box, plopped me
down on top of it and closed the lid. I slid, tumbled and rolled in the semi darkness of the box. I could see
through a slit in the box that we were approaching a black Mercedes. There was jolt as the door slammed,
the engine started and we began to move.
I was face down and after an hour or so, in the dim light of the box I began to read a very curious ad
in the newspaper I rested on. Circled in blue ink was the confirmation of my fear.
PUPS-5 solid black
7wks,mother reg.
Golden retriever
Father reg. choc. Lab, $25 ea
458-9242
I hadn’t been kidnapped at all, but rather sold into slavery for my brains. Everything was so wonderful
yesterday, and now my life is in the toilet.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 7
AMBERGRIS CAYE
Perfumeries of Paris in the 16th century sought after ambergris, the desired rare ingredient needed
to supply their wealthy pompous clientele of twitching olfactory receptors with aromatic stimuli, perfume.
The hottest industry in France was for a century dependent on the highly sought after ambergris, a substance
secreted by temporarily infirm whales.
As the whale consumed its limit of indigestible shrimp, krill, grit, octopus beaks and sour Sargasso
polyps, the objectionable indigestible build-up was disposed of as vomitus bile, regurgitated into the warm
gulf of its winter home.
In 1775 Whale Puke Island could have been its name had the chart maker for Her Majesty’s ship had
any sense of humor.
News spread in the Old World of an island in the New World with beaches decorated in ambergris.
Great sailing ships doing business in the Central American Bay of Chetumal began to visit with regularity
laying the groundwork for a settlement. Suddenly French alchemists discovered that coal tar fixatives could
replace the expensive and rare ambergris ingredient from the rapidly diminishing whale population.
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
As its brief popularity faded, Ambergris was left hanging like a teardrop from the tip of the Yucatan
peninsula. Its shores now decorated only with the dregs of renegade buccaneers and expatriated pirates who
had mated with the Mestizo and Maya refugees.
For 200 years Ambergris’ population grew slowly, a place where who you were or what you were didn’t
matter; wild fowl roamed the island; coconuts fell from the trees; and fish were pulled from the ocean
enough to provide an existence for those who could not or did not want to go elsewhere.
A hideout in the world where pirates and misfits could be themselves without worry of law and order,
an island paradise!
In the 1960’s drug dealers discovered its unprotected border with Mexico, and it became a drop off
point for transportation between the Central American producers and the rapidly growing U.S. markets.
Its bars were filled with pilots and boat captains using fictitious names, willing to take risky cargo for some
quick cash.
Meanwhile, paradise was entering its maturity, as all paradises do. Tourists were discovering its carefree
fishing village. It was unavoidable. Ambergris would soon be filled with pasty white bodies clad in tacky
floral print asking inane questions and photographing the mundane.
In the 80’s real estate became the popular scam, and Ambergris was learning about a new kind of pirate.
Poor Ambergris, from roly-poly whale puke and renegade buccaneers to Central American drug dealers
and, now, unscrupulous scoundrels were selling bits of her to tourists. When Elbert and I arrived, the
coconut industry had died and the fishermen’s cooperative was not providing like it had in the past. Even
Jimmy Buffett had come and gone. It was the birth of tourism that lured Elbert.
SCUBA diving in the Caribbean was hot, and Ambergris Caye, a virgin in this new industry, was in
possession of a hundred miles of the most pristine coral reef in the hemisphere, but It was for freedom that
I was coming to this island.
The rest of the world was unwilling to accept me for what I was. I had been promised that on this island
I would never wear a leash. I would never be fenced and my new life would include what many like myself
would die for—freedom of expression. He had agreed that for the first time my unique abilities wouldn’t
be kept a secret. Together we were going to write a bird book.
After landing at Belize International, Elbert released me from my cage in the cargo hold. Customs was
still ahead of us and on the other side another flight to the island. Both Elbert and I expected trouble.
The agent looked at me, my documents and then announced to Elbert that he would have to quarantine
me for 30 days. My heart sank. Elbert shook his hand, smiled and said, “No problem, I’ll bring him back
tomorrow.’’
No problem? I thought, “What does he mean ‘no problem’?”
I was puzzled for a moment and then noticed the lingering handshake. As we walked outside to the
tarmac, Elbert disconnected my leash and discretely tossed it in a passing luggage cart. He winked and said,
“Welcome to Central America, Bubba. You owe me $100 U.S.”
Waiting for us on the field was a classic Piper super cub. Its yellow paint was faded with oxidation and
from the teddy bear emblem on its tail I suspect it’s the original paint. Beside the PA18 stood our pilot.
His big white teeth and smile lit his deeply tanned face. He wore mirrored aviator sunglasses and a white
epauletted short sleeve shirt. His forearms were decorated with the tattoos of a Catholic fisherman. He shook
hands with Elbert and introduced himself as Chino. Elbert introduced me and did the sit, shake routine.
I shook Chino’s hand, decided I’d had enough of this style of humility, jumped into the plane’s front seat
and put a paw on the stick. Chino laughed and made a joke about my flying his plane. Elbert crawled
into the back and Chino started the engine. He ran through a sloppy mag. check, laughing and speaking
Spanish on the radio about his new co-pilot. Chino struck me as someone who was willing to bend the rules.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 9
As the tail dragger rose from the short runway it provided me with my first view of the reef. Unlike the jet,
this aircraft really flew. We soared at 1000 feet.
Chino put the headphones on me and said, “Bark for the dispatcher in San Pedro.” Everything was so
funny for them until I throttled up and pulled back on the stick, jamming Elbert deeper into the luggage
cubby and banging Chino’s head against the window.
I leveled off at 3000 feet and dipped the wing to get a good look at my Promised Land. Chino’s face
was going through a lot of changes but ended in an approving smile. Elbert looked concerned but from his
position couldn’t effectively react to anything I decided to do. He yelled, “Don’t let him try to land us!”
All I wanted was to get to the island and end this chapter of my old life. I pushed the stick forward until
the altimeter read 100 and leveled off at 50 feet above the water surprising a flock of cormorants that were
flapping wildly and literally running atop the surface of the water in an effort to take off. They appeared
to be double-crested cormorant, the Phalacrocorax auritus from the order of Pelecaniformes, large aquatic
birds highly adapted for swimming, very ancient order dating back 20 million years.
As I glanced at Chino, his face read concern; 90 mph at 50 feet above water with a bird dog at the stick
is probably stretching his limits of a good time. If it weren’t for the heel brake configuration I would have
landed it on the island.
At the San Pedro airfield while Elbert was recovering from the flight and collecting our baggage, I got
my first chance to meet the people of Ambergris.
SAN PEDRO
Exploring town and finding a cool spot to rest was my priority, so I wandered ahead without Elbert.
All the streets were sand and everyone I encountered, children, adults, shopkeepers and bartenders
alike were barefoot and dressed in a simple fashionless style adorned only with gold teeth and tattoo.
A sign outside a tavern read, “No shoes, no shirt, no problema.” Contented faces of a widely varied descent
smiled, waved or nodded at passing strangers and fellow Ambergriseans. Among themselves they spoke
an odd form of Spanish mixed with Mayan and broken English to outsiders. In the entire town no building
was over two stories. An ancient Roman Catholic Church’s bell tower that rose above everything marked
the town’s center.
The trade winds cooled Front Street best, and my quest ended at a beachfront establishment called the
Holiday Hotel. Its heavy carved mahogany doors to the street were propped open in a gesture of welcome.
I walked in, crossed the lobby, passed the bar and stuck my head out the beachside exit to a verandah
overlooking the reef.
It was furnished in brightly colored adirondack style furniture and surrounded in red Hibiscus,
busy with visiting Cinnamon Hummingbirds. It and the beach beyond were shaded by towering
coconut palms. The whole unbelievably serene setting was graced with the low and distant roar of the reef
beyond . . . heaven!
Suddenly from the lobby a disturbing gruff voice boomed, “Is that your dog?”
I turned to discover Elbert behind me and confronting him was a large scowling woman.
“He’s my dog, Elbert said, “or I’m his person. However you want to look at it.”
She bellowed, “There are no dogs allowed in this Hotel,” pointing a stiff arm with crooked finger at
the door to the verandah she yelled, “Afuera!”
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“He doesn’t understand Spanish,” Elbert said calmly. “Bubba would you wait outside while I have a
drink at the bar?”
I quickly exited and plopped down on the verandah. With no adieu, the woman turned and stomped
away. From behind the bar a short, stocky Spanish man said, “That’s Celi, she owns the Hotel, lives upstairs.
What would you like to drink?”
Elbert settled in the stool and asked, “Is she always like that?”
He chuckled, “Only when she’s awake!”
“I’ll have a Caribbean rum and coke with lime, thank you.”
After mixing the drink his eyes cut to the door and he asked, “What’s your dog’s name?” I glanced
over to see Bubba’s head sticking inside. His mouth open, with his drooping tongue supporting a long
slobber sickle.
“Bubba,” I responded, “and mine’s Elbert. What’s yours?”
“Chico,” he answered quickly and distinctly unlike the others I had met. With a large hand, genuine
grip and warm smile he gave me a masculine single shake. “Nice to meet you. Would your dog like some
water?” “Well . . . Bubba would prefer a beer. Could you pour some beer in a bowl for him? He’ll drink
it outside!”
He poured the beer into a large stainless steel bowl, and I sat it outside. Bubba was gazing at the frigates
soaring overhead. Before lapping up the beer he looked up at me and smiled. I could tell he was not going
to mind the verandah at all.
I returned to the bar and asked Chico to request the front desk reserve me a room for the night.
As the afternoon progressed Chico began a line of questions that I’m sure he asks everyone who sits at
his bar for any extended length of time, but still he managed a convincing display of concern.
Reciting as he washed bar glasses in the sink he asked, “How long are you here for?”
“I’m going to stay. I’m not really a tourist. I plan to build on some land I’ve just bought on the island.”
“What kind of work do you do?”
“I’m a vocational teacher but I plan to teach SCUBA diving down here.”
“Want to go diving? I’ll introduce you to my cousin Tito.”
“Chico how many dive masters are there on the island?”
“Well let’s see. Tito, Nano, Marko, Turiano . . .” He began to count on his fingers and mumble to
himself eventually coming up with a figure of ten, all with names ending in “o.”
“Sure let’s set something up!”
“What else would you like to do? I know everybody.”
“Well, I like to write, and Bubba likes to do bird watching.”
“Your dog is a birdwatcher?”
“Sure, he’s a bird dog. Loves the sport.”
Chico offered to set up a tour with his cousin Cholo to ‘Rosario Caye,’ a neighboring island he claimed
was inhabited by hundreds of Herons and Spoonbills.
Continuing with his repertoire of questions he asked, “What do you write?”
“Witticisms, but nothing lately! I was hoping the local newspaper might humor me with my own
column.”
“A column about what?”
“ I don’t know yet but I’m sure it will come to me.”
“I’ll introduce you to Bruce and Victoria and the San Pedro Sun. They will print anything. Don’t worry
I’ll fix you up! Want another drink?”
“Yes and could Bubba have another bowl of beer?”
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 11
“You’re going to get me in trouble!”
“Chico, you are full of information. I seem to have stumbled into the right bar. I was hoping you could
help me find my way around the Island.”
Chico responded with, “It’s easy: we have Front, Middle and Back street. The sea is in the front
of the island and the lagoon, in the back. Put your right foot in the Caribbean and you’re going north.
Left foot, south. Simple! The town ends just a little way to the north in a river with no bridge, and the
south end is a Maya Ruin called Marco Gonzalez.”
“Chico, my property is on the north end.”
“UA-OH, you are going to need a boat. My cousin Turiano can find you one quick!”
The following weeks at the Hotel, Bubba and I got to know San Pedro. Diving , fishing, exploring,
drinking with Chico and trying to stay out of Celi’s way.
One could say San Pedro is a dream. Someone could say San Pedro was as if it were set in another time.
Someone else could say San Pedro is as if it was in another world and they would all be saying the same thing.
There is salt and sand, towering coconut trees, fishing boats pulled unto the beach, large piles of empty
conch shells, tall stacks of lobster traps and bleached wooden houses.
San Pedro is a Roman Catholic fishing village and early every morning, except Sunday, the men went out
fishing. The mayor was a fisherman so he went out. The town councilors were fishermen so they went out;
the justice of the peace was a fisherman. It gave the town a peaceful air during the day, nothing important
or official could happen. All shops and businesses closed for lunch and most for the remainder of the day.
Afternoons were for sitting in a shady spot. During the morning if you needed meat you went to see Hipalito
the butcher. If you wanted vegetables you went to see Mario at the vegetable stand. Fish were at the co-op
and bread was at the bakers. If you had a problem you went to visit Constable Orio at the police station.
San Pedro was a poem and in some way it all seemed to surround Celi’s Holiday Hotel.
The tourists stayed at her hotel, ate at her restaurant and drank in her bar. The locals and expatriated
gringos of the village seem to be drawn to its lobby. Some waiting to see what would come to town next,
others just drinking to forget life before San Pedro.
The bar opened at dawn and didn’t close until the last wandering vagrant dollar had been spent or
retired for the night. Not that Celi was avaricious, she wasn’t, but if one wanted to spend money she
was accommodating. Celi’s position in the community surprised her, as much as she could be surprised.
Over the course of years everyone in the village that drank had owed her money. She never pressed her
clients, but when the bill became too large, Celi cut off credit. Rather than patronize another bar, the client
usually paid or tried to. Her wealth may have been entirely in unpaid bar tabs, but she lived well and had
the respect of the village. In some sense she was San Pedros benevolent Queen.
I kept looking for some sign that this wasn’t paradise, but it eluded me.
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CLEO
There wasn’t a man in San Pedro that
hadn’t looked on Cleo with thoughts of
what her form had to offer.
If she held motionless and didn’t speak,
a simple smile could cause an unwitting
man to swear his soul to this beauty, but
with the slightest hint of voice or movement
a great enigma arose. Cleo was born on the
northern river in a village called Bomba
deep in the jungle where she developed a
wealth of practical knowledge for such an
upbringing, but few thoughts where given
to anything else. Any man complimenting
her on her appearance was quickly told,
“Shadup!” Cleo found it much more
comfortable eating with her fingers and
wiping food from her face was a waste until
after the meal.
She was a business woman and made
herself busy with the boat captains willing
to bring from her village exotic fruits and
fresh meat to sell to San Pedranos. Deer
Crocodile, gibnut, papaya, banana and
cashew where in demand on the island and
Cleo had the connections.
She worked in the Holiday’s gift shop fashion boutique in the lobby. Celi allowed her to dress from
its inventory. Her elegant selections fueled the enigma. To view Cleo in the latest sleek gowns was a heart
stopper. However, while indulging in the wealth of offerings for the boutique, Cleo never considered a pair
of shoes, partly because no one on the island really wore or needed shoes, but mostly because of her feet!
Cleo’s shiny black hair was full and always woven in elaborate braids. Her teeth were white and straight,
hidden beneath full and naturally rosy lips. Her skin was smooth, creamy brown and flawless. Her feminine
figure was proportioned like a centerfold, her back lightly arched, her legs slender, but her feet!
Her feet were the product of a barefoot life, large, thick, spread out and twice sized for the support one
might need while lumbering through the jungle. They had developed outside normal restraints into their
fullest potential.
She walked like a 300 pound man shifting from one hip to the other in an elephantine manner, planting
each foot flat and solid as she moved across the lobby positioning herself behind the bar. The gift shop
business was slow and Cleo was learning the bartender trade by filling in for Chico on his day off.
“Cleo, may I have a rum and coke? And could Bubba get another beer? Where’s Chico?”
She studied the mirrored wall of bottles and asked in an inappropriate, loud tone, “What’s in a rum
and coke?”
“You don’t drink do you Cleo?”
Jabiru Stork nest building along the Northern River
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 13
“Shadup! You want a drink or not? Which one is it?”
“It’s that one . . . . there. The one that says Dark Caribbean Rum.”
She grabbed the bottle, removed its cap and planted her feet before the pouring station holding a glass
of ice. Studying the bottles label she asked, “How much does he put in it?”
Watching from where he lay in the door way Bubba put a paw over one eye. Some of the regulars at the
bar, Reverend Bill, Scary Sherry, Lovely Rita and Tequila Steve watched silently from the other end.
I pointed to the shot glass and said, “Chico fills these little glasses to measure it and then pours it over
the ice.”
Cleo poured the rum slowly and she viewed the red fill line from two angles with the concern of a
freshman chemistry student involved in their first experiment. Then dumped it into my glass and filled it
with coke to the rim.
“Four dollars!” she said.
Reluctantly I asked, “May I have a lime?”
She shifted her feet to angle herself towards Chico’s cutting board, quartered a lime and gave it a squeeze
over my drink squirting my face, shirt, top of the bar and in the rum and coke.
Tequila Steve became unsettled. He shifted his weight on the barstool and looked up over the paperback
book that seemed to always cover his face,
“May I get another tequila over here?”
The rum and coke episode had taken 15 minutes and Steve drinks three shots an hour. His sudden
restlessness seemed to be concern that Cleo might not supply his demand timely. Cleo stepped back to
the mirrored shelf to replace the rum bottle, looking down the bar to his request she said, “hold your
horses!”
Reverend Bill who had not been seen without a drink in his hand since the end of the Vietnam War
began to pay close attention.
Lovely Rita who likes lime with her rum and soda, but does not wear protective eye wear, also perked
up. Scary Sherry maintained a fearful silence.
I thanked Cleo and said, “Cleo you look very beautiful in that dress.”
“Shadup!”
“Cleo, do they have Jabiru Storks in Bomba? It’s a woodstork indigenous to that area.”
“Don’t talk to me!” She then turned her feet in the direction of the trio at the end of the bar and stepped
up in front of Lovely Rita, “What do you want?”
Lovely Rita flinched at the abrupt attention, “Rua . . . Rua..Rum and soda.”
Thinking ahead Lovely Rita decided not to ask for the lime. Cleo returned to the mixing station before
me and began filling a glass with ice.
Forced to face me I took advantage of this posture and asked, “Could you show me a Jabiru. The San
Pedro Sun is going to let me write a weekly column about birds and I wanted the Jabiru to be the first.”
“I’m working, don’t you get it? Leave me alone!”
I held up a blue Belizean $100 bill and said, “I’m willing to pay you.”
She grabbed for the bill but I dodged it from her grasp. She looked me in the eye and said, “ I’m going
to show you a Jabiru, take your money and you’re going to be sorry if you don’t leave me alone!”
She returned to her tense patrons at the other end and I raised an eyebrow at Bubba who seemed to
give me a look of approval. Bubba’s in charge of our bird watching budget and I took his look as approval
for this being a worthwhile venture.
With her next return to the mixing station I said, “They prefer to live in Riverine Forest, like that
around your village. I hear their nests are ten feet in diameter.”
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
“OK! Gringo, give me the blue note and I promise I’ll show you a Jabiru!, OK?”
I held out the bill again; she snatched it. With her right hand she began to fold it in thirds. With her
left she pulled out the neck line of her dress.
She held the folded bill in front of my face showing me to my surprise an illustration of a Jabiru on the
note, then quickly stuffed it in her bra.
“Stupid Gringo,” she said as she waddled Reverend Bill’s drink to the other end of the bar. Bubba gave
me a disgusted look and sighed. That was the last time we did business with Cleo.
SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
JABIRU
In the world of aves there is an order known as Ciconiiformes and within that order there are seven
families. One of these families known by the name ‘ciconiidae’ has two branches that live in Belize.
They are the Wood Storks and the Jabiru mycteria.
Like the Manatee and Howler Monkey, the Jabiru is another rare and valued resident of Belize.
The Jabiru is the largest flying bird in the Americas, standing over 5½ feet tall with a wingspan of
over 8 feet. It has long legs and a massive black bill. Its head and neck are black and without feathers.
At the base of its bare neck is a broad red band of skin. Its plumage is entirely white.
Some friends have pointed out that a likeness of the Jabiru can be found printed on the Belizean
100 dollar bill. After a few failed attempts and false starts, Bubba and I set out to find a Jabiru nest on
our own.
We had heard rumors of nesting Jabiru with chick along the New River Lagoon in Lamanai.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 15
Early Spanish frontiersmen accessed this area of Belize via the Bahia Bay of Chetumal traveling up
the New River to a large bluff. The bluff is adorned with very impressive Mayan temples that date from
1500 BC until the arrival of the Franciscan Friars in 1650. ‘Lamanai,’ as they called it, means ‘submerged
crocodile’. Bubba and I spotted several along the way. Quite a fascinating boat trip with more Auifana that
can be appreciated in a single cruise.
The whole order of Ciconiiformes are fish eating birds with long legs for wading in shallow waters and
this river seemed rich with all that savannas and marsh land could provide. The Jabiru is not limited to fish.
They enjoy amphibians, reptiles, snakes and small mammals. Bubba pointed out that the Jabiru’s featherless
neck was an indication that it ate carrion as well. Birds like buzzards for instance, that also have featherless
heads and necks, will take a meal from a large dead animal. Collecting rotting flesh on feathers can cause
infection and disease. Having slick skin is much safer for such activity.
Finding a Jabiru nest is easy, if there is one to be found. It will be atop the tallest tree on the highest
ridge overlooking the savanna not far from the water. We also could have just been incredibly lucky.
As we got closer to the nest I was rudely reminded of something I had read about how the parents feed
their chicks. The Jabiru has a well-developed throat pouch or ‘crop’ as it is sometimes called. As the Jabiru
eats its daily variety of mice, lizard or fish, the food collects at the base of the throat. Upon arriving at the
nest the hunting parent regurgitates its catch into the nest to feed the chicks and attending parent. The
smell around the base of the tree with the nest should be sufficient reason to have most admire the Jabiru
from afar.
I needed to allow Bubba to publicly express himself as promised so we agreed the two of us would
co-author my weekly column for the Sun. The newspaper must have printed this under an assumption that
I was writing using a dual personality pen name!
Bubba believes that educating the masses is the best place to start his campaign for bird awareness, so
for his first article he wrote . . . .
SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
How To Change The World In Three Easy Steps
By Bubba
It is said that when a human stands on the rim of the Grand Canyon and looks to the other side, they
have an emotional experience.
I’ve heard them say, ‘we just seem so damn tiny.’
Likewise, the challenge that afflicts Ambergris Caye can seem overwhelming in scope and scale. When
problems are as big as overfishing, Pollution and coastal overdevelopment, it’s easy to think that there’s
no way one person can do anything to bring about positive change. But just as the trek to the peak of Mt.
Everest is made step by tiny step, positive change often comes in tiny increments.
Awareness, Legislation and Enforcement are the blue print for positive change. My big rock to chip at
is Awareness!
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
We understand there is no easy way to reverse the tide of environmental degradation, but we also
understand that given a simple choice between eco-friendly and environmentally damaging practices, the
vast majority will choose to do what’s best for the Island.
Ambergris Caye in its remote and forgotten corner has been exempt in the past from the consequences
the rest of the world has been paying for its mismanagement of development and the environment but
that’s about to change with paradise discovered.
What, you may ask, has this to do with Birds? The Birds environment and the environment we live in,
are the same environment. Efforts for either are parallel. Standing on a soapbox and shaking your finger
to the sky in this age will get you ignored but entertain and you message will be remembered Pointing
out the beauty and creating awareness of its care and maintenance to the masses who read the newspaper
may be just one birddogs effort, but with every person I successfully effect to smile, the situation improves
incrementally,
And suddenly we don’t seem so tiny anymore.
Barstool Bird Watching
I first discovered birdwatching from a barstool, and every so often, I find myself back on that stool
gazing over the Caribbean.
Chico is my favorite bartender on the island, partly because he makes excellent conch ceviche and partly
because of his tolerance of my antics. One afternoon while warming the stool, he asked me how I found
the time to bird watch enough in order to write my weekly column on birds.
I explained how bird watching for some isn’t a planned event and that birds are always around us. We
merely have to stop time and look!
He looked at me strange and asked if I would like another beer.
I could tell he didn’t fully understand bird watching, so I enticed him into a round of “barstool bird
watching” with a challenge, “I can identify more birds than you without leaving my stool!”
I knew from watching Chico play dominos that he enjoyed gaming, so I bet a round of drinks for
the bar.
Luckily, “Tequila Steve” had left us with some binoculars, and the afternoon was young.
Chico washed his chopping block in the bar’s sink and began to sharpen his knife, peering out the
windows overlooking the shoreline. “I see frigates,” he said, “ . . . five of them! Flying around the fishing
boats.”
I explained how each specie only counted for one sighting, and the score was Chico—1, Elbert—0,
Bubba—0.
After a few other declarations of the rules, Chico agreed to include Bubba’s sightings if he barks first.
Chico began to chop a large, white onion. Two little ground doves were bobbing for sand flies just off
the veranda. “Doves!” he yelled, “That’s two for me!” “What kind of doves,” I asked. “Little doves!” he
responded.
We talked a while about the rules stating “species”. He opened me another beer, and I conceded his
score of “little doves”.
Chico—2, Elbert—0, Bubba—0. Chico had just settled down and started chopping the conch into
bite sized cubes when Bubba suddenly jumped up from his nap in the doorway, ran across the lobby and
barked across the street at the breadfruit tree, startling two white-winged doves to fly away.
Chico—2, Elbert—0, Bubba—1.
Before I could swivel around in the bar stool to face the shoreline again, Chico had Peterson’s Field Guide
in his hand and was yelling, “Magnificent Frigate and the Great Frigate. If Bubba can count two kinds of
dove, I can count the Great Frigate. That’s three for me, one for Bubba, and you don’t have zip!”
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 17
As fast as I could rattle them off, I took the lead with “Royal Tern, Brown Pelican, White Pelican and
Neo-tropical Commorant.”
The game’s momentum was interrupted by Chico’s calling foul on my commorant sighting. “It’s
underwater,” I explained. After a few minutes of studying the surface of the waters around the dock, a
commorant surfaced its head with a wiggling eel in its beak and began swallowing. “You’re lucky,” Chico
said in a low voice, “That’s four for you . . .”
Chico—3, Elbert—4, Bubba—1.
Chico opened me another beer and began to chop habañera peppers. We had not noticed Bubba slip
out to the end of the dock until he barked in the air at a soaring osprey; prancing back up the dock, Bubba
pointed his nose up again at a black-headed gull and gave a short, cocky bark. I could tell he was in a
mood to show off. He leaped from the dock landing in the middle of six sandpipers with his third bark,
then walking to the veranda, he stopped to give a “woof” into the hibiscus, giving notice to the Cinnamon
Hummingbirds. He honestly looked smug as he plopped down in his favorite spot at the bar.
Chico—3, Elbert—4, Bubba—5.
The ceviche was ready! Chico was putting it in cups equipped with small forks.
He handed me a cup, and at the same time held up a fresh, cold beer. I reached out with both hands
and took hold of the two. “Thanks, Chico.” Chico paused, and then asked with a smile, “We forgot to
decide how this game ends.”
After a few bites I began to sweat the pepper with a flush to my face. I explained, “The game never
really ends; you just pause awhile and time restarts itself.” Chico always looks at me strange when I talk
like that. He offered me another beer, and I drank it like water. Chico pointed out that the sun was going
down and encouraged me to take my boat home before dark.
Just one more point and it would be a tie. I asked Chico if he had ever been beaten by a dog before,
and he said, “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings; good night, bye, so long, you and your dog get out of my
bar!”
Walking to my boat, I noticed the moon and tide had exposed the turtle grass beds beside the dock,
and hunting in the middle of the bed was a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. I opened my mouth to yell to
Chico, but before I could utter a word, there was a soft “woof” from my side . . . how humiliating.
Chico—3, Elbert—4, Bubba—6.
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SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Lamanai, for the Birds
Lamanai is a Maya word meaning “submerged crocodile”, but also the name of the third largest, and
possibly the most interesting archeological site in Belize. Located in the Orange Walk District, the Lamanai
temple complex sits atop the western bluff of the New River Lagoon and is surrounded by pristine rainforest.
This Pre-Classic site had its origins 3,500 years ago and experienced the longest period of occupation and
development of any other Maya archeological site in Belize.
The journey to Lamanai is as interesting as Lamanai itself. Tour operators on Ambergris Caye sell this
day trip as an eco-adventure and for the aware “birder” it may be the most productive of rare and unusual
sightings Belize has to offer. All tour guides in Belize are trained and licensed. They will always have good
water for you and some provide snacks.
The trip leaves the dock in San Pedro for the New River Lagoon at approximately 7:30 a.m. and passes
through a number of diverse avian habitats along the way. The boat first crosses through mangrove channels
The New River
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 19
at the southern tip of Ambergris Cays offering opportunities for sighting Belted Kingfishers, Great White
Herons, Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, Black-Necked Stilts, as well as the
common occurrence of Brown Pelicans, Frigates, Cormorants, Ospreys, Plovers, Pipers and Terns.
The boat then exits the mangrove on Ambergris’ west side and crosses the southern end of the Bahia de
Chetumal. Early Spanish frontiersmen accessed Lamanai via the Bay of Chetumal from Corozal traveling
up the New River to a large bluff. The bluff is adorned with very impressive Maya temples that date from
1500 B.C. until the arrival of the Franciscan Friars in 1650.
Our crossing to the shortcut takes approximately 45 minutes and ends entering the Belize mainland
at the mouth of the Northern River in the Northern Rover Lagoon. Elbert spotted a Green Heron fishing
the shallows of a small island lagoon, the only island that was supporting tall coconut trees. The Northern
River runs through tropical swamp where the fresh water of the river mixes with the tidal salt water, so that
salt levels fluctuate. Characteristic in this area are Red Mangroves (Rhizophora harrisoni), with spreading
silt roots. The flowering orchids, vermilions and epiphytes they support are the chief source of nectar for
the Mangrove Hummingbird. In this swamp, Mangrove Vireos, Mangrove Warblers, Flycatchers and Snail
Kites permanently reside, and many water birds rest, forage and nest.
This leg of the trip ends on the firm earth and dark soil at the edge of the swamp in the village of
Bomba, where you are transferred from boat to bus for the trip along the Old Northern Highway. During
the 50-minute trip to the New River you will pass through savanna. Elbert and I spotted three Jabiru Storks
in the marsh grasses along the way as well as a flock of White Ibis and a variety of Hawks, Vultures and
Egrets.
We boarded a different boat on the New Northern River near Tower Hill. The New Northern River
between Tower Hill and Lamanai runs through Riverine/Gallery Forest and is a habitat for Limpkins, Kites,
Bitterns, Rails and a variety of Herons, such as the Tri-colored and the Chestnut-bellied. A common site
along the river is the female Northern Jacana trotting along its lily pads foraging for water bugs and small
frogs or fish.
The journey ends at the base of the bluff and the edge of the rainforest on the New River Lagoon at
Lamanai. Our group was introduced to a very will informed Belizean Archeological Tour Guide who led
us through a field museum first and then on a jungle walk – up, down and around several Maya temples
set under the rainforest canopy.
He began our trip by pointing out a Keel Billed Toucan in the trees above where we did our
introductions.
He identified flora and fauna of the forest along the way, stopping at a tree of Howler and Spider
Monkeys and pointing out the need to not stand directly under them. He also gave notice to the Wood
Creepers, Yellow-headed Parrots, a Groove-billed Ani, a Keel-billed Toucan and a Slaty-tailed Trogon. We
had a wonderful lunch on a picnic table under the shade of a giant Bullet tree at the edge of the river before
returning.
Yes, definitely. Lamanai,.. for the birds.
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SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
A Birdwatchers Guide For the Complete Idiot
By Bubba
The recent extraordinary growth in popularity of Birdwatching as a hobby and the wave of interest
in exploring, protecting and learning about the environment seem to be symptoms of a single desire: to
become part of the natural world. I would like this involvement and participation in Birdwatching to be
un-intimidating and easy, so with Elbert’s help I have put together a few thoughts and helpful hints that
might gently introduce the novice or even the complete idiot to the Avian world.
We will begin by clarifying what a Birdwatcher is or isn’t . . . . already it gets confusing! There are a few
terms we should define first.
ORNITHOLOGIST—It simply means a person who studies birds, a term usually reserved to describe
those serious scientific types that have some sort of degree in the subject and thus a rightful claim to moral
superiority.
BIRDWATCHER—Well, I hope you can get this one without much explanation, just a person who
watches birds. Beginning or experienced, usually they own some binoculars, a field guide, know where to
find a Roadside hawk, and keep a list of sightings. Today the connotation of birdwatcher is not hip and
although it’s an accurate and descriptive title, there are just too many to constitute an elite.
BIRDER—As you may have already guessed, the hip, elite and seriously involved in identifying and
collecting listings. Example: If you are a “birder” you don’t go birdwatching, you go “birding” to adventurous
locations.
TWITCHER—This list wouldn’t be complete without listing the “Twitcher”. Bill Oddie, in his famous
“Little Black Bird Book” defines it as, “Someone who is obsessed with ‘Ticks’ (British for “mark it off your
list”), races around the country chasing rare birds, uses all the correct terms and marks off the list as he
goes.”
Now that you know the players, let’s take a look at EQUIPMENT and CLOTHING. You will need:
binoculars, an old hat, a field guide to bird identification, a rain poncho, insect repellent, a notebook and
pen, a water bottle, a camera and film and sun screen.
Think you’re ready? Not quite . . . what are we looking at? You think that’s a trick question, don’t you?
Birders are identifying birds! This seems to be the largest most important subject—what is it?
Identifying a bird correctly isn’t easy. It’s best to start by putting it in an order, which brings us to
“Taxonomy”. Taxonomy is simply categorizing the bird in related groups. It’s done with Latin names.
The groups start with the largest group to the smallest individual. This is how it goes: Kingdom—whether
it’s a plant or an animal; Class—in this case, Avian (things that have feathers); Order—there are 34 orders
that make up the big groups, for example, Herons, Hummingbirds, Owls, etc.; Family—medium-size
groups within the big groups; Genus—a small group of closely related species; Species—the smallest division.
It’s best to think of species as a population; Subspecies—simply stated—a race!
Birders seem to only be concerned with the last three. You would record, for example, Caracara
c. cachinnans (the Laughing falcon). Don’t worry, it’s all there in the field guide.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 21
Ah yes, the field guide, a book of color pictures, names all in order and you’d think that would make
it easy. There is your bird sitting on the telephone wire patiently waiting while you look it up, correctly
identify it and record it in your notebook. You have the binoculars focused in on it, but it just doesn’t
look like the illustration. Your problem could be another favorite topic of a true Birdwatcher, Molting
and Plumage. When it doesn’t look like the photo in the field guide, it can usually be blamed on the fact
that birds change feathers for the occasion. Feathers are different patterns and colors at different stages of
their lives for a variety of reasons. “Immature” is one of the most common reasons you may not find it
easily identifiable. For example, the little Blue Heron is white for its first year until it goes into its breeding
season. Molting is the process by which birds change their plumage. Old feathers simply don’t fly a bird as
well as new feathers, neither do they attract the opposite sex. So migration and breeding are the two major
reasons to molt. Plumage is used to describe what one might call your wardrobe “summer plumage, winter
plumage, breeding plumage,” all different looks of the same species.
Now before you go out into the world thinking you’re keen on birds, let’s arm ourselves with a vocabulary
and take a look at some terms you’ll need to use. Birders use words you won’t find in spell check. “Ish” is
used to describe something that’s not quite what it is, for example, blue-ish, red-ish, dark-ish. This gives
you a lot of latitude to cover a mistaken ID. Eyeshine is the color reaction to a bird’s eyes when they have a
light shined on them at night, for example, blue eyeshine or green eyeshine. Topknot, as you might guess,
is the strange thing on the top of the bird’s head. Understory is the place where you might find a jungle
bird, in the “Understory” of the trees. Rufus is a color, sort of red-ish rusty-brown and surprisingly most
birds have something you could describe as rufus. Use it a lot.
So, what have we learned? Even you can be a Birdwatcher. You’re not an ornithologist; don’t twitch, be
prepared, keep a list of birds you identify, and don’t ever take yourself too seriously.
Enjoy!
I was concerned for Bubbas obsession with birdwatching in that compulsive behavior usually isn’t
healthy and his phrase’ search for birding truth’ concerned me.
SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Bubba Birdwatching Philosophy
By Bubba
For Elbert birdwatching is another way to relate to life. He says it’s a different, more graceful path that
makes living enjoyable and its problems easier to solve.
I find my entertainment by not limiting by observations to birds alone but including birdwatchers.
Elbert calls it Bubba style. Watching birdwatchers has revealed more to me about human behavior than
birding techniques. I’ve resolved the greatest discovery of the human will be that a human being can alter
its life by altering its attitude. Elbert said, “One of the cardinal rules of ‘Bubba Birdwatching’ should be
that judging others takes a great deal of energy and, without exception, pulls you away from where you
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
want to be.” I think he doesn’t understand.
Being a birddog is probably an advantage
for me. In my search for ‘Birding Truth’ I
have discovered many opinions-and if they
don’t fall in line with my belief I try not to
dismiss it or if I find fault in it I try to see a
positive side. For example, ‘The Aggressive
Compulsive Lister’, I admire them for how
seriously they can take themselves. In my
adventures I’ve run into quite a few with
this birding malady, a personality that seems
to polarize ‘Bubba Birdwatching’. They go
about recording details, listing and counting
as if they were in a birdwatching emergency.
In some ways this strategy epitomizes the
essential message of ‘Bubba style’. It is as if
someone prescribed to them birdwatching
as an anti-anxiety medicine and their
medication is out of adjustment.
The human trait of being in a hurry to
relax has always confused me. The aggressive compulsive birder wants to see that bird now! So they can get
onto the next one and the next, then hurry back to the lodge to write them down on the ‘life list’. Elbert
said, “almost every opinion has some merit, especially if we are looking for merit, rather than looking
for errors, and I should try to help them with their birding enjoyment by showing them value in ‘Bubba
Birdwatching’.”
There are three excellent reasons for becoming a Bubba Birder. First, when you are aggressive you
put yourself and everyone around you in an uncomfortable birding mood. Second, birding aggressively is
extremely stressful. Your blood pressure goes up, your grip on the binoculars tightens, your eyes are strained
and your thoughts are spinning out of control. Finally, you end up wasting time in getting to where you
want to be emotionally.
Bubba Birdwatching is done to relax. When I ask birders, what does it mean to relax? Most will answer
in a way that suggests that relaxing is something you plan to do later—you will do it on vacation, in a
hammock, when you retire or when you get through birdwatching. The obvious implication is the rest of
your time should be spent nervous, agitated, rushed and frenzied. This is not the ‘Bubba way’. It’s useful
to think of relaxation as a quality of heart that you can access anytime rather than something reserved for
a later time. it’s helpful to remember that relaxed people can still be birdwatching super achievers. When
I’m feeling uptight, for example, I don’t even try to write. But when I feel relaxed, my writing flows quickly
and easily.
Being a Bubba Birder involves training yourself to respond differently to the dramas of birdwatching.
It comes in part from reminding yourself over and over again that you have a choice in how you respond.
For instance, upon seeing a new and unusual bird one can run crashing through the jungle trying to focus
the binoculars, looking for a pencil, and looking it up in Peterson’s all at the same time or be a true Bubba
and simply whisper, “Wow, did you see that?” . . . . this plateau is achievable. You can learn to relate to your
thinking as well as your circumstances in a new birding awareness. With practice, making these choices will
translate into your becoming a true Bubba Birder.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 23
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
THE KISKADEE
In the order of Passeriformes is the Pitangus sulphuratus.
Large for a flycatcher, the kiskadee has a bright yellow belly, rufous tail and yellow crown with white
streaks running from its bill above the eye to the back of its head.
I don’t think I would be able to write a weekly bird column if it was up to me to choose the bird.
I was having my morning coffee on the new deck with Bubba, and a young male kiskadee landed on
a bending coconut frond above Bubba’s food and water bowls. It made a sound that I could only imagine
is a communiqué to the others that Bubba has left some dog food bits in his bowl and fresh water. It’s a
sharp, high-pitched cry that probably carries a long distance. My book spells it “eeeeek”.
After doing his doing his duty to inform the others, he sprung to the dog food bowl of kernels and
grasped one in his bill.
He seemed perplexed by its hardness and his inability to crunch it.
A female landed on the same bent frond but seemed content to watch the male struggle with his
dilemma.
He beat the kernel on the wood deck with a quick, flipping right and left movement of its head that
reminded me of the kingfisher’s technique for killing its sardine. When this didn’t work he held it to the
deck with his left foot and pecked it twice sharply.
Frustrated, he then flew off with the unaffected kernel in his bill.
The female cocked her head to have a quick look at me and then one at Bubba sleeping.
Her approach was with much more caution than the male. She was a much duller color than the male
and surly must be less obvious to a predator while sitting on the nest.. Loss of the male would be less of a
consequence to procreation of the species, so he seems to be the colorful bold ‘scout’.
She, after a long analytical pause, fluttered down to perch on the bowl’s rim, picked up a kernel, hopped
to the water bowl and dunked it under the water. When the water softened it to her particular palate, she
stretched her neck and threw it back!
I wonder if she will be kind enough to relay this discovery to the male?
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 25
SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Yellow-Throated Warbler
New World Warblers are found in Belize. Their Order is Passeriform and within that order the family
name is Parulidae. They are small Songbirds.
This week’s bird family chose itself as bird of the week by being seen in all the right places around
San Pedro. Just back in town from a summer vacation in the Rocky Mountains near the Canadian border
Warblers will be here and all of the Yucatan until spring.
You’re going to notice these birds, as they are bold and fast allowing them to comfortably forage in close
proximity to humans. Its favorite spots are one of the many outdoor Bars or restaurants of San Pedro. Sugary
drinks attract flies and Warblers are for the most part insectivorous. This bird is darty as it hops onto the
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
bar tops and tables. They sometimes display a wing-spreading maneuver to flush insects up to be quickly
nabbed. Warblers have very similar characteristics and Aerial Fly catching habits. They have a specialized
type of feather around the bill with only a few barbs at the base. The rest of the shaft is naked. These are
called Bristles, and many birds that catch flying insects have them. They have flat bills with a broad base,
the surest way to score an allusive meal.
I asked Bubba what he could tell me new and different about the Warblers. He said,” One of the most
distinctive characteristics of the warbler is the variety of sounds they make. Vocalizations of Songbirds are
divided into songs and calls, depending primarily on their message. They are being studied with our new
technologies and discoveries of what, why and when uncover interesting facts about the use of song as
language. Much like an Italian Opera, each song has a distinct purpose with little dialog between.”
Among the Warblers usually only the male sings and has a different song depending on the stage of
the breeding cycle, time of day and occasion. The songs have function and Warblers share a common song
system that has two distinct groups or categories.
The first groupings, sometimes called the accented-ending are sung during the day, are simple and sung
near females. These songs seem to serve primarily in mate attraction.
Males that lose their mates will rapidly increase the number of first category songs they sing.
The second type of song is referred to as unaccented-ending or second category song.
These songs are typically delivered rapidly at Dawn, are male-to-male interactions and usually more
complex.
The messages are defined as;
First Category
1. The ‘I don’t have a mate and I’m looking for a mate’, song, sung by the male.
2. ‘Contact Calls’ usually passed back and forth during the day between males and females inside
the territory. Little ‘Chirp Notes’.
3. ‘The Female to Female conflict’. These songs are thought to strengthen the pair bond. (Did I
mention Warblers are monogamous?)
Second Category
1. ‘This is my territory’ sung by the male (usually sung at dawn)
2. ‘I have a mate in this territory’ sung by the male to another male.
3. ‘The dispute of territory’ sung pro and con.
4. Then an undefined message sung to the female within the male’s territory after mating.
Even during the mating season when birds sing, the songs do not communicate all of a birds concerns.
Aggression, alarm, danger, and food location are other kinds of information some birds convey by the short
unmusical notes labeled ‘calls’, often heard throughout the year. Calls can be understood by other species
and have a common bond.
Birdwatching is for the millions of people who enjoy watching and identifying birds and for those who
would like to go beyond recognition skills to the how and whys of bird biology and behavior ‘Birdlistening’
is another fascinating sport.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 27
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Spotted Sandpiper
Shorebirds
Shorebirds from the order of Charadriiformes
Early each morning I walk down to the beach , and all along the shoreline troops of small shorebirds
scurry along the water’s edge, looking for food. The shorebirds, by which is meant the sandpiper and plovers,
are tough to identify. They run along the shoreline the length and breadth of Ambergris. Most shorebirds
are small, like a sparrow or medium-sized like a robin, with slender bills for probing in the mud or sand and
slender legs for wading. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t positively identify them. Just try to answer, is it a
sandpiper or plover. Hundreds of different patterns on these birds make it almost impossible. We probably
have six species of plovers and possibly twenty or more sandpipers running up and down the beaches of our
island. Plovers are generally smaller than sandpipers with shorter, thicker bills and have a behavior of run
and stop, run and stop from looking for food in the wave action on the beach. They eat crustaceans and
small marine life as they go. Sandpipers have longer, slimmer bills and behave more independently than
the flocking plovers. They are generally taller and are in a different family called Scolopacidae.
Plovers are in a family known as Charadriidae.
My little friends I see on the dock each morning, to the best of my ability, are Ruddy Turnstones. They
sleep in flocks and lay eggs right atop the sand in the low grasses on the beach crest’s slope. Bubba likes to
run up the dock and make them all fly away. I suppose he’s studying their flight. As they fly away their sharp
voices say, “kek, kek, kek, kek, kek,” and they display a striking upper and lower wing pattern. I should
put Bubba in charge of showing me how birds fly away!
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Bubba on Subspecies
While passing a quiet afternoon in my hammock with Bubba fishing from the dock, the low roar of
the reef was all the sound to be heard. I thought I would entertain myself by asking him something about
the birds. Just to start a conversation, I asked, “Why do you spend so much time studying the birds?” He
responded with “It helps me understand humans!”
“Maybe I should restate my question. Why do people study birds?”
He replied, “It helps them understand themselves.”
“Well I guess I can see how behaviors can be similar and parallels can be drawn but all that classification
stuff seems unrelated.
“No, you’re wrong! All that classification ‘stuff ’ as you call it has more value in understanding ourselves
than behavior parallels. I’ll give you a profound example. From what I’ve learned from taxonomy I have
an understanding of what’s happening in Kosovo between the Serbs and Albanians, and how that could
never happen to us in Belize.”
“I’m going to call you to task on that one Bubba; that’s a little farfetched for me to believe!”
“I’ll show you, but first let me explain taxonomy and how classification began. The word is derived
from Greek, taxis(‘arrangement’) and nomos(‘law’). In the 1800’s a Swedish taxonomist, Carolus Linnaeus,
invented a system of classifying living things into divisions. The first division was plant or animal; he called
it the ‘Kingdom’. Then there was a ‘Class’ dividing creatures such as reptiles and mammals from birds. Then
came ‘Orders’ separating, heron from sparrows, and finally ‘genus’ and then ‘species’. The species was to
be the smallest division; example: people are Homo sapiens and sugar maple trees are Acer saccharum and
Dogs like me are Canis familiaris, etc. A subdivision of species was called a race or ‘Subspecies’. Remember
in 1737 Darwin’s theory of evolution was still a long time away. Did you know that Darwin was pressured to
quickly release his famous book ‘The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’ because of concerns
he might be scooped by one of his colleagues and originally had it titled, ‘The Preservation of Favoured
Races in the Struggle for Life’?
Linnaeus was only attempting a convenient way of categorizing the elements of the natural world. He
defined race as, ‘an interbreeding, usually geographically isolated population of organisms differing from
other populations of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits. A race that has been given formal
taxonomic recognition is known as a subspecies.’ A good example would be the Great Blue Heron and the
Great White Heron. The famous birder, Rodger Troy Peterson described the Great White Heron as the white
race of the Great Blue Heron. Linnaeus published his theories and his standard of divisions under which
for centuries the world used and believed. The demise of his theories validly came with assumptions he
made about race behavior. He declared that humanity fell into just four races and described characteristics
of each that are considered humorous in today’s societies, or most of today’s societies I should say, at least
controversial in both technical and nontechnical usage, and in some cases they may well be considered
offensive. Within Homo sapiens he proposed four taxa of a lower rank (subspecies). These categories where,
Americanus, Asiaticus, Africanus, and Europeanus. They were based on place of origin at first, and later
skin color. Linnaeus wrote each Human race had certain characteristics that were endemic to individuals
belonging to it. Native Americans were reddish, stubborn, and angered easily. Africans were black, relaxed
and negligent. Asians were sallow, avaricious, and easily distracted. Europeans were white, gentle, and
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 29
inventive. Linnaeus’s races were clearly skewed in favor of Europeans. Over time, this classification led to
a racial hierarchy, The term ‘Racist’ was born right here and Europeans were at the top. Members of many
European countries used the classification scheme to validate their conquering or subjugation of members
of the other races. In particular this invented concept of race was used to enforce the inhumane institution
of slavery, particularly in the new world European colonies.
Our conversation seemed to be going just one way and getting a little dry so I asked, “Bubba how does
a race get started in a species?”
“Ironically the most classic explanation uses birds as an example. Darwins theory goes like this. There
is a swamp where a species of birds live, eating crustaceans from the bottom of the water. Something in
nature causes the water to get a little deeper and those birds with a little shorter legs are forced to move
elsewhere to survive. This effectively removes them from the gene pool leaving only those longer legged
birds, reinforcing even longer legs. In time the water rises again and again the shorties of the long legged
group have to leave, strengthening the long legged gene even further, eventually resulting in a distinctly
different bird of the same species.”
“Bubba, are you saying this is true with humans also?”
“Brother Elbert, I’m saying it’s as obvious to me as the nose on your face! Have you ever wondered
why it’s so long and skinny? Your ancestors more than likely evolved in a cold dry climate where having a
long skinny nose moistened and warmed the air before you breathed it in giving you a respiratory health
advantage to survive lots of colds and pneumonias over a broader shorter one used in moist warm climates.
This would evoke The Darwinian Imperative that I’ve been describing to you.”
“What about skin color?”
“That’s easy. It’s simply a protective reaction from harsh sun or no reaction from little sun.”
Bubba pulled in his line and replaced the sardine something had stolen from the hook. A Brown Pelican
standing on the dock cocked his yellow head to eye him closely hoping Bubba might get sloppy with the
bait.
“OK Bubba, that all sounds very logical but I haven’t forgotten you said you could explain the war in
Europe and how Belize couldn’t have those kinds of problems from what you know about birds.”
“Well, let’s go back to those short legged birds that had to move from the swamp. Let’s say for the
sake of example, the new shallower swamp they moved to contained shrimp. The birds eat shrimp which
can make astaxanthin from the simpler carotenoids contained in the algae on which they feed. In bottom
feeding birds these pigments dissolve in fats and are deposited in the growing feathers making them pink.
Imagine then, that some act of nature causes the two swamps to become one big swamp mixing the two,
now very distinctly different flocks of the same species in a common feeding ground, one with extra long
legs and gray, the other short with pink feathers. They might not recognize one another as the same species
and fight to defend their feeding ground, mistakenly from their own kind.”
“Bubba you do amaze me! But what about Belize and how it could never happen here?”
“Well, in Belize we have Spanish, Mestizos, Creoles, Garifuna, Mayan, Mennonites, Arabs, East Indian,
British, Mopan, Ketchi and Yucatec all living in a 6000 square mile area. And for hundreds of years we
have been mixing like a box of crayons in the Caribbean sun, creating no majority and no minority. Who’s
going to throw a stone at whom?”
Suddenly Bubba’s fishing pole bent violently with a strike. After a short fight he reeled a large fish onto
the dock.
“What’s that Bubba?”
He replied, “Epinephelus, Mycteroperca of the superclass Pisces, in the family of Sea Bass, commonly
known as a Black Grouper.”
I said, “Bubba, your taking this classification stuff all too serious, let’s clean him and eat!”
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Hummingbirds
Trochiladae
In the world of Avian there is an order known
as a podiformes is a family called Trochiladae. They
are the most aerial of all birds. This is to say they
continue rapid flight throughout life; they eat,
drink, collect nesting material and even copulate
in the air. Taxonomy is going through some
revision due to modern technology and Bubba
said Hummingbirds are like no other bird in the
world and predicts half of them will soon be in their
own order. He asked to try and not get hung up in
taxonomy because the times they are a changing!
In Belize there are 22 known Hummingbirds. They
flap their wings up to 200 beats pet second and
almost never hold still this is part of the rarity of my
friend Barnacle Bills photo of the Purple-Crowned
Fairy. Humming birds are said to collect spider web
as building material for the construction of their
tiny nest and his photo also shows small bits of web
she’s working with.
Hummingbirds are in general the smallest and
fastest birds on the planet. The largest being the
Giant ‘Patagona gigas’ at 8 inches and smallest, the
Bee Hummingbird of Cuba at 2.5 cm. (about the
size of a bumble bee.)
It’s true that hummingbirds are attracted by
red nectar flowers and get a lot of their tremendous
energy from its sweet juice, but their diet’s protein
comes from eating insects, and mosquito’s are
on the menu for this island’s Rufous Tailed
Hummingbirds. I love birds that eat mosquitoes!
My Cabaña is circled with red blossom hibiscus
and Rufous Tails are buzzing around daily. I’ve
avoided writing about hummingbirds because it’s so
difficult to ID one. They almost never quit moving
long enough to see and are so fast all you see is a
blur, but in a rare moment last week one decided to
stop and perch on a wild papaya tree off my deck,
and I got a good long look with my binoculars,
Female Purple-Crowned Fairy
Heliothryx barroti
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 31
a sleeping bird that had a long slender orange to red bill, most of its body was an iridescent green, its entire
body seemed only about 3 inches long, its tail was the biggest hint to its identification, a square of rufous
color. Its eyes were black and a bar of dark feathers ran across from its bill through the eyes and beyond. It
was the first time I had seen hummingbird wings not moving. They looked surprisingly normal for things
that can move that fast. I guess I expected to see wings like an insect, but they were feathered and had a
gray color. The feet were too small for me to even describe.
Those flying around the hibiscus seem to fight. The fight always seems to be the same; one will be
hovering and darting from flower to flower. When the second one approaches the bush, the first will charge
at it and chase it off into the distance, then return to its blossom hoping and protecting its territory.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
BIRD BRAINS
By Bubba
Expressions such as ‘Birdbrain’, ‘Booby’ and ‘Dumb as a Dodo’ imply that birds are not intelligent. I’ve
had similar problems with my name.
Some Avian behaviors appear to support the impression of stupid. Species that evolved on remote islands
with no significant predators, such as Belize’s Booby Bird on Halfmoon Caye, can seem absurdly oblivious
to humans, a large mistake for big birds that go well with beans and rice. The Red Footed Booby of Belize,
except for their protection by government would have gone the way of two other extinct island species, the
Great ‘Auk’ of the north Atlantic and the ‘Dodo’ of Mauritius, who both where killed by sailors seeking
fresh meat to subsidize their sea fairing diet. In all three cases, individual birds seemed unable to respond
to the harm humans intended them, and most perceive this as not smart.
The existence of these stereotypic behaviors should not obscure the highly refined and adaptive behaviors
that birds exhibit in other situations.
An array of Avian behaviors, awe inspiring to observe in nature, make one wonder how intelligent birds
must be to perform them.
Humans are tool making and tool using specialists. However, the common assumption that only humans
have the intelligence to create and use tools is false. Birds also make tools or use selected objects as tools to
obtain a goal. For example,
The Belizean Brown Jay has been seen catching insects using miniature tools they constructed from
thin pieces of wood, thorns or cactus spines.
Several species of Belizean Woodpeckers select a twig straiten it by breaking of tiny pieces hold the twig
in its beak, poke it into cracks and scrape it around crannies until an insect is flushed out. It then quickly
tucks the twig away and devours the insect.
The Green Heron, fishing in Ambergris’s lagoons uses its own feathers like a fly fisherman to lure fish
into its grasp. Using tools is just a small indicator of intelligence. Creativeness and design are more advanced
indicators.
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birdwatching with bubba 2.5
The male Silk Bowerbird colorfully paints the walls of his bower after he finds some kind of fibrous
material that can be used as a brush and a color producing substance, such as berries or charcoal that can
be used as paint. After applying a color he steps back and looks at his work much like an artist pausing to
evaluate his canvas.
Prenatal care awareness is displayed by Belize’s Acorn Woodpecker by storing away bone fragments prior
to the breeding season, to use as a dietary supplement of calcium during egg formation.
In building their homes, birds can manifest the skills of a tailor, mason, carpenter or other human
craftsman. Birds also have capabilities that are superior to those of humans. Using information found in
the environment, migrating and homing birds can determine precise direction and passage of time (the
“avian compass” and the “avian clock”). They can use natural information to ‘read’ barometric pressure,
wind patterns, the earth’s magnetism, polarized light patterns, subtle odors, movements of the sun, patterns
and movements of the stars, infrasound and subtle landmarks. They use these natural cues to find their
way much better.
The avian world is much older than ours. They live gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or
never attained. They are not our brethren or our underlings; they are another nation, caught with us in the
net of life, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of earth. Does that sound cuckoo to you?
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias
In the world of Aves there is an order called
Ciconiiformes (long legged fishing birds) and within
that order there is a family known as Areidae (herons).
The Great Blue Heron is a member of that family and
by far the most majestic of its 58 members.
Ambergris is home of many and is considered part
of the breeding area for the non-residents.
The Great Blue has yellow eyes, a yellow to orange
bill and pale yellow legs. Its upper parts are gray. It
sometimes appears to have dark shoulders. Its name
‘Great Blue Heron’ must come from its slaty gray color
but in truth is not blue at all.
The juvenile of Ambergris have an entirely
white plumage and can be distinguished from
the other white Ardeidae by its bill, eye and
leg color.
The masterful fishing bird hunts mainly by
standing and waiting, or stealthy stalking. Ambergris
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 33
has many non-migratory residents but populations from the Northern Americas migrate to our warmer
fishing grounds in October—November; raising the population on the island dramatically.
Adult Herons stand 40 to 50 inches tall and are often mistaken for Cranes. A sure way to tell the difference
is to see it fly. A heron flies with an S-shape bend in its neck, and a crane flies with its neck extended.
Standing motionless most of the time, this very patient fisherman will on occasion lift its wings not to
fly but to cast a dark reflection on the surface of the water that allows it to spot prey below.
I was assuming that the broken Soya Shells strewn on the sand flats between the beach crest and lagoon
were the work of raccoons. (Soya is a local name for a variety of Hermit Crabs that chose shells from large
swamp snails). One evening I observed a tall long legged bird standing in the moonlight put its foot down
on an unsuspecting Soya. It thrust its pointed bill down to crack open the shell and removed a nice bite
of meat, then threw its head skyward and swallowed. Not being able to resist any longer Bubba turned on
the flashlight. With a start it took off saying, ‘Quok—Quok—Quok’ as it slowly flapped its wings and
disappeared into the shadows of the lagoon.
That same evening back at the cabaña, I read most Ardeidae have a rough guttural voice and give their
vocal sounds in a row, simultaneous with the down beat of its wings. I haven’t been able to get deep enough
into the lagoon’s mangrove to see the nests but from my book’s photographs they seem to be crude stick
platforms on the crest of the mangrove. Maybe after the mosquito festival I’ll look again.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Birdmanship
Because I like to watch birds and write about the in the newspaper, the impression is given to many
that I’m a ‘Birder’. This is simply not true.
The sport of birdwatching has many sides and I seem to be involved with only one. This assumption,
along with Bubba’s and my new notoriety has placed us in many awkward positions with Birders. The
increase in confrontations with these well meaning souls has caused me to seek help from a book by Stephen
Potter titled The Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating! If you’re a troubled birdwatcher like
myself and not a ‘Birder’, I would like to pass along some survival techniques for problems that might arise
as you pass through the Birdworld.
When approached in a social setting you’re likely to be introduced as an authority on birds and inevitably
your questioner will say, “Oh how interesting. I’ve been seeing these little brown birds that hop around on
the beach, can you tell me what they are?” The best defense is to stun them with a comment and retreat
abruptly. For example, rapidly answer, “No! But it’s interesting that you would ask me about that particular
bird. I’ve seen references to it in early Dutch literature.” Then smile, quickly turn your back and move away
before questions can be asked about Dutch literature. It works every time!
When meeting Birders in the field you can avoid their wasting your prime birdwatching time by attacking
first. One of the most vulnerable spots is their equipment. Insulting remarks about a Birder’s Banana Republic
clothing or Eddie Bowers hat will only serve to irritate them. Go straight for the binoculars. “Nice little toy
you’ve got there; but can you see with them?” Then pick your moment carefully, flick your ancient pair to
34
birdwatching with bubba 2.5
your eves and say, “Gosh that juvenile fooled me for a second; I thought it was a female, oh sorry, didn’t
you get yours up in time?” Caught at a disadvantage you can finish them off with a helpful suggestion that
the weight of those glasses is holding them back, then studiously proceed down the trail unmolested.
The final arena of confrontation is the most difficult. God forbid you ever get involved in a Birder’s
committee meeting. Your greatest test will be taking part in an ornithological discussion. I don’t normally
smoke a pipe but on these occasions find it very useful. The excused silence as you light up and puff with
the literal smoke screen to follow is a great tool. Wait until the speaker makes any assertion not backed by
a mass of evidence, cough, and say with equal emphasis on each monosyllable: “Do, we, know, that ?”
If you are called to speak on any subject, immediately acknowledge your indebtedness for the help of
your most likely critic and keep your subject simple, never come to any conclusions.
If the food was good say, “Perhaps by this time next month, if everything goes well, we’ll have some
more data to help us.” This remark is good for two or three dinners at least.
Like I said in the beginning, birdwatching has many sides to it and Birders are only one . . . . thank
God!
I’ll try to get back on track with next week’s ‘Bird of the Week’, the Squirrel Cuckoo; not a Birder but
an unfortunately named Ambergris bird.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Hawks, kites and eagles all fall into a category
known as Accipitridae, a family of 217 species.
They all seem to have a few things in common;
strong feet with hooked claws, strong flyers and
are large birds of prey.
The Black Eagle around the Cocal where
I live seems to defy identification.
I first noticed one in 1992 when two
vacationing birders with scopes called me over
to have a look at what they called a `black eagle’
perched in a gumbo limbo tree.
They failed to find it in the field guide, so
decided it must be a Common Black Hawk.
The field guides I have say the solitary eagle
(Black Eagle) is rare and found in the mountains,
but it seems to fit the description well.
It’s black with raptor claws and a sharp
hooked bill. This month I got a close look when
he landed atop my beach palapa to eat a crab he
picked up on the beach.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 35
I got comfortable in the beach chair with my binoculars and watched a large black bird with the same
eagle profile I’ve been looking at on the green money all my life.
It had a deep yellow color at the base of its hooked bill that was black on the end. It had thick, swept
back, black feathers half way down its deep yellow legs and feet. It looked around cautiously with amber
eyes and as he flew away, he displayed a single, distinctive, white bar fanned across his tail.
What confuses me is eagles like to nest on cliffs or tall tree tops and we don’t have that on the island.
The field guide said, “Habitat: Forested mt. slopes, pines.” Fishing eagles are very territorial and defend
it violently from high perches and nest. It’s very unlikely that he lives at any altitude like all the books
describe because the cocal is fronted by the Caribbean Sea and backed with a 3 mile wide bay then 20 miles
of savanna before he could even get as high as 600’ above sea level.
If it wasn’t for the distinct single tail bar, I would say it’s a Common Black Hawk. The Black Hawk has
several and the whole tail is tipped in white. The Common Black Hawk doesn’t have the square shape to
its head and forehead the eagle has.
Birds of Costa Rica by Stiles and Skutch gave me my best clue. It says the Solitary Eagle has dark iris and
the Common Black Hawk has brown, but then it concedes that there may be a separate species called the
Mangrove Black Hawk (Buteo gallus subtilis) that may live on the Caribbean coast but is uncertain.
I’m willing to call it the `Mangrove Black Hawk’. I’ll keep watching for a better I.D.
Stiles and Skutch say, “We encourage further study of this problem!”
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Ambergris Owl
When! I was in school my teacher told me this story about
a young reporter who was sent out by the editor to cover
as important trial at the courthouse. Upon returning to the
newspaper office he was asked by the editor for his article. The
young reporter said that the court had not been held that day
because the judge had fallen on the courthouse steps and broken
his leg. So there was no article. The wise old editor looked over
his spectacles and replied, “You’re fired.”
I think what brought this story to mind is I’ve failed to
identify the bird of the week this week, but that’s not going to
stop me from writing about it.
Since a major part of the island is still undeveloped and
covered with trees and brush, it isn’t surprising to find exotic,
rarely seen birds in this treasure trove of nature.
Owls can be identified by their voice, Who-hohohoho-who
in the night lets me know this owl. I read about him and see
evidence of who and what he is doing.
36
birdwatching with bubba 2.5
The deduction of published possibilities tells me it’s a “screech owl”. whether it’s spotted, whiskered,
horned or neo-tropical, I won’t know until I find where he sleeps in the day or spotlight him at night.
I live in a large, white, sandy clearing in the middle of the savanna’s high bush, between the beach and
lagoon. At night, except when the moon lights it, there is black night with stars only. From a perch that must
be overlooking the clearing, this owl sits and says “Who-whowhowhowho—who”. I imagine he’s looking
for that foolish mouse or snake that might step into the moonlight of its hunting ground.
Hunting is better or worse during different cycles of the tide and moon, so during some dark times of
the month he must be hungrier than others. During the early evening when magiclight happens, they will
fly out to get what they can before the moonless night falls and no one can hunt.
Owls belong to the order of Strigiformes and are nocturnal predators with forward-directed eyes set in
a facial disk of radiating feathers. These disks function like parabolic reflectors to direct sound waves to the
ear for location of the sound source, and the owl uses this to hunt by sound as well as sight. So my friend
is not wholly dependent on the light to hunt. I suspect he is a member of the Strigidae family, but I can’t
prove it yet. I only know him by his voice. Each owl seems to have a pattern of hoots, whos or boos that
are separated by pauses like the dots and dashes of Morris Code and can be used not only to identify it but
will even tell you what mood it’s in and what it’s doing.
My first record of this owl is in my bird journal recorded as: Owl-screech,11/24/92,after 5:30, 6:30.
Morris Code sound ID, “Who-whowhowhowho-Who”, 1-1234-1 (.—-—. ).
I imagine also that during the day he must sleep in the cool, shady depths of the high grove near
the lagoon in a hollow-out tree. Screech owls don’t build, so it must owe its shelter to the work of some
woodpecker or find a rotting coconut trunk.
I give you this synopsis: we have owls on Ambergris but I don’t know what kind!
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Black Catbird
Pajaro Gato Negro
By Bubba
Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird of the United States to be a Turkey. The Eagle was not
unique and he thought the Turkey would have been the best choice.
I feel this way about the Black-Cat Bird and Belize.
This species is endemic to the Yucatan and coastal islands of Belize.
In the order of Passiformes is a unique family exclusively of the new world called “Mimidae”. The Mimidae
consist of the Mockingbird, Thrashers and Catbirds. This week’s bird of the week is known as Melanoptila
glabrirostris is not well studied. or the Black Catbird.
The Catbird looks like a small grackle. It has the same blue-black plumage, but grackles have yellow
eyes and walk with powerful legs and big feet. Catbirds are slender have dark amber eyes, hop on skinny
legs and have classic passiforme feet.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 37
They are known to exist only in a small part of Central America that includes northern Belize Caye
Calker and Ambergris Caye. They are considered rare and I suspect will be increasingly so. Their food source
and habitat is rapidly disappearing from the recent popularity and development of beach properties.
The black Catbirds depend on the thick brush and hedge at sea level to provide them with a diet of
insects, seeds, berries and wild fruits. The uniqueness of the family is that many of its members such as the
Catbird have the ability to mimic sounds it hears. A friend and I recently had an encounter with one. I
don’t normally associate with alley cats for the obvious reason, but Ray is an exception; he keeps to himself,
speaks when spoken to doesn’t smell bad, that sort of thing.
Yesterday afternoon while visiting with him I noticed he seemed nervous about a blackbird perching
in the Seagrape tree. He was pacing and couldn’t keep his eyes off the tree. Unusual for a guy like Ray, but
he seemed to be afraid of a bird! Even inside the house he stared out the window.
We walked outside for a drink from his bowl. The Catbird flew down, quickly perched on the porch
rail above him, and aimed his red eye at Ray. This completely undid Ray who bolted for protection under
the steps. The Catbird seemed pleased with himself and enjoyed water from the bowl undisturbed before
flying away.
Catbirds can be extremely tame, however, territorial aggression, at times, may take the form of physical
attacks on invaders such as dogs, cats and even humans. I wouldn’t doubt Ray’s fear is from a previous peck
on the head.
The Catbird’s vocal repertoire is extremely varied and I would not attempt to describe it here, but it’s
capable of warbling song, clicks, clucks and buzzes.
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I watched its nests in a palmetto tree constructed of a bulky cup of twigs and grass. It produces 2
greenish blue eggs yearly.
Replacing its loss of habitat with shrubs and berry producing brush in the landscapes of human
developments will help this unusual species survive.
Several years ago I met this young woman named Annick doing her thesis on the Black Cat bird, she
had lots of questions and later I found she had published. As thesis go it’s a long one so I’ve copied little
pieces of it below that I thought might interest you.
University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Institut of Zoology
Ecology of the Black Catbird, Melanoptila glabrirostris,
at Shipstern Nature Reserve (Belize), and distribution in Yucatan.
The Black Catbird, from the Mimidae family, is endemic to the Yucatan Peninsula and is listed as
«near threatened» on the IUCN red list. It inhabits the scrubby woodland and the forest edge of some
areas of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. In Belize, the bird is mainly found on the cayes (islands) and more
rarely on the mainland. It is threatened by tourism development, hurricanes and conversion to coconut
plantations, causing habitat fragmentation and loss.
2. Ambergris Caye
Common to fairly common resident from Eastern Q. Roo to Ambergris Caye (Howell & Webb, 1995).
Common on Ambergris Caye (Jones and Vallely, 2001).
Because of San Pedro town and San Pablo resort community development, the remaining southern small
population faces increasing pressure due to additional loss of habitat and may be extirpated from southern
Ambergris Caye by the end of the present decade (Miller& Miller, 1991).
The Black Catbird belongs to the birds frequently seen from the “people perch” of the private bird
sanctuary of the Caribbean Villas. This sanctuary is located in the narrow but rich littoral forest region
south of San Pedro.
(www.caribbeanvillashotel.com/birds/cvbirds.html).
For Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve, northern Ambergris Caye see 8.2.5. Expected
status One could consider the status of Bacalar Chico’s Black Catbirds has being common to very common.
Ambergris Caye’s population being threatened by tourist development, Bacalar Chico National Park could
serve as a refuge for this species. Expected status Uncommon to rare ?
On islands (Caye Caulker and Bacalar Chico), Black Catbirds are nesting and foraging in the same
habitat, the low coastal forest. Both vegetation structure (for building nests) and composition (fruiting
trees) are found in this habitat.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Large dark eyes indicate that it is
mostly a bird of nocturnal habit.
The most unique thing about the
boat-bill is the way it uses its bill to
create a noise, like a resounding clap,
to communicate with other Boat-Bills
with in the mangrove forest. The bill
is a resonator. Taxonomist are all over
the map about its relationships with the
heron, crane, stork or possible a unique
classification of its on.
‘Tito’ one of my favorite bird watching
tour guides recently discovered Boatbilled
Herons amongst the mangrove in
the back of Ambergris. I had only seen
Boat-bills in estuary habitat (the wide
low course of a river into which the
tides flow) and was excited because its
daytime sighting could mean a colony
on Ambergris.
Bubba said that the single species
of Boat-bill Heron is divided into five
races and there are questions concerning
whether to include it in the family Ardeidae (herons and bitterns) or to give it its own family. Its largest
differences are in its specialized feeding niche and corresponding adaptations (its bill). His excitement is
the Boat-bill remains a poorly known bird and somewhat mysterious. The label given to this rare bird’s
existence in the world is retiring.
Boat-billed Heron inhabit all of Belize but are more strictly nocturnal than the Night Heron, unlikely
to be seen in daylight away from roosts or colonies.
A non-migratory bird, Boat-bills inhabit both fresh and salt water areas throughout Belize. They are
found often in thickly vegetated rivers but are also known to hunt along beaches.
Boat-billed Herons seem to be strongly nocturnal in their hunting behavior. By day they preen and
roost quietly in dense mangrove thickets near feeding areas, venturing forth at dusk to forage. Although
Boat-bills can hunt in the wade-and stab manner of other herons, there is reason to believe that they switch
to touch-feeding like the spoonbills during the breeding season when they consume shrimp and other mud
dwelling prey that cannot be located except by dwelling. Bubba is following up by checking with Ambergris’s
shrimp farm in the Basil Jones area to try and locate the colony’s roost.
Bubba said, “Birds often communicate with social signals. The Boat-billed Heron have developed most
signals different from other heron; only two of the twelve most common displays in the Boat-bills repertoire
are like that of the heron. Instead of the visual signals, characteristic of most heron communication, the
A young male Boat-Billed Heron enjoying his inconspicuous
roost in the mangroves.
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Boat-billed heron relies more on acoustic signals, both vocal and mechanical, that penetrate the mangrove
tangle more efficiently. The large bill also serves as a resonator, producing single and multiple bill-pops that
resemble loud human handclaps.
The postures and movements used in the displays are generally simple and slow. Many are enhanced by
the erecting of the broad crown plumes which produces a highly conspicuous black array above the white
forehead. Between members of a mated pair there is a great deal of ritualized mutual preening behavior
(called bill-clappering) that probably serves to strengthen the pair bond.
It is not known whether the Boat-billed herons form new pair bonds each year or retain the previous
year’s mate. Both sexes share in nest building, incubating, and feeding the chicks. Three or four pale
greenish-blue eggs sometimes bearing small red flecks are laid at roughly two-day intervals. Incubation
commences with the first egg, producing an asynchronous hatch. Later, if the chick’s total energy demands
the parents’ ability to provide food, only the youngest chick starves. As in other herons, chicks are fed by
regurgitation by the parents.” Wouldn’t It be wonderful to have a colony on Ambergris to watch all this at
close quarters. If it’s found and we respect it with quiet undisturbed visits it will be a unique attraction for
our bird watching tourist visitors.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
THE LITTORAL FOREST OF AMBERGRIS
Bubba got out his Latin dictionary for this weeks title, ‘Littoral Forest’ are by definition coastal forest,
not mangrove or cocal but a special ecosystem and unique habitat for birds such as Rufous Necked Woodrail,
White Crowned Pigeon, Boobies, and Black Cat Bird.
The Littoral forest habitat covers the smallest area of any in Belize it’s found on the high sandy ground
of coastal mainland and cayes such as Halfmoon and Ambergris. Its dense vegetation harbors a rich variety
and large number of birds, supported by a seasonal succession of fruits and berries.
Of all the habitats in Belize the littoral forest on the cayes are the most endangered due to coastal
development. Littoral forest grows on a thin strip along a windward beach ridge of Ambergris and is composed
of seagrape, cocoplum, poisionwood, wild oregano, gumbolimbo, and palmetto. Many cayes have no beach
ridge at all and are too tiny to support the plant diversity necessary to maintain large bird populations.
Cayes like Ambergris can be easily cleared of native vegetation in a very short period of time during rapid
unplanned development and as a result Ambergris Caye has been pointed out in Belize environmental
studies to be where littoral forest are most rapidly disappearing. Bubba said he understood this to mean
many of the birds of ambergris would disappear also, and I agree. I asked him how is this happening and
what could we do about it. He explained that a major step toward the solution of the problem was the
creation of the 12,000 acre Bacalar Chico National Park on North Ambergris, however there still seems
to be two large problems. The National Parks Systems Act of 1981 intention was to preserve and protect.
The act itself is flawed. It contains a clause termed ‘dereservation’ which allows the minister the right to
dereserve or change boundaries of any protected area, and forest reserves have a history of having portions
dereserved for development. Developers can influence ministers and target areas for their own activities
that could deprive locals of both income and their environments healthy future.
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The second problem is in ‘enforcement’, funds for officers and boats to patrol such areas always seem
to be insufficient to protect it from those who would abuse. The demand for post for docks, sticks for fish
traps, and palmetto for cabanas has created a slightly new slant on illegal logging. Bubba came up with a
profound thought on the subject he said, “In the absence of government we must govern ourselves”. I think
what he is trying to say is we ourselves must make sure we are not guilty of misuse of these habitats, help
by respecting these areas and report their abuses. I have a thought of my own about it, If it isn’t shown that
we care by our actions our country will run us instead of we run our country.
People wishing to write letters should contact either or both of these offices:
The Belize Audubon Society The Department of Environment
12 Fort St. Belize City Chief Environmental Officer
Belize 1012 Ambergris Avenue
Belmopan, Belize.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Bubba on Bird Emotions
Not being a scientific writer, I enjoy some freedoms of opinion and at times cross over into fiction and
fantasy. Usually, it’s easy to tell the difference. I would like to seriously propose to birdwatchers that birds
have a full array of emotions!
In his book The expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin even dared to imagine a
dog’s conscious life. He was correct in that I have dreams, anger, love, jealousy, relief, curiosity, compassion
and disappointment to a degree of intensity that is paralleled to humans.
I lead an intense emotional life and believe I am no different than the birds in this respect.
The Booby chick is born with jealousy to a degree that it kills its siblings, leaving only one chick per
nest that gets all the food and attention. Ornithologists classifying bird mating have defined a number of
systems in which it would be in a bird’s genetic interest not to allow its partner to mate with others. They
speak in terms of “monopolizing”, “defending”, or “guarding” mates, not in terms of love and jealousy, but
jealous behavior enforced with an exclusivity in mating which can certainly have genetic effects.
Birds seem to get angry; they certainly do commit aggressive acts against each other, fight for turf, and
hurt and kill one another.
The bird books will say “brutal” or “savage” but the word anger does not appear.
Hate is most obviously displayed in parrots. Haven’t you heard parrot owners make comments like,
“He hates all men,” or “It hates children,” “redheads”, or “dogs”?
It remains unknown whether these kinds of eccentric dislikes are found in the wild, but perhaps these
parrots simply enjoy having enemies. This may promote flock solidarity, prevent interbreeding between
species, strengthen the pair bond, or have some other valuable function.
Most psychological theorists have tried to list emotions that are universal. The lists range in number
from 154 to 3. Theorists do not agree on which emotions are basic ones. I found it interesting that love
never fails to appear on the list.
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For Elbert to describe the birds of Ambergris Caye without including their emotions would be a
disservice.
To understand birds, it’s essential to understand how they feel. Knowing the emotions of birds is easy
as knowing your own emotions; what would they feel can be answered with, what would you feel?
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Migration
‘Birds don’t fly South for the Winter’
It’s September, and from now until late April Bubba and I will be enjoying an unusual variety of migratory
Avifauna visiting Ambergris Caye and its Bacalar Chico Reserve. The northern part of the planet has begun
to lean away from the sun. Invisible plotable lines of temperature gradients called ‘isotherms’ move further
south on the weather maps and all life on earth pays them heed.
The Bacalar Chico Reserve on the north end of Ambergris is a 60 square mile terrestrial reserve and
serves as a refuge for migratory birds. About 225 species of long distance migrants occur in Mexico and
Northern Central America. Observers have long theorized that migrants use mountain ranges, rivers, and
coastlines for guidance. Scientific research suggests that some birds may also set their courses by the sun, by
the patterns of stars, even by the lines of force in the Earth’s magnetic field, perhaps in combination with
gravity. Scientists don’t know exactly how the migrating birds find their way over long distances, but they are
discovering that birds tune into an astonishing variety of sensory cues that may be used for navigation.
Bubba believes Birds use specific migratory paths that consist of rivers, lakes, and various other food
sources like a dotted line of rest stops. These paths are called flyways. The Atlantic flyway leads migratory
birds from as far north as Greenland down Florida’s eastern coast across the Caribbean into Cuba, Haiti,
and Dominica.
The Mississippi flyway leads birds from Alaska and middle Canada down the Mississippi River Valley
to the Gulf of Mexico where it divides, leading some to Cuba and some to the Yucatan.
It is the Central and Pacific flyways that lead the majority of migratory birds to Ambergris Caye. The
bottleneck effect of the flyways narrowing at the base of the Yucatan cause a concentration of migratory
Avifauna looking for shelter, food, and water. The Bacalar Chico Reserve seems to be a logical place to stop
for this, and creates a birdwatching spot second to none.
I said to my resident expert, “Birds in the North use this cooling as a signal to begin their annual
migration southward. Bubba gave me a look that made me feel I had said something wrong. With a little
bit of an annoyed tone he said, “birds don’t fly south for the winter, Canadians do. The birds fly North for
the summer and I bet you think that’s the same thing!”
“Yes, and the way I look at it that’s called ‘the same difference.”
Bubba sighed and said,” If you look at this properly, you’ll discover something you didn’t know about
migration. Birds we see in Belize, (Neotropicals) have been moving north slowly each season and retreating
a little less south since the end of the ice age.
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 43
The American continent was very different during this frozen era. Most living things where compacted
into areas near the equator.
The ancestors of neotropical migrants originated in Amazonia (an area believed to be 15 million years
old, known today as Brazil). Areas north of this were not at that time in the earth’s history temperate
enough to reside in. Amazionia was then and today the greatest expression of life on the planet. One third
of the world’s birds still live there. As the ice age ended, areas to the north of Amazonia were habitable
during summer months and provided refuge from competition for food and shelter in this over-populated
area. But in winter months migrants were forced to retreat. Each year as the ice receded, more northern
territory became available as refuge during summer months and migration distances increased. As some
found the decreasing winter months tolerable they became residents in places like Belize. Canadians go
home in spring and birds migrate north. Does that seem like a ‘same difference’ still? I said you where
going to learn something new.”
San Pedro tour operators are now offering day trips into the Bacalar Chico area September also marks
the beginning of the slow season for tourism this might be just the time for Bubba and I to explore the
Island we are living on.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Bird Islands of Ambergris Cayo Pajaros and Rosario Caye
65 million years ago the Atlantic and Indian Oceans began and much of the chalky sea bottom from
Cretaceous times began to rise up and be land in the form of Paleocene Rock. The great reptiles died out;
mammals and birds began their dominance. About 39 million years ago the first Ibidopsis (Ibis) and the
first Heron formes fished the tropical shallows of the Americas. The Linnaean name for the order of Ibis
and heron is Ciconiiformes. The order of Cioniiformes has given a start to a wide variety of interesting
Heron and Ibis species.
Millions of years before Ambergris Caye was born juts of the paleocene rock broke the surface of the
shallow sea off the coast of Belize. Trees began to grow on them creating an ideal sanctuary for these new
birds to nest and raise their young.
Rosario caye and Cayo Pajaros on the west side of Ambergris Caye are natural sanctuaries formed exactly
like this. Belizean Tour guides visiting the Bird Cayes point out at Cayo Pajaros Paleocene rock protruding
from the shallow waters around it.
Today just like their ancestors from millions of years ago colonies of Ibis, and Heron use these two
islands as refuge from predators. Herons, egrets, storks and other large water birds nest communally in what
are called heronries. Colony and Heronry nesting is considered as a response to shortage of safe nesting
sites and abundance or predictable food sources which are not far away from the nest sites. Rosario and
Cayo Pajaros are heronries for Reddish Egret, Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, Little Blue Heron and Rosette
Spoonbill because of their particular typography and proximity to the shallow flats west of ambergris that
provides good fishing at depths reachable according to the birds’ leg length. The interior of Rosario is a
fresh water lagoon lined in mangrove that gives security to the nests approach and potable drinking water,
making it an environmental jewel. Reproductive success and habitat selection is studied by ornithologist
and this is where I might quote a scientific paper or two but in laymen terms let me say this; Young birds
learn from older experienced birds and the mortality rate for birds raised in older colonies is low and the
success of the Heronry produces most of the local population.
In a nut shell this is the importance of these two islands. If we want and enjoy these birds on Ambergris
we need to preserve and protect where they come from.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The White Ibis
Eudocimus albus
Ibises are an ancient group of birds: their fossil record goes back 39 million years. Their record in human
history goes back 5,000 years. The ancient Egyptians venerated the Sacred Ibis and made it an integral part
of their religion and of their written hieroglyphics. To them it was the god Thoth (the scribe to the gods),
so Thoth was pictured with the head of an ibis.
I was cruising through the lagoon behind Ambergris and a white bird flew over that seemed to be
carrying a twig in its bill. I watched it, hoping it would reveal a nest in the mangrove hollow, when I noticed
it wasn’t carrying a twig at all; it was just the proud owner of the longest, most odd-shaped beak, I’ve seen
since Jimmy Durante. Another in the order of Ciconiiformes from the family of Threskiorenithidae is this
‘white ibis’. Flying above, it can be distinguished from an egret by its outstretched neck and black wing
tips that look like five black fingers on each wing, of course, if you’re close enough, a long slender decurved
bill. One bird book calls it sickle-shaped; it reminds me of a Hermit Hummingbird’s bill, only big. The
ibis uses it as a specialized tool for eating animals from the lagoon’s shallow bottom.
I watched it walk for a few minutes. It steps forward a step and extends its neck forward with each
step, cocks its head to point one eye downward, then quickly puts its special bill to work. I had hoped to
hear the soft, grunting noise I read that they make while eating and hunting, but I disturbed it by getting
to close, and it made its alarm noise instead, and flew off. It nests inside the mangrove tree for protection,
not on top but in the middle. The mangrove grows like bars around its nests that prevent things like me
from even getting close.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Big White Bird!
By Bubba
In the order of Ciconiiformes (herons) there are six very similar birds that are all longlegged, white birds,
and for the casual observer are all “big white birds”. Being able to tell the difference in these six can be a
challenge for the new birder.
Ambergris is blessed with almost every species of Ciconiiforme found in the New World. Some are easy
to identify because of obvious color differences like the Tiger Heron, the yellow crowned Green Heron, or
the mature Reddish Egret. Others have odd shaped bills like the Boat Billed Heron. However, identifying the
island’s Great White Heron from the Great Egret, Snowy Egret or immature Little Blue Heron sometimes
requires a closer look. I think I’ve got a system that can make it easy. The color of the eyes, bill and legs
seem to be the key.
BIG WHITE BIRD FEET BILL LEGS
Great Egret Black Yellow Black
Snowy Egret Orange Black Black
Cattle Egret Orange Yellow Orange
(Young) Little Blue Heron Black Yellow w/black tip Greenish
Great Blue Heron (morph) Yellow Yellow Yellow
Reddish Egret(young) Black Pink w/black tip Grayish Blue
The chart can be used as a short cut to recognition. By applying it, you can gain a background that
took most of the old birders several years to acquire. It has always amazed me how, when I identify a bird,
I suddenly see it everywhere.
I hope this list helps Ambergriseans to become aware of the multitude of birds with which we live,
or at any rate, avoid pointing with the comment, “Look! A Big White Bird.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The White Winged Dove
In the order of columbiformes is the family of pigeons and doves called Columbidae with 285 members.
The names “pigeons” and “dove” are vernacular and interchangeable, however it was pointed out by one
author that smaller Columbidae are usually referred to as dove and larger Columbidae are referred to as pigeons.
I was walking along the beach at the Sunbreeze Hotel after my lunch and a covey of pigeons sprung
up from under the almond tree and flew across the courtyard. They flashed white fan bars on their tails
and upper wings. It was a pleasant sight but what struck me the most was the noise of the wings. It was a
pleasant sight but what struck me the most was the noise of the wings beating. It gave me a memory flash
of being downtown in a city and disrupting pigeons in the park.
I read later the noise is from the wings beating together on the downstroke of a power surge to get
airborne in a hurry.
The city park pigeons are a relative of the Old World Rock Dove. It lived on the cliffs by the Mediterranean
Sea in Europe and came to this continent in domestication and escaped into the wild. The tall cement
buildings in the cities of America became man-made cliffs for them and without their natural enemies to
control the population, they flourished into every corner of the New World. This long lost cousin called
the morning dove has something similar in mind; it likes towns and has obviously discovered San Pedro. I
looked and looked for rhetoric about being the symbol of peace, but what I found was that not one of the
fifteen books I have on birds had anything to say about doves and peace; instead I read insulting comments
like “not one of the 285 species of columbiformes could build a sturdy or attractive nest”, or that their
young quite often fall to their death below from shoddy construction! One book actually used the phrase
“ not the most intelligent bird”, and one even implied it was a cousin to the dodo! A close inspection of
the statue of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint John showed no signs of over-population as yet. Bubba, of
course, likes them because they are one of the few birds slow and dumb enough for him to catch!
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“From Outrage to Action”
Bubba got this unusual title for this week’s story from an old document in my mother’s attic. It told of
an ornithologist who had taken a stroll through Manhattan in 1886 and counted 542 exotic birds — all
of them stuffed and mounted on top women’s hats.
In 1896 this account, and many like it, incited Mrs. Augustus Hemenway to collect a list of names
from her “BOSTON BLUE BOOK.” The list of names was of the women most likely to wear feathers,
plumes, and even whole birds on their heads.
Within a few weeks, circulars had been mailed asking Boston’s most fashionable ladies to join a society
for the protection of these fashionable animals.
By 1899, this action on the part of Mrs. Hemenway had fueled alliances between concerned socialites,
sportsmen and ornithologist who met and agreed, “To discourage the buying and wearing, for ornamental
purposes, of the feathers of any wild birds except ducks and game birds; and to otherwise further the
protection of native birds”. Mrs. Hemenway’s letter-writing caused a movement that grew into an organization
that has 7 million members and over the years has expanded their concerns to protection of eggs, nests and
habitat, resulting in thousands of inland and coastal sanctuaries with strict laws to protect them.
Today in Belize this same group is largely responsible for the creation of our countries many reserves.
Their work is seen in a stately heron stalking its next meal outside your window, in a flock of terns diving
to catch small fish that swim just below our clean waters surface and majestic pelicans gliding effortlessly
above San Pedro.
The strength for this organization for 100 years has come from the same source, “Someone has to decide
to take some action and write a few letters!”
I’m not sure Bubba truly understood the message of this story, all afternoon he’s been designing ladies
hats made entirely of cat fur.
Anyone wishing to write letters should contact either or both of these offices:
The Belize Audubon Society,
12 Fort St.,
Belize City, Belize
The Department of Environment,
Chief Environmental Officer,
1012 Ambergris Avenue,
Belmopan, Belize.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Gray-Necked Wood-Rail
In the order of Gruiformes and the family of
Rallidae is the species Aramides cajanea or the Grey-
Necked Wood-Rail.
Bubba and I were strolling along a path through
the mangrove on our way to visit the golden nymph
of the river when this remarkable bird crossed our
path. I was impressed with Bubba’s restraint in not
chasing it.
The rail stood about 16 inches tall and looked
like a colorful marsh chicken. As you might imagine
its neck is gray, yellowish green bill and red eyes. Its
rump is black with an oddly turned up tail that wags
when it trots.
The legs are red, long and bare feet that have three
long toes forward and one rear toe that is raised and doesn’t appear in its footprint.
Its walk seemed very similar to the domestic chicken, strutting its head forward with each step. It only
scurried a short distance at the sight of us until it was protected by the thick mangrove, where it slowed,
then stopped to look at us as well. I would like to hear its description of what we look like.
Most rails are flightless birds, as are most of its order, however, some have the ability to fly feebly for
short hops to taller perches or from running, flapping, take-offs can glide short distances, usually with legs
dangling.
In a predator free environment that some islands provide, flightlessness evolves quickly in most
species.
Later when predators such as cats dogs and man are introduced to the island the Ralliade are exterminated
quickly. Archeologists discover bones with some regularity of recently exterminated species on islands where
rails were previously unknown. The order contains 28 species known to have fallen to extinction. Most of
which became extinct in the period since the beginning of the European exploration of the Americas ( post
1492) and are only know by their bones and travelers accounts. This is more evidence of Bubbas theory
about your species soon being endangered if you taste good.
Most Rail are secretive and difficult to observe: consequently our knowledge of their behavior is limited.
“Rare” is how Peterson describes its sightings. It nests on platforms of Twiggs just above the water line at
waters edge of marsh in mangrove thickets. A very safe place unless a swimming snake or renegade developer
with a bulldozer comes along.
The Wood-Rails lay 4 to 5 eggs that are whitish to buffy white, spotted with brown and greys.
I’ve seen many Grey-Necked in the lagoons around Maskall and along the banks of the Northern river.
H. Lee Jones in his very popular book titled ‘Birds of Belize’ lists the status in Belize of the Grey-Necked
as ‘once on Ambergris Caye, however Bubba and I see them regularly on the Northern parts of the islands
back lagoons.
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“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
YELLOW CROWNED NIGHT HERON
In the world of Aves from the family of Ardeidae is Nyctanassa violacea commonly known as The Yellow
Crowned Night Heron.
It’s a resident breeder in Belize from Ambergris Caye to Punta Gorda this rare and unusual Heron is
thriving, but it is seldom seen.
This stocky, black and gray nocturnal heron roosts camouflaged during the day in the salty mangroves
and freshwater habitats of the mainland.
One of Bubbas many bird books says,’ at night they forage in the shallows. The males stand up to 24”
tall and have a bold head pattern of black with white cheeks, red eyes and of course a yellow crown. The
juvenile and female are brown with some thin white edges to the feathers.’
Another of his books says,’ Night Heron are crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and are nocturnal
feeders.’ but I’ve seen them forage in the daytime during the nesting season, probably to feed extra
mouths.
They are strictly carnivorous and prefer crabs. Their long legs and neck allow them to forage in aquatic
habitats such as Belize’s Caribbean shoreline behind the barrier reefs and along the banks of its many
lagoons.
Bubba said there numbers are increasing in Belize and this is probably due to this country having placed
one-fifth of its land mass in nature reserves many years ago.
If you’re an incidental birder and not willing to walk your flashlight at night along the secluded moonlit
beach or lagoons side in search of this rarity, overcast days seem to be a break in the nocturnal behavior. You
may discover them stalking Soya in the savannas or in the shade or the littoral forest. Soya is a local name
for a terrestrial crab the birds eat. Local fisherman value them as a prize fish bait. I would have to call it a
hermit crab that commonly takes up residents in empty Apple Snail shells, or what ever shell is available. The
Night Herons bill is especially adapted for removing such an escargot delight or any substitute tenant.
Most Birders who find rare birds are looking for rare birds. A rarity hunter will be prepared with an
intimate knowledge of the bird, its habits, likes, and dislikes. Chances improve as rare species tend to occur
in specific habitats and only at certain times.
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To find this bird, like any bird, it’s necessary to understand what its life is like. When and where it
will be is predictable, but sometimes it’s just luck. The sun going down and coming up sets a timetable of
activity; high tide and low tide can provide for many a time to eat or a time to build nests. A full moon
or no moon give opportunity to hunt or a window for sleeping. The newspaper prints tide tables as well
as moon and sun schedules. This can be an important tool for the birdwatcher who wants to see a specific
type of bird or a particular kind of activity.
The Yellow Crowned Night Heron is a difficult one to see. It’s called a night heron because of its
nocturnal habits. It likes a cool sleeping spot and nesting over still water. It seems to pick dark shade deep
in the savanna woods at lagoon’s edge or in a gallery of trees that stand in water.
It lays pale blue-green eggs in a platform of sticks with a depression in the center that’s lined with
leaves . . . not easy to visit as it seems to prefer branches that protrude over water. Watch for crocodiles!
This night heron has a truly unusual appearance. It looks a little like a Boat Billed Heron in that it’s
short and stocky for a heron with big eyes.
I was ready to do anything to see this heron and was preparing for the extreme. In Tennessee where
I hail from, hunting deer, raccoon, possum or anything was illegal if you used a spotlight and hunted at
night, but very productive!
The game warden worked another part of the forest than where I hunted because of the donut shop’s
proximity, so I got some experience.
I was just wondering where I left the battery cable to my spotlight for this obtrusive technique when a
northerner hit the island, lots of gray, thick clouds and a cool wind blowing from the lagoon to the front
beach shallows.
This condition must have given an opportunity for this unusual heron to hunt its favorite meal of crabs
in the front of the island.
It was 6:30 a.m. in a gray mist of rain as I passed the old, rusty barge permanently beached at Tres
Cocos. I poled in with my motor off and steadied my binoculars for a treat. Thank goodness I left Bubba
at home today!
The bird’s bill is thick and shaped like a spear point, not as wide and blunt as a Boat Billed, but unlike
any other heron I had ever seen.
It has a yellow crown, of course, and it swept back to a point behind its black head. A patch of white
on each side of its head seemed to flow from the eyes, lower front corner to the back of its head, I suppose
to assist its vision over reflective water.
Its body color is a powder blue instead of the gray I had read about.
Each feather of its folded wings was lined in white. It must be in its breeding season because it had
long, white occipital plumes protruding from its nape. Its legs were a yellowish green and was standing in
water about 2 or 3 inches deep, snatching small coral blue crabs. It threw them down its throat in a typical
heron manner. I’ve got a few more herons on my list that I hope to find on the island. I hope they are this
beautiful and easy to find.
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“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Keel Billed Toucan
Bubba has been excited about government giving him a tour guide license for birdwatching, and all
week he’s been acting like the world’s greatest authority on birds. His excitement has influenced me to have
this week’s “Bird of the Week” be the National Bird of Belize. The Right Honorable George Price adopted
the Keel-Billed Toucan on September 21st, 1981 when Belize became an independent nation. They live in
the forests of Belize, travel in flocks, eating the fruits of the jungle as they go. Toucans are among the few
tropical birds that are widely known to non-ornithologist. The bill’s color and great size is most probably
the reason for this notoriety. The bill is composed of thin plates and is surprisingly light for its size. Most
oddities in nature can be explained by specialization but the toucan’s need for a bill four times the size of its
head is a mystery. One book I read suggested its use was picking fruits and berries from thorny bush with
little effort. Its colors are startling, from its rainbow bill to its iridescent blue legs, few birds display such a
variety of color. Its face, throat and chest are yellow with a narrow border of red on the chest; its body is
black with red undertail converts and white upper tail converts. The plumage is soft and lax. The Keel-Billed
has a patch of bare green skin around the eye and ‘lores’ (the area between the eye and bill). The feet are
arranged in the ‘zygodactly’ pattern like a woodpecker (two toes forward and two toes back).
The Keel-Billed, as most toucans are gregarious, occurring in small flocks that roam together through
the tree tops in search of a varied diet of fruit. Toucans are known to be frugivorous however; the Keel-Bill’s
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 53
diet includes insects, bird eggs and tree frogs. Flight for this bird is labored with bursts of flapping followed
by a glide. The call of the toucan could hardly be called song but rather a croaking noise similar to a frog,
my book describes it as RRRK—RRRK—RRRK . . . . or RRUK—RRUK – RRUK etc.
Try that aloud a few times . . . . in private!
Toucans roost throughout the year in holes of trees, often old woodpecker holes. Each flock has number
of dormitories in which several adults crowd with their tails folded over their backs to save space.
Clutches are of 2 or 4 white eggs which are incubated by both parents.
Bubba got himself a little hat with an embroidered toucan on the front that says ‘Tour Guide’ and has
been hustling tourists as they get off the plane for excursions into the jungle.
He looks ridiculous but is getting a lot of attention.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Roseate Spoonbill
(Ajaia ajaia) Espatula Rosada
From the family of the Threskiornithidae (ibises and spoonbills), a family of 33 species
I asked Bubba about the spoonbills genera and he explained, “There are three genera of spoonbill: the
Platibis in Australia; the Platalea of the Old World; and the Ajaia of the New World. Ambergris Caye and
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its collections of Bird Island is in the New World.” Bubba is great for info like that, but I wanted to sneak
up quiet and unnoticed to Bird Island, so Bubba stayed at home. There are so many islands in the back
bay that it becomes confusing as to which one you’re visiting. To add to the confusion some are known by
as many as three different names. Most bird watching tours given by the local guides are visiting Rosario
Caye, aka Guano Caye.
It’s home for a few ibis, spoonbills and frigate birds, but has the most frequent visitation. Bird Island is
almost six miles more to the north and falls within the boundaries of the proposed Bacalar Chico National
Park and Marine Reserve.
I took the boat through the river and cruised up the back to the northern point of the island. I had heard
rumors from the rangers that the spoonbills were nesting there, and it’s early spring in Central America.
Spoonbills are found worldwide in warm tropical regions and when swamps and marshes in which they
breed, dry up, they may go thousands of miles in search of suitable habitat. The rains have filled the flats
in the back of the island with some regularity and over a period of years it’s become a big food source.
I can only believe this must be the attraction for these birds to chose Bird Island as a nesting spot.
Spoonbills find their food by touch more than sight; they walk in the shallows with their heads down
and their long peculiar looking duck bill silting the bottom in search for clams or shrimp. Bubba said,
“Morphologically, they are closely related to flamingoes who are also pink and have specialized bills used
to eat crustaceans from the bottom of shallow waters. When mating, the male Roseate Spoonbill will offer
presents of nesting material to the female in courtship; she builds the nest.”
Looking into a nest should be done carefully and is almost never done without scaring the hell out
of mama. Eggs are a wonderful diet for so many predators; she can only believe you’re looking for lunch.
Nothing should be touched and bending a branch for a view is done with care not to break the branch.
One or the other of the parents is always watching the nest.
They fly using show powerful downbeats to lift the large body with a rhythm of flap, flap, flap, glide . . .
flap, flap, flap, glide . . . A flock of five or six is a thrill to watch. I hope they like this place and stay.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Nightjars
Bubba said,”Herman Smith first showed me this bird by calling it with a whistling sound like,”Pur-wé
eeer.” or more like “Pur-Pur..Pur-we’eer”. It came right to him. We have a mosquito eating bird on Ambergris
known as a pauraque. most people never see it because it flys predawn and dusk and looks like a bat when
it flys. during the day it sleeps on the ground in the open but uses advanced camouflage techniques .
eats thousands of mosquitoes a day and flys though the air with its mouth open funneling them in with
specialized whiskers.
They don’t need training and work for what it can eat, we just need more of them.”
If you have become an Ambergrisian bird watcher and have been able to observe each week’s bird, this
will be a challenge! I had been seeing what I thought were large bats in post-sundown’s magic light that gives
you little more than silhouettes of fast flying figures with abrupt direction changes. I couldn’t imagine any
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 55
other creature it could be. Then Bubba pointed out to me the rapid wing movement without gliding that
all bats do, and how distinctly different the gliding, diving and swoops of this winged creature were. It was
difficult to get a positive I.D. on it because it moves so quickly and only in dim light. I understand now
why an early ornithologist shot the bird to get a closer look. One evening as it darted past my deck chair I
got a glimpse of white upper wing bars and it cried out, “Pur-wé eeer.” I had been hearing this call for years
but had never placed it with a specific bird – very loud and distinct in the night. Stiles spells it, “who-whick
who whick wick-wich-wick wip WHEEEEUR.” I know it is hard to imagine this sound but it’s the key
to knowing this bird. Try, “Kwah-REE-O? or “cuyeer.” Anyway I got my I.D. without having to shoot
one. Peterson said, “It seldom flies by day and is a voice in the night.” A ‘Nightjar’ but Peterson calls them
‘goatsuckers’ a strange nickname I can’t explain and won’t try. The family name is Caprimulgidae: Nightjars,
a family of about 67 species. The Nightjar we have on Ambergris is known as a pauraque. Their wings are
long and they fly through the night with their mouths open scooping up insects. The bill is surrounded
by bristles that probably assist in catching flying insects. Their eyes are big and good for night navigation.
The small legs and feet seem to help the streamlined look in flight.
The pauraque sleeps and nests directly on the ground in dry leaves and has an unusual way of protecting
its eggs and young. some books refer to it as ‘the broken wing distraction. ‘The broken wing distraction’
is a ploy used by a few birds with little defenses to protect their young or nest. The parent will pretend to
be wounded, in this case a broken wing. It will allow the predator to chase it on the ground dragging one
wing staying just ahead of its grasp, then flying a short distance and suddenly falling and dragging the
wing again as the predator gets close. The tactic is intended to frustrate the predator and lead them away
from the nesting area. It is very hard to tell in the dark but the pauraque has a brown to rust pattern that
camouflages it well as it sleeps in dry leaves on the open ground deep in the savanna.
Don’t expect to see this one right away.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Tiger Heron
I was cruising the back lagoon in my
little boat. The bird of the week was waiting
for me somewhere! I slowed the boat down
and went up one of those unexplored lagoon
fingers that seem to just get you lost looking
for a way to access a new lagoon.
It was low tide and fishing was good
for wading birds. This Ciconiiforme stood
fishing in a few inches of water near the
edge of a mangrove as I rounded the corner
into a small lagoon. I got comfortable in the
boat and steadied my binoculars for a long,
close look, Bubba was asleep.
It was a long-legged wading bird,
shorter than a Great Heron, and its neck
didn’t have the characteristic “S” shape. I
remember seeing it in my book as a Tiger
Heron, but the colors where all wrong. It
was the correct shape with its stout neck,
and its bill was black on the end with a chisel
point, but its throat was yellow and it had a gleaming chestnut nape and hind neck. The upper wings were
blue, cyan gloss.
I remember reading about how bird colors change due to factors like environment, diet, sex and
maturation.
Little Blue Herons are snow white for their first year of life and a mangrove cuckoo is pale brown
when it is just a year old but rich yellow, cinnamon and has jet black markings when it has its first mating
desires.
So why not a cyan blue Tiger Heron? I suspect this is a mature bare-throated Tiger Heron, most likely
a close cousin to the Bittern. One book refers to it as a “Tiger Bittern” definitely still in the Ardeidae
family.
As I drifted closer in the boat, it got a little nervous and took a frozen posture of a Bittern camouflage
by holding its neck up pretending to be a stump.
Bubba heard me whispering to myself about the Heron and woke up to the realization we were bird
watching and had not yet seen it fly! “Quok, quok, quok,” it said as it flapped off showing white and
patterned under wings and sporting dark olive green feet and legs. Thanks Bubba.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
The Yucatan Jay of the Ambergris Habitat
From the order of Passeriformes in the family of Corvidae
is the Cissilopha yucatanica/ambergrisica
A habitat is the natural area where a species of bird or other form of wildlife lives. Typical habitats for
birds are areas such as: tropical forest, grasslands, savannas, mountains, rivers, lagoons and islands. The
characteristics of these varied habitats provide food and shelter for birds.
New species of birds sometimes evolve from isolated choices of mates under the same influences of
environment in a small gene pool!
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The relationship of an island habitat to its continent and the history of the island’s evolution markedly
affect its bird life. When an island develops as North Ambergris has (from plate shifts and sea-eroded
connections with the adjacent continent), they inherit an amount of flora and fauna of the mainland and
may retain a varying amount of it.
Extinction’s are a regular occurrence on islands such as this because of its rapid change in habitat after
disconnection. (Remember, we are talking about 15,000 years or more.) this change has created a different
habitat and avifauna possibilities on the south half of this 22 mile long island that is typical to most barrier
islands off the coast of Belize, but not in the area to the north known to most as Basil Jones where you can
find flora and fauna from the mainland that do not occur on any other island in Belize.
The prerequisite for speciation (the process for development of new species) is that there should be
two areas where a single species of bird can live separated by some form of physical barrier like the bay
between the island and the mainland which cuts down movement between the two groups so that they
evolve sufficient differences to become a sub-species.
I’m saying the uniqueness of the habitat on the northern half of Ambergris is such that it has possibilities
of giving rise to new and undiscovered sub-species of birds, and certainly we shouldn’t be surprised at
sightings of birds that just shouldn’t be on a barrier island.
Bubba and I were in the Holiday Hotel bar listening to Belize archaeology lecturer, Dr. Herman Smith,
relay a sighting of a colony of Yucatan Jays when visiting an archaeological site on the back side of Basil
Jones.
The Yucatan Jay lives all year in closely knit, extended families, jointly taking care of one another’s young.
The young are easily distinguished from the adult by their yellow bills with white head and underparts.
The adults have black bills with black around the face and eyes and are a beautiful royal blue, the only blue
jay said to be found in Yucatan. It’s also said that Corvidaes are considered the most intelligent of birds and
are omnivorous, meaning they eat anything from small animals to fruit, even marine life or stolen eggs of
other birds. A very robust bird!
What didn’t jell with Dr. Smith’s observations of the jays was the yellow orbital eye ring and bill in
mature birds with absolutely no white feathers. So the next morning, Bubba was in the mood and I had
the gasoline. We went south to the river cut at San Pedro and then north up the back side of the island past
the last bird caye to Santa Cruz at Basil Jones.
I put my boat bow on the shore, walked just 100 feet into a grove where it seemed like the jays were
just waiting for me. They must get the name from the noise they make. I got too close and an alarm of
“Jayy! Jayy! jayy” went off around the grove. I think I saw four, if not three and one twice. Herman was
right, blue jays with yellow bills that turn down on the end. No white feathers, and they were as large as a
big robin. The black on their face around their eyes extended down the neck and became almost navy blue
on the chest, but a larger one had a black bill and I suppose the others are just not fully mature.
All the bird books that I have shown a confusing variety of blue and black jays, some without white
feathers and yellow bills. A jay that I know to be the Yucatan Jay but something a little different I’m uncertain
of. Possibly just a stage of morph not recorded. Maybe not the most unique bird, but it certainly is evidence
of the uniqueness of this habitat.
I’ve been very lucky since this day and have lured them to my feeders to photograph them closer. This
bird has the most widely varied stages of morph I’ve ever seen.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
Song
Everything around the cocal is singing. The cheerful noise incited me to ask Bubba which birds these
were and why have they so suddenly started singing. It was almost a rhetorical question, but he explained,
“It’s the Passeriformes; the order contains sparrows, crows, flycatchers, some swallows and is the largest order
in the Kingdom. Passeriformes have extraordinary vocal capabilities of the “syrinx” which enables them to
utter very elaborate sounds. Song is a simple, efficient way for subdivision of territories among males and
for sexual choice on the part of the females.”
I need to remember, he always takes me very literally.
So! These singing Passeriformes around the cocal are singing courtship songs of spring.
I got busy and started reading about courtship and discovered that ritual courtship dances with elaborate
displays of plumage or singing are characteristic of each species and are unique to that species, enabling the
female to select a correct partner more easily; the more prolonged the courtship, the more likely that one
or the other will recognize its mistake if it’s courting with a member of another species.
This mastery of song by the Passeriformes is in part due to the fact that different species within the
order look very similar and only the song will allow the female to know the difference. The more he sings,
the more she’s sure she’s picked the right guy.
One of my pleasures of birdwatching is the insight it gives me into human behavior. So far I’ve discovered
birds in courtship singing, dancing and displaying colorful plumage before having sex with one another,
and now I understand more clearly the events in San Pedro on Saturday nights.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
Death of a Hero
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us”
I’ve asked Bubba many times why he insists we begin all the bird articles with this anonymous quote,
but he would never answer.
Today I found out that Roger Tory Peterson used this line to start his first book, “A Field Guide to the
Birds” in 1934.
Mr. Peterson was a modern day John James Audubon, who turned millions of Americans into bird
watchers with his “easy to use” field guides.
Peterson combined artistic talent with a life long scientific interest in birds.
During his 60 year career, he wrote, illustrated and edited 15 books that sold millions of copies, and
were translated into 12 languages.
Audubon Magazine called him, “The man who turned bird watching into a sport.”
“A Field Guide to the Birds” was the single most revolutionary development in American birding.
Before him bird guides were burdened with confusing detail and written in terms most readers didn’t
understand or could not identify with, but Peterson’s pocket-sized work focused on the essential features
by which amateurs could swiftly identify a species.
His bold, precise drawings and printings stressed coloration, shapes of beaks, wings, feathers and
tails.
His prose was equally clear and succinct: he summed up the male (gadfiner), for example, as “the only
small yellow bird with black wings.”
Peterson once said, “I consider myself to have been the bridge between the shotgun and the binoculars
in bird watching. Before I came along, the primary way to observe birds was to shoot and stuff them.”
In the 1930’s when he began his work, there were serious questions as to whether sufficient numbers of
Americans cared or could be induced to learn about bird life. His editors only committed themselves t a first
printing of 2,000 copies with reservations. It’s now in its 5th revision with millions of copies in print.
Peterson has received every major award for ornithology, natural science, conservation, as well as
numerous honorary degrees, medals and citations including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The list is
longer than I have space for.
Peterson first visited Belize (then British Honduras) after the end of the Second World War with
ornithologist Edward. L. Chalif.
His experiences with the Neotropical Avifauna outside of Mexico influenced Peterson to expand his
“Field Guide to Mexican Birds” to include Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador giving Belize its 1st major
recognition as a bird watchers destination.
Peterson died on a Sunday after suffering a mild stroke. He was 87.
The complete quote is: “Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us, who
are earthbound. They symbolize a degree of freedom that we would nearly give our souls to have.”
Roger Tory Peterson
1909-1996
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Magnifi cent Frigatebird
Fregata magnificens
The first bird most visitors to our island notice is the Frigatebird. As you settle on the veranda of your
hotel in the afternoon gazing out at the reef you may notice soaring above the fisherman’s shoreline is a
very large black sea bird with extremely long pointed wings and a deeply forked tail.
Bubba and I probably get asked by San Pedro’s tourist every week, ‘what’s that large Teradactail looking
bird up there?’ Small birds seem to go unnoticed by most nonbirders. The frigate is big! Wingspan runs
more than 7 feet and soars high over the water never landing on its surface. Over the centuries of mans
naming birds the Frigate has worldwide been referred to as ‘The Man-O-war Bird’.
Most ornithological groups have placed it in the order of Pelecaniformes. The males are black with an
oblivious red Gular, the juveniles and female have a white head and neck. The description I like, having
known this bird for some 15 years, is in David Siblys ‘Guide To Birds’, It says,” A distinctive aerial pirate”.
What kind of personality would you imagine a bird would have if it ate only fish but could not swim?
Born to steal.
Rodger Pasquier in his book, ‘An Introduction to Ornithology’ wrote,” Frigatebirds that lack waterproof
feathers swoop to the surface of the water and pick up fish with out ever landing.” And ‘in theory ‘as they
say Rodger is correct but if fishing was that easy wouldn’t we all just swoop down and pick up a bag full?
What I’ve witnessed watching Ambergris’s Frigates is: Skilled fishing birds such as the Cormorant, Gull and
Tern dive for the fish only to have the frigate swoop down and grab it from their mouths. The Cormorant
can’t swallow its catch underwater and I’ve watched the Frigate circle above until it surfaces then quickly
snatch a meal with little struggle on the part of the surprised Cormorant, however the Tern doesn’t give it
up without a fight, The poor fish sometimes goes from the Terns mouth to the Frigates then retrieved by
the Tern and back again to the Frigate with the Frigate ultimately being the prize winner.
Of the 5 species in the world Ambergris is densely populated with only the magnificent. Part of its
success on the island is due to the many fishing boats cleaning their catch and sharing their scraps with the
birds. From low altitude you can see the red gular area on the males neck. This can be inflated into two
large balloons for display to the females. When courting the male, while sitting on the nest he has built for
her, inflates the guglar bends his neck down and beats them rapidly with his beak like two drums causing
an almost rattling noise. They nest atop the mangrove and in colonies sometimes in conjunction with the
Boobies as on Half Moon Caye. The nest is a large platform of sticks constructed by the male but built
from materials presented him by the female.
Frigates, living in harmony with us on the island.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
Woodpeckers
Golden-fronted woodpeckers, Centurus Aurifrons (Stiles, 1972); Red-vented (Yucatan) woodpeckers,
Centurus pygmaeus (Skutch, 1976); Southern Red-bellied woodpeckers (Peterson, 1973); Zebra-backed
woodpeckers; woodpeckers, bar-backed woodpeckers; woodpeckers, woodpeckers, woodpeckers! Ambergris
has more than its share.
The family is called Picidae, and the world contains 210 species within that family of chisel-filled,
tree-climbing birds with special feet for holding on to vertical tree trunks. My generation thinks of large
woodpeckers being like “Woody Woodpecker” a Warner Brothers buffoonish cartoon character that could
peck wood at the carving speed of a chainsaw. Anything wooden was whittled down in TV seconds to
nothing especially if it supported and authoritarian figure who then fell to a painful crash, causing Woody
to give his famous laugh . . . Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha—Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha—ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Hollywood Woody was fashioned after a group of special woodpeckers within the
Picidae family referred to as crested. They are large and have flaming red heads. One species of this group
lives on Ambergris. Ambergris’ male lineated woodpecker has a red moustache that adds to his dramatic and
somewhat comical appearance. His large black body is contrasted with white bars thus the name ‘lineatus’.
(The female has a black moustache stripe.) Belize is home for 25 species of woodpecker.
Ambergris, in the world of woodpeckers, could be considered heaven. Woodpeckers are masterful
tree surgeons, testing the diseased trunks of coconuts trees with sharp raps of their bills digging out ants,
termites or the larvae of woodboring beetles such as the rhinoceros beetle. The soft, carvable wood of the
vaulting coconut trunks make easy home building for the island’s many varieties of Picidae and the telltale
holes can be seen in every cocal from Marco Gonzalez to Rocky Point.
The most obvious of the island’s Picidaes is a Yucatan woodpecker called the Golden-Fronted and
without looking too hard, I run across about five every day, enjoying the festival of rhinoceros beetles and
termites or having the palmetto’s white berry for dessert.
The red cap and black and white zebra striped coat they wear make them easy to spot even if they didn’t
make themselves apparent with the constant tapping.
If a woodpecker feels like it’s found a good stand of rotting and infested trees that will provide the family
with food and shelter for some time, marking the territory is noisy!
Imagine you’re a woodpecker and having a big tap is your sign of dominance and power. Nature will
provide a god hollow log for you to drum on but finding an empty water tank or the side of a wood house
can make you feel like the Energizer Bunny in high gear. Other woodpeckers will respect your claim in fear
that this loud tap is from a much bigger bird.
The male and female woodpecker, unlike most birds, look very much alike in their brilliant red colors
and share equally the work of nest building and caring for young.
Feeding the chicks in the early stages is done by regurgitation. Nests are always holes in wood, carved
out by this woodcrafter. Each hole is home for the whole family.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Chachalaca
If you’re one of the lucky people that live north enough on the island to escape the noise of airplanes
and the city life of San Pedro, then you’ve probably heard the cackling of Chachalaca coming from the
back bush.
The Chachalaca is a wild bush turkey. Rarely seen but often heard at sun up and sun down. Of the 39
species of Chachalaca in the world, 3 are found in Belize. Ambergris Chachalaca are brown with pheasant
like tail and a red throat, sometime weighing over two pounds. This fowl was most definitely a food source
for the Maya and buccaneers living on this island in its past.
Although I’ve seen hundreds of meadowlarks, I’ve never seen one in the woods and I have never seen a
woodthrush in a meadow, just as a fisherman lives near the sea and a lumberjack in a forest or a cab driver
in the city so each bird has its niche. The Chachalaca lives in the protection of the savannah’s back bush,
walking on the ground and limbs under the thickets of sour sap and sea grape and coco plum on which it
feeds, and nests in scrub usually in groups of 15 to 20.
Since bow and arrow hunting is a lost art and few locals have guns for hunting, the northern part
of Ambergris is inhabited by hundreds, but only the most serious birdwatcher will ever see one, as they
almost never leave the protection of thick bush. Instead hearing them is our pleasure. Each evening as a
Chachalaca roosts it seems to let the other members of its group know who it is and where it is by making a
loud ‘cha—cha—LAW—ka’ noise. As each member responds a rhythmical chorus seems to make the back
bush come alive with a chicken-like Chachalaca cackling for several minutes. They will suddenly stop as
if listening and another more distant group will begin and stop only to give air time to yet another group,
heard faintly and even more in the distance. Then all quiet for the night. In the morning as the sun starts
to light the sky the chorus begins again as a rooster might hail the dawn, making an alarm clock useless!
As the development of San Pedro calls for more clearing of bush in order to feed and roost the Chachalaca will
be forced to move north on the island as will a number of birds and wildlife that need the savannah habitat.
Of the extreme variety of ideas proposed for the north end of the island, The Bacalar Chico Game
Reserve sounds like a winner for an island trying to keep its tourist trade, and I’m sure if Chachalacas could
vote it would already be one.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
Courtship and Nesting
It is essential that male and female come together at some time for copulation, so that the eggs of the
female will be fertile. Courtship is the who and when of this action. Nesting is an intricate part of courtship.
Acceptance or rejection of a mate often depends on the quality of the nesting potential and the identification
of the correct male by the female through his dance and song for her. This drama is as much of a novella
as is ‘As The World Turns’. The male Rock Dove I see on the streets of downtown San Pedro strut dancing
in a circle around the female with their chest out strutting high and jutting their head forward with every
step as she pretends not to notice and goes about her foraging. The Male Yellow-Backed Mayan Oriole
of Ambergris must feel a broken spirit when his prospective mate inspects the hanging basket nesting
materials he toiled days collecting with expectations, only to have her cast them aside in rejection.
Bubba said,” these are called ‘Reproductive Strategies’ and each species follows a fairly fixed plan which
repeatedly tested by natural selection, has become the most efficient and successful manner of reproducing
for that species in its environment”.
Bubba never has been a romantic.
90% of birds are monogamous and in most monogamous relationships it’s the female that makes
the choice of with whom and where to mate and nest, usually on the basis of the males displays or the
attractiveness of the territory he claims. Let’s not devalue the fact that his singing and dancing around in
circles with his chest out is an important factor in her decision but let’s look at what his territory has to offer.
Is there fresh water close by to drink and bath in for her. Is there a food supply, such as a berry producing
bush, Blossoms attracting bees and fly’s, or termite nest, newly hatched chicks are demanding and ravenous.
Does the territory offer shelter from the weather and security from predators? Trees usually supply this
demand. Is there suitable building material for the nest? Plants such as Coconut trees and palmettos produce
strong fibrous building material that is easily collected.
On Ambergris, as in the World today, the loss of nesting and foraging habitat is probably the single
biggest threat to birds.
The amount of birds we see is according to the amount the environment around us can support.
As clearing for development moves northward on ambergris replacement of specific food producing
vegetation through mindful landscaping. Ambergris’s Yucatan Woodpecker is fond of the wild papaya. The
black catbird and Caribbean Malking bird enjoy the white berries of the Palmetto. Birdbaths or other water
sources such as fountains, Reflection ponds or even swimming pools, will help sustain our avian friends
and they will continue to provide us with entertainment.
Birdhouses have saved many populations where massive land clearing for human needs has destroyed
habitat (Properly referred to as Bird boxes’).
Bird box construction, design and placement are an art. Birds are very specific about what they will
accept. Nests are varied widely and successful Bird boxes must fit the specific demands of a group and not
all groups will entertain the idea of nesting in your idea of what they will chose.
Remember the criteria she had? Protection from the weather and predators near water and food.
Ambergris Caye has a large number of cavity nesters. Woodpeckers create holes that are used by cavity nesters
that cannot create their own. The diameter of the hole determines who can or can’t get in. The size may vary
according to whom you are trying to attract. I like 1.5 inches diameters. And so do most Cavity nesters.
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Thickness of the walls should be a minimum of 3/8th of an inch thick. You may like UDP red or PUP
blue but its not very likely she will. Colors have large meanings to birds and the natural brown or green
of the environment mean camouflage from predators. Any paint at all or even treated lumber is probably
going to get you thumbs down.
Placement is another important consideration. It should be high enough off the ground to deter most
predators from climbing but low enough to not attract others who may like to swoop down on prey, a few
branches overhead will usually prevent this.
The North East trade wind is blowing the majority of the time on Ambergris so the south West side
would be a better choice to face the hole. Buy the way the little perch outside the hole is a cute idea a human
had nothing at all useful or desired by the bird.
If I’ve inspired you and you install a Bird box, Birdbath or plant a berries producing shrub, be patient
each year for about a month your box will be considered and may even be remembered from the previous
years visit. Don’t expect results the first season.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Boat-Tailed Grackle
On my first visit to Ambergris all around the
little cabaña I rented was a very loud unusual
noise of this raven-like bird. As first impressions
go, I will forevermore associate this bird’s cry
with the island as closely as its rattling palms and
roaring reef.
The Boat-Tailed Grackle is found throughout
the island in great numbers and is seemingly
undisturbed by the presence of the town.
The grackle belongs to a family of birds known
as Icteridae of which most of its 90 members are
permanent residents of the tropics. Most species
are black and superb songsters.
The male grackle is large and has a glossy
purplish-black color that contrasts the bright
yellow of its eyes’ iris, giving its stare a more
intelligent look than most birds.
The males loudest and most distinctive crow
comes after a wind-up that ends with his neck
stretched and bill pointing straight in the air. This
is usually for a display to the female, in courting
prance on the ground under the coconut trees.
The female looks almost like a different bird.
She’s much smaller with a dull dark brown body,
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sooty brown flanks and black wings. They always seem to accompany this polygamous male in twos or
threes and lets the daring male venture forward first, staying in the safety of the background.
Part of this bird’s success on the island must, in part, be due to the variety of things it will eat including;
lizards, fish, eggs, grains, fruits, berries, and garbage from picnic. In short he’ll eat anything!
However, a grackle doesn’t seem to be a very successful builder on the island, but excellent elsewhere. Its
nests can be seen blowing around in the sand under the palms. They are crude and course bowls of twigs.
High winds seem to be the villain. Normally a grackle will cement its nest with mud and cow or house
dung, possibly the sand soil and absence of literal house manure of this island is the source of its building
problems.
Its eggs are blue with dark brown specks and blotches. Despite this problem with building materials
its numbers are increasing.
My bird book says its voice is “a rapid clicking ‘thick, thick, thick’; also a chattering and rattling calls:
males have an exceedingly diverse repertoire of sharp, loud notes including a prolonged squeaky rising
whistle, a stentorian, bugle-like tooting, metallic whistles suggesting a little tin horn, and various guttural
or creaking notes.”
Phonics for bird noises has always been difficult at best, and you won’t hear me trying to imitate this
one!
Reading attempts of ornithologist to describe bird noise has given me a lot of laughs. I’ve always felt
describing them was like what a person sees in the shape of a cloud. It’s different from person to person.
For instance, Famous birder pioneer, Rodger Tory Peterson said the Boat-Tailed Grackle is saying, “kidkid-
kik-kik” but he also thought certain birds would say things like, “to you to” or “only for you” and “it’s
mine—it’s mine”.
More of a vocal Rorschach test for Peterson than an imitation of bird noise, however I did know a bird
that seemed to spend its time looking for a man named Bob White!
Let’s listen to the grackle and maybe some brave soul will stick their neck out and tell us what he’s saying.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Mayan Oriole
From that tremendous order of Passeriformes, (birds that perch) is the “Icteridae” family. Most of the
Icteridae are residents of the tropics and northern members migrate. Of the 90 species in the family, all
are living on continents and islands of the Western Hemisphere, and one local member has acquired the
vernacular name “Mayan Oriole” because its home is the boundaries of the old Mayan world.
It is “Icterus chrysater” or Yellow-Backed Mayan oriole to its friends!
I first discovered a Mayan oriole when I heard a whistling early in the morning after dawn. I had been
listening to the kiskadee and working on my ear for it, when I was taken by a whistle that made me first
think, someone’s playing a joke on me! This whistle is human, I thought, and one of my jocular Indian
friends is whistling outside my house. I went out on the deck expecting to see my friend Bowman Tun,
a Mayan bushman and prankster, instead the whistling persisted and my binoculars finally zoomed in
on a brilliant deep yellow bird in the coconut tree, making a noise much like a human whistle. The stark
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contrast of black wings, face and neck made the yellow seem even richer. The wings had two slender white
bars visible when folded.
I went back to the house to my bookshelf thinking how astonishing it is when a bird of the week
announces itself. I read: Cousin to the oropendoles I see at Chan Chich, a smart nest builder, lays 3 to 4
pale blue with white eggs in a finely woven pouch protected by being placed in a thorny bush. I imagine
some of the thorny bush in the back savanna would be a likely place to look if you were adventurous and
possess serious mosquito protection.
I also read it’s a fruit eater. I’m assuming the sapodilla tree dropping yellow fruit at my back deck is
why he’s whistling around my house they also seem to like Bubbas dog food. I think I’ll plant another
sapodilla. This oriole makes over 20 species of birds I’ve counted during the month this tree’s fruit ripened
and dropped.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Cormorant
Belize is one of those unusual places where nature offers a variety of oddities, like fish that fly and birds
that swim under water.
You may find yourself looking out over the sea and discover what appears to be a miniature Loch Ness
suddenly disappearing below the surface and reappear with a whipping eel in its beak, stretching its neck
as it gobbles in the whole eel, shakes its head and swallows. The Cormorant, swimming under water for as
long as four minutes looking for a quick meal of a small fish or surprised eel, is a special Duck. There are
28 species of Cormorant in the world, Ambergris is home for hundreds of Neotropical and Double-crested
Cormorant with a glossy black plumage and a very specialized hooked bill sometimes decorated in a colorful
orange pattern. They have similar nesting areas as the Frigatebird, but are more in harmony with the Frigate
than with the Booby, probably because they nest lower in the mangrove and closer to the waters level. Its
eggs are a blue-green with a chalky white coating.
Asian fishermen have used the Cormorants for their unique fishing ability to catch marine delicacies
by banding its throat to prevent swallowing and tying a line to its neck to reel it back into the boat where
the bird would be forced to give up its prey.
Although they prefer the shallow waters turtle grass, I’ve seen while scuba diving at coral forest, all the
fish suddenly swim away in fright as probably the oddest looking but best fisherman on the island would
pass by as deep as 15 feet.
Flying seems difficult for this bird as their plumage is not fully waterproof and its body is clearly designed
for swimming not flying. After a hard day’s fishing the Cormorant can be seen standing spread-winged into
the sun atop post at the end of the dock drying its wings for the flight home.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Kingfi sher
In the order of Coraciiformes there is a family of Kingfishers called Alcedinidae and in this family is the
bird of the week known as Megaceryle alcyon or the North American Belted Kingfisher—a fish-eating bird
that dives from a perched position over water for sardines and other small fish.
With its short thick neck, large head and wacky, swept-back hairdo, this bird looks remarkably like
fight promoter Don King!
I was on the veranda of the Green Parrot Bar when its proprietor Stuart Corns presented me with a
telescope aimed at a blue and black bird with a vee shaped band on his white chest, poised atop the outriggers
of a boat at his dock. I love long close looks like this when behavior can be observed, instead of just a quick
I.D. It seemed frozen and focused on the water below it. We noticed two yellow spots on its head that for
a while I thought were his eyes. I suspect these spots help his vision in the bright sun on the water much
like a jungle warrior paints black below his eye to help see at night.
Ambergris must have a large population of Kingfishers. I see them almost everywhere I go, even when
I am cruising the mangrove channels in the back.
I read that they nest in tunnels that are dug into banks along streams. I wonder what adaptations
Ambergris Kingfishers have had to make with our sandy soil and mangrove lagoons.
I witnessed this Kingfisher finally dive for a sardine after a long studious pondering, and noticed on
his landing on a less precarious perch atop the palapa, that the sardine was not speared on his bill—but
captured between his mandibles. Then to my surprise, he literally beat the sardine to death on the post
while still holding it in his bill. Finally after a short pause to see if it would still wiggle, he flipped it to a
head-down position and swallowed the whole 4 inch sardine.
In my research of the Kingfishers, I ran across something new to me, a ‘sub-family’ called Daceloninac
that are Kingfishers of the forest, not the coast. They fish in fresh water streams and ponds in the jungle.
I’m excited about my upcoming trip to Chan Chich and hope my jungle birder friends there can point out
some Daceloninde Kingfishers so I can compare techniques with this subfamily of unique fishing birds.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Osprey
While trying to decide on the bird of the week I read about a candidate on the island called an osprey.
Tired of researching and trying to choose, I got in my boat and headed north on the island. In passing Tres
Cocos I saw from a distance one bird among the many silhouettes over the shore, laboriously flapping its
wings in a hover. Fast flaps of long wings designed to glide caught my eye, and as I got closer I saw its neck
bent at a right angle to its body, focusing on some aquatic prey about 100 feet below in the water. Just as I
felt my boat’s closeness to the bird’s target area might make it abort and fly away, it suddenly plummeted,
raising talons and throwing wings back. This rocketing fisherman snatched dinner in a big splash. The
Bonefish wiggled and fought as the osprey recovered from the water and became airborne again. Then as if
was annoyed by the fish’s struggle the bird lowered its sharp beak and stopped the movement of the fish with
a strategic shot to the fish’s head. With the slippery fish grasped in its long curved claws it flew away.
Decision made!
Ornithologists categorize birds into families, such as the spotted owl, screech owl and horned owl. All
have several things in common and belong to a family called Strigidae with 120 members. The blue-tailed
hummingbird, the violet-crowned hummingbird and the rufous-tailed all belong to a family called Trochilidae
with 320 members. The decision on which family you belong to is made on common traits like flattened
faces, forward looking eyes or hooked bills, a lot like human traits. The osprey is said, by some, to be a one
of a kind, single member its own unique family called Pandionidae, because of specialized joints in its feet
and curved razor talons used for fishing. It seems there is some disagreement in the world of birders over
its family tree, whether it’s hawks, eagle, falcon or vulture is probably not on the osprey’s mind. The osprey
is very territorial and claims a few square miles for its hunting and fishing grounds. That’s why it appears
each cocal up and down the island seems to be home for one pair. Osprey nest in a bulky stick nest placed
high in tree tops or platforms of man-made structures like water towers and roof peaks. It uses the same
nest year after year.
Sometimes when the water is cloudy from bad weather and the fishing is bad, the osprey will resort to
eating snakes and lizards. Its voice is a distinctive, sharp, high pitched and easily recognized, “Keeip”.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The Royal Tern
Sterna maxima
I was just telling myself I need a photo of a Tern in its winter cap before spring hit and there he was
waiting on the dock for me.
The Book says ‘seldom seen in Belize ‘ but I see them everywhere.
If you sail or motor up to one of San Pedro’s many docks, you’re greeted by a group of comical-looking
white birds with zany black hairdos and long orange noses called Royal Terns.
During the day the terns stand in flocks on the ends of the docks in town, facing the wind very uniformly
and when the trade wind blows from the north-east, all the terns turn to the left. And when the breeze
comes from the South-east, the terns all turn to the right. Our island and reef run predominately North
and South, so if you’re sitting in one of San Pedro’s many bars overlooking the reef, you’re seeing another
end of the Royal Tern.
The family is Laridae and includes all gulls and terns with about 80 species. Long, large wings and a
good fishing bill make this tern one of Ambergris’ successful fishing birds, and it even wears webbed feet
for a little swimming if it has to.
Terns are excellent flyers and able to fish well offshore. They breed in monogamous pairs, always nest
in colonies and build a crude nest on the ground or grasses deep in the Savannah’s protection. Our island
is home for hundreds. They have a high-pitched voice of “Keerr, kree, tsirr” like a sea gull.
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In my reading I find birders seem to disagree about one point or another consistently. The Royal Tern
is no exception. One book says, “The Royal Tern is a thief and steals fish from frigates and other birds,”
the next book will say, “ The Royal Tern’s fish are stolen by frigates.” The only way to really find out is to
see for myself, so I went down to Cholo’s Bar & Pool Hall at the beach and made myself comfortable in a
stool overlooking the docks where 100 or more terns, gulls and frigates seem to be having their afternoon
meal of sardines and scraps from the fisherman cleaning the catch on the dock. A frigate swooped down
and scooped up some fish parts from the surface of the water and another accosted him in mid-air causing
him to drop the object of their confrontation, only to fall another few feet and get caught in the air by a
tern when suddenly another tern collided head on in a cat fight with Tern#1 only to lose everyone’s desired
prize into the water below. Surprised by this free-for-all and still uncertain who steals from whom, I turned
to one of our knowledgeable local guides having a beer on the stool next to me and asked, “Who steals
from who? The tern or the frigate?
He replied, “ Well you should know, gringo. You’re the one who writes about birds.”
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
Magnolia Warbler
Nothing starts my day off better than discovering a new and unusual bird while I’m having my coffee
on the deck. Bubba’s water bowl has been a popular spot to drink or for an occasional bath for birds around
the cocal, as long as he’s asleep! On this morning a small warbler with a striped, yellow breast and striking
black and white patterns on its upper parts was enjoying its bath so much it was singing.
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I quickly looked it up in my ID book. A Magnolia Warbler! Its melodic, warbling songs while mating
are how this bird got its name.
After its bath it went directly to the coconut tree and struck up a tune that seemed to start two others
in the sea grape tree singing also. I spotted one that must have been the female, the black was muted and
she didn’t have the stark white streak across the head like the male.
The bird started looking under the coconut palms and seemed to be able to hover and search, unlike
any flying I had ever see, other than a hummingbird!
I read they eat insects and the bird seemed to be quickly picking them from under the coconut frond
while hovering.
The book also said “a migrant, said to visit the Caribbean coast in mid-September to mid-April.” Stiles
and Skutch.
Today is the 30th of September, so I guess I’ll see this little songbird until it starts to warm up again
in the north.
Most of the migration to warmer wintering spots starts about now. The Roseate Spoonbills have just
come back from their summer home, and the birdwatching tours to the islands in the back are starting to
get popular again.
My book on migration says little is known about when, where and why birds migrate but two common
factors seem to motivate all birds to travel: supplies of food and desire to mate.
So this little bird on my deck is here to mate! Thus the female in the sea grape.
I’ll start watching for a nest.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
The American Great Egret
I was motoring by in my boat to San Pedro and this week’s bird was waiting for me to see it at Larry’s
old sunken barge.
I had just written about the Great Blue Heron and this caught my eye with its whiteness, but it seemed
to be a Great Heron. I put the boat upwind and shut down the motor to drift. I grabbed my binoculars
for a close look. Bubba was in the boat with me and must have misunderstood what was happening, as
usual. He jumped from the boat with a splash and this action provided me with a look at how the heron
flies, but not before I got my look.
The local guides call it “the white heron”. I have some trouble with classifications. The family is not the
only group to be used in classifications. In fact, there are five main groupings: Classes, Orders, Families,
Genera, and Species. Species are defined as populations, the members of which are able to interbreed and
produce fertile offspring.
The American Great Egret is what Peterson described as, “the white race of blue heron”, or in other
words a subspecies of the Great Blue Heron.
I wanted to see the bird’s feet to know more about its positive ID. That could have been what Bubba
was wondering also when he jumped from the boat. The startled heron flew a few flaps, about five, and
then glided down to a perch on a large log. Black feet to match the legs!
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During my short look, I saw a three foot tall heron; it was solid white except for where its orange,
pointed bill connected with its head and the color seem to extend towards the eye. The eye was yellow
in its iris and the bird stood on black legs and feet. Its neck had the heron’s “S” shape and was more than
twice the length of its body.
David Sibley’s Bird Behavior Guide says, ‘It nests atop the mangrove just like its cousin, the Great Blue
Heron, where two or three blue-green eggs are laid.’ And this time of year until November is the nesting
season for them as well; it uses the same fishing ground and techniques.
Birds tend to sleep at those time of the day when they cannot feed, thus not only do day feeding birds
sleep at night and nocturnal birds during the day, but birds such as waders sleep when the tide is high. High
and low tide changes about an hour each day so at certain times of the month, the hot middle of the day
is good bird watching, if it’s low tide. Normally early morning and late afternoon are the best times.
What I seem to like the most about birdwatching is anytime, anyplace a new and curious looking bird
will surprise you with a hello, even if Bubba is with you.
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Birds of Ambergris Caye
Little Blue Heron
Egretta caerrulea
High and low tide affects the current at our Hol Chan Marine Reserve. When the tide is nearing its
lowest point, the current makes swimming very difficult for snorkelers and divers. The newspaper and radio
tell the highs and lows. It helps some, but it isn’t entirely accurate in predicting the good and bad times to
dive the cut. The moon isn’t the only factor in the strong current at Hol Chan but the Little Blue Heron
can’t be fooled and can be used as a predictor.
The Little Blue Heron is a conniiform and by name alone we know this long legged, wading bird is
a masterful fisherman. Its specialized neck with twenty-two vertebra allows it to thrust forward rapidly
to impale prey in the water before it. Like all fishing, when to fish is as important as where. Where is the
shallow shoreline’s turtlegrass; when is the time the tide gets into its lowest stages and the water is just a few
inches deep on top of the seagrass beds. During this time the shallow water allows it to catch in its beak
and swallow three or four small fish. Low tide is its window of opportunity to get dinner. I’ve learned from
the Little Blue Heron when diving at Hol Chan is going to be bad.
The Little Blue Heron has a powder blue to gray body and glossy purple neck. Its bill is yellow and
tipped with black. Its legs and feet are a yellowish green. He can be seen walking along the shoreline’s shallow
waters, fishing almost everywhere on the island.
It nests in the protection of the mangrove on the lagoon side of the island and builds a crude platform
of sticks atop with the sky as a roof. Until this heron is about one year old it is snow white but can be
distinguished from the white egret by its bill and leg colors.
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Today, as my divers and I put together our equipment on the dock in preparation for our dive at Hol
Chan one asked, “How’s the current at Hol Chan?” I looked over at the shoreline to check the tide mark just
as my blue friend was flying away, having gotten all the little fish it could before the tide cycle switched and
the water got too deep to fish while wading, I replied, “Great, Tides coming in, just perfect for diving.”
SANPEDRO SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Ambergris Caye is the
title of the column I’ve been writing
for the Sun. Ambergris is a unique
island behind the barrier reef and is
host for 260 or so different species
during the year. This is a large
number for a barrier reef island!
In the country of Belize 534
species have been counted. For
those of you who are new to
Birdwatching I should explain that
the entire world has 8,600 different
species spread thinly over the varied
habitats this planet has between its
poles. 534 is a spectacular variety
for a country the size of Belize.
This number is largely due to
the diversity of habitat within its
borders.
I’ve decided to expand my
writing to include all the birds of
Belize and journey off the island
to the mainland. Next week I
plan to visit a unique conjuncture
of savanna habitat and jungle
habitat up the Northern River past
Bomba, to its end near the village of
Maskall. I’ve been hearing rumors
about fresh water springs there that
attract avafana in the dry season.
Bubba will be staying at home to cover island events. He has never come to terms with creatures like
crocodiles and jungle cats that I’m sure to encounter.
I’m packing my big boots.
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Birds of Belize
La Laguna Del Pajaros
Beginning my journey to the mainland, I hopped aboard Carlos Alejos’ river trip boat from the island
for Altun Ha, a thousand year old Maya site on the main land. We crossed the Back Bay and cruised up the
Northern River to the Bomba Village. From Bomba we chartered a van. Carlos dropped me at the Maskall
Village, home of the Pretty See Jungle Ranch where I had been invited to stay.
After a tour of the grounds around the lodge, I was given an unusually elegant cabaña and introduced
to a guide named Alex.
Alex surprised me with his “quick study” English, and we chuckled about how we both wore similar
“Botas Grandes”. He immediately led me across a pasture of horses, thank God for big boots. We were on
our way to his special bird watching spot he called “La Laguna Del Pajaros”.
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Beyond the pasture among strangler fig and cahune trees was an ancient spring fed lagoon, a special
year-round supply of water at the foot of the jungle and end of the savanna. Just what I had come to
see—the conjuncture of two rich habitats at water. A small pier extended from the bank into the arena of
the lagoon. Its surrounding trees created a panorama of jungle.
I was almost overwhelmed by the birds that seemed to be everywhere I pointed my binoculars. Some
I may never be able to identify.
For a while I was frantically looking up new species in my field guide. I decided after a few minutes to
just relax, let time go by and enjoy my watch.
Chachalaca crackled in the background. Blue-gray Tangers, Tricolored Heron, a tree of Ani, a Green
Kingfisher perching on a stick, two Gray Necked Wood Rails hunting along the bank with Little Ruddy
Crakes mixing their hunting ground, two Red Billed Pigeons cooing from the tallest tree, a tree filled with
yellow-lored Parrots, a variety of hawks soared above rocking wings and casting hunting eyes downward.
I turned slowly to study four Boat Billed Heron perched on a dead tree leaning in the lagoon.
During our stillness and quiet of awe, a crocodile larger than myself rose from below, then surfaced in
slow motion, crawled atop a lagoon log and lay fully extended in the sun.
Crocodile watching must be similar to bird watching.
He was light mud brown and oddly yellow with dark, vertical bands on its tail. Reaching forward with
his hind leg and twisting his neck back, he scratched behind one ear like Bubba does when it’s time to relax
on a rug.
A passing light breeze blew open my bird book, flapping and flashing its white pages. The crocodile
only paused a second at the notice of me then slid below the surface. I think even Alex was amazed.
I was in bird watcher’s heaven and nearing overload before I noticed this different looking Tityra. I
raised my binoculars to catch a close look and saw the bright red mask of a Masked Tityra.
It was all I could take. I had to put down the binoculars. It was time to leave.
Time started back slowly as I walked back across the pasture to the bar at the lodge.
I’m going to like this place!
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Barstool Birdwatching
MASKALL
I settled in the lodge and warmed up to a stool in its bar. After a few cold beers and an hour of admiring
the view of the ranch an idea struck me. I’ll christen this place with its 1st annual barstool bird watching
count.
Oddly enough, Alex, my favorite guide, is also the bartender. His English and my Spanish mixed into
an understanding that a point is a pajaro (bird) and the most “puntas” wins!
Alex said, smiling, “Want a drink?” and started washing his blender in the sink.
I turned to view the ranch’s orchard and was surprised by a parrot sitting on the veranda handrail.
Alex said, “That’s Bill, Hello Bill, Hello!”
Bill cocked one eye at me, then towards Alex and said, “Auwk!”
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 81
Bill wasn’t giving anything away and obviously had been listening to the game rules. Alex repeated,
“Hello Bill, Hello!” I could tell Alex was underestimating Bill’s intellect.
With my best Spanish I said, “Bill puede jugar! (Bill can play!” Alex smiled and said, “I’ll fix you a
special drink.”
Having once been beaten by a dog, I began to focus on Bill.
Suddenly Alex raised the blender cup and scored the first point with “Great Curassow!”
I then realized I had overlooked them because they were mixing with the domestic fowl in the chicken coop.
Alex—1, Elbert—0, Bill—0.
The game begins!
I had a disadvantage to start. Alex is a closet birdwatcher, and this is his turf.
Alex calmly said, “Red Rails” and gestured with the blender lid in the direction of the coop. I looked
up to notice two Red Rails had given up the jungle life to live with the chickens.
Alex—2, Elbert—0, Bill—0.
Alex put three scoops of vanilla ice cream in the blender with three very carefully measured shots of
Absolute vodka and a bottle of Coke. My curiosity rose!
While the blender was doing its magic, Alex pulled out a well-worn copy of Peterson’s Field Guide and
then poured me what he calls an Alexo Especial!
I knew I was in trouble and recklessly spouted off—Grackle, Kiskadee, Oriole, Ground Dove and
Black-crowned Tityra.
This seemed to cause Bill some concern, and he flew to one of the flamboyant trees around the
veranda.
Alex—2, Elbert—5, Bill—0.
From his perch among the bright orange blossoms of the tree, Bill gave three methodical “Auwks”.
Alex and I studied Bill’s score in the tree and conceded to his credit a Rufous Tailed Hummingbird, a
Yellow-bellied Trogan and two Banana Quits.
While Alex and I were confirming this claim, Bill had flown to a small cashew grove in front of the
lodge and had given two more “Auwks” at a Cinnamon Hummingbird and Forked-tail Flycatcher.
Alex—2, Elbert—5, Bill—5.
Jamming down the button of the blender, Alex shouted without looking up, “Mangrove Cuckoo, Ant
Ani and Red Vented Woodpecker!”
I turned with my binoculars to confirm their presence at the jungle’s edge across the pasture.
I was transfixed with my binoculars on the ani’s large black upper mandible when Bill flew in to check
the official score.
I had slugged down the Alexo Especial, and Alex was now feeding bananas into the blender atop
cinnamon and cane juice.
The afternoon was approaching, and I felt a call to visit the veranda’s cool breeze. Alex told me Bill
is usually entertaining, but today “auwk” is all he will say. Possibly it is the level of concentration on the
game!
With a score of Alex—5, Elbert—5 and Bill—5, the three of us relaxed and sipped the banana, cane
juice concoction.
Bill cocked his head at Alex’s and my contentment with the tie and decided to play his ace.
“Auak! Yellow-head Parrot, Yellow-head Parrot, Name’s Bill, auak!”
Every hour or so for the remainder of the evening, Bill would give a mocking “Ha, ha, ha, ha” with a
human-like quality.
Alex—5, Elbert—5, Yellow-head—6!
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Birds of Belize
Limpkin
In the world of Aves is an order known as Gruiformes. From that order is a family,
Aramidae with only one species in its membership called, Aramus guarauna or the “Limpkin”. They
inhabit the fresh water marshes of Belize along its Riverine forest in areas such as the New River Lagoon
and Crooked Tree.
I told Bubba that I hear Belizean tour guides refer to it as the dinosaur bird. He said, “It’s very true the
Limpkin are unique; putting them in a specific order is difficult and not always agreed on with ornithologists.
In general its appearance is that of a large slender rail (Rallidae) and other sketetal features resemble a crane
(Gruidae). I’m sure its dinosaur connection would be a kinship to Diatryma an extinct order known only
from fossil remains. Perhaps they should be in their own order since its relationship with any living bird
is uncertain.”
Limpkin are “specialized feeders”. In their usual swamp habitat Limpkin wade in shallow water and
perch at varying heights in vegetation. They can swim well despite having unwebbed feet, but fly rather
infrequently.
There is a very delicate balance of having these birds in Belize and Belize providing it with escargot.
Although known to eat seeds and insects it’s primary food source is the “Apple Snail” (Pomacea).
The Apple Snail is a very large, freshwater snail that the Limpkin will hold in its foot while it extracts
it from its shell. Like the conch fishermen on the coast, they first pierce a small strategic hole to disconnect
the snail from its anchor deep within the spiral shell. Then with it’s bill it pulls free the meat from the shell’s
natural opening and swallow it whole.
The abundance of freshwater Apple Snails is in direct correlation to where we find Limpkin. The snails’
survival is connected to cool fresh water rivers running from the forest. I told Bubba, ‘Sounds like a balance
of nature thing and asked if he was going on one of his environmental diatribes.’ He gave me a look and
said, “I’d like to point out that everything we do has an effect on the birds, but it’s also our water, and it
can be a measure of our own healthy environment.”
“OK! OK!
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 83
I tried to change the subject by asking about its nest and he said, “It is a shallow, rather flimsy nest of
sticks and other dry vegetation. The clutches (a complete set of eggs laid by one female) are of 4 to 8 buff eggs
with blotches and speckles of light brown. Incubation and care of the young is done by both parents. The
newly hatched young are covered with dark brown down. A few days after leaving the nest they accompany
their parents for weeks continuing to obtain food from their parents until they are able to fly. Approaching
the parent from behind while it is removing a snail from a shell the young Limpkin pulls the snail from the
parent’s bill, then swallows it whole, and I know you are trying to change the subject.”
I get what your saying Bubba. If we expect to preserve and protect the Limpkin of Belize we must
preserve and protect their special food source and its environment also.
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
Birdlistening
I was feeling a little old and getting bored with birdwatching when Bubba decided to teach me a new
trick. How bird songs can be used to identify the bird without actually seeing it.
He introduced me to a tape from the Tropical Education Center, titled, “The Sounds of Belizean Birds”
and this week I’ve become aware of an intriguing new aspect of birdwatching . . . Birdlistening. I now have
a long list of birds that I recognize by song alone. However bird identification by sound has turned out to
be just a small part of my discovery. Bubba said, “Humans tend to notice birds because birds use the same
sense organs as they do. The most important one is probably color vision, but hearing must lie a close
second. They hear and of course communicate over a similar range of wavelengths.”
I’ve started spending time in early dawn on my veranda practicing identifying birds by just listening
to the surrounding habitat. In the past I thought morning bird sounds were just a wake up call but Bubba
has pointed out some very interesting features of what I thought I was hearing. He said, “Birdsongs are
an elaborate series of messages in the ‘language’ of birds. Some complex songs may include as many as 80
notes per second. Such sounds seem like a single continuous note to the human ear and can only be seen
not to be, by examination of a sound spectrograph recording the song. Not surprisingly, if the bird can give
such calls it can also receive them. The speed of the auditory response of birds may be on the order of ten
times as fast as that of a human.”
“The Avian Kingdom has developed many ways of transmitting messages but song is a particularly
useful form. Sound travels well in most habitats in which birds live and is clearly the most articulate.”
“In habitats such as a rainforest where foliage would prevent being seen from short distances, the inherent
acoustics of the canopy allow long distance communication.”
With a little skepticism in my voice I asked Bubba what he thought the birds were saying to one another.
He convinced me by explaining that “language” is just a group of simple messages and even though he
didn’t understand their languages he understood the basic needs for language. He assumed topics were one
of its three main functions. They were announcing territory claims or discussing border disputes, making
endeavors to attract a mate, and identifying other members of their communal family.
I learned a lot, and recently discovered that a noise in the night I thought was a croaking frog turned
out to be a small owl advertising for a mate.
“Birdlistening” . . . it’s a whole new word.
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Birds of Belize
Leaping Lizards
In the order of Archaeopterygiformes is the family Achaeopteryx and the only known representative of
its family is the species Archaeopteryx Lithographica.
All that is known of Archaeopteryx is that it had feathers, everything else is hypothetical because of
extinction.
Its 150 million year old fossilized remains mark the beginning of the avian evolution, a reptile that
could fly is the honorary bird of the week this week.
Paleontology is Bubba’s department. I reluctantly asked him about the extinct
Archaeopteryx, knowing full well it would trigger one of his diatribes on the subject.
He said, “Extinction on the planet is and has been a fact of life, or death, you might say, since time
began. Some say its simply proof of failure to adapt with change, but change itself can also be credited with
the cause of extinction.
It is estimated that there have been 50 billion species of plants and animals on this planet since life
began. Currently there are 50 million. That means that for every thousand species that has ever existed on
the planet only one remains today. These extinct species didn’t just slowly disappear over the ages naturally,
The New York Times Science Report, February 1997 explains that evidence from deep sea probing indicates
65 million years ago a gargantuan asteroid slammed into earth leaving evidence of the crater under the
Golf of Mexico. Known as Chicxulub, it is found off the coast of Florida near Cuba and extends to the
northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula near Belize. The arrival of this asteroid was a catastrophically swift
end to the age of dinosaurs and is responsible for the rapid extinction of the majority of species alive on the
planet. What’s left today is .01% of what existed in the past.” See what I mean. Bubba is always good for
that sort of information. Recently Howell & Webb, in A Guide to Birds of Mexico and Northern Central
America, have published a list of new members to the extinction club. They have found the reasons for
their extinction to have a common bond, but nothing to do with asteroids.
1. Socorro Dove, Zenaida gray soni, last reported 1958, formerly a common resident on Isla Socorro, Islas
Revillagigedo. This species apparently vanished between 1958 and 1978, presumably due to cat predation
in conjunction with human settlement of the island in 1957.
2. Imperial Woodpecker, Campehilus Imperialis, presumed extinct. Last reported 1956, demise
apparently due to human hunting for food, in combination with habitat loss. The largest woodpecker in
the world.
3. Slender Billed Grackle, Quiscalus Palustris, extinct. Last recorded
1910. Demise likely due to habitat loss.
4. Guadalupe Storm Petrel, Oceanodroma Macrodactyla, presumed extinct. Last reported
1912—Davidson. Demise considered due to feral cat (domestic cats gone wild) predation.
5. Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes Migratovius, extinct. Last recorded in wild in 1900. Demise due to
habitat destruction and over hunting.
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Birds of Belize
Faith and Science
by Bubba
Whenever Elbert and I write a bird article that mentions scientific evidence of evolution such as ‘Leaping
Lizards’ ( a story about 150 million year old fossilized remains of a flying lizard that marked the beginning
of the Avian Evolution) we are certain of two things: The story will present accurate and physical evidence
presented by leading ornithologists and scientists in the study of early and current bird life—and our e-mail
will be deluged with letters from readers who reject evolutionary theory. Most of the critics object as a matter
of scriptural principal; others say they have scientific evidence that calls evolution into question.
Faith and science have at least one thing in common: both are life long searches for truth, but while
faith is an unshakable belief in the unseen, science is the study of testable, observable phenomena.
The idea ‘Achaeopteryx’ was the cornerstone for the evolution of birds is every bit as believable to us as
St. Francis of Assisi saying he believed God created the birds for man’s enlightenment and entertainment.
Scientists have no more business questioning the existence of God than theologians had telling Galileo the
earth was the center of the universe.
We feel these two beliefs can coexist and at times complement each other, but neither should be asked
to validate or invalidate each other.
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
Bubbas Helpful ‘Birdwatching Guide’ Techniques
Bubba over the years has devised an easy
way to develop, improve and protect his
image as a Birdwatching authority. Using
his techniques and with a few of his simple
tips an ordinary tourguide can become a
birdwatching tour guide almost overnight.
Currently as you walk down your favorite
jungle trail or cruise the river and lagoon in
your boat your Tourist guest will ask, What is
this? or What is that? Caught on the spot to
identify the bird in question may put you at
odds with being knowledgeable about birds
or having to admit an embarrassing ‘I don’t
know’ or you could appear a winner buy
applying the ‘Bubba technique’.
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To use the Bubba technique you should first ask yourself, in what category should this bird be placed?
Example, if its swimming its probably a duck, then ask yourself what’s this bird doing? If the duck is making
a whistling sound as it flies away you would be safe in quickly responding, “A whistling Duck! “. As profound
as this may seem Bubba has statistics that prove 90% of the time you will be accurate.
Let me give you this example, While driving your van load of tourist down the road to a Mayan ruin
a tourist expecting you to be ever observant might ask,’ What kind of Hawk was that we passed beside the
road?’ Trying not to sound facetious reply, “A Roadside Hawk!”. You’ll be surprised how this satisfies them
that you are indeed a well trained Birder Guide. Without having to spend your nights studying field guide
identification books. Applying this simple technique can make you to an expert.
Remember the first step is to categorize the bird in question, is it a dove, is it a duck, is it pecking wood,
could it be catching little flies? Then look and listen for special markings, sounds or behavior. Example; A
circling gull at the sea side making a laughing sound is most likely a . . . . ‘Laughing Gull’. Imagine this,
your leading a group along a path in the rainforest and suddenly in the fruit tree before you are six large
birds that look like parrots with yellow heads, . . . . Yellow-headed Parrots! I know your thinking ‘It couldn’t
be this easy’, well then tell me quickly, what kind of bird is black with red wings? A Red-Winged Blackbird.
You’re visiting Mexico and you spy a Chickadee ? A Mexican Chickadee. A new Kingfisher your unfamiliar
with shows up, He’s not the normal blue color but an obvious Green. What is your best guess? Most people
know an Owl when they see one and this one has stripes. Don’t scratch your head just say it!
True story, my neighbor called Bubba up to ask him to identify a large bird he had been seeing in his
yard. He said It looked like a common hawk but was black ! He was so impressed that Bubba was such an
authority on birds that he could tell him right then on the phone that it was a Common Blackhawk. Am
I going to fast for you?
Try this, What is the primary staple in the diet of a Bat Falcon? ––––––––––––––––––
If you said ‘bats’, I think you catching on!
Why don’t you try this little test:
1. A Dove in the sea grape tree has white wings it is a ––––––––––––––––––––––––––
2. Your visiting Halfmoon Caye and you come across a colony of Booby birds with red feet,
they are ––––––––––––––––––––––––––
3. You’re touring the savanna and discover a small bird with a white collar eating seeds.
It is a ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
4. A bird pecking the wood of a coconut tree on the islands has black and white stripes on
its back like those of a zebra? –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
5. A tourist runs up to you and asks ,”What’s that bird over there catching flies with the
long scissor like tail ? You reply a ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
If your answers are: White Winged Dove, Redfooted Booby, Whitecolared Seedeater, Zeberabacked
Woodpecker, and Scissortailed Flycatcher, I think your catching on .
For years Bubba has been using this method with great success. I ask him honestly how he came up
with such a wonderful technique. Probably because he’s unwilling to give away his secrets he just looked
at me.
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Birds of Belize
THE KING VULTURE
Sarcoramphis papa
In the world of Avian there is an order known as Falconiformes; they are birds of prey, hunters of meat.
Within this order is a family called the Cathartidae or Vultures and of the Vultures there is a species called
Sarcoramphis papa, loosely translated this means “father of the coffin”. He is indisputably “The King of
Vultures”.
In the whole of Belize four species of vulture can be found. They are the Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture,
Savanna Vulture, and this week’s bird of the week, The King Vulture.
Having seen the first three, Bubba and I set out to find The King. Steve Howell’s “The Birds of Mexico
and Northern Central America” says the King Vulture is rare and decreasing in numbers. Our first stop
was in Orange Walk to ask the famous Belizean bird watching tour guides, The Novelo Brothers, where we
might begin looking. We found them at their usual pub in the town square, Bubba enticed Gilberto with a
few cold beers to talk to us about the King. He said that the King was called the King because all the other
vultures could not eat from fresh carrion until the King had come down and helped himself to the eye balls
of the dead. He then warned us that if we got too close The King would vomit blood and guts on us. Bubba
looked at me as if he thought Gilberto might have been reading too many Ann Rice novels and we headed
west towards Gallon jug village to see what “Stormin’ Norman” might have to say on the subject, Norman
is a special and awesome force in the world of Birders, Bubba felt his unique talents might help us in our
efforts to locate the king. After quite a few hours on dusty roads, the cool rain forest around The Looters
Trench Bar where Norman resides was refreshing. Almost as much so as the cold mugs of Belican Norman
served us. I explained our quest to him and he offered to shoot one of Barry’s cows to assist in attracting a
King, . . . . we declined. Feeling defeated on the way back down the jungle road, Bubba pulled out one of
his many bird books, this one titled “Birds, Their Life-Their Ways-Their World”, by Readers Digest. In it,
under the topic New World Vultures, he began to read me the most amazing thing. He read, “The King
Vulture’s head is elaborately patterned with black, hair-like feathers. The bills are always hooked and may
be thick or slender. The legs are medium to short in length, with long toes and poorly hooked claws which
are too weak for grasping. Archaeological records shows that certain species of this family were important to
some ancient cults. The Mayan civilization of Belize, for instance, was much concerned with animals, and
used the King Vulture Sarcoramphus papa as the hieroglyph for Cib, the thirteenth day of the month, often
accompanied by a rain sign. It also appears in inscriptions, relating to anthropomorphic gods. The bills and
feet are relatively weak and not strong enough to rip open a recently killed animal. They will, therefore, sit
and wait for the skin to rot before attempting to eat. In the meantime, the eyes are usually plucked out,
and appear to be one of the delicacies. When the corpse is “ready” the stomach wall is punctured and the
intestines are eaten immediately. After such a gruesome feast individuals can be so gorged with meat that,
on being disturbed, they regurgitate their meal before they can take flight. “Bubba! Gilberto was right,” I
exclaimed. Bubba continued to read how under certain conditions they will attack and kill young animals
including domesticated stock. Species living in densely wooded areas are known to eat fruit and other
vegetable matter when meat is scarce. As he read I noticed Black and turkey vultures circling an area at the
side of the road ahead. We stopped to investigate. On the ground lay the carcass of an Oscillated Turkey
and as timely as a script, sitting in a dead tree 20 feet above was the magnificent large white Raptor wiping
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his red bill on the trunk. His flaming orange neck rippled in a swallowing motion . His black pin dot pupil
looking down at us was circled in pale blue with a deep orange orbital ring. His multicolored head seemed
psychedelic with iridescent blues and yellows, and had what seemed to be black short hair around a bald
spot of red skin on top. Just at the base of his neck, where you might expect his chest to be, was a bulging
featherless distended crop. Bubba stepped back and said, “Remember Gilberto’s warning!” I wanted to see
if the carcass still had eyes, but now believed Gilberto to be gospel.
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Birds of Belize
Courtship and Mating
According to Bubba
When I get home in the evening I sit on the deck, lean back in my chair and gaze at all the stars the sky
has to offer me, however, Bubba restlessly sniffs to the north and south for a female. Currently he’s been
obsessed with a French maid’s poodle in San Pedro and the serenity of my veranda has been assaulted with
constant questions about feelings for her and their differences.
I’ve found, over the years, the way to get Bubba to understand something is to give him an analogy to
the Birds so here I am this week writing about the sex life of birds for Bubba’s sake!
I began explaining to Bubba how some birds are noted for their unusual mating systems, nevertheless,
we should not lose sight of the fact that the large majority of birds, well, over 90% of them, have normal
monogamous breeding partnerships. In spite of the interesting adaptations of the few, simple pair bonds
between opposite sexes of the same species are the norm.
Even though most birds are monogamous, it is an old wives tale that many such as the Osprey, mate
for life or will not re-mate if they lose the partner. Birds are by no means always so faithful. Partners may
change between one year and the next, even between the beginning and end of a season.
Some species are polygamous, the males taking several mates: the New World Orioles and Boat-tailed
Grackles of Ambergris are amongst these. Often the males will court a single female, mate with her and
accompany her while she builds and lays, only to desert her as she starts to incubate the eggs and then go
through the same procedure with the next female.
The female Northern Jacana found around the lagoons behind Ambergris take the opposite position
having several males working for her, building nests and hatching her eggs. This is called “polyandry”.
Courtship is the first stage of where you want to be, Bubba. Courtship simplified is just the behavior
by which one recognizes others of the same species and establishes membership in the breeding population,
usually through elaborate display or dance. I explained to Bubba that in the bird world the true definition
of species is just a group of interbreeding birds which are reproductively isolated from other groups of
birds. Race is a term used by ornithologists to refer to a sub-species, and sub-species are a recognizable and
morphologically distinct population within a certain species like your poodle friend. Bubba looked troubled;
he can’t dance and has often displayed a desire for instant gratification using a nonpragmatic approach.
The second stage of courtship in the prelude to mating involves the recognition of the sex of the other
bird, in many cases this by no means easy from appearances. In a bird such as the Caribbean Mocking bird
that shows little difference in appearance between male and female. It is done initially through the female’s
recognition of the male as a singing bird. Mating is done after courtship and usually in a designated area.
It is said that hybrids (the product of interbreeding two different species) are more common in species
where the female only briefly visits the male at a display ground for mating. Since mistakes might be more
likely where there are a greater number of closely related species, it is not surprising that one finds bright,
distinctive plumage’s or songs in males where several species are gathered together, such as the rainforest,
and less distinctive ones where species are not so closely intermixed in habitat.
I told Bubba he needs to remember that the choice of which partner, bird or otherwise, always seems
to be made by the female. You can puff up your chest, dance around, make postures, display your plumage,
sing, and even build her a great nest, but the bottom line is, it’s always her decision. Bubba was quiet and
reflective the rest of the evening occasionally staring down the beach and giving a heavy sigh.
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THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
Chan Chich
(Mayan for little bird)
Bubba and I will be visiting Chan Chich Jungle Lodge this week for some world class birdwatching.
Back when Bubba was young he found a 1989 edition of National Geographic in the garage. In it an article
about Chan Chich so impressed him he has had a lifelong desire to visit this Mecca for birders. I can’t really
refuse him but when he meets his first jaguar he may wish I had.
Chan Chich is surrounded by thousands of acres of rainforest that harbor, among many other creatures,
some of the rarest species of avafana found in the New World. The lodge sits on the ancient courtyard of
a Mayan temple complex in the cool canopy of the jungle.
While in the jungle I hope to get some quality barstool birdwatching time in at the Looter’s Trench
Bar with one of my favorite bartenders, “Stormin, Norman”. Bubba will be pursuing more serious birding
endeavors; however, he has agreed to join us for a little contest providing Norman agrees to serve beer in
a bowl.
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
The Agami Heron
agamia agami
Garza Agami
The plethora of bird books on Bubba’s shelves, in which he buries his head most of the time, use
objective words to describe birds. It’s the nature of scientific description. For instance a particular Parrot
described in the popular ‘Guide book to Birds of Central America’ by Howell and Webb, is said to have
pale flesh zygodactyl feet, short wings, a blue rump, gray orbital eye ring and hooked bill. The romance is
just not there.
Oddly, every bird book in Bubbas library described the Agami Heron as ‘Beautiful’, and even beholders
know this to be a subjective description. These books are written by ornithologists and they must have a
love for particular birds. Something about this bird swept them off their feet. In Carolyn Millers book, ‘100
Birds of Belize’, she said,”The Agami is surely one of the most beautiful Herons in the world”.
In Belize, The Looters Trench Bar at the Chan Chich Lodge near Gallon Jug is a famous gathering
place for Birders from around the world. Bubba and I prefer it, not as much because we wish to hobnob
with the birding elite but more because the bartender bends a few rules and serves Bubba Belikin beer in
a bowl. My first exposure to the Agami was oddly there on a stroll to the men’s room. I was first struck by
this beauty in a lithograph hanging on the wall. My impression was that’s a Japanese brush artist’s rendition
of some exotic Asian bird. On returning to the bar I quizzed Norman about it and discovered it was an
Agami of the Chan Chich Laguna Seca. I spoke with Carol Miller in the Looters Trench that evening,
she said the Lake was a breeding ground for the Agomi and they could almost always be found on its east
shore. Smitten by its beauty and excited by the chance of a sighting Bubba and I planned a horse back ride
to the lake in the morn.
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In the World of Aves, with in the order of Ciconiiformes there is a 58 member family called the Ardeidae
(Herons) 16 of those Heron families can be found in Belize. The Agami are one of those living families but
they are listed by Orthithological groups as retiring. Agami is an American Indian name for ‘Forest Bird’.
They may still be found in parts of Mexico, northern Guatemala and throughout Belize. All of their families
hunt for fish with long dagger-shaped bills. The Agami develop elongated plumage on their head and lower
fore neck used for courtship displays its colors also intensify during this breeding period. The colors seem to
have the iridescent quality of peacock feathers. The occipital crest is a silvery white unfolded from against a
deep black neck. The dark bill and head are set with amber red eyes. It’s under parts are a glossy green. Its
throat and fore neck are white with a chestnut stripe down its middle. Its back is light iridescent blue. Its
legs are yellow with webbed feet. Males and Females are similar in appearance but juvenile are brown not
white like most other heron. They are long legged birds that have specialized in fishing but frogs lizards
and snails are also on the menu. That afternoon we took a walk down the Sac be trail from the lodge to a
quiet stream running through the forest. The book said ‘unmistakable’, so I assumed the Agomi would be
an easy ID, but not that it would be there the first moment I started to look. In the stream stood a very
beautiful Heron, frozen, postured with neck cocked and ready to spear something unseen by me below the
still water. I said in a whisper to Bubba,’ this isn’t true, it can’t be this quick and easy. I watched as long as
Bubba could stand it and then let him toss a rock into the water to show be how it flew, but it didn’t fly it
merely back-stepped into the bank and disappeared. We found another almost as easy the next day after we
arrived at the lake. Seca is a word the locals use for dry and the lake had been reduced from lack of rain to
only shallow marsh along its east shoreline. Bubba found an empty Apple Snail shell in the grass as large as
a tennis ball and immediately hypothesized that it had been eaten by an Agami and was probably a major
food source when the lake failed to produce fish.
True, the status of this beautiful creature in our world is retiring, but it has obliviously found a
hold out in the sanctuary around Chan Chich and Gallon Jug. The Wild Life Conservation Society’s
conservationists in collaboration with The Belize Government and the Belize Audubon Society have
been protecting wildlife in Belize since1980. Their mission is a noble one,’ save wildlife and wild lands
by understanding and resolving critical problems that threaten key species and large, wild ecosystems.’
To contribute you can simply visit www.wcx.org/belize and specify your donation go to the activities
at Gallon Jug. Bubba did!
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
The Black-headed Trogon
Trogon m. melanocephalus
In the pantropical family of brightly colored forest birds called Trogonidae is an order called Trogoniformes
and in that order is the Citreoline Trogon known to some as The Black-headed.
Trogons are medium-size arboreal birds, colored with green or blue-violet above and red, orange, or
yellow below. With their long tails, short legs, and short, heavy bills, trogons superficially resemble parrots,
but trogons have much smaller bills and orbital eye rings. There are 9 species of Trogon in Central America
4 and sometimes 5 can be found in Belize. Elegant Trogons (Trogon elegans) occupy moist canyons lined
with hardwoods; they occur farther south in thorn scrub and tropical broadleaf forests. Violaceous Trogon
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prefer mountain slopes covered with pine woodlands and coniferous forests but are found throughout Belize.
A famous member of the Trogonidae is the Resplendent Quetzal now retreated from Belize is a resident of
the Maya mountains in Guatemala.
Some ornithologist class this week’s bird of the week in a group of trogons simply called yellow-bellied it
has a black head with blue orbital ring and a yellow belly with a blue green and violet back. My observation
was that its head back and tail bend forward to form a crescent posture, projecting only blue green and
violet that matched the foliage color and curves. This plus their motionlessness camouflage even this colorful
bird. The black-headed Trogon found countrywide also lives in Ambergris’s mangrove and littoral forests.
It nests in tree cavities and sometimes excavating termite nests for shelters. They eat fruit, insects and small
animals. The Trogon at my house is cuckoo about coconuts. I open the coconut and place it atop a boton
about 5 feet of the ground near the birdbath outside my window by my rocking chair. It’s the dry season
on Ambergris, months of little to no rain cause the birds to move around in search of water. I keep two bird
baths full this time of year and my reward is to be able to sit and have come to me birds I don’t normally
see in my little cocal. Among the Trogons unique features is the heterodactyl foot, with the inner front toe
turned backward. I asked Bubba to explain why we include what kind of feet birds have in our articles.
He said, “You can look at a birds feet and know what it does. Many people think that a bird’s knees bend
backward. Birds actually walk on their toes; however, the backward-oriented joints that seem to be their
knees are their ankles. The extended projections that we call bird feet are made up of greatly extended toe
bones. Starting at the toe tips and working upward, one sees that avian joints bend the same way human
joints do – birds’ joints are just in unexpected places.
Birds’ feet have a wide variety of uses, including locomotion (running, walking, hopping), clinging,
climbing, carrying, perching, killing prey, preening, holding food, cradling eggs, aerial courtship, swimming,
steering underwater, and absorbing the impact of water landings, to name just a few and you can just bet
that the bird is equipped with the correct feet for what it does the most.
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Most birds have toes arranged in an anisodactyl manner, with three toes pointing forward and one toe
pointing to the rear. The hind toe, called a hallux, is the structural equivalent of the big toe on a human
foot. Other birds, such as owls, cuckoos, woodpeckers, and parrots, have a zygodactyls arrangement, with
two toes forward and two toes back. These work very well when standing on a vertical surface.
Lobes and palmations (webbing between the toes) assist in swimming or walking on loose surfaces. Some
species have special adaptations in their foot structure; for instance, the Ospreys on Ambergris (Pandion
haliaetus) have spiked scales on the bottoms of their feet that enable them to grab slippery fish, and Great
Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) have a serrated talon used in preening. All of the Latin words that described
the different types of birds feet contained the word,’dactyl’ an old Latin term that means ‘skillfully and
artfully constructed. Our bird of the week The Trogon has heterodactylous feet, unlike any other bird in
the world. The basic arrangement of two toes in front and two toes in back is shared by many families but
in those birds it is the outer most toe that points backward, in the Trogon the inner toe has rotated back.
Trogons have short legs and weak feet, traits that limit their ability to walk and climb. Natural selection
dictates that there is a purpose for everything. Trogons belong to the sole family within the order Trogiforms
and appear to have no close relatives among living birds and are considered rare. Biologist have conducted
few studies of Trogons, and large gaps remain in or knowledge of these birds. The primary threat to this
species are logging of native forest. Tourism in Belize has provided an economic incentive to preserve large
tracts of wilderness needed not only by Trogons but other endemics. Fertile ground for a bright future.
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Harpy Eagle
Harpia harpyja
Bubba said the Harpy Eagle is a Raptor and the world’s largest bird of prey.
The word Raptor like most words has evolved in meaning. Historically a Raptor carried a passenger
on a journey from life to death. Belonging to a family of Raptors called Accipitridae this family has 32
members living in Belize. Raptorial birds hunt and kill prey.
I asked him if the Andean Condor (Vulture gryphus), a Cathartidae wasn’t the world’s largest bird
of prey. He explained taxonomically speaking Raptors have included in the past Accipitridae and
Cathartidae, but recent DNA research has revealed that true raptors differ greatly from Cathartidae.
In Evolutionary Biology, convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely
related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar
environments or ecological niches.
This massive avian terrors place in the world is classed ‘globally threatened.
A bird W.C. Fields would have liked because small dogs and children are on the menu when available.
Its normal diet consists of monkey, Kinkajou, Quadamundi and P0eccary.
Sad the worlds shifting biodiversity will soon withdraw its support for one of its most fantastic
Avian creatures.
My one and only experience with the Harpy was a day Bubba had stayed at home.
The harpy has an 80” wing span, along with its massive bill and talons it made me a little nervous
standing in the jungle in front of it. A troop of spider monkeys about 50 feet away where screaming
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like I never heard monkeys scream before, the troop had two babies and I’m sure feared having their
children taken away and eaten.
This giant bird lives by tearing monkeys and sloths out of the trees, using claws the size of a human
hand, on legs as thick as a human wrist. It weighs up to twenty pounds, with broad powerful wings
that allow it to lift still-living adult howler monkeys through the air. What a horrific ride that must be.
No wonder small monkeys fling themselves out of the trees and fall to the ground cowering when this
nightmare flies near. It is perhaps the only bird that would ever think about killing a human child.
This made me realize something I over looked. The monkeys where probably having a dilemma, if
they go to the ground when they see the Harpy, I was on the ground under their tree and that may have
been much of what the screaming was about.
Efforts have been made to secure the Harpy’s presents in Belize. It’s been documented on Northern
Ambergris Caye in the Bacalar Chico Reserve and probably survives there on the small picary. I feel
fortunate to have witnessed it before it becomes extinct.
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THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
Anhinga
The Snake Bird
In the order of Pelicaniformes is a small
family known as Anhigidae, in this family is the
species known as ‘Anhinga Ahinga’, sometimes
referred to as the snake bird.
Bubba came back from his walk around the
lake at Chan Chich very excited. New birds,
especially new birds that aren’t in his field
guide seem to give him extra pleasure. Norman
quickly pulled out a North American book that
identified it as the Anhinga. At first glance one
might think this bird is a cormorant and in
fact they are a related family. Morphologically
and behaviorally they are related to gannets,
pelicans, herons and cormorants. They have
webbed feet.
The name ‘snake bird’ is in reference to its
especially long and flexible neck. When it swims,
its body is submerged with only its slender neck and head protruding. A hinge mechanism at the eight neck
vertebrae enables the neck muscles to dart the bill rapidly forward and puncture the flank of a passing fish.
Bubba claims the Anhinga he saw had its neck coiled twice and still could preen its back side easily.
Its nests are usually built in association with nests of herons, cormorants and other tree—nesting
waterbirds; however, the Anhinga prefers much calmer waters and cannot tolerate the cayes of Belize.
The male claims the nest site. He advertises for a mate by ‘wing-waving’ and ‘snap-bowing’. Wing-waving
consists of alternately raising and lowering the folded left and right wings by a shoulder rotation. A very
odd dance. Snap-bowing is done with tail raised, neck arched, shoulders rotating, the bird thrusts its neck
forward and snaps with its bill for a female’s attention. Bubba and Norman tried this for a while, it was
definitely one of those Kodak moments, but produced nothing for them around the Looter’s Trench Bar.
The female selects a mate and his nest site. If accepted, she builds the nest with twigs and other plant
matter brought to her by the male. Copulation takes place on the nest. It produces 3 to 6 chalky pale blue
and sometimes green eggs. The chicks are fed by regurgitation, like most pelecaniformes.
Bubba got another thrill when Norman’s book described the Anhinga as having black feathers and his
sighting was a dark iridescent green with a straight division between the brown neck and green across the
breast. It’s common to have colors altered by special diets.
The Chan Chich lake is surrounded with well-wooded swampy marsh in jungle and surely provides it
with a wealth of fish and exotic water animals.
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THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
Barstool Birdwatching - Chan Chich
After a morning walk, I lured Bubba into the Looter’s Trench Bar with Norman’s promise to serve him
cold Belikin draft in a bowl. We needed a pep session before the competition began.
Years ago when I pulled Bubba from under his mother, I thought the best I would ever achieve with
him would be to convey five very important understandings for a bird dog, No, sit, shake, outside and
good dog, and now here he is about to undertake his 4th ‘Barstool Birdwatching’ event. He’s become a
widely published, world renowned bird columnist whose opinions of birds and related subjects are prized by
Internet surfers visiting his ‘homepage’ and showering him with fan e-mail. Since game time was nearing,
Norman, the presiding bartender, and equal competitor, poured himself a scotch on the rocks and said
“When the guys finish inflating your egos, I’m ready.”
“Would you like me to go over the rules Norman?”
Norman twisted his moustache and put a wrinkle on his brow, “I think I know them, one species equals
one point; you can’t leave the bar, and the dog just has to bark to score his point.”
“Norman, Bubba doesn’t like to be called a dog. Since you’re new to this sport, you go first.”
Norman leaned forward on the bar with one arm and took a quick sip of scotch with the other, “Sure
fine! Two crested quan in the top canopy above the temple mound, a tree of 20 nesting orapendula at the
edge of the plaza, six keel-billed toucans in that wild fruit tree beside cabana #6, three red lored parrots at
the crest of that sapodilla, a single bat falcon at the top of the dead cedar by the pool and the pale billed
woodpecker cleaning out that hole in the cabbagebark tree. That’s 6 to zero to zero, your turn.”
I was stunned; Bubba’s eyes were wider than I had ever seen him open them. Neither of us had thought
of what kind of Birder a man in Norman’s position might have become. He’s has been pouring drinks and
chatting with ornithologists from around the world for the last ten years. We should have suspected at
least.
Norman mixed me a rum and soda and put a large bowl under the beer tap for Bubba.
Still in awe I said, “Well . . . . uh . . . . cinnamon hummingbird in the Heliconia.” Bubba barked at
the oscillated turkey on the walkway. there was a long silent pause. Norman took long slow sip of scotch,
looked at us and said, “sure, fine!”
“A longtailed hermit hummingbird next to your cinnamon, a blackheaded vulture in the tree with those
red loreds, a collared aracari mixing with the keelbills, 2 rufus tailed jacamar in the shade above the hot
tub, a yellow winged tanager eating those small wild berries and a pair of masked tityra inspecting that old
woodpecker hole. That’s 14 to 1 to 1.”
I realized that my mouth was hanging open and shut it. Bubba had stopped panting, his head bent
down with his lips frozen in a circle that seemed to say ‘oooooh!”
He regained his posture and began to look Norman up and down in deep thought.
Suddenly he asked aloud ‘ Where do the Mennonites get all those suspenders?”
I was confused and surprised. Bubba rarely speaks aloud to anyone but me. He must be fully aware of
how annoying those inane touristy questions must be to someone like Norman. I realized it was a diversion
and weighed for a moment the sportsmanship of this, then asked, “Where do the monkeys sleep at night?”
Norman reeled back from the bar with a devilish grin exposing his teeth from below his handlebars, “ Well
the monkeys sleep in the trees with that pygmy kingfisher over there on the boton wound in philodendron,
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 97
and the Mennonites get their suspenders from a suspender bush like the one over there by the two violaceous
trogans digging in the termite nest. That’s sixteen to one to one. Would you guys like another drink?”
Bubba shouted, “There’s more tropical plants around here than in a bank lobby!”
“Cool it Bubba, can’t you see we’ve failed to frustrate him?”
Norman mixed me another rum and soda, filled the beer bowl and called ‘time’ to visit the kitchen.
After he left the room I turned to my rocket scientist partner and asked, “You’re supposed to be the
most intelligent bird dog in birderdom, why can’t you score a few points for us?”
His shoulders slumped again and he answered, “Intelligence has much less practical application than
you think! this is Norman’s turf, he’s been staring at those birds since before I was born. Let’s face reality,
we’ve lost!”
“Lunch!” Norman entered the room carrying three plates of beans and rice with chicken and announced,
“This isn’t fair, you boys don’t know this jungle like I do. I’m going to cut you a deal! I appreciate what
you guys have been trying to do for a bird awareness so the deal is, I’ll give you a Latin name of a recent
sighting around the bar. It’s the oldest jungle fowl in recorded history. You identify it in its vernacular and
I’ll concede the title to you and Bubba.”
Norman pushed himself back from the bar and shouted, “Gallas, Gallas! You have 60 seconds.”
I was completely stumped and bubba seemed only interested in chowing down on the beans and rice.
“Norman can we have another clue?”
“OK! But just one. 2000 years ago around Caesar’s court the gallas were prized and even lived in populated
areas of Rome. 20 seconds left to say the secret word.” Unconcerned and smacking his lips Bubba looked
up from his plate and said, “ Your cook Annamarie makes the best chicken I’ve tasted in Belize.”
Suddenly a wooden duck with a cigar in his mouth dropped from the ceiling. On a spring. Around
its neck was a placard with the word “chicken” printed on it. Its wings flapped up and down as it bounced
around Norman’s head. Expressionless, he clutched his scotch glass and raised it in salute before emptying
it on one long drink.
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
Turkey Vulture
I went down to the beach this morning to find Bubba lying on his back with his eyes closed looking
very dead. I walked up to him slowly and sad, thinking of all the birdwatching adventures we had been
through in these last ten years. I had just begun to sob when he suddenly opened one eye, looked at the
vultures circling over him and explained in a low voice that I was spoiling his ploy to get a close look at
the Ambergris Turkey Vulture from the order of Cathartidae. Not moving and still speaking from his post
mortem posture he explained that Vultures of Ambergris hunt actively, quartering the savanna like a harrier.
Searching for small aquatic animals. When the dry season strands fish in shrinking ponds or savanna flats
these nomadic birds will be visiting the island in masses. Bubba was successful in arousing the curiosity of
several, luring them close enough to see their dark eyes and naked red skin heads. They have a white bill.
The red color of its head is accented by a blood red nape band giving this bird an eerie macab appearance.
Vultures use their keen sense of smell to locate the carrion but also have eyesight like a hawk and can see
small things on the ground while gliding at high altitudes.
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They lack the vocal elements that allow most birds to sing and are reduced to grunting, guess when..
when it’s eating! Its featherless head and neck are designed for inserting into carcasses for a bite. When it’s
mad and fighting over food it hisses like a snake.
In the island’s dry season the small lagoons in the savanna start to dry up and as they do, fish are trapped
in distressfully shallow waters. This attracts the Savanna Vulture, and it waits for these doomed fish for a
meal. Most vultures have a physical make-up that causes them not to eat living food and must wait until
something dies. This might explain “rapacious behavior”, long periods of no food waiting for something
to die causes greedy, voracious, rude, desperate actions and fighting over food after it finally dies.
I’m constantly amazed with Bubba’s resourcefulness and totally appreciative of our close look at another
magnificent island bird.
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
The Halfmoon Rookery
Bubba came home from a week-long fishing trip looking very thin. Without saying a word he went
straight to the bookcase where we keep all of his bird books and buried his head. All I could get him to say
was, “Boobies at Halfmoon,” then he fell back into his research desk, mumbling to himself about ‘rookeries’
and ‘colonies’. I could feel an adventure developing.
Halfmoon Caye is a unique island on the rim of Lighthouse Reef Atoll, that contains the mysterious
Blue Hole Cavern, formed before the ice age and explored by the Cousteau expedition in the 70’s.
This 50 thousand year old coral atoll supports an eco-system that harbors a rookery of the Red Footed
Booby on its barrier island.
Rookeries contain colonies of nesting birds and provide a safe place to roost. Roosting is a term used
to describe what a bird does when it rests or sleeps. Roosting in close proximity to one another provides
security from predators and sometimes protection from the weather.
The rookery on Halfmoon is special in that it’s one of the last existing rookeries of the Red Footed
Booby Bird.
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The only influence of humans on the island is its lighthouse and the only human inhabitant is
Monrad Flores the lighthouse keeper who lives there with his dog, ‘Whiskey’.
The island has been protected since 1928 when it became a Crown Reserve. Crossing the 50 miles
to the island from San Pedro can be arranged by hoping aboard one of the dive boats bound for the
‘Blue Hole’. It’s a day trip and boat captains usually visit Halfmoon for a quick tour while lunch is being
prepared for the divers.
My adventure began when I made a deal with Captain Azueta of the Miss Gina for my passage.
I promised to guide his divers through the hole.
The trip and dive in the Blue Hole went smoothly. As we docked at Halfmoon the captain asked me
to show the divers around the island. Walking barefoot along the well marked path to the west end was no
problem. The path curved back into a thick wooded area of cypress, coconut and gumbo limbo, and then
ended at a metal observation tower. The tower rises to a level with the giant rookery. The view was stunning
and the rookery was very active.
Boobies, frigates, pelicans, cormorants and gannets all in the same order called Pelecaniformes.
The island is crowded with them.
Pelecaniformes are a closely knit family of marine plunge-divers. They eat fish caught by diving or
steal from others who are better at it. The entertainment level from the tower for a birdwatcher is a ‘10’.
The comic look of young boobies in the nest made me laugh.
Big clumsy young white boobies with blue clown faces and red feet were waiting for momma to
deliver lunch.
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The frigates seem to have no problem sharing space in the rookery with the boobies and their nests
are intermingled.
Binoculars are not really necessary because some of the nests are only a few feet away. The birds
seemed to ignore us, going about their daily life as if the tower of gawking wet-suit clad humans
didn’t exist.
Watching the young interact within the rookery of adults is fascinating. This must be what Bubba
was mumbling about. From the tower in just a few minutes one can witness these young birds learning
lessons about life in a colony.
I left the tower with a genuine feeling of thrill. I’ve heard Halfmoon described as a jewel in the crown
of Belize. It surely must be.
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
You can observe a lot just by watching
Yoga Bera, a famous old baseball player once said, “You can observe a lot just by watching”. If you
have been observing birdwatchers you’ve realized over the last 10 years it has become a billion dollar
industry, according to Tourism Consultants, Bird watching is the second fastest growing outdoor activity
on the planet.
In the past every community had a family with a birdwatcher in it, but they where usually kept in
a closet and never talked about in public, and forget the stereotype of elderly birders wearing white
socks under sandals, eating bag lunches and taking bus rides to national parks.
Baby boomers flooding the hobby tend to fly to faraway ecotourist destinations stay in expensive
hotels and treat themselves to gourmet meals and boat excursions. US Parks and Wildlife reports, 95,000
birdwatchers spent more than 39 million usd in just one state in North America, formally only known for
its agriculture.
Birding is a jackpot for a country savvy enough to see it. US, Canadian and European travel retailers
are busy devising ecotourism vacation packages for upper income vacation travelers.
Birders bring cash to unlikely spots. The smaller villages in Belize need tourist to survive the dynamitic
economic change our country has embraced. Belize Tourism leaders have been savvy enough to market the
varied Belizean habitats.
A good example is how the Orange Walk community known primarily in the past for its sugar cane
industry and orange harvests has found new resources in tourism through the new river birding tours to
the rainforest at Lamani.
Crooked Tree Village once only known only for the Cashew nuts it produced now has tourist pass
through spending their money in hotels, restaurants and gift shops, while taking boating tours to see the
many species of water foul in the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary.
Birdwatchers have skyrocked these communities economy. Tour operators in San Pedro (a former poor
fishing village) on Ambergris Caye, market a day trip as an eco-adventure for the aware “birder” it may be
the most productive of rare and unusual sightings Belize has to offer.
Tourists spend hundreds of thousands of US dollars on this tour annually so Bubba and I signed up
to observe what we could see, so to speak.
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Our well informed boat captain left the dock in San Pedro for the New River Lagoon and passed
through a number of diverse avian habitats along the way. The boat first crosses through mangrove
channels at the southern tip of Ambergris Cays offering opportunities for sightings of Belted Kingfishers,
Great White Herons, Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, Black-Necked Stilts,
as well as the common occurrence of Brown Pelicans, Frigates, Cormorants, Ospreys, Plovers, Pipers
and Terns.
Exiting the mangrove on Ambergris’ west side The boat crosses the southern end of the Bahia de
Chetumal. Our crossing ends entering the Belize mainland at the mouth of the Northern River in the
Northern River Lagoon. Bubba spotted a Green Heron fishing the shallows of a small islands lagoon.
The Northern River runs through tropical swamp where the fresh water of the river mixes with the tidal
salt water. Our knowledgeable Guide pointed out, characteristic of this area are Red Mangroves
(Rhizophora harrisoni), with spreading silt roots. The flowering orchids, vermilions and epiphytes they
support are the chief source of nectar for the Mangrove Hummingbird. In this landscape, Mangrove
Vireos, Mangrove Warblers, Flycatchers and Snail Kites permanently reside, and many water birds rest,
forage and nest.
This leg of the trip ended on the firm earth and dark soil at the edge of the swamp in the village
of Bomba. The people of Bomba have become wood carvers creating art for passing tourist to buy.
Here we were transferred from boat to bus, driven by another Guide, for the trip along the Old Northern
Highway to the New River. During the drive he stopped for three Jabiru Storks in the marsh grasses
along the way. He also pointed out a flock of White Ibis and a variety of Hawks, Vultures and Egrets.
We boarded a flat bottom boat with a different guide at the New Northern River. He piloted us through
Riverine/Gallery Forest and pointed out Limpkins, Kites, Bitterns, Rails and a variety of Herons, such as
the Tri-colored and the Chestnut-bellied. A common site along the river is the female Northern Jacana
trotting along its lily pads foraging for water bugs and small frogs or fish.
Our journey ended at the base of the bluff and the edge of the rainforest on the New River Lagoon at
Lamanai. Our group was introduced to a very well informed Mayan Tour Guide who led us on a jungle
walk – up, down and around several Maya temples set under the rainforest canopy. He identified flora and
fauna of the forest along the way, stopping at a tree of Howler Monkeys and pointing out the need to not
stand directly under them. He also gave notice to the Wood Creepers, Yellow-headed Parrots, a Groove-billed
Ani, a Keel-billed Toucan and a Slaty-tailed Trogon.
Along with the days watching of Avian delights Bubba and I also observed a wonder of many wonders,
the versatile Belizean people who have successfully made the vocational transition into the new economy
of their country.
102
birdwatching with bubba 2.5
THE BELIZE SUN BELIZE CENTRAL AMERICA VOL.
Birds of Belize
I was Robinson Crusoe when Bubba and I began living in this Cocal. I could see the lights of san Pedro
as a dim glow on that end of the island and thought, some day. We’ve finished our little bird book and
today I find myself writing this last article.
Customer parking only
Customer parking only is a sign my neighbors put up on the property next to me. I laughed at my
ridiculous neighbors and this preposterous sign in the coconut grove of my island paradise because of the
remoteness of our homes with no roads, no shops and no cars but laughed only until they cut down the
trees, replaced the beach with cement, dredged a channel and cut the mangroves to bulldoze a road through.
It was no longer funny when my favorite birds became scarce and parking in the proper areas became a
real issue.
The world is changing. Not news! Your right. From our vantage point on Ambergris Caye we islanders
have watched the outside world change for a long time, but now our world on Ambergris is changing and
you know what is said about change, you can change with it, or die!
Ernest Hemingway wrote,” I know a good country when I see one, plenty of birds! A land ages quickly
once we inhabit. The natives live in harmony with it, but the developer destroys. The land gets tired of
being exploited and wears out quickly. The land was made to be as we found it.”
We can restore Ambergris by planting and landscaping for sustainability of its natural habitat.
Part of our islands attraction is the natural environment we get to enjoy by living here and the islands
inevitable development has, and is progressing to crowd out our natural environment but it doesn’t necessarily
have to be that way.
The islands development and living in a natural environment with its avifauna are not mutually exclusive.
We can change the developing landscape of the island to accommodate avifauna and in doing so create an
environment also pleasing to ourselves.
Successful landscaping begins with dirt, the first ingredient in our islands aviary, before and after the
bulldozers. Saving the first few inches of sandy loam top in a corner of your lot will be a treasure of fertile
starter soil for your new plants after development.
You’ve heard the expression,’ Old as Dirt’, Paleopathologist kinda guys say, the age of Yucatan Peninsula
is estimated to be 18,000 years. Northern Ambergris Caye was once undoubtedly a part of the Yucatan.
However the island from Santa Cruz Lagoon southward (aprox.75% of the island) is like a sand bar. It
had its beginning approximately 2,000 years ago. This is young for an island and too young for fertile
tetra negro. South Ambergris’s birth was not a sudden upheaval of volcanic action, tectonic plate shifts or
even the results of the end of an ice age but a slow growth of reef sediment collecting beneath the roots of
mangrove thriving behind the reef over the last 2000 years. The flora that now is a retiring littoral forest
on Ambergris is growing in a thin layer of organic material deposited atop this sandy collection during this
short period. There is no dirt below, only calcium carbonate (a residue from the reef ) and a salty acidic
slime from the mangrove that will not give nutrient support to the existing flora. Fresh water is the second
ingredient in the Aviary. This littoral forest surviving on an organic layer of fertile matter is watered by an
extremely shallow layer of fresh water literally floating above salt water. The littoral forest is the food source
that allows many of ambergris’s unusually wide variety of avifauna to exist, such as the rare Black Catbird,
the Mayan Orioles, Chachalaka, Yucatan Jay, and all the birds that do not depend on the sea for food.
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Valuable fresh water falls from the sky for free and is held in place to be used by flora and fauna on
barrier islands by a layer of clay like substance at the level of the sea underground. This delicate clay divider
of salt from fresh is created by the up and down churning action of tidal pressures underground very
much like the action of making butter from milk. With the fresh water sitting atop the salt below, shallow
depressions in the ground become fresh water ponds easily and provide drinking water for the birds as well
as cheap irrigation sources for the fauna. The third ingredient would be food producing plants. Replanting
the correct plants after the developers clearing can create positive sources of food for birds. Knowing what
plants provide necessities is easy. The Tropical Almond Tree terminalia catappa seems to be the fastest growing
tree I’ve ever experienced and its peach like fruit attracts flocks of Parakeets to my yard. The Zericote tree’s
orange blossoms and fruit attract hummingbirds and Oriole. This tree is also easy to start, its one of those
plants like the gumbo-limbo that you can just stick its log wood in the ground, water and it sprouts. The
hibiscus flowers are a source of more than one food and the insects they attract are more valuable to birds
than nectar. The cocoa-plum tree, chrysobalanus-icaco does very well in this loamy soil and produces a
pinkish-white marshmallow like fruit that attracts Chachalaka and Trogan.
Bubba and I visited The Belize Botanic Gardens and found it to be a rich source of positive examples of
how thoughtful planting attracts rare avifauna. http://www.belizebotanic.org has information as to which
plants survive where and what food is provided for whom. The Belize Botanic Gardens group cultivates,
promotes, researches and enables the research of tropical flora and its conservation with an emphasis on
Belizean native species and their habitats.
We learned all the variety of life on earth is called biodiversity and the health of plant biodiversity is
directly related to our birds well being. Bubba feels there is no difference between our birds well being and
Human well being and when Humans understand that it will change the world.

Bubba Be Bloging

BIRDWATCHING With Bubba 2.5

The Black Catbird of Ambergris Caye