Getting there.
Early last month I headed out to Belize, to Cockscomb, Stann Creek District, for a fortnight before spending a week checking out (in part) what the rest of the country has to offer. Belize is not a straightforward country to access from this side of the Atlantic (though that may change with the runway extension at Belize City Airport), so my journey out there involved a change in Orlando and overnight at a hotel in Miami. My three spare hours or so at Orlando was just about the most pleasant wait in an airport as I have ever had. They’ve got this little mono-rail thingy, and I spent my time just shuttling from terminal to terminal, over the trees, grass and pools, and although I only managed to notch up 10 species, included therein were my first Anhingas for nearly twenty years, a flock of Cedar Waxwing and a Cooper’s Hawk. It was dark by the time I reached Miami, and my flight out the following morning didn’t allow time for anything more that a couple of circuits of the hotel parking lot, but that was enough to give me the trip’s first ticks (all of which will be asterisked) – Northern Mockingbirds* and Palm Warblers*. One of the Mockingbirds attracted the attention of a Cooper’s Hawk, which hurled itself into a bush in pursuit, but emerged to sit up on the wires empty taloned. At Belize City (Black & Turkey Vultures, Mangrove Swallows) I changed on to a flight for Dangriga (Magnificent Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, Tropical Mockingbirds*), where I was met by Bart, a Dutch Blackadder fan currently overseeing Jaguar research in Belize for the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and we headed out, through Maya Center (Roadside Hawk, Ruddy Ground-Doves, Tropical Kingbirds) to the Preserve Headquarters (American Redstart, Great Kiskadee) where we met up with Paul (Jaguar researcher) and I had a chance to take in my surroundings. And very nice surroundings they were. Very nice indeed. But first, some back-story. Back in the early eighties an American ecologist name of Alan Rabinowitz embarked upon some Jaguar research (radio-tracking etc – all pretty pioneering at the time) at Cockscomb at the behest of WCS. This resulted (in 1984 I think) in the establishment of the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve where, since around 2000 (again, I think) extensive photo-trapping has taken place, and coming on for 80 different Jaguars have been photographed. Paul, as part of his mid-life crisis, has ably picked up the baton, and is continuing this effort over the next three years. Not content with just camera-trapping, however, he’s also developing hair traps which can be used to survey Jaguar numbers in areas where camera-traps are either stolen or vandalized. I was in Belize to see the work in action, and to (somewhat feebly as it turned out) assist in setting up some of the camera traps. There would also, I was fairly sure, be a few birding opportunities. This brings me pretty neatly back to my very nice surroundings. The Preserve Headquarters consists of a variety of fairly rustic cabins, dorms, and houses set in a forest clearing and surrounded by a network of trails, including some down to a nearby river. By this stage of the day it was a bit late to go wandering off into the unknown (time enough for that tomorrow), so once I was installed in my pretty basic accommodation, I just took a turn around the open area before it got dark. White-collared Seedeaters & Melodious Blackbird were amongst the most conspicuous birds around, with Wood Thrushes* scuffing around in the undergrowth, Social Flycatchers sallying forth from prominent perches, Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds thrumming this way and that, and a Crested Guan crashing through on its way to roost. The next few days were a mix of hiking through hot, humid forest to camp out and set up traps, subsequent periods of recovery after arduous hikes, trips into Dangriga (for laundry and supplies) and further afield, and some time to spend on the trails, at leisure. So there, with the trip list (including the Florida bit) on 46, I shall leave it.
looking forward to the rest of this james!!
I loved Cockscomb (and the rest of Belize) when i went..
The first day I pretty much had to myself so, naturally enough, I rose early and headed off to explore. First little hotspot of activity was a cleared camping area at the head of the Western Trail. A perfect male Hooded Warbler*, the first of many, was foraging low in some bushes, with Baltimore Orioles occupying the crown of a tree up above. Nearctic passerine migrants were to prove quite a feature on this trip, more so than I’d imagined, and there were times when one might be forgiven for thinking that once they’ve all departed north Belize’d be awfully quiet, birdwise, though I’m sure that can’t be true! Now a noisy party of Black-headed Saltators* had joined the Orioles, and a couple of Black-cheeked Woodpeckers too, but although I could have stood around for hours, I also wanted to cover some ground, so I pressed on, and had one of the most enjoyable days’ birding as I can ever recall. Unguided, (I do like to find my own birds, even at the expense of a big list), all on foot, a familiar enough avifauna so as not to be too daunting, but some good new birds in amongst them – excellent! On through open second growth and the procession of American Wood Warblers continued, most in fine spring plumage; Chestnut-sided, Black and White, Magnolia, Kentucky*, Worm-eating*, Golden-winged (my first since Kent!), Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat. And then there was the controversial one; Lawrence’s. This is the back-cross between Brewster’s (Golden-winged x Blue-winged) and one of its parent species, and according to the field guide would represent Belize’s third record. I didn’t realize this when I saw it – as far as I was concerned the Warbler that I’d been following, and which had only given views from behind but was looking good for my first Blue-winged, finally turned round to reveal Golden-winged type charcoal grey (though not solid black) ear coverts & throat. I just thought “bugger! Hybrid!”, and it wasn’t until a quiet moment a few days later, while I was leafing through the field guide, that I decided to read up on it and discovered just what a big deal it was (back-cross, rarity etc). So there you go, if I’d not been so tick-obsessed (I’m ashamed to say – see, it doesn’t even get an asterisk) and in the thick of such a bird-rich day, I probably would have stayed on it longer, but I too hastily dismissed it just because it was a hybrid, despite the fact that that was just what made it interesting! Ah, well, the show must go on… and what a show! Warblers weren’t the only migrants – there were Least and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, and Indigo Bunting, Grey Catbirds, Summer Tanagers. But always there were reminders of the tropical location; a couple of skulking Dusky Antbirds, waiting to be pished into view; a noisy, squeaking Stripe-throated Hermit lek; a Great Tinamou standing, looking a bit stupid, in the middle of the trail, trying to decide which way to run off “left,…er no right,… no no no left, wait a minute…crumbs this is tough, erm…right, no, bugger…where’s he gone?” Off down another trail, tracking down the rustles and snaps that turn out to be a pair of Yellow-billed Caciques* carefully and gently dismantling a dry branch looking for tasty bugs. Occasionally there would be a burst of activity as a mixed flock moved through, often heralded by the harsh rattling of Red-throated Ant-Tanagers, with a few Warblers in tow, maybe a couple of anxious sounding Tawny-crowned Greenlets*, busy Spot-breasted Wrens*, even busier Dot-winged Antwrens, perhaps a Sulphur-rumped Flycatcher trailing behind, or an Ivory-billed Woodcreeper* or Plain Xenops (hell, why not both?) foraging above, and then they’d move on, and so would I. Other birds were found by tracking down songs and calls –a skulking, cheeping Orange-billed Sparrow, a simple whistled song in a riverside tangle leading to a Rufous-breasted Spinetail*, strange loud snappings and rattlings revealing the presence of a White-collared Manakin lek, a chirruping Stub-tailed Spadebill*, flitting from twig to twig. And then still more birds just suddenly appear in front of me, a stroke of luck, and then, realizing their mistake, hastily depart. Ruddy Woodcreeper* was one of these, and Blue-crowned Motmot, and Squirrel Cuckoo, and Grey-fronted Dove*. Then there were the tree top birds – Red-legged Honeycreepers, Yellow-winged Tanagers*, Pale-vented Pigeons and above them the fly-overs – Keel-billed Toucan, Plumbeous Kite, Bat Falcon. One small, swampy lagoon hosted a roost of half a dozen or so Boat-billed Herons (and a Crocodile!); another held a single Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. Down by the river were Ringed Kingfisher, Barred Antshrike, Scaly-breasted Hummingbird. That was all on day one, and if it seems a lot, well, I’ve barely mentioned half the species seen, and with a guide who knew the place and the birds (particularly their calls) the day total would have been substantially more than my ninety or so. Told you it was a good day.
That was the only chance I got to spend an entire day working the trails, but I managed the odd stroll from time to time. A couple of the trees down by the river seemed to be particularly popular with Orioles and occasionally played host to four species (Baltimore, Orchard, Black-cowled & Yellow-tailed), another river spot contained the feeding territory of the only Violet Sabrewing I saw on this trip. Often I didn’t have to get much more than a few yards from Bart’s homestead before falling over the birds, things like a roosting Common Pauraque* (found while I was photographing a pair of Slaty-tailed Trogons, which were replaced, in the same tree a few days later, by a pair of Black-headed Trogons, which were also duly photographed), or a Yellow-breasted Chat* skulking in the shrubbery, or a canopy high Yellow-throated Warbler*. My final noteworthy trail bird was Ruddy Quail-Dove* – a pair toddling along in the middle of the path before flying off and confirming that they were indeed what I had been seeing on the odd occasion over the previous fortnight, just in flight and too briefly to get a positive fix.
None of all this was actually getting any work done, however. For that we had to load up with cameras, tents, food etc and head off deeper into the forest….