Bird Collage

Collage of three birds, recently sketched by my 7-year-old son:   great-horned owl, topography of a shorebird, silhouette of bird in flight. 

Birding in Belize

I was fortunate to be in Belize along with someone who I consider an amazing birder.  She was up every morning as soon as the birds started calling, meandering around the property we were staying at, catching all the birds she could with her binoculars.  Actually, her binoculars were in hand almost the entire time we were in Belize, so her total count was something like 120-plus!  I wasn't quite as ambitious as she was, but when I did venture out early, Jean helped me identify the following birds:

wood stork
magnificent frigate bird
tropical mockingbird
great blue heron
black vulture
kiskadee
great-tailed grackle
belted kingfisher
great egret
turkey vulture
cattle egret
northern harrier
golden-fronted woodpecker
scrub euphonia
yellow-winged tanager
grey hawk
summer tanager
red-billed pigeon
white-fronted parrot
rock pigeon
rose-breasted grosbeak
baltimore oriole
brown jay
brown-crested flycatcher
greater pewee
clay-colored robin
masked tityra
collared aracari
blue-grey gnatcatcher
lineated woodpecker
social flycatcher
grayish saltater
redstart
ruddy ground dove
hepatic tanager
green-breasted mango hummingbird
melodious blackbird
yellow-throated vireo
tropical pewee
king vulture
double-crested cormorant
anhinga
American kestrel
blue-wing teal
pied-billed grèbe
coot
reddish egret
spotted sandpiper
snowy egret
vermillon flycatcher
orchard oriole
catbird
black-headed saltwater
grassquit
white-eyed vireo
groove-billed ani
magnolia warbler
boat-billed flycatcher
flame-colored tanager
white-crowned parrot
black-collared seedeater
olive-throated parakeet
mangrove swallow
black phoebe
short-tailed hawk
bat falcon
yellow-bellied elaenia
jabiru
brown pelican
ruddy turnstone
royal tern
laughing gull
sanderling
little blue heron
lesser swallow-tailed swift
yellow warbler
yellow-throated warbler
meadowlark
ferruginous pygmy owl
yellow throat
yellow-faced grosbeak

Personal favorites?  The frigate bird, the parrots, the aricari, the lineated woodpecker and the pygmy owl.  Such variety and some wild colors!  A funny:  the melodious blackbird really IS melodious.  I spent most of the time in Belize thinking that Jean was referring to it as just a beautiful-sounding blackbird.  I didn't realize that its name really was "melodious blackbird" until well into our time birding!  

Caye Caulker Beach, Belize

 I've always heard about the blue waters surrounding the islands of Belize.  Seeing it with my own eyes as we bobbed along the ocean's surface in a little boat was surreal.  It is impossible to describe the shades of blues and greens and greys all around us.  After snorkeling over the reefs and seeing fish, eel, nurse sharks and sting rays that I've only before ever seen in books, we docked at Caye Caulker for the remainder of the day.  This island is so small!  We walked the length of it in just a few minutes, stopping for ice cream and to admire the local crafts being sold along the beach.  Finally we sat down in the cool shade of the coconut palms on the beach, and passed the remainder of our time soaking in the sounds and sights of this tropical paradise.

(This should be one long photo, with the boat on the left and the grass-covered dock on the right.)

Maidenhair Fern

I was fortunate to go to Belize on a mission trip recently.  I wished there was so much more time to nature journal!  There is SO much I would have added to my journal had there been time.  One day we went to the jungle, and this little fern leaf found its way back to our lodging with me, where I sketched it out and painted it over several days' time.  I love ferns, and would enjoy having a book full of paintings of all different kinds.