It Snowed...Again...

Here was my day:

 

 

Wondering if I should revise my stand on never moving to a warm climate....

Wandering At Will

On my last afternoon in Belize, I "wandered at will.” Since I have been to Crooked Tree before, my plan was to stroll through the roads shared by free-roaming cows and horses and dogs, then pick up the Limpkin Trail back to Bird’s Eye View Lodge.

The Trail, mostly sand and sparse grass, runs parallel to the lagoon for a short distance before veering off into the woods where Bullet trees (the “crooked” tree of Crooked Tree), grows as well as the vines, shrubs and gazillion plants of this coastal plain.

I soaked up the solitude, was free to walk or stand and peer at whatever called to me. And what called to me was the squeals of a group of Groove-billed Ani’s thrashing around in the dead leaves along the trail. I looked down and then jumped backward. Ant swarm! Thousands of ants strung out in irregular columns, racing over rocks and shrubs and trees—anything in their path, including me, if I didn’t get out of the way.

The Groove-billed Anis scrambled onto the feast, long tails swishing through the sandy path. A dozen more arrived. 

Something rustled overhead...from the leaf cover, a Yellow-billed Cacique was flicking chunks of bark off a branch to pluck the ants underneath. 

 

Then, a Ruddy Woodcreeper landed on the tree IN FRONT OF ME

An Ivory-billed Woodcreeper hopped in with a cricket in its bill! I had been hearing this bird’s ghostly song ALL WEEK and here it was! All I had to do was stand still!

 

I did not want to disturb the feeding frenzy by using the flash on my camera. I don’t worry about these things much, and will put the camera down to soak in the sanctity of these unexpected moments. I tell myself to take a picture with my heart instead (but held the shutter down on the camera, just in case). 

I reviewed the photos on my digital camera later, hoping for a few that might be salvageable. As I examined the Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, I spotted a mottled brown, vertical shape to its right. What was that? A Screech Owl, drawn by the other birds to an early evening feast?  Or just a stick snagged in the tree?

I will never know for sure. I chalked it up to good luck.  It reminds me that sort of random luck may be around more often than I realize. Because I am focusing on something else, I am not aware of its presence. But I am beginning to think it is there just the same, waiting for an opportunity to move in.

New Life for Old Binoculars

I have been trying to write a blog post about this for days and it just won't come. It's just a simple story involving a kid from Crooked Tree in Belize, where I visited earlier this month...but it got to me.

I first met Turiq two years ago when he popped up after our bus arrived to greet (I mean hugs and kisses GREET) the family of our group leader, the Thomas's, who have been going there annually for 17 YEARS and gotten to know many of the Belizeans, especially those, like Turiq's mom, who work for Bird's Eye View Lodge.

During that trip, I learned some of the kids of Crooked Tree might be interested in pursuing a career in being professional BIRD GUIDES, but they didn't have binoculars. I hatched this Big Idea of launching a local campaign to collect the bins of people like me who have upgraded over the years and had old pairs languishing in the basement. Unfortunately, life was a little overwhelming at the time and my project never got off the ground, so last year, I sheepishly handed over my old pair, the one with the embroidered guitar strap, for the group to deliver to the grammar school at Crooked Tree. The glasses that had seen Cave Swallows in Cape May, Stellar's Jays in the Rocky Mountains and Black Guillemots in Nova Scotia went to Belize to an unknown fate. Then I forgot about them.

Until I saw Turiq last week. He showed up to share his growing birding expertise and join us for little birding forays near the lagoon. Guess what he had around his neck?

 

Belize 2010

Click here to view this photo book larger

To Belize and Back Again

There was no 5:00am alarm this morning to wake me in time for the first bird walk of the day. No travel partner next door to jostle because her clock had failed. None of the noisy, rhythmic clucking of the Chachalakas. When I peered out my bedroom window, the branches of the trees were bare. No towering cohune palms sweeping the skies.

It felt odd pulling on a fleece robe instead of peeling off a sweaty sheet. When I walked up the driveway to get the newspaper, only the “peter, peter” call of a Titmouse greeted me instead of the roar of Howler monkeys or the “boop-boop” of the Blue-Crowned Mot-mots.

But for one week, I was fortunate to travel with 12 other people from my NJ world to walk the earth in Belize and learn about the birds, the people and the animals who live out their lives in that Central American country. I hiked straight up a Mayan mountain to marvel at the Scarlet Macaws, was treated to an unexpected lesson about tarantulas when one was found on the door frame of Betsy’s lodge, dined on rice and beans and the chicken taken from our host's free range flock; savored papaya, just-picked bananas, pineapple, watermelon. I walked the jungle trails, climbed across rope bridges and struggled with the discomfort of almost 80 mosquito bites (yes, I used insect repellant and yes, I am taking an antimalarial).

We saw and/or heard 244 bird species in just one week’s time.

And yes; I would do it again. Here's why:

 

Green Honeycreeper

 

Rufous-tailed Jacamar

Long-Tailed Hermit Hummingbird

Red-capped Manikin (left) next to White-Collared Manikin (click to enlarge)

Little Blue Heron

 

 Great Blue Heron

  

 Agami Heron ("...one of the rarest and most beautiful birds on this continent..."~Lenny)

  

 Groove-billed Ani

  

 Yellow-billed Cacique

 

Ivory-billed Woodcreeper

Gone Birding....

To Belize!