The first birds of the day were Snowy Egrets that flew behind us almost looking like small gulls. We paddled to the opposite side of the shore and I spotted a small heron hopping about between the reeds that looked awfully like a Least Bittern. We soon found another! It was fun to see them acting socially as the other two times I have seen this species, they have been by themselves.
We heard several others on the canoe trip giving us 5 at least.
We saw several Common Tody-Flycatchers which is such a strange looking bird. Almost cartoonish in my opinion.
We went for a mid morning walk visiting an old british sugar mill and an older spanish church. Our guide Christian is very knowledgeable on the history of the Maya people and their interactions with the Spanish and British.
This is a Coati. It almost resembles a raccoon. We have seen them a couple times at the Lamanai Maya site, their tail is so big!
This is former sugar mill, I find this tree absorbing the mill to be fascinating.
Many trees were felled by Hurricane Lisa that hammered Belize in Fall 2022.
On a walk near the lodge in the late afternoon we saw an Ivory Billed Woodcreeper (not Woodpecker). They are a decent sized bird, you often see brown blurs through the forest as they fly across the path and cling on to a tree.
It was a nice ambiance just chugging along the shoreline as the sun was setting, and occasionally there would be some birds that would fly.
We come to a stop and Christian nudges me and says to look at the tallest tree without any leaves on it. I see a large bird on a large nest.
This was one of the target birds I had established at the start of my trip that I thought would be so cool to see. The shape alone is unmistakable. We turned around to go back to the lodge and enjoy the last drops of sun.
But then I see what I've been dreaming to see.
We watched it fly to join it's partner in the nest. An incredible memory, one made even better by sharing with my parents.
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