Blue Turkeys and Other Birds of Belize

Apr 30
2 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Tropical king bird on a fence. — Ocellated turkey

To get to Chan Chich Lodge from Belize City, you pass through miles of tropical savannah mixed with wetlands and then bounce along a winding dirt road. It's now flanked by an extensive conservation area known as the Belize Maya Forest. And it rests on top of Mayan ruins.

The howler monkeys are impossible to ignore through the thin walls of the romantic bedroom cabinas wrapped with wood and windows, their beds draped with mosquito nets. With early morning wakings, my two plus days in the woods and openings around Chan Chich were filled with bird sightings. I compared notes with the archaeologists who were on site to study the ruins when taking a break between things.

It was mating season, so while the blue-necked turkeys bedded down together in the grass courtyard at night, the males moved off on their own each morning to place their claim on a territory at the side of a road or trail or in front of a bridge.

The parrots and parakeets made their presence loudly known. One pair of parrots seemed to be expecting. They had claimed a hole in a frondless palm that they lowered themselves into each night with their beaks. I found them because they made so much noise communicating with each other in the tree nearby at sunset, perhaps a last-minute debate before tucking themselves in for the night. By the end of my stay, one of them left the hole for only minutes at a time to open its beak to its partner and receive the food it had gathered.

Some hummingbirds were more elusive than others, like the long-tailed one that took a few sips of heliconia nectar and then vanished again into the woods. A long-legged water bird barely moved from its stance on a log, even as the day's heat grew. Hours later, I found it 50 feet away, standing stalk still in shallow water.

A pair of red-headed woodpeckers knocked their beaks against the same tree at the same time each day before sunset and showed concern for the spider monkeys eating fruit in the trees nearby. When I walked closer to the monkeys for a better view, the woodpeckers sounded a loud alarm that sent the monkeys springing away.

There are about 621 bird species in Belize. The names below are my best attempt to identify each species, with input from my guide, but if I've missed some or got one wrong, feel free to drop me a line or comment below.