Belize Nature Tour

     For ten days in February 2013, I was off on a delightful trip to Belize with Mark Pretti Nature Tours. The group, most of whom were on the Brazil trip in 2011, were great to travel with, and Mark is exceptional at weaving the stories of how everything in nature is linked through multiple relationships into a grand picture. Along the way, in addition to plenty of birds and a fair number of butterflies and other creatures, we explored the amazing Mayan ruins at Caracol and Lamanai. Led by Mark, our group of eight stayed at four different lodges including Bird's Eye View Lodge in the Crooked Tree Sanctuary, Pook's Hill Lodge, Hidden Valley Inn, and Lamanai Outpost Lodge. All of them were delightful, but of the four my hands-down favorite and well worth a return visit for the hospitality, food, accomodations, and surroundings was Pook's Hill.

lamanai

     Highlights of our visit to Pook's Hill was an extraordinary view of a White-collared Manakin patiently posing for quite awhile one morning, and the calling of a pair of Spectacled Owls at dusk followed by a sighting of an immature later that evening. At Crooked Tree, we were treated to a number of amazing sights including a rare close-up and lengthy viewing of an American Pygmy Kingfisher, while a Basilisk Lizard dashed across the water in front of us. Hidden Valley showed us good looks at Brown and Green Jays and the gorgeous Azure-crowned Hummingbird, and was our jumping off spot for visiting the incredible Caracol ruins near the Guatemalan border. More ruins awaited us at Lamanai and it was rather magical being alone at the Jaguar Temple one evening as a flock of Keel-billed Toucans and lots of Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures settled in to roost, while a White-nosed Coati poked among the ruins and three tribes of Black Howler Monkeys called in the distance to each other.

    As usual, I ended up getting home with way too many (~1500) pictures, but managed to narrow it down to those shown here. Most were taken with my Nikon D90 and cleaned up later with CaptureNX. Also as usual, I've tried to label them correctly, but would appreciate any mistakes being brought to my attention. Page 2 has some of the butterflies I was able to identify, Page 3 has some of the better bird pictures from the trip, and Page 4 has more of the pictures that didn't quite make the cut and a number of birds and butterflies I'm still working to identify.

Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger image of any of the pictures in a new window.

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Bird's Eye View Lodge

Pook's Hill Lodge

Hidden Valley Inn

Lamanai Outpost Lodge

Lamanai Outpost Lodge

Reflections

Crooked Tree Sunrise

Crooked Tree Sunrise

Lamanai Sunset

Reflections

Marj

Dwayne & Rachel

Terri

Marj & Dwayne at Pook's Hill

Terri

Dwayne

Frank & Linda

Rachel, Frank & Linda

Rachel, Frank & Linda

Terri

Marj & Dwayne

Limpkin and Spiny-tailed Iguana

Green Iguana

Morelet's Crocodile

House Gecko

Parrot Snake

Toad

Rainforest Toad

Lizard

Rosebelly Lizard

Basilisk Lizard

Basilisk Lizard

Basilisk Lizard

Basilisk Lizard

Basilisk Lizard

Lawbreakers

Mayan Ruins at Caracol


Rio Frio

Yucatan Squirrel

Goat

White-nosed Coati

White-nosed Coati

Greater White-lined Bat

Greater White-lined Bat

Black Howler Monkey

Black Howler Monkey

Black Howler Monkey

Black Howler Monkey

Mayan Ruins at Lamanai

Lamanai

Lamanai

Lamanai

Lamanai

Lamanai

Lamanai


Beehive

Dragonfly

Damselfly

Spider

Spider Web

Flower

Water Lily

Toadstool

Tendril

Leaf

Yellow Fungus

Orange Fungus

Palms

Water Lily

Flower

White Orchid

Yellow Orchid

Flower

Bougainvillea

Flower

Night-blooming Provision Flower

Sugar Mill - Lamanai

Old Buses

A day at the Belize Zoo.

Morelet's Crocodile

Keel-billed Toucan

Collared Aracari

Jaguar

Harpy Eagle

Three short Youtube videos
Roseate Spoonbill
working the shallows
at Crooked Tree
Howler Monkeys
calling at Lamanai
Jaguar Temple
Mark discussing
Leafcutter Ants
doing their thing

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