During the fall of 2011, the flower garden outside the bunkhouse at Lower Dover Field Station and Jungle Lodge was in full bloom with Zinnias. It was a great time to view all kinds of tropical butterflies and a bird’s nest up close in personal.
I sat one afternoon, on the dormitory porch, knowing that I could get a great photo of what ever bird came back to it’s nest. Luckily I was able to see both mom and dad. I consulted Birds of Belize by H. Lee Jones to find out just what I was photographing. Turns out this was a breeding pair of White-Collard Seedeaters (Sporophila torqueola). Both approximately 10 cm in height.
According to Jones (A bird watching god in Belize), the male is identified two ways. This male had alternative markings, characterized as “boldly patterned black and white with a white throat, black breast band, and white wing-bars and rump.”
The female of the species is identified as being “olive brown, with light brown to whitish wing-bars.”
These two were feasting on the drying flower seeds, an easy picture for even novice birders at Lower Dover Jungle Lodge. The babies grew amazingly fast! I checked them once early in the week only to be attacked by the parents, but not before getting a great shot of these youngsters. Only 3 days later they were gone! Please grow up fast little guys for more exciting Lower Dover birding opportunities in the future…
Thank you for a great start to a Sunday morning!
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Well my point exactly, this is obviously where all the birds are! Not in my garden! It must be amazing to be surrounded by such beauty. I shall follow your blog with interest.
Thanks for the support! Sometimes it’s just luck capturing the birds, most of the time, by the time we are ready to get a picture they are gone. Stay diligent and you’ll get some good pictures!
You have spoken the truth. Time and patience, and a tripod equals success!!
Absolutely, and a little luck, love you’re bird photos as well!
Thanks for stopping by my photo blog. Love the birds, hope to see more!
We keep posting as long as they keep flying by!
Isn’t that parental instinct an amazing one to watch — I love how fiercely protective they are and how much I can relate to that instinct!
Fun post — thank you for sharing. :)
They really did their best to make sure I couldn’t get more than one shot of the nest!
Hey, bird watching isn’t necessarily my thing, but I remember you from before and wanted to say congrats on winning over the FP gods. I’m still very interested in visiting the station one of these days. The place seems like the ultimate if one is searching for some R&R.
Dinkerson,
If you wanted a place more laid back, you could consider a grave. Otherwise this is the spot to kick it! Leave you watch and your worries behind and hit us up when you want to stop by! Thanks for viewing our blog…birding is just one of our things. We plan on extensively covering our archaeology dig of the on site Maya site “Lower Dover” this summer.
Now that does sound interesting. Seems like getting something like that approved would be a daunting task. Way to go, I’ll be keeping up with the process.
beautiful photos …your patience paid off!
Good things come to those who wait!
Fun pictures. I have wonderful memories of working in Belize, Belize City YWCA…what a great blog post
Thanks Kris,
Belize City is also a jungle. Concrete jungle. Actually more like rotten wood jungle. Come visit us in the bush if you make it back! Thanks for reading.
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So pretty and exotic!
Like your last name Bethany! Happy new year!
As both an amateur birder and photographer, I enjoyed your post. And congratulations on being Freshly Pressed. That’s quite an honor.
Best wishes,
Bruce
Thanks Bruce! Sometimes its just so easy at Lower Dover to get shots because amazing birds are flying around everywhere. We are nothing more than amateur photographers also. If I was musically inclined like Bob Marley I would have already had a #1 hit singing about it. Instead FP will have to do for now!
I loved the pictures, capturing the beauty of nature is amazing! Good job.
Great pictures! :) Thank you for sharing! … following your blog.
Gorgeous shots!
Thanks Hook!
You got some great shots here
Hey Congratulations on being…”Freshly Pressed”
Thanks, we are thrilled! It’s our second time!
How amazing that you get to watch the birds grow and evolve, thanks for sharing the experience!
Absolutely LOVE the pic of the baby birds – amazing! Thanks for sharing & Congrats on being FP!
Amazing photos, include for us in Brazil, with the “Amazonas jungle” closely. Thanks for all!!
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Thanks! It’s a great honor
Belize, huh? I’ve visited twice. Nice photos, sounds like you had fun. Congrats on being Pressed!
Did you see all the bootleg movies available on the street when you were here MovieBlogger?
That is some great bird photos.
Beautiful. Breathing adventure in every photo. Love the nest with the baby birds of all. I used to jump in excitement as a boy whenever I discovered one in our backyard. Happy New Year!
Happy new year indeed!
Lovely shots!
Thanks Arlene
beautiful photos…
wow, just want to say, amazing! I like the bird nest, looks so comfortable for the baby birds. :D
John the babies were sooooo fast to leave it must not have been that comfortable!
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Nice pics. I really liked them.
Thanks for looking, more bird pictures to come in the future
the birds are too beautiful, great pictures
I am actually thinking about traveling to Belize. Fantastic shots! Those baby birds are so cute!
Its a great place to visit for relaxing in nature. Lower Dover is perfect for photographers. Also a perfect launch point for doing Mayan tours in 2012! We have a large Mayan Ruin on site, and 100 acres of jungle to hike along the Belize River. Hope we see you in the future for a guest blog!
Who doesn’t love a nature shot? Cute birdies:)
Love the picture of the nest! Amazingly cute!
Beautiful. The only thing better than bird watching is being able to watch in such an exotic place. Had a great experience with the Pileated Woodpecker at my home last weekend. See my post this morning for details and a couple of pics.
Great Post as well William, you might be due for a vacation yourself! Maybe Belize?
I love bird watching–and flowers! Congrats on FP! I am Following, and will look around a bit more here. My brother travels to Belize every year.
That’s great! Tell him to stop by and say hello!
So beautiful!!! Visited Belize a few years back and you’ve made me want to return, thank you!
Awesome! Hope to see you soon!
enjoyed the post. I was in Belize for one day, I hope to return to really enjoy a longer visit. I also photograph Nature, flowers, birds etc and two years ago brought a book to help me identifiy exactly what I was photographying. Very helpful :-)
When we are editing and reviewing photos, we have many books for reference to help us identify all the wildlife and nature we encounter. Hopefully we will see you in Belize soon!
These pictures are lovely
Lovely. Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful bird photos! What compelling and beautiful creatures! . . . Especially those little babies!
http://arabianmusings.wordpress.com/
These Seed Eaters are so adorable!! Thanks for capturing and sharing.
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Congrats on being freshly pressed! Those birds are cute.
Thanks for the follow!. Mr. White Collared Seedeater looks very much like our Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. :-)
We have plenty of that bird specie too in the tropics. Happy to see them in the west!
Lots of migrating birds in Belize during the winter, coming from Canada and the US, makes it twice as easy to get great shots right now.
Good for you!
Beautiful birds! Another bird watching: this is Wild Hungary, the most beautiful nature film from the Carpathian Basin / Central Europe. Ravens, eagles, herons & other birds / animals: http://termeszetfoto.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/vad-magyarorszag-vizek-birodalma/
Loved your shots, thanks for stopping in to look
Congratulations! Beautiful photos
Those are some great shots; you can never go wrong with the various birds that circulate around us. There are so many amazing things , on this planet, we just have to open up to it.Great post and I look forward to sharing more with you:))
Very nice shots of the seedeaters. They must trust you to let you get that close — especially to the nest.
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