This morning guests at Lower Dover Belize Jungle Lodge got a surprise when this younger Collared Aracari accidentally crashed into the Rasta cabana window. We guess he/she wanted to see how nice the room was…there are easier ways to get a tour!
Nursing a Collared Aracari back to health
Lucky for birders and wildlife lovers, this beautiful bird gathered itself with the help of it’s 3 lovely assistants, and flew away uninjured after these pictures were taken.
Social Toucanet gaining strength to fly
Guest at Lower Dover Belize Jungle Lodge holding a wild Collared Aracari
Last summer we noticed what seemed to be a Toucan’s nest in a Bullet Tree located on one of Lower Dover Jungle Lodge’s wide nature trails. Two large male and female Keel-Billed Toucans would regularly go in and out of a small notch located where the tree limbs meet the trunk about 35 feet from the ground. We decided to set up with our Flip video camera one evening to capture the bird in flight and this is what we saw.
We were never able to confirm baby birds in the nest, until today, one year later, in the exact same Bullet tree! There is a saying around here on the most copied blog in Belize…”No bird pic no bird proof.” These are the pictures of the baby bird sticking its head out of the nest taken this morning. This was easily one of the most memorable bird sightings and all around nature experiences ever witnessed at Lower Dover.
Baby Toucan sighting at Lower Dover
Baby bird photo of Keel-Billed Toucan
Bird photography at Lower Dover Belize Jungle Lodge
Immature Keel-Billed Toucan
Belize Birding at it’s best
Wild baby Toucan peeking out of its nest in Belize
Lower Dover Belize Jungle Lodge Nature Photos
These photos were taken with a point and shoot and without a tripod. Guests of our jungle lodge don’t have to be professional photographers to get great bird shots. Now that the Toucans are back nesting on a yearly basis (fingers crossed!), Lower Dover Jungle Lodge guests will continue to witness top-notch birding opportunities when experiencing “Real Belize the Right Way!”
When we went to the Belize Zoo on a day trip from Lower Dover Jungle Lodge, we got a lot of “cheap shots”, which is fine because wildlife photographers have been taking them at the Belize Zoo for years. Because of the zoo’s unique natural setting, National Geographic used to shoot jungle action videos from the cages of the Belize Zoo.
Plain Chacalaca at the Belize Zoo
This time we didn’t have a cage, but this Plain Chacalaca decided to stop at a feed dish to eat some of the fruit left for one of the animals. These birds have it nice at the zoo with cut fruit! They have to pick it off the trees at Lower Dover, but that makes for a bunch of opportunites.for great bird pics.
Cheap Shot!! Chacalaca eating from fruit bowl at the Belize Zoo
Again with the cheap shots at the Belize Zoo! Just a second before we photographed the Chacalaca, a female Summer Tanager was seen eating fruit from the same bowl! It is best for guests to visit the Belize Zoo while getting a taxi ride to/from Lower Dover Jungle Lodge from the airport.
More Cheap Bird Photos from the Belize Zoo
Found in Belize during the winters, Birds of Belize, by H. Lee Jones describes the female Summer Tanager as mustard olive above, mustard yellow below, with some individuals orangish throughout.
Summer Tanager photos don’t get easier to take than this!
This female tanager is different than the Hepatic Tanager, due to her pale bill, and is not the Scarlet Tanager because Scarlet’s have shorter bills.
Lower Dover Field Journal 