Since we posted the bird pics of the Social Toucanettes eating last week, we decided to try our hand at some video. I was watering the garden in the afternoon and the birds flew so close to my head I could hear their wings. They were hungry! You can hear me sneaking off to turn the water off 30 seconds into the vid…I’m not sure they even cared.
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.
Summer Tanager – Bird Watching in Belize
While on our day tour to the Belize Zoo from Lower Dover Jungle Lodge we noticed something. There were just as many animals outside the cages as inside! The Belize Zoo is located in native habitat to many of these birds and other various small mammals, so it is not uncommon to get a few unexpected wildlife photographs on your trip.
Male Russet Antshrike bird photo from Belize
In this case, we saw both the male and female Russet Antshrike. We found it difficult to identify this bird species. The red eyes helped. So did the bill. In the end we settled with Russet Antshrike given the similarities between sexes as noted by Birds of Belize, by H. Lee Jones.
Female Russet Ant-shrike at Belize Zoo
Birding has been great at Lower Dover Jungle Lodge lately. The Wild Grape trees that line our jungle hotel grounds are prime habitat for all kinds of birds, especially when the trees are fruiting. Recently, two birds stopped by to eat it’s seeds while we were bird watching on the 100 jungle acres in Belize.
Male Yellow Throated Warbler and female White Collared Manakin bird photo
The olive and yellow bird is a female White-Collared Manakin. The other bird is one of two subspecies of Yellow-Throated Warblers found in Belize, Dendroica dominica. We know these birds in the picture are not the same species because of their different shaped bills.
Bird Watching Photography at Lower Dover Belize Jungle Lodge
H. Lee Jones describes the female White-Collared Manakin as olive with a yellowish body in his book, Birds of Belize. Jones helps birders differentiate the male Yellow Throated Warbler between subspecies by noting the yellow fore-half of the supercilium of the subspecies seen. The other subspecies, Dendroica albilora is without yellow on the supercilium (above the eye).
Two tropical birds on one branch in Belize
Click on the image above for a close up to see the yellow over the Warbler’s eye.
Lower Dover Field Journal 