so I could walk in to the lodge area. (When I left Chan Chich two years ago, we walked out.... I figured it would be nice to complete that hike by walking back in)
Spent the next hour walking slowly towards Mecca! Immediately I found myself back in birding heaven! Ocellated Turkey made the first appearance of the day, how apropos! Further along the road I find and ID female White-collared Manakin, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Dot-winged Antwren, Black-and-white Warbler, Plain Xenops, Chestnut Colored Woodpecker and Melodious Blackbird!!! Ahhhh.... The lodge comes into view.... Just as I remember.... I'mmmm Baaaaackk!
I make a bee-line to the bar for a quick diet coke and say hello to Norman the barkeep....he swears he remembers me...hahaha, bet he says that to all the tourists....
Check in at the front desk and make my way to cabana #9, which will be my home for the next seven days. Immediately around the cabana: Yellow-winged Tanager, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Rufous Mourner!
I check my Chan Chich guidebook and decide to tackle the "Road to Sylvester Village" trail following lunch. Scarf down the meal in record time, don my mosquito jacket and vest and hit the trail!
Ah, the jungle is as I remember.... Dark, damp, but fresh (strange combo I know) and the birds come fast and furious: Pale-billed Woodpecker, Keel-billed Toucan, a chocolate brown hawk (that neither I nor my description to the guides could ever identify), Thrushlike Mourner (formerly Thrushlike Manakin), Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, White-eyed Vireo, Golden-winged Warbler, Kentucky Warbler (soon to become the "trash bird" of the trip), Chimney Swifts fly overhead, Crested Guan in the trees, Squirrel Cuckoo, Red-lored Parrots and Little Hermit round out the afternoon!! By now it is "getting dark in the jungle" so I head back to the lodge for a shower and dinner.
we make our way to Norman's Tomb (a ruin that Norman the barkeep extrordinaire
discovered). The birds again are agreeable, but no Mot-mots. We find: White-bellied Emerald hummers, Black-faced Grosbeak, Eye-ringed Flatbill, White-throated Spadebill, White-breasted Wood Wren, Hooded Warbler (soon to become another "trash bird" of the trip), Olive-backed and Yellow-throated Euphonia (none of the Scrub variety on this visit to Belize), and Ivory-billed Woodcreeper!
An excitable Spider Monkey starts shaking the tree limbs high above us, I guess to try and scare us away or to alert his relatives. He actually starts breaking off pieces of the branches and drops them closer and closer to us. The ladies find this performance amusing and watch his antics.
I take the time while we're not walking to look around, and notice an area of concentrated bird splay on the trail.
(it must be becoming my favorite trail of the trip) provides me with some more surprises this morning. Another target Tinamou, the Slaty-breasted, is found and enjoyed. Eye-ringed Spadebill makes another appearance and three yellow-bellied Trogons flyover....can't ID them so quickly...DRAT! But I become easily distracted from the Trogon quandary by the Gray-throated Chat that pops up and becomes a lifer for me!! Adding to my sightings, the first male American Redstarts of the trip.
Finally, I reach the start of the Bajo Trail and plunge in. I hear another Spadebill....I'm getting good at recognizing it's call (Gilberto would be proud of me). The Bajo Trail is muddier than any of the others that I've tread at Chan Chich, and the mosquitoes are a bit livelier; but my mosquito jacket serves me well (one of my best purchases).
There's a lot of action along the trail, but nothing new or exciting till I reach about 3/4 of the way around the path....suddenly there's a clearing in the trail and the sun breaks through. I find Gray Catbird, Spot-breasted Wren, White-eyed Vireo, Long-billed Gnatwren, Smoky-brown Woodpecker and Dot-wing Ant Wren. A Blue Bunting hops out onto the grass and snags some breakfast from the seedheads! Nice Bird!!
The Bajo Trail is long and hot from this point on....but the birds don't disappoint! Nothing else new is spotted but there's plenty of my familiar friends to be found and ID-ed, so not all is lost!
The end of the Bajo Trail rejoins the Xaxe Venic road way to the west of the lodge and it's a long, thirsty, uneventful walk back for lunch and hammock time....
I spend a longer time in the hammock this afternoon, I deserve it after Bajo. I take a short walk in the late afternoon down to the lettuce lake at the head of the River Trail to look for herons and kingfishers but only find Prothonotary Warblers....darn!
the suspension bridge is just what the doctor ordered! Two Great Curassow females make a first appearance for me on the south side of the road. A pair of Crested Guans soon follow, and a pair of Ringed Kingfishers show up at the bridge. Slaty-tailed Trogons and two Chestnut Colored Woodpeckers show themselves on the way back to the lodge for breakfast. It seemed to be a morning for couples.
After breakfast, the pre-lunch hike takes me back out west to the village dump where I get a great look at the elusive Gray-necked Wood Rail!! Ovenbird, Long billed Gnatwren and my first Green Heron of the trip meet me along the Sylvester Road. At marker #49 a White-whiskered Puffbird pokes it's head out of the bush and I get a close look! Geeze, I love this Sylvester Road!!
I decide to keep walking north up the Sylvester Road for as far as it will take me....past the culvert (at the junction with the Bajo and River Trails), north...ever north...
Farther up the road, there's little low spots that are filled will rain water or river overflow. These spots seem to be the best for birding along Sylvester Road.
A giant hummer seems to be heading straight for me down the road!!! It veers to the left and alights in a tree over one of the wet-spots. Binoculars up! It's an American Pygmy Kingfisher!! Way Cool!!! It darts away into the forest, there is more water back there, I can see it. Twenty feet up the road, another kingfisher pops into view! It's a Green Kingfisher!! Too Cool!!! A couple more yellow-bellied Trogons fly over! Darn, I wish they'd land in view!
Looking up the road, I see the undergrowth is starting to cover the path and I also notice a small mammal heading my way. Binocs up! It's a fox (or should I say vixen), trotting straight down the road, directly at me! I have to keep changing focus as it draws nearer, it finally stops as I almost reach my "close focus" distance. Eventually, she looks up and seems to notice there is something in front of her in the road (it's me). We gaze at each other. She takes some time to make up her mind as to what to do, cocking her head to the left and right. I slowly lower my binocs to see just how close to me she really is and discover she's stopped about 25 feet away. Close enuf for a handshake! As I lower my glasses, she confirms that there is one of those "human thingies" just a little too close for comfort...so she scoots back up the road and disappears into the brush to the east. A National Geographic Moment.
I notice movement even further up the road, where it curves to the east and appears to disappear. Hmmm, looks like something yellow and black. Ah, male Great Currasows, and females! Must be a flock of them!
It's getting close to 10:30 a.m., I've been slowly walking north for about an hour and a half. I decide to start heading back to civilization.
White-throated Spadebill gives me a nice close look as I start back. Olive-backed and Yellow-throated Euphonias cavort in the trees. A pair of Plain Chachalacas are flushed as I pass.
Crossing the culvert, I decide to take the River Trail. Worm-eating Warbler puts in an appearance, as well as a couple of Gray-headed Tanagers at an ant swarm. My second Gray-necked Wood Rail is found slinking through the undergrowth along the river.
After a leisurely lunch, and extended hammock time, I decide to make a short afternoon trip back to the Upper Plaza. Crested Guan and Wood Thrush are hanging around, as well as another Chestnut Colored Woodpecker. Finally I get good looks at the Aztec Parakeet (Olive-throated Parakeet) that usually roosts high in the trees in the center of the lodge area. But these are closer, although directly overhead. I'm coming down with a severe case of "parrot neck" and the thought of "parrot poop" inspires me move along and head back to the lodge for the evening.
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