Birding Chan Chich Lodge, Belize (Part 3)

This is it, the final post about our trip to Chan Chich. I can't repeat enough how fun the birding was around the lodge itself. There was always a surprise, a random bird in a place I had not expected. One morning I was poking around behind our cottage and was startled to find a White-necked Puffbird staring at me. 

White-necked Puffbird: ridiculously good-looking

The most abundant warblers on the trip, Magnolia Warblers, also spent time in the trees behind our cottage picking off snacks. 

Magnolia Warbler

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, the most abundant hummingbird

I was very pleased that Bright-rumped Attilas were quite common around Chan Chich. They could be heard along the forest trails but we also saw one flycatching from the outdoor ceiling fan while we ate lunch. One let me watch it catch food for at least fifteen minutes. 

Bright-rumped Attila, now possibly in my list of Top Ten Birds

One really common bird that I never fully crushed was the Yellow-winged Tanager. They are very nice to look at though.

Yellow-winged Tanager in a bush

I mentioned in my first post that there are two main staff housing areas at Chan Chich and they make for a nice birding loop past a marsh. We did this loop both on our own and on a birding walk with Kris.

Mesoamerican slider

Louisiana Waterthrush on water lettuce

Pteronymia sp (Clearwing butterfly) at the marsh

Red-lored Parrot, the most common parrot at Chan Chich

Mealy Parrot, staff housing

Boat-billed Flycatcher, staff housing

Collared Aracaris were around but always distant

Keel-billed Toucan, staff housing

The staff housing loop is less than a mile as are most of the trails here. But even if you just take a few steps out your door you can find birds. 

Black-cheeked Woodpecker just outside our door

Gray Catbird

Blue Bunting

So that's all the birds I have to share from Chan Chich. It was pretty fantastic. We had over 100 species just at the lodge and trails, over 160 trip birds. We could have seen way more if we had broken up our week into different areas of Belize but spending a week in one spot was fun and more chill. 

The only downside to Chan Chich and places like it is that they are not cheap! We probably won't be doing another trip like this for a while but it also felt totally worth it. I felt good about spending money here since it is supporting conservation of both nature and archaeology. The people seemed great as well!

If you'd like to check out all the non-bird life forms we encountered from moths and butterflies to lizards and monkeys, here is a link to my iNaturalist account. 

Pluto sphinx moth (relocated it from inside our room to outside)

Good times!!