Belize 2013: Turf

A must have book for Crooked Tree.

Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary is about a 30 minute drive from Belize City on the Northern Highway.  It was the first wildlife sanctuary declared by the Government of Belize (1984), and because of its significance as a wetland, was declared a RAMSAR site in 1998.  The sanctuary is managed by the Belize Audubon Society through agreement with the government.  Over three hundred species of birds have been recorded at the sanctuary including many Yucatan specialties.

The Sanctuary consists of 16,000 acres of lagoons, creeks, logwood swamps, broadleaf forest and pine savanna.  In the center of the lagoons is Crooked Tree Village a European settlement dating back to the 1740s.

We were there to meet with three groups; the Belize Audubon Society, tour guides and hotel operators, and the village council.

View of the Lodge from the lagoon.

There are several lodging options that surround the sanctuary.  We stayed with Mrs. Verna at the Bird's Eye View Lodge.  Another option that caught my eye was the Crooked Tree Lodge. From both, or that matter any, you can pre-book or sign up for impromptu birding trips.  As we learned from our meetings, birding tour guides are at a premium so I would suggest making arrangements in advance.

Recently sighted; Jaguar?!

Almost any lodge, museum, or nature center will keep a list of birds and animals sighted on the grounds.  Usually on a whiteboard in one of the public areas. This is a great place to see what people are viewing in the area and get an idea of what you can expect.  The board at Bird's Eye had "Jaguar spotted 10:00 a.m."  That made an impression!
   


Before our meetings we did a quick guided birding trip on one of the lagoons.  It was during the wet season so there was plenty of water everywhere and thus not a lot of congregations of birds or animals. This and the fact that we were not there during peak migration meant the birding was much sparser than usual.  Even under these conditions, I managed 14 life birds out of a total 23 birds sighted.  I plan on returning in November during peak season with one of the Audubon Chapters that hosts tours to the area.

Breakfast before birding.

Front: Filippo, Karen, (me) and Ishmael from the
Multilateral Investment Fund.  Back: our guide Lenny
and Pat the Publisher of Audubon Magazine.