Belize Audubon Society’s Urban Bird Watch identifies 60 species in San Pedro
Annually the Belize Audubon Society (BAS) hosts a bird watching expedition throughout the country called the Urban Bird Watch. These expeditions take place across the country in order to raise awareness to the gentle ecosystem that tropical birds live in and emphasize the need to protect them. The Urban Bird Watch is a cross country tour for birders, and this year’s tour has taken birders to Punta Gorda, Dangriga, Benque Viejo del Carmen, Corozal, Orange Walk and San Pedro Town.
On Sunday, October 27th La Isla was the next stop for the BAS Urban Bird Watch. While Belize is known for its rich wildlife and hundreds of species of birds, Ambergris Caye is not exactly known for being a birding paradise. That expectation was put to rest when, from 6AM to 10AM, an astonishing 60 different species of birds were sighted, both tropical and migratory.
Four bird enthusiasts from Belize City travelled to Ambergris Caye for a morning of birding. To their surprise the concentration of birds sighted was in the town core, within a mile and half south of the area. BAS member Rudy Burgos expressed his excitement in an interview with The San Pedro Sun, “We saw 60 birds in only a short walk from Central Park to south of the island. It goes to show that you don’t have to go deep into uninhabited areas to find unique species of birds; all you need is a keen eye.” Some of the more interesting species sighted included the Blackburnian Warbler, which lives in northern US and southern Canada and migrates to Central and South America during winter. Another interesting sighting was the Peregrine Falcon, a bird of prey that is considered the fastest bird in the world and can be found as high north as the Arctic Tundra and south in the warmer areas of the tropics.
The 60 species of birds sighted are: American Kestrel, American Redstart, Bannanaquit, Barn Swallow, Black Catbird, Black-and-White Warbler, Black-bellied Plover, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-necked Stilt, Blue Bunting, Brown Pelican, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Common Ground-dove, Common Yellowthroat, Dowitcher, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-peewee, Eurasian Collared Dove, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, Great Egret, Great Kiskadee, Great-tailed Grackle, Hooded Oriole, Laughing Gull, Least Sandpiper, Little Blue Heron, Magnificent Frigatebird, Magnolia Warbler, Melodious Blackbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Orchard Oriole, Osprey, Palm Warbler, Peregrine Falcon, Red-eyed Vireo, Rock Dove, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Royal Tern, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Ruddy Turnstone, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Saunderling, Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Snowy Egret, Solitary Sandpiper, Summer Tanager, Swainson’s Thrush, Tennesee Warbler, Tricolored Heron, Tropical Mockingbird, Tropical/couches Kingbird, White-collared Seedeater, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-Crowned Night-heron, Yellow-throated Warbler and the Yucatan Woodpecker.
The last leg of the Urban Watch will be on Sunday, November 10th in Belize City.To learn more on BAS or to join in the next bird watching expedition call phone number 223-5004 for further information.
San Pedro Sun
AmbergrisCaye.com 
