Nov 26
Orange Walk, Belize - November 26, 2017
We began our morning bright and early at 6am for the Jungle Dawn Walk with Chris around the property. It was a clear day and not too hot yet. We saw a lot of cool things on our morning walk, I will mention some of our highlights here and the full list at the end of this entry.
We saw the Bat falcons flying in pairs; they have this name because they have small bat-like wings and looks like bats in flight. We were able to get a great view and photo of one bat falcon resting in top of the dead branch.
Swanson’s Warbler was really exciting for Chris. This makes bird species #296 for him! It was in the vines and leaves in the tree with a Magnolia Warbler.
We caught a glimpse of the Barred Antshrike, but it was too shy. People come from all over the world to try and see it. We saw it but did not have a clear view and did not have a chance to get a photo.
I was taking photos of the Guanacaste tree, which is so pretty and is the national tree of Belize.
We did not see, but could smell and hear the Collared Peccary, wild pigs.
Leaf Cutter Ants were hard at work all in a row on the path hauling their leaves.
The Stripe Throated Hermit Hummingbird zipped by singing a happy tune. It is the second smallest hummingbird in the world.
We walked on the old airstrip and passed by the pond where we could hear the Striped Cuckoo & saw the Green Heron flying over the water. The solitary Great Blue Heron was standing under the trees by the pond, 3 Cattle Egrets were chilling out on top of the palm trees and we could see Crocodile eyes and snout popping out in the pond. As we began heading back to the resort we walked by a Vanilla Orchid which is very pretty and tiny.
The noisy Brown Jays flew by when we arrived at Bushy’s Palce for breakfast and the last treat before breakfast was 3 Ringed Kingfisher that flew overhead.
For breakfast we had the most delicious bacon, scrambled eggs with spinach, fresh fruit, biscuits with some great butter and some light baked tortillas sprinkled with sugar. Everything was so delicious and so filling!
After breakfast we began the Mayan Temple tour. Before we left the resort we saw a huge Black Spined Iguana in the tree by the dock. It was a short boat ride to the ruins and at that dock we saw a Mud Slider Turtle in the water covered in algae.
We saw the Black Orchid which is the national flower outside the museum. It is known for flowering all year round.
By the museum before we started the tour of the ruins we saw an American Redstar Warbler flitting around, a Violaceous Trogon way up high in the tree, a Young Yellow Warbler hiding behind the branch, a Northern Waterthrush Warbler hopping along on the ground and an Ivory Billed Woodcreeper
If you want to choose the Mayan Ruins and history adventure, continue reading, if not, skip ahead to read more about birds and animals.
The proper name is not Lamanai, it is Laman Aiyan, meaning underwater crocodile, the word lamanai means underwater bug. The story is that the Spaniards heard the name incorrectly when they arrived the first time, in 1544. Once the Spaniards thought they had successfully conquered the Mayans and converted them to Christianity, they left to conquer others peoples. The Mayans had pretended to adopted this new religion, but did not really convert; in fact, they burned the church down. When the Spaniards returned in 1644, they built a second church from temple stones.
Mayans had many gods and did not want to believe in only one god, so they kicked the Spaniards out. In 1840, the British came and built sugar mill. With them they brought Africans, East Indians and Chinese slaves. The Mayans refused to be enslaved, so the British paid the Mayans with rum which they eventually rebelled against.
A small number of native Mayans have remained during this entire period in the Lamanai region. In 1974, Dr David Pendergast from Canada with ROM money came to the area and excavated 5% of the city including the temples that we were able to see on the tour.
The first temple we saw was the Jaguar Temple. For Mayans the Jaguar is a representation of the sun. Mayans believe that Jaguars live in the sun during the day and only come out a night, moving west to east, (which is why it becomes dark every night). Therefore, if you see a Jaguar during the day it is very special. There was a Stella laying on the ground with carvings on it.
The Mayan calendar had been carved on the red rock. Unlucky dates on the zolkin calendar the last 5 days of the year. People born on those dates are supposed to be unlucky, but I don’t believe it! That is because the year is 365 days long and each month has 20 days, except for the last 5 days of the year.
At Stella 9 Chris explained the carvings and hyroglifics to us on the Stella. He was able to read it to us in Mayan and translated it to English. We learned that Jade was the most precious stone for the Mayans and that is why it is often found at burial sites of the kings and queens.
On the Ball Court there was a vertical hoop on the 3rd level. Chris explained that they are still unclear on all of the rules, but it is believed that scoring even once was very difficult, so one one point with the rubber ball through the hoop wins/ends the game. The winner was sacrificed. Maybe it was not so hard to score, it was just that no one wanted too?!
Chris shared some Punta music with us. It used to be music for the gods. Now it is dance music. I think something was lost in translation somehow!
The High Temple was 33 meters tall, had been coloured red, and had 13 faces on it. The faces were masks or representations of the rain god. The number 9 was the symbol for hell and the number 13 was lucky. When the high temple was excavated they found the skeleton of an unknown bird, obsidian and jade as offerings.
Chris shared a Cohune nut with us. It was very oily and was used for cooking oil.
At the Mask Temple they have partially restored 2 of the mask carvings. The structure of the Temple had been changed over the years by several kings. The original structure dates back to 200 BC.
Now if you chose the bird and animal adventure, keep reading here about our sitings around the Mayan temples:
Masked Tityra
Tropical Kingbird - vey bright yellow and is part of the flycatcher family.
We saw the legs of a Tarantula in the hole. She kills her mate and eats him after they breed.
2 Howler Monkeys in the trees beside Stella 9. This was our first siting!
Hooded Warbler on the fallen trunk
Yellow Warbler
Grey catbird
Social flycatcher
Squirrel cuckoo
Olive backed euphonia
Yellow throated euphonia
Yellow Olive Woodpecker
Least flycatcher
Praying mantis
Horse Balls tree
Hooded Warbler
Brown Jays in the trees and on the ground. These birds are much bigger than Blue Jays.
Lineated Woodpecker
Ivory Billed Woodcreeper - could not take a photo because the card was full of rock photos. UGH!
We had a delicious and filling lunch back at Bushy’s Place. We had spinach dip and chips, black bean soup, chicken salbutes and banana cake along with Hybiscus juice and Balikin Beer.
I saw a flash of colour and wen to the edge of the deck to see a Keel Billed Toucan, which sounds like a frog. I was able to get a great photo of it in the tree beside the dining lodge.
After lunch we sat on the deck at our room. I sat in the hammock and Bill sat in the shade under our palm roof. I caught some sun and lots of photos of birds landing in the trees around our room. Chris was able to provide me the names of the birds later that evening. It was really neat to see a Flock of Wood Storks flying so low that they were almost touching the water.
Our Sunset Cruise turned from romantic cruise to party cruise with Larry and Karen from Washington, DC and Ben and Sylvie from Chicago.
We did not see a lot of bird on our pontoon boat ride, but we added a few new ones to the list:
Several Fork Tailed Flycatchers along the bank. They have beautiful long tails.
Turkey Vulture
Male Snail Kite
Pipe Billed Grebe
Apple Snail Eggs laid on the stalks of the plants that grow in the water
White Ibis flock flying overhead
Great Egret flying by
We enjoyed the beer, pina coladas, banana coladas, games and the company during our sunset viewing and cruising. We were also very fortunate to have a beautiful sunset too!
The clouds rolled in and the water was a bit choppy on the way back to the resort. I think it will be great evening for sleeping and we don’t have an early wake up tomorrow. Our first scheduled activity is the walking tour at 4pm. I think we are going to attempt to canoe over to the Mayan Ruins in the morning on our own to see some more rocks and birds.
In the bar before dinner we met Gordon and Chris from the UK.
I had a fabulous black bean soup to start with buns, and lots and lots of butter. I think it must come from the Mennonites. Note to self, buy butter the next time we are in St Jacobs! For dinner we had chicken kabobs, salad, and twice backed potatoes. For dessert Bill had lime pie and I stole a bite. During dinner we saw bats, a bird that reminded me of a night jar (turned out to be a Pauraque) and an owl landed on the railing beside me and then flew away. We think it was a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, but it turned out to be a Mottled Owl.
Returned to our room for bedtime and Bill saw a gecko run across our headboard and dive down between the headboard and the wall. Not sure I will get a lot of sleep tonight!
We saw a lot of cool things on our morning walk, here is the complete list:
Bat falcons
Wood Thrush
Howler Monkeys
Blue Blacks Grassquit Small Seed Eater
Swanson’s Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Neotropic Cormorant
Barred Antshrike
Redbilled Pigeon
Collared Peccary
Black Headed Vultures
Tropical Peewee Flycatcher
Leaf Cutter Ants
Stripe Throated Hermit Hummingbird
Olive Throated Parakeets
Red Lored Parrots
Keel Billed Toucan
Striped Cuckoo
Green Heron
Great Blue Heron
White Collared Seedeater
Cattle Egret
Crocodile
White-Fronted Parrots
Yellow-Throated Warbler
Vanilla orchid
Grey Tailed Grackle
Brown Jays
Ringed Kingfisher
Nov 27, 1:47pm
Nov 26, 5:09pm
Nov 26, 10:33pm
Nov 26, 2:56pm
Nov 26, 4:40pm
Nov 26, 9:10pm
Nov 26, 3:52pm
Nov 26, 4:32pm
Nov 26, 5:21pm
1: GPS Location
Nov 26, 4:50pm
Sunset Cruise in Lamanai.