Bromeliad Helicopter Damselfly Read More »
Your first sighting of one of these giant damselflies might leave you rubbing your eyes in disbelief. For it is huge. When it takes wing against a dark forest background, all you might see are the wing spots, which gyrate in a circular pattern like helicopter blades
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Campbell’s Rainforest Toad Read More »
Sometimes at night I hear a low, lovely trilling call, lasting 5-10 seconds, sometimes repeated four or five times at fifteen second intervals. This is probably Campbell’s Rainforest Toad, one of my favorite sounds in the Jungle Night Orchestra
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Black-faced Antthrush Read More »
This little bird, a bit smaller than a robin, is unmistakable. Plump and perky on long pinkish legs, it darts across the forest floor with a jerky gait, tossing leaves to look for insects, snails, spiders and other invertebrates.
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The turkey vulture, with bright red, featherless head, often hangs around with black vultures, which have warty black heads and shorter tails. In flight, the turkey vulture has a distinctly longer tail. Their habits are similar.
In sandy areas look for conical depressions roughly 2” across. If an ant slides into one of the depressions, the antlion flicks sand at it, causing it to slide further down until the antlion can grab it with its huge hollow jaws, puncture it’s body, and inject it with a paralyzing venom.
Technically, the puma, although quite large, isn’t considered to be one of the “big cats” because it can’t roar. In Belize, where it has competition with the larger jaguar, the puma hunts smaller animals, such as young crocodiles, agoutis, coatis, turkeys, gibnuts, armadillos, foxes and snakes.
Bayleaf/Botán Palm Read More »
This fan palm is the traditional thatching palm of Belize. The one shown is a young tree, from which fronds can be easily harvested. As it grows older, it becomes a rather large tree and is called the Botán Palm, with dense wood that is sometimes used in building.
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Morellet’s Seedeater Read More »
Morellet’s Seedeater Belize shares some of its birds with the United States, as they migrate to and fro through the seasons. One of those migrants
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Flatid Planthopper Read More »
The benefit of the wax coating on the flatid is that the honeydew it poops doesn’t stick to it, which keeps the planthopper from turning into a moldy mop. Also, if a predator sees it moving and tries to grab it, it will get a mouthful of waxy fluff, which discourages further snacking.
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Veiled Lady Mushroom Read More »
Veiled lady mushrooms often reach nearly ten inches in height. You can look through the round hole in the cap’s top clear down through the hollow stalk to the ground. The lacy, netted veil or skirt, known as the indusium, may serve as a ladder to help insects crawl up to the cap.
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