Belize
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Pat and Roy Beckemeyer spent Christmas of 1996 at Chan Chich Lodge in Orange Walk District, Belize, Central America. This web page shows examples of some of the animals we saw while there. This trip was our first to the Neotropics, and we saw many new bird families for the first time on the trip.
As
this was winter, there were not as many butterflies as we expected to see.
Here are two photos taken on the grounds of the lodge.
Among the birds we saw was the incredibly striking Red-capped Manakin (Pipra mentalis mentalis). The males of these birds display in leks. I just happened to see this bird off the trail a way, and snapped a couple of quick shots before it left.
Left - a toad, probably Bufo valliceps (Gulf Coast Toad), but possibly the Rain Forest Toad (Bufo campbelli).
Right below, Bufo valliceps.
Although we saw an ocelot, the glimpse was quick and I did not get a photo. A more
cooperative mammal was the Proboscis Bat (Rhynchonycteris naso) shown at
right. It was clinging to the timbers of a bridge across a stream that had
to be crossed to reach the lodge.
Among the insects seen were the bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) below, which was busy laying eggs on the leaf.
One of the dragonflies seen was the libellulid Dythemis sterilis, one of the "setwings" (so called because they perch with their wings cocked forward.
