Up the Monkey River with Jason

A Monkey River tour is one of the most popular outings for nature lovers visiting Belize, and for good reason.  Dennis and I have taken a tour up the river many times, including a really fun night tour.  The standard tour is in the morning and we didn't want to join a convoy of boats, so this time we decided to take a late afternoon tour that would finish at dusk.  That was a good call - we were the only boat on the river and could look at whatever struck our fancy at a leisurely pace.  It seems the older I have gotten the less I like to be rushed.

Jason, our preferred tour guide (although all the guides are extremely competent and knowledgeable) driving Dennis, Becki, and me up the river.

The downside to a late evening tour is that the light can be a little low for zoomed photos on a phone camera.  

Great egret fishing for supper.

But sometimes you can catch the golden light.

Great egret on the left with a group of mature (white) and immature (brown) white ibises feeding in the shallows of the river.

A couple of mangrove swallow took a breather from catching mosquitoes over the river.  Yay for swallows!

Willows and cattails grow along the river banks.

This male green iguana is in its bright orange mating colors.  It is more than 3 feet long and was quite distant from the boat.

Adult bare-throated tiger heron.

Juvenile bare-throated tiger heron.

Bare-throated tiger herons are fairly common around here; we often see them at our place.  Even more often we hear them making their gutteral, growling song and barking calls.  They sound like a jungle should sound!

And these towering Ceiba trees look like a jungle river bank should look!  The seeds of these trees, also known as kapok trees, are still a source of stuffing for life vests and pillows.  These particular trees were roosting sites of large flocks of Montezuma Oropendolas, another bird that sounds like the jungle.  The light was too low for photos of these active birds, but we enjoyed watching them get settled for the night.  They have magnificently long tails edged in bright gold feathers, hence the name "oropendola" - golden tail.

Ceiba trees along the river bank at dusk.  Scenes like this bring peace to my soul.

Groove Me, Ani

It's all groovy here in Englishtown, and some days are groovier than others, such as when the Groove-Billed Ani pays us a visit and stays for a photoshoot.  (Listen to the groove of Etta James by clicking here.)  The Groove-billed Ani is an easily overlooked medium sized black bird.  It is surprisingly snazzy when you catch it in good light.

Groove-Billed Ani - Crotophaga sulcirpstris.  The short fluffy feathers on its head are rather mane-like.  Take a look at the iridescent gold-green edges of the feathers on its shoulders.  

It was making some rather sweet sounds, which is what caught my attention at first, because it sounded different from the Great-Tailed Grackles with whom it was keeping company.  The grackles are very vocal, verging on raucous.

Great-Tailed Grackle - Quiscalus mexicanus.  This female emerged from inside the canopy of the tamarind long enough for me to get some good shots.  Their eyes are a startling yellow. 

Other excitement, at least for Barnie, was Joy cleaning fish out on the dock.  Barnie was beside herself, just waiting for fish guts and trimmings.  I am amazed that she didn't jump up on the dock, but she managed to behave.

Waiting for an escapee.

The dawns continue to be beautiful.  The sun rises so quickly, I have to be on the ball to catch these images.  No time for do-overs!  Until tomorrow, that is.

White ibises (Eudocimus albus), flying north from their roost on Little Monkey Cay.  5:58am.

A lone Great Egret (Ardea alba), also heading north from Little Monkey Cay. 6:01am.

Homo sapiens, heading south. 6:05am.

We have a little construction project going on.  I call it the upside-down roof.  We are putting a roof under the decking of the sunset balcony.  Too much rainwater was winding on the ground under the cabana, and that is space that we use for an outdoor workshop and storage area.  Our hope is that this will keep the rain out of the area.  The new roof will have gutters, so we can direct the water into collection vats.  I will post more as it progresses, but here is a shot of today's work.

The underside of the sunset balcony. The balcony tapers at the north end.  The crew have put up some of the boards that the roofing metal (aka "zinc") will be screwed into from the the underside.

The light colored horizontal piece is a metal flashing that is secured behind the ledger board of the balcony.  We have one small section remaining to install.  It has to have a hole cut out of it for the whitePVC vent pipe on the right to go through.  The rafter and some lapboard equivalents are already screwed into place on the tapered section. It will be literally (in the true sense of the word) groovy when finished!