Time and Other Things That Fly

2013 is flitting out of our lives and making way for 2014. 

Blue morpho butterfly, always on the move, just like time. 

2013 was an eventful year for us that passed in a blur.  Dennis and Max completed their first full year in Belize and Dennis celebrated a year of being retired.  I retired at the end of June 2013 and relocated to Belize in October.  We got our car imported to Belize too.

We love Belize dragonflies because they love mosquitoes.  This isn't part of the Mosquito Coast for nothing!

We actually haven't seen too many mosquitoes around our place.  The most bothersome insects are the various flies - sand flies, red flies, bottlass (bottle ass) flies, black flies.

Fortunately the dragonflies are voracious and non-discriminating eaters of flying insects.

 I still haven't started trying to key out the dragonflies; there are so many new critters and plants to learn.  Never a dull or boring moment!

Sometimes the air is thick with dragonflies. 

They perch on every little stick or twig to soak up the sun.

Even with all the dragonflies, 2013 brought me another "first" that I could have done without - a mosquito infected me with Dengue Fever earlier this month.  That was a week of hell and then several weeks of recovery.  Seem to be just about over it now.  I think I was mosquito bitten while at the plant nursery - lots of standing water there from flooding and plant watering.

This Tropical/Couch's Kingbird is one of many that reside at our place.

They also are big eaters of insects and are quite acrobatic in their flycatching.  Great entertainment.

 Now - ringing the old year out and the new year in are 2 butterflies.  I haven't ID'ed either of them - something I can do next year!  

Old and tattered, just like 2013.

What other plans for 2014?  Well, Dennis hopes to become a Belize resident.  That means we can bring in our household goods that are currently in storage in Minnesota down to Belize without horrendous import duties.  We would like to get the construction of the addition completed and get solar panels installed.  I would like to become qualified to apply for residency.  But when you get down to it, all that is really important is that we stay healthy and happy and continue to enjoy life in this semi-functional paradise called Belize.

Fresh and pristine, just like 2014.  Notice that it seems to have its head at the top, but really its head is at the bottom.  Don't know what that means for 2014!  We shall see... 

Wishing all the readers of this blog a very Happy, Healthy, and Delightful 2014.

Thankful

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Belize Thursday the 30th by hosting a small dinner party for our nearest neighbors, who are all American, and also Richard and Joy who live on site here and help us manage the place.  The guests included Craig who lives about 3/4 mile up the beach from us, Laquita and Bill who are housesitting at SteppingStones about 1/4 mile up the beach, and Chery and Sam who recently bought the MonkeyHouse about a mile to the south of us.  It was also the first Thanksgiving in Belize for Laquita and Bill and for Chery and Sam.  Everyone brought a contribution to the table and we did it up right with turkey, gravy, dressing, roasted root veggies, cauliflower soup, broccoli casserole, homemade bread stuffed with cheese, cranberry sauce, peach cobbler, pecan pie, and pumpkin cookies. Of course accompanied by lots of fine liquids.  Dennis and I certainly enjoyed it, and it seems our guests did as well.

November is almost at its end and this is only the second post I have managed to make.  Who knew retirement would be so busy?  I have plenty of things to blog about, like this gorgeous moon.  For the full moon and the next 3 nights it had a distinct pink cast to the color that was quite unusual.  It just looks plain orange in the photo, but in person it was a lovely salmon color.

Night after November's full moon (the Beaver Moon).  I wasn't able to quite capture the distinctly pinkish tinge to the color. 

Some of the other things to blog about are the plants that can be seen along the jungle trail we made.  The photo below is of the trunk of a dead tree that is supporting all kinds of epiphytes.

Tree along the jungle path.

Lots of birds have been passing through, too.  And there has been new activity at the hummingbird feeders.  

Juvenile Male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  The next photo shows how I know it's a male. ;-)

He's getting the first of his ruby feathers!  They really glow like that when the light is at the right angle; I didn't enhance the color at all.

All kinds of interesting things going on.  I'll do my best to post more frequently.

In the meantime and in the spirit of the holiday I will simply say that I am thankful that Dennis and I can enjoy our new life in Belize; I have never been happier or more contented.  Here's wishing the same for each of you.

Belize Bird of the Week # 11 -- American Redstart, Setophaga ruticilla

As shown below, my first views of the American Redstart were the classic “bird from behind” perspective.


Here you can see the white underparts with the yellow tail feathers characteristic of a female or a 1st year male American Redstart.

 But for the American Redstart, that BFB view is the best way to ID it as it forages for insects.  It leans its head down, puts up its spread tail, and waggles it – all in the space a second or two. 


The darker male has orange instead of yellow.



The spread tail feathers really catch the light.



The wings have yellow or orange bars.



When they shake their tails, they also spread their wings.  And yes, this one is standing on a dog turd to do its dance. 

This little warbler that winters in Central America after breeding in North America feeds on the ground and in low underbrush.  It is so much fun to watch as it prances and dances with quite a shake of its tail feathers.  Knowing full well where you are, it often works it way very close you, especially if you don’t make sudden moves to startle it.



From this perspective you can see that the orange feathers are only on the sides of the tail.



The orange wingbars on the male are dashing.



Here you can see the yellow patches on either side of the chest, just in front of the wings on this female.  The yellow tail looks like band that goes from one side to the other when the tail is not spread.


This next picture should be the next to last one, but somehow it jumped ahead of where I tried to put it.   Can't seem to get it to stay put!

More obvious from here.





Here and below is a female with only half her tail yellow.

 

Here she is again.

  

Apparently no worse for it.

When I go back to Belize in February, they may still be around, getting ready fly back north in early spring.