Tamarind Tree Community

Before we even moved here, we planted, among other things, a tamarind tree.  Probably in 2008.  It settled in was growing pretty well when we finally moved here in 2012.  When we added the new part to our cabana, we designed its footprint to leave space for the tamarind and its neighbor, the cashew, because we didn't want to try to move them from a spot they seemed to like.  Since then, both trees have thrived and grown quite robust.  

Tamarind tree in the foreground with the cashew behind it to the right.  And, yes, the cabana is lurking there behind all foliage!

The top of the tamarind was at the same height as the back veranda of the addition when we built it in 2015, so easy to reach out and pick the fruit.  Now, 7 years later, the tree is level with the upper veranda, making the tree about 30 feet tall in 12 years.

View from the upper veranda - we used to be able to see the Maya Mountains in the distance!

My favorite thing about the tamarind is not its fruit, which are delicious, or its flowers, which are delicately beautiful, but that it is home to many epiphytic plants.

You can hardly see the bark for all the plants growing on it.  (That is Barnie's old dog house/mansion which she used during the year or so before we had her fleas under control.  No fleas now that both dogs are treated monthly with a chewable tablet called NexGuard.)

Climbing fig was the first to grow on the tree and covers the most territory by far.

Mixed in with the climbing fig is resurrection fern, seen here in its un-resurrected state. 

And here it has been resurrected after some rain last night.  Shiny and fresh, good as new.

Lots going on in this shot - the climbing fig, a dog-tail cactus, and what really got my attention - a small bear's paw fern (Polypodium aureum)!

You can see its fuzzy little golden paw in the center near the top of the photo

I think this one grew from spores on a fern I had growing on the veranda just above.  There are also lots of mosses on the tree, too.  I think the rough nature of the bark encourages the epiphytes to take root.

If this little fern is from spores on the plant I brought down here to Belize and which has since died, then it is a continuation of a fern that I have had since about 1980.  And that makes me happy.

Just a Baby

Yesterday, I noticed that the Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds were going a little crazier than usual in the tamarind tree.  Now, they are always pretty crazy; zooming around and chattering in rage as they chase each other off favorite perches and away from the feeders we have nearby, but this activity was particularly focused on a single branch of the tamarind and not at each other.  What was going on?

This was going on:

A baby boa constrictor curled up on on a branch.

The Rufous-tails were harassing the boa just like songbirds harass raptors and snakes.  The boa just hunkered down and endured the onslaught.

Curled up into a tight knot to present a smaller target.

Later, it moved a little higher into the tree and stretched out on a slender branch at just the right height for me to photograph it from the sunset balcony; much easier than the first photos I took from the veranda with the camera stretched overhead while I balanced on a step stool.

Its head is no bigger than the end of my thumb and the full length is probably 20-24 inches.

It stayed in that location for the remainder of the day, catching the sun, and was still there when we went to bed last night.

This morning dawned cool and rainy with far distant thunder rumbling like the stomach of a hungry god.  Low clouds and waves of torrential rain isolate us from the madness of the world; I revel in days like this.  But what about that little boa?  Did it find shelter?  I fully expected it to have made its way onto the sunset balcony and perhaps from there into our loft.  But no, it was right where it had been the night before, still on the same small branch.

On the same branch, only a little wet.

Look how the markings continue through its eye with the bottom half darker that the top half.

It stuck its tongue out at me, as snakes do, but seemed content to remain stretched out on the branch.

A closer look at the eye markings.

The hummingbirds, to their possible future undoing, are ignoring the boa today.  Staying still and aligned with the branch may be the boa's strategy for catching an unwary meal.  After all, hummingbirds are just the right size for a baby boa's breakfast.