Birdwatching on Ambergris Caye: Habitats, Seasons and Species

Birdwatching on Ambergris Caye rewards anyone who looks up between dives. The island sits behind the barrier reef, yet Elbert Greer counts around 260 bird species here over a year, a big number for a reef island. That count comes from years of watching, much of it written up in his San Pedro Sun column.

This birdwatching Ambergris Caye guide is for divers with a free afternoon, non-diving partners and keen birders planning a trip. It covers the island’s main habitats, the best times of day and year, the species worth hunting for, and a relaxed way of watching that Elbert’s Labrador, Bubba, would approve of.

Why bird watching in San Pedro, Belize works so well

Variety comes from habitat. The Belize Audubon Society’s birding guide puts the country at almost 600 species, spread across wetlands, broadleaf forest and the small cayes along the coast. Ambergris packs several of those habitats into one long, narrow island, so a short walk or boat ride changes the cast of birds completely.

You don’t need a remote lodge to start. Elbert’s column opens on the idea that birds are always around us, and one of his favorite pieces describes barstool bird watching over the Caribbean, counting frigates circling the fishing boats from a seat at the bar. The full archive lives in the Birds of Ambergris Caye column by Elbert Greer.

Where to watch birds on the island

Think in habitats rather than places. Each holds a different set of birds, and the table sums up what to expect.

Habitat	Birds the column mentions	How to bird it	Best for
Beach and shoreline	Magnificent frigatebirds, pelicans, gulls, terns	On foot or from a beachfront seat	Beginners and anyone short on time
Littoral forest	Black catbird, white-crowned pigeon, rufous-necked wood-rail	Slow, quiet walks along the beach ridge at dawn	Birders after island specialties
Mangroves and lagoons	Herons, egrets, kingfishers, boat-billed heron	By boat or from a dock at the lagoon edge	Patient watchers and photographers
Nesting cayes behind the island	Roseate spoonbill, tricolored heron, white ibis, reddish egret	From a boat, keeping well back from nests	Wading bird lovers in nesting season

The littoral forest

Littoral simply means coastal. On Ambergris it is the dense strip of seagrape, cocoplum, gumbo limbo and palmetto on the windward beach ridge, fed by a rolling season of fruit and berries. Elbert’s piece on the littoral forest of Ambergris calls it the most threatened bird habitat in the country, because it clears so easily for building.

Mangroves and the back lagoon

The lagoon side is quieter and wetter. Herons stalk the shallows, and at dusk the shy boat-billed heron of the mangroves leaves its daytime roost to feed. The column’s spoonbill article describes nesting islands in the back bay, which you can read about in Elbert’s notes on the roseate spoonbill.

When to go: migration and the daily clock

Autumn is the headline season. According to the column, the island lies right on the Mississippi Flyway, one of the main north-south routes, and migrants start arriving by the hundreds in September. Some pass straight through, while others stay for the winter.

Elbert’s migration season column suggests watching for yellow-billed cuckoos, American redstarts and ruby-throated hummingbirds. The Belize Audubon Society also runs public counts, including an Urban Bird Watch on weekends in October and November and a Christmas Bird Count from mid-December into early January.

Dawn, dusk and the tide

Early morning is when birds are loudest and busiest. Elbert’s night heron article makes a useful point: sunrise, sunset, the tide and the moon set each bird’s timetable, so a tide table is a real birding tool. Low water exposes feeding flats for waders, while the hour before dark brings out the night herons.

Birds of Ambergris Caye: a short guide to species

These are some of the birds the column covers in depth, each with its own article. Start easy and work toward the rarities.

• Roseate spoonbill: pink waders that sweep the bottom with a flat bill and find food by touch, then fly with a steady flap, flap, glide.
• Black catbird: found only in a small corner of Central America that includes northern Belize and the island. It mews like a cat, as one neighbor’s cat learned in the black catbird column.
• Fork-tailed flycatcher: a black cap, white underparts and a tail twice the length of its body. Small, but it chases off hawks.
• Keel-billed toucan: the national bird since independence in 1981, more a mainland forest bird. Read the keel-billed toucan story, where Bubba gets himself a tour guide hat.
• Bumblebee hummingbird: so small that islanders who spot it first take it for a beetle, as told in Elbert’s bumblebee hummingbird column.

How to birdwatch the Bubba way

Bubba is Elbert’s Labrador, and in the column he is the senior partner. His philosophy, set out in the Bubba birdwatching philosophy, is that birding should relax you. Rushing to tick off a life list mostly raises your blood pressure.

1. Go out at first light and sit still for ten minutes before you raise the binoculars.
2. Listen first. The bird listening column describes learning birds by song alone from a veranda at dawn.
3. Sort the bird into a group (dove, duck, heron, flycatcher) before you open the field guide.
4. Keep well back from nests. Never bend branches for a view, because a parent is always watching.
5. Bring insect repellent, water and a hat for the mangroves.

For a laugh, Bubba’s tongue-in-cheek birdwatching guide techniques explain how to name any bird by what it is doing. A gull making a laughing sound, he reasons, is most likely a laughing gull.

Birding beyond the island: the Lamanai river route

For birders, the journey to the Maya ruins at Lamanai may beat the ruins themselves. Elbert’s account in Lamanai, for the birds follows mangrove channels, open bay, swamp, savanna and river forest, with sightings from jabiru storks to limpkins and northern jacanas. Our guide to the Lamanai river trip from Ambergris Caye covers the day itself.

Who writes the birds column

Elbert Greer owns and operates White Sands Dive Shop, a 5 Star PADI Dive Facility on the beach in San Pedro. He is a PADI IDC Staff Instructor and long-time island birder, and his column ran for years in the San Pedro Sun.

His students notice the same eye for wildlife underwater. One student, Susan, wrote that he “pointed out so many cool things to look at, not to mention the manatee.” Her note and others are in our letters from Elbert’s dive students, and divers can plan their days with our guide to scuba diving on Ambergris Caye.

Birdwatching Ambergris Caye: your questions answered

Ask Elbert about island birds

Want to fit some birding around your dives? Email Elbert at elbertgreer@fastmail.fm or call the dive shop on 011 (501) 226 2405.