We biked out to Grand Belizean Estates for some birding this morning, then rode along the road north, still looking for bird life, until it became impassable just before Mata Chica.  It was a very productive morning of birding.  I got to see my first Lineated Woodpecker -- what a cool bird!  Barry had seen several, as he often sneaks out on early-morning birding walks while I'm still snoozing.  I also caught a fleeting glance of a Lesser Yellow-Headed Vulture, but he was gone from his perch too quickly to get a photo.  Here are some of our other sightings:

In addition to the photos above, we sighted one or more of the following species: Greater Yellowlegs, Blue-Winged Teal, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Killdeer, Turkey Vulture, unknown plovers, Tropical Kingbird, Great Kiskadee, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, and Tropical Mockingbird.   

This afternoon was a busy one in the kitchen.  I made a Belizean-style Sweet Potato Pone, very similar to a bread pudding, but with yams instead of bread (much healthier!)  The yams had been freebies from Maria on two different trips to her fruit and vegetable stand, so it was high time to use them.  The Pone was quite tasty, and I can definitely see doing this again around Thanksgiving or Christmas, as it had those warming holiday flavors.  It would have been even better with ice cream or whipped cream on top, but it was still good unadorned.  Next time I'll get Barry to grate the sweet potatoes as that was quite a chore to do by hand.  Lucky guy had left on his bike for town to buy a few veggies for salsa so avoided the odious chore.  Looking on the bright side, I got my upper-body workout for the week!

When Barry got home, he made his blender salsa, and I whipped up a batch of Swiss Chard Enchiladas with the organic Chard we got from Sol Farms this week.  So, our dinner was enchiladas, local tortilla chips, fresh salsa, with Sweet Potato Pone for dessert.  Yum!

The wind was rip-roaring this morning (25-30 mph with an occasional higher gust) after a heavy rain in the early morning hours that was just letting up as we rolled out of bed.  I didn't really feel like fighting the wind on our bikes along the beach and knew the road would be full of puddles, so suggested we just walk up the road a ways and do some birding instead of riding our bikes north to Grande Belizean Estates, our usual birding spot.  Barry agreed, so we grabbed our binoculars and Birds of Belize book and headed out after a quick snack.

Along the way, we happened to run into a younger couple, Andy and Rhianna, who were also bird-watching.  They were staying at the Cocotal Inn on vacation.  Turns out that Rhianna had lived in Chapel Hill back in the '90s; what a small world.  She is the second woman we've met in a week vacationing here that has lived in Chapel Hill (as we did before moving here) and was originally from Minnesota.  Wild coincidence.

We walked up and down the road a short way and managed to see quite a few birds in the foliage alongside.  Most we had already seen before, but we were able to help Andy and Rhianna identify the various species and show them pictures in our book, so that was more fun than it would have been if we'd been by ourselves.  

An unexpected highlight occurred right as we were almost back to our condo and thought we were finished with our birding for the morning.  Suddenly I saw two birds flying and dipping overhead and then alight in a nearby tree.  I realized they were parrots, or similar, and looked just like the ones we had seen in GBE the week before, ever so briefly, too briefly to get a photo of.  

This time, we were in luck.  One of them spent quite a bit of time on a tree branch eating some sort of fruit, and Barry was able to get some nice shots.  When we got home, we identified them as Olive-Throated Parakeets, another bird for our life lists.  It's a real pleasure to see such exotic birds right in our own "back yard"!

Here are a few of our photos from the walk:

This morning we got going earlier than normal (for us) and fought a stiff breeze to bike up north to Grand Belizean Estates for some birding.  Barry had such good luck seeing so many birds last Sunday while I was sick that I was hoping for a repeat performance, but for some reason, the birds were not quite as plentiful this week.  Perhaps it was simply too breezy for them to be out and about.  We had to be patient and look harder than usual, but we did end up seeing a couple different types of herons, several egrets, cormorants, plovers, a Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeers, Common Black-Hawks, Tropical Kingbirds, mockingbirds, grackles, and a couple of ducks (possibly American Coots, but too far away to identify).  Most interesting was a pair of parrots that chattered loudly as they flew overhead, then into the dense roadside foliage, allowing us only a quick glimpse of their green backs, so no hope of making an identification this time.  Perhaps we will get a chance to see them again one day.

Just outside GBE, Barry spotted this small fellow, which we later identified as a White-Collared Seedeater, on a weedy shrub by the sandy road.  A new bird for our life lists!  

On our way back, we stopped at Aji for a delicious Mediterranean omelet breakfast.  Chef Hugo served us himself, and we had a delightful breeze through the trees in this perfect tropical setting.  We could make a habit of this, and may!

I've been noticing the large leaves on these trees turning color here and there and find it very interesting.  I always assumed no leaves turned in the tropics, but apparently there are exceptions.  I don't know what tree this is -- perhaps a reader can enlighten me?

As we got back to Chico Caribe, we noticed this medley of herons amidst the copious seagrass that has floated towards shore this morning.  Unfortunately, it is filled with plastic trash -- the scourge of Belize.   Belize is a study in contrasts -- the beautiful right alongside the ugly.