Placencia

Today we got a call through the emergency wildlife hotline about an injured hawk in Placencia – a touristy town on the beach about three hours southeast of where we are staying. Since there was no one available to help transport the bird to Belize Bird Rescue, Kathy and I jumped in the truck and took off for the beach! The drive consists of the Hummingbird Highway, which gives way to a pine forest, which then gives way to a peninsula where you have water on both sides of you. It was so beautiful! It was also an interesting comparison to Belmopan. It was apparent by the new road signs, the painted lines on the street and the beautiful homes that the area was richer and built with tourists in mind. There were many small restaurants, small and large hotels, and gift shops lining the road down to the point of the peninsula where we needed to go to get the bird. At one point the road curves around the landing strip at the Placencia airport with a sign that warns you to look ahead for landing aircraft! Pretty amazing!

When we reached our destination our bird of prey turned out to be a common nighthawk with a coracoid fracture. A young boy found the bird in front of a sports equipment rental building and brought it to the woman who worked inside. The boy knew what type of bird it was, what it ate and that it shouldn’t have been out during the day! Pretty remarkable! We thanked the woman for calling us and turned around for home.

The way home was even more exciting than the drive in! We saw a jaguarundi cross the road ahead of us, we had frigate birds flying overhead, as well as what I think were purple martins. We even saw a firefly – my first one ever! This is the burning season in Belize and there are fires burning everywhere – the smoke in the sky created a beautiful red sunset.

Tomorrow we are going to the Belize Zoo to visit our friend who works there. She is going to give us a tour of the zoo which will be very fun! Really looking forward to it!

Trish