Recap of The First Annual Belize Birding Festival

Bird watching is fast becoming a popular activity in Belize, for both visitors and locals. To date, over five hundred and eighty bird species have been recorded in the country. Although Belize is considered a small country, it is certainly blessed with big birding. Belizing.com was proud to be in attendance at the first ever Belize Birding Festival, held in Belmopan City on October 27, 2018.

The Belize Birding Festival was organized by the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA) in collaboration with the Belize Audubon Society (BAS) and the Belize Hotel Association (BHA).

After months of anticipation and excitement for Belize’s first ever birding festival, the wait was finally over. The Belize Birding Festival took place on Saturday, October 27, at the George Price Center in Belmopan City. Belizing.com was in attendance, with an exhibitor booth showcasing the many companies that offer birding packages and tours on Belizing.com

Many, near and far, flocked to Belmopan City for the first annual Belize Birding Festival. You can get to Belmopan by private vehicle, public transportation (bus), and even by flight. If you’d like to know more about the different transportation options in Belize, check out our Transportation in Belize blog.

The birding festival is scheduled to take place at different venues every year. The 2019 edition is scheduled to take place in San Ignacio Town.

Tickets to this event were extremely affordable. Regular passes were only $10 BZD, which gave you access to the exhibition/vendor booths and the four presentations given by the guest speakers. The all-access passes were a bit more at $25 BZD, but it included access to the morning and evening guided bird walk tours, as well as an invite to the evening cocktail hour.

BTIA hails the first annual birding festival as a resounding success in a recent press release. It was surely one of the most enjoyable events we've been to for this past year; but, by the end of the day, we were all exhausted – that’s how you know you had a good time! For some, the Belize Birding Festival started around 9:00 a.m.; well, not for the Belizing.com Team! We kicked off to the birding fest at 6:00 a.m. with the early morning urban bird watch in the Belmopan area. Before we started birding, we decided to grab some breakfast at the Belmopan Market Square. An assortment of breakfast burritos, chicken tacos, scrambled eggs and fry jacks were ordered. Fry jacks…you must have these fried fluffy goodness on your morning plate when visiting Belize!

While devouring our breakfast items, we saw several binocular-cladded groups walking by, ready to catch a sighting of one of Belize’s beautiful birds. Man, these birds have surely gotten the attention of many local birding enthusiasts and international visitors. Wondering why? Check out these beautiful creatures in a guest blog, Fifteen Beautiful Birds from Belize, by Patrick O’Donnel. If you haven’t seen these birds in person, at least you’ll get to see them in the photos – then you’ll get a gist of why birdwatching is so captivating in Belize. After all, seeing is Belizing!

Derrick, Luis and I quickly ate breakfast before joining a birdwatching group. The group that we joined included some of the guides that we met at Caves Branch and a few others from Programme for Belize formation.

The morning was all about the wonderful avifauna in the Belmopan area. In our bird watch, we were able to spot many species of bird ranging from the smaller, fluffier cuties to the larger, stern-looking fliers. Some of my favorite birds were the Yellow Warbler, Crimson-collared Tanager and the Golden-fronted Woodpecker. These were quite the sight for me as I admired their daintiness and vibrant colors. Thanks to all the great experiences that we had while filming A Day In A Birder’s Life series with Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch Jungle Lodge, Black Rock Lodge, San Ignacio Resort Hotel, The Lodge at Chaa Creek, and Belize Bird Rescue (coming soon), I have a higher appreciation for the birds of Belize and their contribution to Belize’s ecology.

We started down the Bliss Parade Road, moved to S Ring Road, and went deep into the residential areas before emerging at Constitution Drive. The group had already exhausted their energy and had to replenish with some juicy street-side tacos. Although we had already ate breakfast, these tacos looked so delicious – I was tempted to order $3 tacos myself! As soon as everyone’s stomach was satisfied, we walked to Codd’s Plaza and waited for the Caves Branch van to come and take us to the George Price Center on Price Center Road.

Arriving at the festival, we approached the registration booth for our entrance bands. After receiving them, we went to greet Maria, Nico and Pablo who were already at the Belizing.com booth. Our booth was already set up and ready for business. We had cool Belizing.com merchandise that we were giving away and we were hosting our own little raffle giveaway of the Birds of Belize field guide, a Belize Birds pamphlet, along with several promo codes to download the Belize Birds – Field Guide app. If you didn’t visit our booth, you definitely missed out on these cool prizes and giveaways.

In the process of sharing how the bird watching went with Maria and Pablo, we heard messages of a free breakfast inside the George Price Center. We would never refuse a complimentary breakfast, so the bird watchers of our group headed upstairs. Our energy levels were boosted with coffee, some bananas, and a couple of freshly-baked cookies from the breakfast bar. Those cookies were the bomb!

By this time, the presentations and discussions from guest speakers were about to commence. We stood at attention and sang the National Anthem as a part of the opening ceremony. After the ceremony concluded, we jumped right into a panel discussion about birding tourism in Belize and its growth with representatives from the Belize Audubon Society (BAS), the Belize Tourism Board (BTB) and the Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA).

The presentations continued until 3:00 p.m. with talks from the keynote speaker, Dr. Oliver Komar, photographer Jason Tiesman, and documentary presentations from local producers. One of the things that stuck to me from the presentations was the fact that although Belize is such a small space compared to other Central American country, you can still experience big birding – something I can attest to. In one single outing from our recent trips, we recorded at least a little over sixty species. Along with encountering these beautiful birds, you also get to hike up immaculate trails up in the mountains or even go tubing down a nearby river – the adventure never stops!

At the exhibition floor, we met with many local businesses and organizations who were passionate about birding in Belize and who wanted to showcase their services and products to the festival’s visitors. To name a few, we visited the booths of the Belize Tourism Board, The Lodge at Chaa Creek, Black Rock Lodge, San Ignacio Resort Hotel, Caves Branch, Belize Bird Rescue, T.R.E.E.S, Midway, MayaWalk, and the Belize Audubon Society. Chatting with the representatives of these booths was pleasure. We got to learn what their thoughts were on the birding festival and what they were doing to contribute to the healthy growth of the birding tourism of Belize.

At 3:00 p.m., the exhibition was closed and we all packed our things to head to St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park for our last birding experience of the day. For sure, this would be a good one. The Belizing.com Team had been there before with Belize Caving Expeditions for the Crystal Cave tour; and, hiking up the trails to the cave was awesome…and tiring, but worth it. I could have only imagined what marvelous species of birds are hiding within the tree canopy.

Interestingly, you can actually take the public bus to St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park. It is located right off the Hummingbird Highway, about 27 minutes from Belmopan City. You can either keep an eye out for the St. Herman’s Blue Hole sign, or you can sit close to the front of the bus and tell the bus conductor that you’d like to stop at St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park. You can also go by private vehicle to the national park.

As well as bird watching at St. Herman’s Blue Hole National Park, you can hike the trails of the park and explore the cave systems located in the area. The Belizing Team explored the Crystal Cave. You can read about that adventure in our blogs or watch it on YouTube.

Overall, the first annual Belize Birding Festival was a great and refreshing experience for the Belizing team and everyone who attended, I’d say. It was the first event of its kind, and the 2019 Belize Birding Festival will definitely be an event to look forward to. Kudos to all the organizers, the Belize Tourism Industry Association, the Belize Tourism Board, the Belize Audubon Society, and the Belize Hotel Association for hosting such a fantastic event. We are looking forward to the 2019 Belize Birding Festival.