Bubba on Subspecies

Birds of Ambergris Caye
“Birds can fly where they want to, when they want to, or so it seems to us,”
Bubba on Subspecies
While passing a quiet afternoon in my hammock with Bubba fishing from the dock, the low roar of
the reef was all the sound to be heard. I thought I would entertain myself by asking him something about
the birds. Just to start a conversation, I asked, “Why do you spend so much time studying the birds?” He
responded with “It helps me understand humans!”
“Maybe I should restate my question. Why do people study birds?”
He replied, “It helps them understand themselves.”
“Well I guess I can see how behaviors can be similar and parallels can be drawn but all that classification
stuff seems unrelated.
“No, you’re wrong! All that classification ‘stuff ’ as you call it has more value in understanding ourselves
than behavior parallels. I’ll give you a profound example. From what I’ve learned from taxonomy I have
an understanding of what’s happening in Kosovo between the Serbs and Albanians, and how that could
never happen to us in Belize.”
“I’m going to call you to task on that one Bubba; that’s a little farfetched for me to believe!”
“I’ll show you, but first let me explain taxonomy and how classification began. The word is derived
from Greek, taxis(‘arrangement’) and nomos(‘law’). In the 1800’s a Swedish taxonomist, Carolus Linnaeus,
invented a system of classifying living things into divisions. The first division was plant or animal; he called
it the ‘Kingdom’. Then there was a ‘Class’ dividing creatures such as reptiles and mammals from birds. Then
came ‘Orders’ separating, heron from sparrows, and finally ‘genus’ and then ‘species’. The species was to
be the smallest division; example: people are Homo sapiens and sugar maple trees are Acer saccharum and
Dogs like me are Canis familiaris, etc. A subdivision of species was called a race or ‘Subspecies’. Remember
in 1737 Darwin’s theory of evolution was still a long time away. Did you know that Darwin was pressured to
quickly release his famous book ‘The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’ because of concerns
he might be scooped by one of his colleagues and originally had it titled, ‘The Preservation of Favoured
Races in the Struggle for Life’?
Linnaeus was only attempting a convenient way of categorizing the elements of the natural world. He
defined race as, ‘an interbreeding, usually geographically isolated population of organisms differing from
other populations of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits. A race that has been given formal
taxonomic recognition is known as a subspecies.’ A good example would be the Great Blue Heron and the
Great White Heron. The famous birder, Rodger Troy Peterson described the Great White Heron as the white
race of the Great Blue Heron. Linnaeus published his theories and his standard of divisions under which
for centuries the world used and believed. The demise of his theories validly came with assumptions he
made about race behavior. He declared that humanity fell into just four races and described characteristics
of each that are considered humorous in today’s societies, or most of today’s societies I should say, at least
controversial in both technical and nontechnical usage, and in some cases they may well be considered
offensive. Within Homo sapiens he proposed four taxa of a lower rank (subspecies). These categories where,
Americanus, Asiaticus, Africanus, and Europeanus. They were based on place of origin at first, and later
skin color. Linnaeus wrote each Human race had certain characteristics that were endemic to individuals
belonging to it. Native Americans were reddish, stubborn, and angered easily. Africans were black, relaxed
and negligent. Asians were sallow, avaricious, and easily distracted. Europeans were white, gentle, and
birdwatching with bubba 2.5 29
inventive. Linnaeus’s races were clearly skewed in favor of Europeans. Over time, this classification led to
a racial hierarchy, The term ‘Racist’ was born right here and Europeans were at the top. Members of many
European countries used the classification scheme to validate their conquering or subjugation of members
of the other races. In particular this invented concept of race was used to enforce the inhumane institution
of slavery, particularly in the new world European colonies.
Our conversation seemed to be going just one way and getting a little dry so I asked, “Bubba how does
a race get started in a species?”
“Ironically the most classic explanation uses birds as an example. Darwins theory goes like this. There
is a swamp where a species of birds live, eating crustaceans from the bottom of the water. Something in
nature causes the water to get a little deeper and those birds with a little shorter legs are forced to move
elsewhere to survive. This effectively removes them from the gene pool leaving only those longer legged
birds, reinforcing even longer legs. In time the water rises again and again the shorties of the long legged
group have to leave, strengthening the long legged gene even further, eventually resulting in a distinctly
different bird of the same species.”
“Bubba, are you saying this is true with humans also?”
“Brother Elbert, I’m saying it’s as obvious to me as the nose on your face! Have you ever wondered
why it’s so long and skinny? Your ancestors more than likely evolved in a cold dry climate where having a
long skinny nose moistened and warmed the air before you breathed it in giving you a respiratory health
advantage to survive lots of colds and pneumonias over a broader shorter one used in moist warm climates.
This would evoke The Darwinian Imperative that I’ve been describing to you.”
“What about skin color?”
“That’s easy. It’s simply a protective reaction from harsh sun or no reaction from little sun.”
Bubba pulled in his line and replaced the sardine something had stolen from the hook. A Brown Pelican
standing on the dock cocked his yellow head to eye him closely hoping Bubba might get sloppy with the
bait.
“OK Bubba, that all sounds very logical but I haven’t forgotten you said you could explain the war in
Europe and how Belize couldn’t have those kinds of problems from what you know about birds.”
“Well, let’s go back to those short legged birds that had to move from the swamp. Let’s say for the
sake of example, the new shallower swamp they moved to contained shrimp. The birds eat shrimp which
can make astaxanthin from the simpler carotenoids contained in the algae on which they feed. In bottom
feeding birds these pigments dissolve in fats and are deposited in the growing feathers making them pink.
Imagine then, that some act of nature causes the two swamps to become one big swamp mixing the two,
now very distinctly different flocks of the same species in a common feeding ground, one with extra long
legs and gray, the other short with pink feathers. They might not recognize one another as the same species
and fight to defend their feeding ground, mistakenly from their own kind.”
“Bubba you do amaze me! But what about Belize and how it could never happen here?”
“Well, in Belize we have Spanish, Mestizos, Creoles, Garifuna, Mayan, Mennonites, Arabs, East Indian,
British, Mopan, Ketchi and Yucatec all living in a 6000 square mile area. And for hundreds of years we
have been mixing like a box of crayons in the Caribbean sun, creating no majority and no minority. Who’s
going to throw a stone at whom?”
Suddenly Bubba’s fishing pole bent violently with a strike. After a short fight he reeled a large fish onto
the dock.
“What’s that Bubba?”
He replied, “Epinephelus, Mycteroperca of the superclass Pisces, in the family of Sea Bass, commonly
known as a Black Grouper.”
I said, “Bubba, your taking this classification stuff all too serious, let’s clean him and eat!”
30
birdwatching with bubba 2.5

Belizean Wood Stork

Early Morning Bird Tour

click on map for larger size
Ambergris Caye and associated Bird Islands
I get 3 or 4 requests a week to take tourist birdwatching.
I have been saying we don't do that and sending them on tours like Lamani where they can see birds and not doing tours from the shop. I've been saying we don't have the time and this and that.....I'm changing. Today I did my first trip for a trial run/training, but with a crew of Belizean Tour Guides as a practice run, It was amazing. We left at 5:30, timed and measured everything to make it a routine trip returning at 9:00. (Birders are an early morning crowd).
The trip is to Cayo Pajaros and Cayo Rosario, two small bird nesting islands in the back. Wow Wow Wow this birder had a good time.The Guides and myself saw over 20 species.
These two islands have multiple names and even the map has two names each. Bird Island AKA Iguano Caye is where all the White Ibis are nesting and the entire island can be considered the source of White Ibis on Ambergris Caye. Cayo Rasorio is sometimes called Guana Caye
Roseate Spoonbills are sharing the two islands for nesting as well as Tricolored Heron White Ibis and Reddish Egret. All these rare species are nesting in Colony on these two small islands packed tight and one might consider the entire island a natural sanctuary dedicated to that one purpose.
Ambergris Caye is lucky to have two rare and valuable islands that are unique tourist attractions.
I took over 100 photographs in my little 3 hour tour and discovered two new birds Bubba had never seen before, and Bubbas seen a lot of birds!
Early morning Bird Tour
5:30am we pick up on your hotels dock. The tour is 3 hours long.
The guide has coffee and rolls in the boat. We will have you back by 9:am. the price per person is $60.usd and we have a min. of 4 persons or $240.usd for the trip.
call 226 2405 or email elbertgreer@yahoo.com
I really like this trip.
I put more photos here

Turkey Vulture

Photo By Ianthes
Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura
I went down to the beach this morning to find Bubba lying on his back with his eyes closed looking very dead. I walked up to him slowly and sad, thinking of all the birdwatching adventures we had been through in these last ten years. I had just begun to sob when he suddenly opened one eye, looked at the vultures circling over him and explained in a low voice that I was spoiling his ploy to get a close look at the Ambergris Turkey Vulture from the order of Cathartidae. Not moving and still speaking from his post mortem posture he explained that Vultures of Ambergris hunt actively, quartering the savanna like a harrier. Searching for small aquatic animals. When the dry season strands fish in shrinking ponds or savanna flats these nomadic birds will be visiting the island in masses. Bubba was successful in arousing the curiosity of several, luring them close enough to see their dark eyes and naked red skin heads. They have a white bill. The red color of its head is accented by a blood red nape band giving this bird an eerie macab appearance. I'm constantly amazed with Bubba's resourcefulness and totally appreciative of our close look at another magnificent island bird.

Cayo Pajaro's White Ibis and Ibis chick in nest

The White Ibis on Bird Island

Photo by K.Verdeck

BIRDS OF AMBERGRIS CAYE
The White Ibis
The " Bird of the Week" has a way of picking itself, as did this bird of the week, for instance.
I was cruising through the lagoon river and a white bird flew over that seemed to be carrying a twig in its bill. I watched it, hoping it would reveal a nest in the mangrove hollow, when I noticed it wasn't carrying a twig at all; it was just the proud owner of the longest, most odd-shaped nose (bill), I've seen since Jimmy Durante. Another in the order of Ciconiiformes from the family of Threskiorenithidae is this 'white ibis'. Flying above, it can be distinguished from an egret by its outstretched neck and black wing tips that look like five black fingers on each wing, of course, if you're close enough, a long slender decurved bill. One bird book calls it sickle-shaped; it reminds me of a Hermit Hummingbird's bill, only big. The ibis uses it as a specialized tool for eating animals from the lagoon's shallow bottom.
I watched it walk for a few minutes. It steps forward a step and extends its neck forward with each step, cocks its head to point one eye downward, then quickly puts its special bill to work. I had hoped to hear the soft, grunting noise I read that they make while eating and hunting, but I disturbed it by getting to close, and it made its alarm noise instead, and flew off. It nests inside the mangrove tree for protection, not on top but in the middle. The mangrove grows like bars around its nests that prevent things like me from even getting close. I've only seen six white ibis on this island; three flying along the coast at Basil Jones, one in San Pedro lagoon, one at the Costa Del Maya lagoon.

Lamanai For The Birds

Lamanai, for the Birds
Lamanai is a Maya word meaning “submerged crocodile”, but also the name of the third largest, and possibly the most interesting archeological site in Belize. Located in the Orange Walk District, the Lamanai temple complex sits atop the western bluff of the New River Lagoon and is surrounded by pristine rainforest. This Pre-Classic site had its origins 3,500 years ago and experienced the longest period of occupation and development of any other Maya archeological site in Belize.

The journey to Lamanai is as interesting as Lamanai itself. Tour operators on Ambergris Caye sell this day trip as an eco-adventure and for the aware “birder” it may be the most productive of rare and unusual sightings Belize has to offer.

The trip leaves the dock in San Pedro for the New River Lagoon at approximately 7:30 a.m. and passes through a number of diverse avian habitats along the way. The boat first crosses through mangrove channels at the southern tip of Ambergris Cays offering opportunities for sighting Belted Kingfishers, Great White Herons, Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, Black-Necked Stilts, as well as the common occurrence of Brown Pelicans, Frigates, Cormorants, Ospreys, Plovers, Pipers and Terns.

The boat then exits the mangrove on Ambergris’ west side and crosses the southern end of the Bahia de Chetumal. Early Spanish frontiersmen accessed Lamanai via the Bay of Chetumal from Corozal traveling up the New River to a large bluff. The bluff is adorned with very impressive Maya temples that date from 1500 B.C. until the arrival of the Franciscan Friars in 1650.

Our crossing to the shortcut takes approximately 45 minutes and ends entering the Belize mainland at the mouth of the Northern River in the Northern Rover Lagoon. Elbert spotted a Green Heron fishing the shallows of a small island lagoon, the only island that was supporting tall coconut trees. The Northern River runs through tropical swamp where the fresh water of the river mixes with the tidal salt water, so that salt levels fluctuate. Characteristic in this area are Red Mangroves (Rhizophora harrisoni), with spreading silt roots. The flowering orchids, vermilions and epiphytes they support are the chief source of nectar for the Mangrove Hummingbird. In this swamp, Mangrove Vireos, Mangrove Warblers, Flycatchers and Snail Kites permanently reside, and many water birds rest, forage and nest.

This leg of the trip ends on the firm earth and dark soil at the edge of the swamp in the village of Bomba, where you are transferred from boat to bus for the trip along the Old Northern Highway. During the 50-minute trip to the New River you will pass through savanna. Elbert and I spotted three Jabiru Storks in the marsh grasses along the way as well as a flock of White Ibis and a variety of Hawks, Vultures and Egrets.

We boarded a different boat on the New Northern River near Tower Hill. The New Northern River between Tower Hill and Lamanai runs through Riverine/Gallery Forest and is a habitat for Limpkins, Kites, Bitterns, Rails and a variety of Herons, such as the Tri-colored and the Chestnut-bellied. A common site along the river is the female Northern Jacana trotting along its lily pads foraging for water bugs and small frogs or fish.

The journey ends at the base of the bluff and the edge of the rainforest on the New River Lagoon at Lamanai. Our group was introduced to a very will informed Belizean Archeological Tour Guide who led us through a field museum first and then on a jungle walk – up, down and around several Maya temples set under the rainforest canopy.


He began our trip by pointing our a Keel Billed Toucan in the trees above where we did our introductions.


He identified flora and fauna of the forest along the way, stopping at a tree of Howler and Spider Monkeys and pointing out the need to not stand directly under them. He also gave notice to the Wood Creepers, Yellow-headed Parrots, a Groove-billed Ani, a Keel-billed Toucan and a Slaty-tailed Trogon. We had a wonderful lunch on a picnic table under the shade of a giant Bullet tree at the edge of the river before returning.

Yes, definitely. Lamanai, for the birds.
Lamani Tour is $125.usd call 226 2405 or elbertgreer@yahoo.com