


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Belize
With its diverse ecosystems - from coral reefs to thick jungles - Belize is home to a vibrant variety of bird species. The 20 most common birds display unique characteristics and adaptations, from brightly hued plumage, exotic calls to distinct feeding and nesting behaviors. Each one contributes to Belize's rich biodiversity, playing a vital role in its ecological balance.

Most Common Bird

1. Great-tailed Grackle
The medium-sized great-tailed Grackle is notable for its long tail, shaped like a V, and deep black coloring offset by bright yellow eyes. This loud bird can be easily found just by following the sharp sounds of its calls and shrieks. Males in particular shriek and ruffle up their feathers to defend their territory or if they feel threatened.

2. Great Kiskadee
The great Kiskadee is a large bird with bold markings that make this flycatcher easily recognizable. is a bright-colored bird that prefers woodland habitats close to water or open areas. It eats a lot of insects, but also forages for seeds and berries and is known to dive into shallow water for small fish.

3. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
The golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) is a North American woodpecker. Its preferred habitat is mesquite, riparian woodlands, and tropical rainforest. It is distributed from Texas and Oklahoma in the United States through Mexico to Honduras and northern Nicaragua. Cooke listed this species as an abundant resident of the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in 1884.


4. Social Flycatcher
In appearance, the social flycatcher resembles a smaller boat-billed flycatcher or great kiskadee. The adult is 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in) long and weighs 24–27 g (0.85–0.95 oz). The head is dark grey with a strong white eyestripe and a usually concealed orange to vermilion crown stripe. The upperparts are olive-brown, and the wings and tail are brown with only faint rufous fringes. The underparts are yellow and the throat is white. Young birds have a paler eye mask, reduced crown stripe, and have chestnut fringes to the wing and tail feathers. The call is a sharp peeurrr and the dawn song is a chips-k’-cheery. As the specific epithet similis (Latin for "the similar one") indicates, this species looks much like its closest living relative the rusty-margined flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis), and also like the white-bearded flycatcher (Phelpsia inornatus), white-ringed flycatcher (Conopias albovittatus) and lesser kiskadee (Pitangus/Philohydor lictor). In fact, except at close range, these are all but indistinguishable from appearance alone. They and the two larger similar species mentioned above share much of their range. Though they all are apparently fairly close relatives, the group to which they seem to belong also includes species with rather different head-pattern, like the grey-capped flycatcher which also belongs to Myiozetetes.


5. Melodious Blackbird
The adult is a medium-sized blackbird with a rounded tail. The male is 25.5 cm (10.0 in) long and weighs 108 g (3.8 oz). The slightly smaller female is 23 cm (9.1 in) long and weighs 95 g (3.4 oz). The adult plumage is entirely black with a bluish gloss, and the bill, legs and feet are also black. The iris is brown. Females are identically plumaged to the males; young birds are brownish black and lack iridescence. There are no subspecies.


6. Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
The adult rufous-tailed hummingbird is 10–12 cm (3.9–4.7 in) long and weighs approximately 5.2 g (0.18 oz). The throat is green (edged whitish in the female), the crown, back and flanks are green tinged golden, the belly is pale greyish, the vent and rump are rufous and the slightly forked tail is rufous with a dusky tip. The almost straight bill is red with a black tip; the black is more extensive on the upper mandible, which may appear all black. Immatures are virtually identical to the female. The call is a low chut, and the male's song is a whistled tse we ts’ we or tse tse wip tseek tse. The female rufous-tailed hummingbird is entirely responsible for nest building and incubation. She lays two white eggs in a compact cup nest constructed from plant-fibre and dead leaves and decorated with lichens and mosses 1–6 m (3.3–19.7 ft) high on a thin horizontal twig. Incubation takes 15–19 days, and fledging another 20–26.


7. Clay-colored Thrush
The clay-colored Thrush is a stunning bird known for its melodious song and distinctive appearance. With its clay-colored upperparts, rusty underparts, and dark brown crown, it stands out in its habitats, which can range from forests to suburban parks. It feeds on various food sources including insects, fruits, and berries. The bird has a melodious song consisting of clear, ringing phrases.


8. Brown Jay
Brown jays vary in plumage geographically: there are two main groups. Northern birds are almost completely dark brown, with lighter brown on the underparts. Southern birds are white-bellied and have bright white tips to the outer tail feathers. The intergrade zone is in Veracruz, Mexico. Adults in both populations have black bills, legs, and feet. Immatures have yellow bare parts, including yellow eye-rings. The voice is a loud but low-pitched pee-ah call and is often modified to suit its situation or mood.


9. Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater
The cinnamon-rumped seedeater (Sporophila torqueola) is a passerine bird in the typical seedeater genus Sporophila.


10. White-winged Dove
The medium-sized, distinctively patterned white-winged Doves practically live on Saguaro cactus, consuming its nectar, pollen, fruit, and seeds. In fact, they are so dependent on this plant that they match their migration schedule to its fruiting schedule. White-winged Doves were heavily hunted in Texas in the 20th century and their population dropped from 12 million to fewer than 1 million by 1939. Since then proactive hunting management and the species ability to adapt to urban living has helped their numbers rebound.

11. Turkey Vulture
The turkey Vulture is a common sight, especially around roads, where they keep a sharp eye out for roadkill. Seeing these large birds in the sky can often make you take a second look to see if it’s an eagle or a hawk. Here’s one quick way to tell the difference. When in flight, a turkey Vulture will circle unsteadily, with its wings lifted to make a V shape. Though they are not appreciated, they do the dirty work of the animal kingdom by cleaning up the countryside as they scavenge.

12. Black Vulture
Although quite dapper in appearance, the black Vulture's name comes from the Latin vulturus meaning “tearer" and that is just what that hooked beak is for. These birds are highly social, with fierce family loyalty and will share food with relatives and with their young long after the babies have fledged. Because they lack a voice box, their calls are limited to grunts and hisses.

13. Ruddy Ground Dove
The Rosttäubchen (Columbina talpacoti) is a kind of the pigeons birds, which is counted among the subfamily of the American Kleintauben. The species occurs from the extreme south of North America to South America and is considered as not endangered in its population.

14. Olive-throated Parakeet
The species has a brown throat, with orange eyes in adults and brown eyes in juveniles. Its flight call is a noisy screech; it also utters harsh twittering sounds and piercing chirps. Measures 21.5–24 cm (8.5–9.4 in) and weighs 75–85 g (2.6–3.0 oz).


15. Spot-breasted Wren
The spot-breasted wren (Pheugopedius maculipectus) is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical moist montane forest, and heavily degraded former forest.


16. Eurasian Collared-dove
This plump, pretty dove with a square-tipped tail is known for bobbing its head and flicking its tail while walking. Though nice to look at, many people are not pleased at the sight of a eurasian Collared-dove walking along. In North America they are considered an invasive species, and one that carries a disease-creating parasite that can spread to native dove populations through birdbaths, feeders, or even through hawks preying on them.

17. Black-headed Saltator
The black-headed saltator (Saltator atriceps) is a seed-eating bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It breeds from central Mexico to eastern Panama. This bird is on average 24 cm (9.4 in) long and weighs 85 g (3.0 oz). The adult has a slate-grey head with a whitish supercilium. The upperparts are yellowish green, the underparts are pale grey, and the throat is white edged with black. The thick convex bill is black and the legs are brown. Young birds are duller and have mottling on the breast and brown markings on the underparts. This species is similar to the buff-throated saltator but is larger and has a darker head and paler under parts with a yellow patch on the throat. The common call is a raucous deeeer. The song is a loud scratchy cher cher jur jur weeee, often given by males as a duet. The black-headed saltator is a species of dense vegetation. The black-headed saltator feeds on fruit, buds, nectar, and slow-moving insects. It forages at low and mid levels, sometimes with mixed species flocks. The two black-marked pale blue eggs per clutch measure some 24–34 mm (0.94–1.34 in) long by about 18–23.5 mm (0.71–0.93 in) wide and weigh about 4.9–5.5 g (0.17–0.19 oz) each. They are laid in a bulky grass-lined cup nest up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high in a thicket between April and July.


18. White-fronted Amazon
The white-fronted amazon, at about 25 cm (9.8 in) long, is the smallest of the amazon parrots. This species is named for the bright white patch of feathers on its forehead, although the amount of white varies from individual to individual. They have mostly green plumage with some blue colouring on their outspread wings. They have bright red colouring around their eyes (in some individuals almost like spectacles) and blue colouring behind the patch of white on their foreheads. Together with the red-spectacled amazon and the yellow-lored amazon, it is the only amazon species in which adult males and females easily can be distinguished by external appearance (sexual dimorphism): Males have bright red feathers on their "shoulders" (alula), while females have green "shoulders". Juveniles have pale grey irises and less red on their face and the white area is replaced with a smaller yellowish area.


19. Red-billed Pigeon
Red-billed pigeons have largely dark, slate-gray plumage with a more maroon, though sometimes described as purple, head, neck, and wing coverts. They have pale red eyes with an orange orbital ring, along with a red bill with a yellow tip. Noticeably, they don't have iridescent collar plumage. A blue-gray belly and tail coverts, as well as a less brown back, distinguish it from most other species., such as the Ruddy Pigeon and Short-billed Pigeon. The only noticeable difference between males and females is that the females have a duller colored head and neck. Juveniles are often even more dull in color and have dark and dusky shoulders, as well as a more brown mantle and wings. Compared to other birds, they are a more mid-to-large sized bird, growing to be between 30-37 cm (12-15 in.) in length and a weight of 230–425 g (8.1–15.0 oz). Red-billed pigeons have a very distinctive call, described to be a long, high-pitched call consisting of a coooo followed by three cuk-c'-c'-coo notes. It follows an ascending sound. When taking off, the birds' wings create a noticeable clapping noise.


20. Black-headed Trogon
This trogon measures 28 cm (11 in) and weighs about 89.4 g (3.15 oz). Males and females both have bright yellow underparts with a narrow band of white separating the yellow from a dark chest. Distinctive markings include a dark eye surrounded by a light blue eye ring and black tail feathers with broad white tips. Males have black heads and breasts with a blue-green sheen on the nape, back and wings. Females are similar, but duller yellow below and slate grey above, with none of the blue-green sheen of the male. They eat both fruit and insects, which they capture during brief sallies from an exposed perch. The black-headed trogon excavates its nest in active termitaria in the branches of trees. It lays 2–3 white eggs which are incubated for 17 days. Chicks are capable of flight 16–17 days after hatching.
