Birding Field Trip, TIDE staff

Elmar Requena and Celia Mahung using the scope

TIDE has completed a second Introduction to Bird Watching class. Elmar Requena, TIDE Terrestrial Biologist, conducted the class with the assistance of Mario Muschamp, Manager of Payne’s Creek National Park, for members of the TIDE staff from the TIDE Private Protected Lands, the Administrative offices and current volunteers. The class was held on Saturday 7 November with the follow-up field trip on Saturday 14 November 2009.

This is a great opportunity for members of the administrative staff to have the opportunity to join their colleagues in the field; “students” included Executive Director, Celia Mahung; Development Director, Ruth McLean Dawson; Financial Staff Danny Hun and Kimberly Coleman and volunteers Alastair Daly and Chris Hamley and members of the staff and volunteers at the Rio Grande Ranger Station.

The field trip began with participants gathering at the TIDE Office at 6:00 am for a trip down Dump Road and quick boat ride to the TIDE Private Protected Lands. Birds sighted on the trails included:

Eastern Wood Pewee, Ochre Bellied Flycatcher, American Redstart, Pale billed Woodpecker, Summer Tanager, White Crown Parrot, Black-headed Trogon, Rufous Tailed Hummingbirds, Magnolia Warbler, Banana Quit, White Bellied Emerald, Brown Jay, Black and White Warbler, Montezuma Orependula, Brown-crested Flycatcher and the Red Lore Parrot.

The group then traveled to Miss Celia’s farm in Big Falls with several stops to view birds on the way including – Sun Grebe, Squirrel Cuckoo, Collared Aracari, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Egrets and Vultures. Once at the farm, we sighted the Olive-throated Parakeet, Great Kiskadee, Melodious Blackbirds and a Yellow-billed Cacique.

The activity was enthusiastically received and interest in birding amongst staff has become keen, with discussion of sightings shared on a daily basis.

 

Bird of the Week – Yellow-crowned Night Heron

YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON

Nyctanassa violacea OTHER NAMES: King Carpenter

Identification: 22.5” (54.5 cm). More common than Black-crowned in most areas. Slimmer overall, with slightly thicker bill, smaller head, and larger eyes. Proportionately longer neck more frequently held extended than in the Black-crowned. Flight: feet and lower portion of legs project beyond tail. Darker remiges contrast more with the rest of upperparts than in Black-crowned (but not as much as in the bitterns). Adult: distinctive blue-gray plumage with bold black and white head pattern. Juvenile: duller brown plumage than Black-crowned; bill all black; small triangular white sports in wing coverts; more pronounced streaking on neck.

Voice: 1. Harsh kaow; 2. Shorter kow

Habitat: Towns, lawns, shores of rivers, estuaries, ponds, swamps, marshes, mudglats, mangroves. Roosts communally in large trees and mangrove forests.

Distribution: Nests from NW Mexico and eastern US to central South America. Northern most populations withdraw south in winder

Status in Belize: Fairly common to common resident in lowlands nearly throughout, including cayes, but confirmed nesting sites relatively few. General more common in coastal areas than inland.

NOTE: Picture taken in Boom Creek Village

16 November 2009
Jones, H. Lee (2003) Birds of Belize, University of Texas Press

 

Staff Meeting at TIDE

Staff meetings at TIDE are a time to bring together staff who work in several locations – the Abalone Caye Ranger Station where rangers and staff conduct monitoring and research and resoure protection if the Port Honduras Marine Reserve ; the Rio Grande Ranger Station from which TIDE patrols and protectst he TIDE Private Protected Lands; the Payne’s Creek National Park where staff and rangers conduct biodiversity research and monitoring and resource protection through curveillance and patrols; and the main office at One Mile San Antonio Road where work is accomplished to support the field staff.

TIDE staff start off the day with a meeting where we spent a bit of time getting to know each other better and then managers share updates from all of the locations and all of the programs. Staff ask great questions and it is a good opportunity for staff and volunteers to make sure they are aware of all the activities that TIDE undertakes.

The day continued with a trek down a nature trail – part of the many tasks that rangers undertake that took the staff from the Rio Grande to Port Honduras.

We boarded boats for the trip to West Snake Cay where staff was able to enjoy a wonderful lunch of bar-b-que chicken, potato salad, chips and juice, with brownies for desert.

Staff then spent time in the beautiful water of West Snake Caye enjoying the chance to swim and play. Other staff engaged in a tug of war contest. ALL had fun.

TIDE knows how to work hard and knows how to play when it is time.

 

San Miguel and San Pedro Columbia Villages: Tree Nurseries

In order to promote reforestation along the banks of the Rio Grande, TIDE has provided expertise and assistance to San Miguel and San Pedro Columbia Villages to establish nurseries of indigenous trees. The trees and plants grown in the nurseries are all native to Belize and this area and are initially grown in plastic bag using dirt uncovered and discarded during the building of the Southern Highway and rice hulls that aerate the dirt. Members of each village are involved in the project.

In San Miguel, the nursery sits under the shade of a large mango tree and in San Pedro Columbia, the nursery is shaded by tent like material that lets the sun through.

TIDE Terresstrial Biologist, Elmar Requena, oversees the nurseries and the work conducted by villagers. Education is also provided on the importance of reforesting the buffer zone along the river.

 

Bird sightings

On Saturday 7 November 2009, Elmar Requena, TIDE Terrestrial Biologist, conducted an Introduction to Bird Watching for members of the TIDE Staff. The field trip will be this next Saturday, 14 November 2009.

This session is already a success and TIDE is planning another session designed for teachers and community members/leaders and, if time allows, another youth training in late December. The feedback has been wonderful.

The current group of trainees has been reporting sightings of birds:
On Tuesday 10 November 2009, Elmar and Ruth Anne spotten a male and female Anghinga in a small lagoon along the highway. There were also egrets, a grebe (not sure specifically which kind) and other birds. During our trip back from San Miguel we also spotten at Gray Hawk and Plumbeous Kite (no pictures, I forgot the camera)

Alastair reported the Blue-Gray Tanager spotted from his porch. NOTE that that this is the TIDE Bird of the Week.

Agapito Pop repored seeing the Green Honeycreeper in the orange orchard near his home in Hicatee and Elmar reporting spotting a male and female Red-legged Honeycreeper eating oranges in Columbia Village.

Also reported are a male and femal Rose-breasted Grosbeak on the highway near by Silver Creek.

In the early hours of the morning on the way to work from PG to TIDE, it is common to sight the Great Egret, the small Blue Heron and a Spotted Sandpiper.

Tell us what you are sighting and where – and take pictures if you can!

 

Bird of the Week

BLUE-GRAY TANAGER

 

Thraupis episcopus OTHER NAMES: Blue Tanager (arch.), Bluebird (C), raxon tzul (K)

Common throughout; Open Woodland; Pale Grayish blue body, with bright turquoise wings and tail

Identification: 6.5” (16.5 cm). Unmistakable pale grayish blue and darker on back, with bright turquoise blue wings and tail.

Voice: Call 1. Forceful tseeu; 2. High, thin, slightly squeaky eeeant, singly or in a rapid irregular series; 3. In flight, a squeaky see. Song; forced series of alternating thin, higher pitched and squeaky lower pitched notes, see suh see suh see suh seee seee seee.

Habitat. Midlevel to canopy; open areas with scattered trees, towns and villages, parks, orchards, forest edge, Frequents fruiting trees.

Status in Belize: Common resident on mainland, increasingly less common northward, becoming scarce in OW and CO. Occasionally seen on Ambergris Caye.

 

9 November 2009

Jones, H. Lee (2003) Birds of Belize, University of Texas Press Austin

 

TIDE research will be available on IssueLab

IssueLab is an online publishing forum for nonprofit research. Our mission is to more effectively archive, distribute and promote the extensive and diverse body of work being produced by the third sector. To better promote the work of the Toledo Institute of Development and Environment (TIDE) we will post some of our research (as appropriate) on this site. Scroll down for a link to our research on Waste Management.

Each year billions of charitable dollars are spent on nonprofit research, research which journalists, policy analysts, legislators, students, activists, and grant makers all rely on to effectively address complex social issues. And yet despite the widespread interest in this work and the billions of dollars spent each year to produce it, most nonprofit research remains unpublished, hard to find, underexposed, or archived in issue-specific information silos.

The nonprofit sector clearly needs a better solution than the current piecemeal approach to managing and sharing one of its greatest assets, while journalists, researchers, activists, policy makers, educators, and the general public need a much better solution for locating and accessing social research across issue areas. IssueLab is that solution.

But IssueLab is not simply an online archive. Our efforts are evenly split between aggregating research on social issues and pushing that research back out to other online communities and end-users. Although ambitious, our goal is to mainstream nonprofit research so that users who may not know anything about nonprofits can still learn from the unique perspective these organizations bring to the study of social issues.

We recognize the nonprofit sector as a vital and valuable source of knowledge and believe that by leveraging technology to broaden access to their findings, IssueLab can help users to better understand complex social issues and further healthy debate and dialogue.

Toledo Institute for Development and Environment

Research Works Available:

Punta Gorda Municipal Waste Report
Publication date: 2009-04-08
Date Archived: 2009-11-03

 

Port Honduras Marine Reserve Benefits the Community

How does TIDE co-management of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve benefit the community bordering the marine protected area in southern Belize?

TIDE is committed to local hire, whenever possible. TIDE contributes to the local economy through hiring, spending locally, and promoting southern Belize as a destination. TIDE uses community members on research projects whenever practical.

Protection of resources within the reserve contributes to the health of the reserve. TIDE conducts monitoring and research on a variety of factors:
a. Water quality
b. Coral
c. Lobster
d. Conch
e. Fin Fish
f. Seagrass
g. Turtles
h. Manatee

Community Training and Capacity Building
a. Tour guide (increasing the number of tour guides and the skills of the tour guides)
b. Life skills training
c. Hospitality
d. Small business management
e. Leadership
f. Fly-fishing
g. Kayaking
h. Birding
i. Research skills
j. Scuba-diving (including advanced and dive master training)
k. Tourism services with emphasis on small business development, hospitality management and culinary arts
l. Marine skills for community rangers, boat handling, reef monitoring, fish and coral identification, and global positioning systems training
m. Specialist tour guide training with a focus on fly fishing, kayaking and bird watching

TIDE recognizes that a well-trained and supported staff will utilize increased abilities and competencies at TIDE and at other organizations and works to build staff capacity through ongoing training.
a. Boat handling and maintenance
b. Communication skills
c. Report writing
d. Facilitating professional opportunities for growth and learning

TIDE Community stewards program focuses on providing training and support to community members to enhance their stewardship and collaborative work with TIDE. Training includes: marine and terrestrial ecosystems, marine and terrestrial laws of Belize and an education exchange visit to Guatemala.

Direct support to communities including a freezer provided to the Rio Grande Fishers Coop, an outboard engine provided to Monkey River Village Council and improvements to the Tour Guide Building (Monkey River)

TIDE Liaison Officer stationed in Monkey River

Use of volunteers at all levels of programming and internships for University of Belize students

The TIDE Environmental Education and Outreach Program includes school visits and presentations “…schools consider TIDE to be a credible, and informed, environmental resource which they and their communities can access and partner with. TIDE is additional described as a service provider of environmental education and resources.” Coombs (2008) Environmental Education and Outreach Program: Critical Review, field visits “Leaders were particularly satisfied that TIDE had sought their collaboration in the implementation of community activities…this approach was crucial…” Coombs (2008) Environmental Education and Outreach Program: Critical Review, Summer Camps “…annual summer camps are eagerly expected and highly recognized features of the summer break in Toledo.” Coombs (2008) Environmental Education and Outreach Program: Critical Review,  the TIDE Freshwater Cup (2008 CEPAL Social Innovation Winner) and the TIDE Scholarship Program.

The TIDE Weekend is a community based event whose goals include: raising awareness of the issue of climate change through the Youth Conservation Competition, involving young people in raising that awareness through the Youth Conservation Competition, providing an opportunity and outlet for local businesses through the Fish Fest, increasing public awareness about the work of TIDE through the entire TIDE Weekend. The vendors of food at the event all sold out, which is great! Waluco’s (the restaurant next door to TIDE) also did outstanding business, selling out on some items, including drink. TIDE is very excited about this aspect of the event, and providing a fun venue for activities that celebrated the fishing heritage of southern Belize.

 

Port Honduras Marine Reserve – October Bleaching Summary Report

October 2009 – Bleaching Summary Report for Port Honduras Marine Reserve (PHMR)
Nicola L. Foster – Senior Marine Biologist and Marlon Williams – Junior Marine Biologist

On the 1st and 2nd October 2009, a bleaching survey was conducted at six sites within the Port Honduras Marine Reserve (Table 1). Two surveyors used the weighted-bar swimming transect (WBST) to assess the extent of coral bleaching at each of the sites. At each site, 200 colonies, along two transects, were assessed for paleness, partial bleaching and whole bleaching (>90%).

Colonies affected by bleaching were observed at all six sites surveyed in october 2009. The two most severely affected sites were East Snake Caye 2 and Middle Snake Caye, two of the shallowest sites surveyed. The site at Frenchman Caye was least affected by bleaching, with less than 10% of colonies exhibiting signs of bleaching. The percent of colonies affected by bleaching (pale, partial and whole) was notably less than that observed during the surveys 12 months previously in October 2008, 18% versus 48%, respectively. The lower number of colonies affected by bleaching in the current surveys suggests that bleaching is not as severe as 2008 within Port Honduras Marine Reserve. However, given the current dry, warm period surveys are recommended for the following two months (November and December).

Full report is available at the TIDE website

 

 

Belize Hydroelectric fined for illegal entry, damages to Toledo protected areas

Article from Amandala

http://www.amandala.com.bz/index.php?id=9215

Posted: 30/10/2009 – 10:32 AM
Author: Adele Ramos – adelescribe@gmail.com

Chief Forestry Officer, Wilber Sabido, told Amandala yesterday,Wednesday, that the Belize Hydroelectric Development and Management Company Ltd. (BHD) had been levied a $32,000 charge for damages caused to the Columbia River Forest Reserve and Bladen Nature Reserve when, as previously reported, workers of the company opened up several miles of road, and cleared camp sites and a helicopter landing pad without getting the required permit from the Forest Department.

Sabido said that the fine for entering the protected areas would have amounted to $1,500, in addition to the $32,000 in damages, and the company has agreed to pay all the costs. However, the company has paid only 50% of the levy and asked for 30 days to pay the balance.

Back in September, BHD had applied for a research permit, which the Forestry Department granted earlier this month, October—this even before the fine has been fully paid.

When we asked Sabido why the company has been granted the permit when there are still outstanding monies to be paid for damages, he said that the fact that BHD has applied for a research permit means “they are not trying to flee the country.”

This is a first for the Forest Department, said Sabido.

Ya’axché Conservation Trust (YCT), in an assessment detailed elsewhere in this newspaper, has indicated that based on its assessment, remediation works alone required to restore the damaged habitats are estimated at $125,000. The YCT additionally suggested other fines, but understands that it is the government that has the final say on the matter.

Sabido claimed, however, that the Department did not see the need to levy a heftier figure for remediation works because Belize’s forests are very resilient and regenerate very fast. He told Amandala that an officer of the Forest Department will accompany BHP workers on their research missions to monitor their activities.

He said that BHP’s research plan is to set gauges along the river to measure water flow.

The Hydrology Department, he said, has also been engaged and will continue to be involved in the process.