Tay-rrific!

If you want to see predators, get a little dog. Seriously. Preferably a small white fluffy dog. Then take her into the jungle. Yesterday, Bruce and I, with our little dog, went to the Hillbank road to check the camera trap. We replaced the CF card and then took a walk. The dog loves this.

There was a suspicious rustling overhead and the dog went into high alert. Ah, monkeys we said, peering into the treetops. A guan? Nope -- couldn't see either one. Shrugged and moved on. Something lean and dark dashed across the path and up a tree. Now the dog is really excited.

A tayra! No, two tayras! Wait, there are THREE tayras! We are totally amazed -- they are dashing up and down the tree trunks and branches, chattering in a noisy bird-like way and focused on the dog. I immediately pick up the dog -- I am no fan of dog-wildlife interactions. One of the two always comes out the loser.

The tayras, large members of the weasel family, are very agitated. They are bold, dashing up and down tree trunks and branches, craning their long necks to get a look at us, or more accurately, the dog. I wonder whether they will approach us, something I am not eager to encourage.

Known as "bushdog" in Belize, the tayra (Eira barbara) is classified as an omnivore. However, it is a competent predator reputed to hunt deer from the treetops. I viewed that claim dubiously until an entire busload of Chan Chich guests witnessed a dramatic encounter between a small deer and a tayra in the middle of the road. Some years later, I got camera trap photos of a tayra eating a brocket deer (Mazama americana) it had just killed. I have nothing but respect for this very efficient hunter.

At 11 pounds with a roughly 2-foot long body, the tayra weighs as much as the dog and were they curious! All three of them, craning their necks, bobbing their light colored heads and chattering incessantly. Clearly the dog's novel white coat is something they have not come across before. They are VERY interested. After a few minutes they have seen enough and disappear into the jungle.

Only then did I put our small dog down on the path.

My favorite bird was a snake

Besides counting CBC birds on the 31st, we also encountered two brocket deer (Mazama americana) and a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). As always, we enjoyed all the birds we counted, the residents and North American migrants alike.

But my "favorite bird of the day" was actually a snake! We were standing there in the road, binoculars in hand, happened to look down and there it was: a pink snake about 12" long. I've always liked snakes and other "herps." So I have devoted a good amount of time over the years photographing them with some of the photos ending up in various regional field guides.

As I stooped to examine this pretty snake, it was immediately evident it was something I'd never seen before. Luckily it was docile enough to permit 10 photographs before slipping into the grass. Later, at home with Jonathan Campbell's "Amphibians and Reptiles of Northern Guatemala, the Yucatan and Belize" in hand, Figure 116 and accompanying text led to a identification of the Four-lined Middle American Earth Snake, Adelphicos quadrivigatus. What clinched it was Campbell's comments that he'd most frequently seen them after a hard rain had flooded them out of their abode. Exactly the conditions we'd so recently been "enjoying!"