To start off the post on a depressing note, the Cattle Egret's wing fracture wasn't able to be repaired. Poor guy. The thing about wildlife is that it's exceptionally resilient... so by the time they're able to be caught, they're pretty bad off. But! All of the parrots are doing well. Jack's been getting some attention from my sister, which I'm sure he (she?) appreciates. The Collared Aracari has warmed up to me a bit and will let me "preen" her. Really, I'm just petting her and picking at her feathers. She makes her squeak chatter-chatter noise that she makes when the wild Aracari visit.
So yes! My sister is here! She arrived on Monday and finally made it to CASA. Piña coladas seem to be the current theme (pineapple chunks + cream of coconut + One Barrel Belizean rum). She's gotten to feed the birds, make bird food, clean mice containers, collect browse, and scrub cages (fun fun!). We've wandered around town a few times and on Wednesday we tagged along with the Peregrine Fund. We went to the sinkholes again and this time the female Orange-breasted Falcon was sitting on eggs! Three, to be exact. It was pretty awesome. The hike in was a little.. exhausting, but we made it and nobody fell off of a mountain. Speaking of raptors and babies, I was able to get a shot of the White-tailed Kite kids in the nest. They're huge now and should fledge in the next week or so. You'll have to just check my facebook for photos, as usual. Tomorrow we're going to the ATM Caves on a tour. It's a big of a hike in, but beautiful from what I hear. Then we'll go pseudo-spelunking (or maybe real spelunking?) and see some Mayan artifacts and burial sites (complete with bones). It should be pretty amazing! We plan on going to the Xunantunich and Cahal Pech ruins at some point... and also drinking more piña coladas.
I went to the Easter Fair in San Ignacio the Saturday before last and I completely forgot to post about it. It was like a fair in the states but a lot smaller. Also there were no lines for the rides or barriers so the crowd doesn't get too close to the rides. If you get kicked in the head by people on the ride that's spinning around in the air, it's your fault. It was kind of funny actually watching people grab others out of the way of flying feet. I've noticed some similarities in this regard between Belize and South Korea. You want to climb a Korean mountain after (and while) pounding soju and balance on precarious ledges? Go right ahead. You want to stand atop a Mayan temple with no guardrails where you can actually look down onto Guatemala? No problem. These things I'm fairly certain couldn't (legally) happen in the US...
A fun bit of advice from my sister: if you're coming to visit, make sure you bring lots of deodorant... you're sure to run out after applying it 17 times a day.
I'm still awaiting the first babies of the season... any day now, I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my not-so busy spell and having fun spending time with my sister!
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