Title
Ornithology in Belize since 1960
Author(s)
Miller, BW; Miller, CM
Published
1998
Publisher
Wilson Bulletin
Abstract
We review ornithology in Belize, formerly British Honduras, since Russell's 1964 monograph and summarize published and unpublished reports, banding records, and museum data. Unpublished reports (gray literature) are an important source of information within the country. Since 1960, there have been numerous studies by the British Forces ornithological societies and others on avian ecology and behavior. the effects of logging on birds, the distribution of overwintering Neotropical migrants (approximately 20% or Belize's avifauna), and comparisons of avian distribution in disturbed versus undisturbed habitat. We review recent distributional records and problematic species records requiring verification and identify distributional "knowledge gaps" Although 70% of the country is stilt dominated by natural vegetation and 20% falls under some form of protected status, certain bird species and families are at risk from human impacts such as habitat conversion, hunting, introduced species, and in some cases, tourism. Areas for future study are suggested.
Keywords
CENTRAL-AMERICA; WINTER
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