Summer tananger (Piranga rubra)

Only recently have I taken to carrying a camera with me around Belize. They're expensive and in some cases off-putting since they make you look like a tourist. It's also one of those dreaded "possessions that posses you". Over time it finally occurred to me how many astonishing things I was missing by trying to look cool and I decided the camera was coming with me regardless of how foolish I looked. Fortunately, a compact, shock resistant water proof camera has reduced the anxiety of bringing one along.

So now shots like this spring up all the time. On a simple walk to the store, I rounded a corner in the road and there this fellow sat, impossibly red and splashing around this filthy, but apparently functional, mud puddle. For a moment a yellow-headed warbler was also sitting there beside him but he flew away before I could frame the shot.

That's how Belize is. The diversity of animals there is just astonishing and you never know what is around the bend. I normally see twenty species of birds on a simple walk to the road. If you pay attention (and people who know me will attest that I do, much to the misfortune of my driving and conversational skills), you'll eventually see things you never imagined before. That does of course require a modicum of luck...

...and a few other things as well.

The summer tananger (or beebird) is a neotropical migrant. That means every year, for the few years it lives, it migrates from tropical places as far south as Boliva to open oak and hardwood forests of the United States. They're even found in the Midwestern US and Illinois where I currently live. Unfortunately, I've never seen one there (despite my wildlife viewing compulsions). The upshot of this bird's annual migration is that it requires suitable habitat in two different ecoregions, sometimes in two entirely different continents. What happens to them in the US affects their abundance in Belize and vice versa.

Presently, populations of the summer tananger appear to be stable. However, as their name implies, this species feeds on bees (and is actually a pest around apiaries). Honey bee populations in the US have crashed in the last year. Will the summer tananger find alterative prey while in the US and remain stable and unaffected?

Keep your eyes open and let's find out.