The modern Mennonite settlement of Spanish Lookout lies about 45 minutes north of Crystal Paradise. The area provides excellent bird watching, as well as an opportunity to witness the unique Mennonite way of life.
Mennonites are a Protestant evangelical religious group, which originated in Switzerland and the Netherlands at the time of the Protestant Reformation, among the different groups are the Amish of Pennsylvania in the United States. In 1958 the first two groups of Mennonite settlers left their farms in northern Mexico and made the migration to Belize, then a strange and unknown land called British Honduras. The settlements planted corn, beans, and other crops, and started raising chicken and dairy cows.
In the 1960’s, agriculture made great strides at Spanish Lookout. Unlike the more traditional Mennonite settlement at Barton Creek that does not use mechanized technology, the Spanish Lookout Mennonites brought old, inexpensive machinery to use on the fields. Their economy improved rapidly, and now there are paved roads, feed mills, a dairy, huge stretch of farmland and modern machinery. Spanish Lookout now provides a large portion of the food in the country.
Spanish Lookout is accessed by a beautiful drive through rolling hills. Several different habitats in the area make it a favorable birding destination. The area consists of savannah, open farmland, and subtropical forest around the lake.
In the open land and pastures it is easy to find Vermillion Flycatchers, Fork-Tailed Flycatchers, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, White-Tailed Kites, Laughing Falcons,, Aplomado Falcons, Short-tailed Hawks, White-tailed Kites, Crested Caracara, Eastern Meadowlarks and Northern Rough-Wings Swallows.
Aguacate Lagoon Reserve is located about 20 minutes beyond the community and provides a birdwatcher’s paradise. In the forest around the lake common sighting may include Rufous-tailed Jacamars, a number of Trogons, Puff-birds, Crested Guans, Great Curassows, Forest Falcons, Northern barred Woodcreeper, Ivory-billed Woodcreeper, Plain Xenops, etc. The lake itself attracts water birds such as the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Night Herons, Anhingas, and Neotropic Cormorants.
We then continue to a nearby Marshland with possible sightings of Soras, Jabiru Storks, Black-necked Stilt, Purple Gallinule, a number of Sandpipers, and other waders.
