Ornithology in Belize since 1960

We review ornithology in Belize, formerly British Honduras, since Russell's 1964 monograph and summarize published and unpublished reports, banding re cords, and museum data. Unpublished reports (gray literature) are an import ant source of information within the country. Since 1960, there have been n umerous studies by the British Forces ornithological societies and others o n avian ecology and behavior. the effects of logging on birds, the distribu tion of overwintering Neotropical migrants (approximately 20% or Belize's a vifauna), and comparisons of avian distribution in disturbed versus undistu rbed habitat. We review recent distributional records and problematic speci es records requiring verification and identify distributional "knowledge ga ps" Although 70% of the country is stilt dominated by natural vegetation an d 20% falls under some form of protected status, certain bird species and f amilies are at risk from human impacts such as habitat conversion, hunting, introduced species, and in some cases, tourism. Areas for future study are suggested.