San Ignacio & Santa Elena

History

The town was originally named El Cayo by the Spanish. On 19 October 1904, El Cayo was officially declared a town by the government of British Honduras. In the past a creek ran between the Macal and the Mopan rivers one mile outside of San Ignacio going toward Benque Viejo. This creek then fulfilled the definition of an area of land completely surrounded by water and thus the name Cayo, "island". There was a large wooden bridge across this creek in the late 1940s, but since the creek eventually dried up, the area was filled with limestone gravel and today there remains no evidence of its existence. The demise of the creek, however, took away the distinction for the classification of a 'cayo' from the venerable western town of 'El Cayo' and returned it to a regular land mass.

Geography

San Ignacio is situated on the banks of the Macal River, about 63 miles (101 km) west of Belize City and 22 miles (35 km) west of the country's capital: Belmopan. The town has an area of approximately . File:Street scene in san ignacio.jpg|Street scene in San Ignacio File:San Ignacio Town Street, Belize.jpg|View of San Ignacio, looking towards the Hawkesworth Bridge File:Burns Ave in San Ignacio.jpg|Burns Avenue File:Small park in downtown san ignacio in front of the police station.jpg|Small park of downtown San Ignacio in front of the police station File:Belize independence day celebration sept.21 2012.jpg|Belize independence day celebration Hawkesworth Bridge 2017.jpg | Hawkesworth Bridge

Most-observed species

• Melodious Blackbird

  Dives dives (Deppe, 1830) · Aves
  19,341
• Social Flycatcher

  Myiozetetes similis (Spix, 1825) · Aves
  18,686
• Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

  Amazilia tzacatl (de la Llave, 1833) · Aves
  15,777
• Brown Jay

  Psilorhinus morio (Wagler, 1829) · Aves
  15,128
• Great Kiskadee

  Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  14,084
• Golden-fronted Woodpecker

  Melanerpes aurifrons (Wagler, 1829) · Aves
  13,100
• Clay-colored Thrush

  Turdus grayi Bonaparte, 1838 · Aves
  11,956
• Spot-breasted Wren

  Pheugopedius maculipectus (Lafresnaye, 1845) · Aves
  11,093