As one moves further seaward, the waters deepen and huge masses of boulder corals, massive brain corals, lettuce corals and large cactus corals grow. The transition from shallow water to the ocean depths is broken with ledges and gullies. The southern half of Belize is a plateau, dissected by the relatively low-rising Maya Mountain Range running north and south. The Cockscomb Range, an isolated group of peaks, rises close to the irregular seaward edge of the plateau at its northern extreme. The highest of these peaks is Victoria Peak which rises 3,680 feet in elevation and is the highest measured point in Belize.
Mangroves fringe the northern coast's river inlets and cover many of the cays.
Belize has about 500 species of birds, many of them rare and beautiful. In size, they vary from the minute hummingbirds, seen whirring about every flowering bush in Belize City, to the jabiru stork, now close to extinction, whose eight-foot wingspan make it the largest stork in America. Vivid green and yellow wild parrots are seen everywhere in the interior. There is also another type of parrot which is all green with a blue head. Inland conditions can change quickly with afternoon thunderstorms and heavy rainfall common in some parts of the country.