Colombia 2015 - Pt 2 Western Andes Lower Elevations

Not quite the early start that we endured the previous day as we only had half the mountain to drive this morning. We would then walk down the Montezuma road from mid to lower elevations.
On a warm and dry morning the first bird located on the way up was a White Throated Quail-Dove on the track. We stopped at a clearing where we picked up some of the more common species, White sided Flowerpiecer, Violet Tailed Sylph, Empress Brilliant, Handsome Flycatchers and Slate Throated Redstarts., as well as Endemics such as this Gold Ringed Tanager.

 

Gold Ringed Tanager



 

I caught sight of a Black and Gold Tanager sat out in the open, I called everyone back but unfortunately it flew before anyone could get on it. Walking down the hill for the next 500 mtrs the others had put doubt in my mind, I started to think maybe it wasn't as we had seen plenty of the Lachrymose Mountain-Tanagers, I was convinced that I didn't see the yellow cheek markings, anyway no need to ponder as I picked up another pair of the Black & Gold Tanagers that everyone got onto and re assured myself of what I had actually seen  ten minutes before.

A stop for breakfast in the shade re charged the batteries before we set off on a day where I ended up with dozens of lifers with some incredible birds.

 

 Breakfast on the Montezuma Road (Chris, Robin, Jose and Fernando)

 

Yellow Rumped Woodpecker (this was the first of the day for Noah's big year total)
 

 

a whole host of species were seen, Glistening Green , Purplish Mantled, Golden, Beryl Spangled Tanagers, Blackburnian, Three Striped Warblers, Handsome Flycatcher, Black Chinned Mountain-Tanager, the incredibly beautiful Chestnut Breasted Chlorophonia again! and this target that we had missed the day before....

 

 Black Solitaire

A we walked down we passed dozens of Columbian Squaddies as they yomped the 14 kilometres up the mountain with 80 kgs on the back.... glad I was walking down hill.

 

One squaddie takes an interest in the birds, "good on yer fella!"

 

Birds from every angle - Empress Brilliant, White Bellied Woodstar, Greenish Puffleg, Brown Inca, Velvet Purple Coronet, Violet Tailed Sylph, Dusky Bush-Tanager and although fairly common this Cinnamon Flycatcher, its still one of my favourites..... as well as plenty of others.

Cinnamon Flycatcher

 

Orange Breasted Fruiteater



Rufous Throated Tanager

 

Fernando logs this Lizard species

The flora wasn't to bad either with this incredible Dracula Orchid

this is a bird world - Spanish message on the Montezuma Road

We were still missing a few target species and we were fortunate enough to have what turned out to be an incredible ten minutes of birding.
First Fernando found us an Olivaceous Piha (Noah's Target bird for the day), then add Toucan Barbet (which gave us the run around for a while), Tricolored Brush-Finch, Scaly Throated Foliage-Gleaner, Uniform Treerunner, Lineated Foliage Gleaner, Scale crested Pygmy-Tyrant, and the as yet un-described Alto Pistone Tapaculo..... I am reading my notes now  as I type this up and am thinking that was a memorable moment of the trip. I walked down the hill with more than a handful of lifers and a beaming big grin..... happy days.

Things had to calm down a touch so Noah takes time out to do some photography

After lunch we went in search of the Creasted Ant-Tanager.  It responded to the tape but wouldn't come in, Noah went after it  and his perseverance paid off as ten minutes later he came out of the darkness with a smile and record shot. He was happy for now.

Noah in search of the Crested Ant-Tanager

 

A short while later we stumbled across a small waterfall and Fernando noticed a nest hanging in front of the waterfall attached to a single Vine. In the distance we then heard and saw movement of a Crested Ant-Tanager..... then 2,3,4....... eventually 7 came out and flew across our path and away. So glad I didn't follow Noah up that hill a short while before.

 

I still had a target to get and Jose made sure we got it. We stopped at the river for about 15 minutes and waited for a White Capped Dipper.

 

Eighty Eight butterfly takes a drink near the river

 

As we neared the Lodge we bumped into this Field Research team. 

during the day they had ringed a Pavonine Cuckoo, unfortunately for us it wasn't still in the area as it didn't respond to tape but we were able to get close to this Tawny Throated Leaf-Tosser

We managed plenty of other "wild" birds before we got back to the lodge, Parkers Antbird, Ochre Breasted Tanager, White Winged Becard, Slaty Antwren, Red-faced Spinetail, Buff fronted Foliage-gleaner, Plain Xenops, Yellow Breasted Antwren, Lemon Browed Flycatcher, Red headed Barbet, Slaty Capped Shrike-vireo, a flock of Bronze-Winged Parrots and this Ornate Flycatcher amongst many others.

 

Back at the lodge we had time to watch the array of Hummingbirds at the feeders, as well as Euphonias, Seedeaers, Tanagers a Green Honeycreeper and yet still had time to look for and find a Blackish Rail.......

A great end to a fantastic days birding.

 

Tomorrow we leave the Western Andes and head for the Central Andes and the Lodge at Rio Blanco.

 

The view of the Western Andes as we left and headed to Rio Blanco

 





Lime Hawk-moth

Lime Hawk-moth Mimas tiliae

This is a new species for me and was a nice surprise when I opened the moth trap on Sunday morning.

A reasonably common species in the southern half of Britain, it was most frequent in the London area, where there are still extensive tree-lined avenues. In recent years its distribution has spread northwards and is now regularly found well into North Yorkshire and beyond.

Occupying woodland and suburban habitats, it flies in May and June, and often comes to light.

The larvae feed on lime (Tilia) as well as a number of other deciduous trees including birch (Betula), alder (Alnus) and elm (Ulmus).



Colombia 2015 - Pt 1 Western Andes (Montezuma Lodge and Higher Elevations of Tatama NP)

Well its that time again to fly off to somewhere new..... Myself and Jeff embark on our grand tour for 2015. Colombia has been high on the trip list for a number of years and now it becomes reality. We visited the UK Birdfair 2014 and spent sometime with Chris Calonje the owner of Colombiabirdwatch.com tour company who put together a private tour for myself and Jeff including the three key areas that we wanted to visit.

Here we are half a year later ready to start our tour of the Central\ Western Andes, Santa Marta mountains and the Amazon region of Mitu.

Basic tour itinerary is :

Day 1 Arrive in Bogota
Day 2 Flight to Pereira and drive to Montezuma with Birding Montezuma Lodge
Day 3 Montezuma Upper Part
Day 4 Montezuma Lower Part
Day 5 Montezuma-Rio Blanco with Birding Rio Blanco Lodge
Day 6 Rio Blanco
Day 7 Los Nevados and flight to Barranquilla
Day 8 Isla Salamnca-Minca Sierras Sound
Day 9 Minca-El Dorado El Dorado
Day 10 El Dorado El Dorado
Day 11 El Dorado-Minca Sierras Sound
Day 12 Minca-Riohacha (Tayrona National Park) Barbacoas
Day 13 Los Flamencos National Park (flight to Bogota)
Day 14 Bogota-Mitu Los Paisas
Day 15 Mitu Los Paisas
Day 16 Mitu Los Paisas
Day 17 Mitu Los Paisas
Day 18 Mitu - Bogota
Day 19 Depart Bogota

An added interest is that Noah Stryker will join us for 6 days in the Andes whilst he is undertaking his Birding without Borders big year record attempt, Noah Strykers 5000 species in a year so we should have some good birding and interesting conversation from day 1........

We arrived in Bogota via Miami and quickly got to our hotel in a pleasant suburb of the city. No way could I sleep as the excitement crept in knowing that in the morning we will be taking a flight to the Western Andes to start birding in earnest. I am sure we got some weird looks as we sat outside the small hotel getting the first city birds onto the trip list, Eared Dove, Shiny Cowbirds, Rufous Coloured Sparrows and Great Thrush. Even whilst still on the runway ready to take off to Pereira we picked up a White tailed Kite hovering over the runway verges, whilst at Pereira Black Vulture, tropical Kingbirds, southern Rough winged Swallows and Brown Bellied Swallows were easy pickings. Chris Calonje picked us up and we were off into the Western Andes where we stopped at a lovely town called Apia here we had lunch and Chris explained about the huge positive steps the country has made in making it safe for tourists and bird watchers... The food was good too.

Apia - Western Andes



We were back on the road now moving up to even higher elevations to another town to meet our open aired land cruiser, Noah Stryker was already in the back with our guide Jose. We soon got to know that Noah was a fun guy with a good sense of humour and of course plenty to tell about his first 96 days of his world record big year attempt! To think that we were going to be part of it was pretty exciting. A few hours later after some road stop birding due to landslides making it very slow going we arrived at montezuma lodge mid afternoon.

Montezuma Lodge

 

Within moments we were met with 11 species of Hummingbirds of which 10 were new to me! White necked Jacobin I had seen before but the Violet tailed Sylpth, Velvet-Purple Coronet, Green crowned Brilliant, Steely vented Hummingbird, White tailed Hillstar (this maybe a split as is Rufous Gaped Hillstar), Rufous tailed Hummingbird, Purple bibbed Whitetip, Black throated Mango, Andean Emerald and the Empress Brilliant wernt! How about that for starters?

Andean Emerald

 



Purple Throated Woodstar

 

Velvet-Purple Coronet

 



White Tailed (or Rufous Gaped) Hillstar

 





Violet Tailed Sylph



Steady rain threatened to get heavier as the thunder clapped loudly, but the Hummingbirds didn't steal all the limelight as Flame-rumped and Blue-Grey Tanagers and Flame (Lemon) Rumped Tanagers frequented the Banana feeders.



 



After a fine evening meal and a sample of Chris's Rum and my whisky as a celebratory nightcap we eventually retired as the rain battered down.

 

A very early start and a long 12k drive all up hill along the bumpiest track imaginable, we were heading to the top of the Montezuma rd to the telecomm tower.

Early coffee and raincoats: Robin (our driver), Chris, Jose, Fernando, Noah, Jeff and myself all converged on the dinning area for a wake up coffee as the thunder clapping turned into monsoon rain. We put the tarpaulin sides down on the Land Cruiser and we set off  up the 12km track, even with the sides down myself and Noah got drenched! we huddled as far away from the leak as possible. Thoughts were running through my head that our first day in the Andes was going to be a wash out. We sat tight and continued uphill. After half an hour Chris jumped out of the cab and pointed out in the gloom a Yellow bellied Antpitta.... It could have been a wader as the track was flowing as if a small river. But it gave great views along the track for a minute, what a great bird to lift the spirits.

As we reached the top the rain became drizzle (and would eventually petter out to a fine day by 11am), although the telecomm tower was shrouded in cloud and mist.



 

Birding for wimps..... or just keeping the optics dry, you decide. Chris, Noah and Jeff

 

 

The umbrellas spent the next hour mainly keeping the optics dry, however it didn't take long for the birding to liven up as we picked up a great endemic Chestnut bellied Flowerpiecer... Well actually we had a few flitting about with one perching nicely at eye level and ten foot in front of us.... my Camera was in the truck and of course the bird had flown my the time I came running back with it. I did manage some record shots of the endemic.

Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiecer

 



The recently discovered Munchique Wood-Wren showed really well in a number of locations and add a lovely Purplish Mantled Tanager and a pair of SHOWY Narina Tapaculos... This was easier than I thought it was going to be.

More lovely species were seen as we set off on foot down the track, Lachrymose Mountain-Tanager, Black Capped Hemispingus, Rufous Spinetail, Dusky Bush-Tanager, Rufous headed Pygmy-Tyrant, Collared Inca, Brown Inca, and flocks of Handsome Flycatchers.

As the sun came out so did the endemic Gold Ringed Tanagers... Awesome birds and a target species for the trip. Its always nice to get targets early on. We would see 4 or 5 individuals during the morning

 

The Montezuma crew enjoy the mid morning sunshine

Jose, Chris, Noah Stryker, Jeff and myself - thanks to Fernando for taking the pic.

 

 

The "old man" of Cerro Tatama with the forest in the foreground bathed in cloud! Apparently the Old man has never been climbed, so sensibly we decline the offer to give it ago.

 

this is birding paradise.... Walking down the Montezuma road with the Western Andes as a fitting backdrop.... Jose, Fernando, Noah and Jeff

 

Noah takes an image of the impressive scenery at the higher elevations of Montezuma Road

 

 

a Band tailed Pigeon flies high above the canopy

 

 



More highlights continued with the fabulous Green and Black Fruiteater, Orange breasted Fruiteater, Golden winged Manakin which we saw on a nest, Black Chinned Mountain-Tanager and my first ever Motmot species with the impressive Andean (highland) Motmot all added to the collection of birds.

Green and Black Fruiteater

 

 

Andean (highland) Motmot

 





Beautiful Jay

 

 

This pair of Chestnut Breasted Chlorophonia have to be one of the prettiest birds you could wish to see, ask a child to colour a bird and this is what they would come up with.

 

 



Many other species were seen and logged, Sharpe's Wren, Greenish Puffleg, Bronze-Olive Pygmy-Tyrant, Black capped Tyrannulet, Western Wood Pewee, Green Jay, Golden Bellied Warbler, Plain Antvireo. Bicolored Antvireo (which was a lifer for our guide Jose`), Yelow Backed Oriole, Beryl Spangled Tanager, Booted Racket-tail, Ornate Flycatcher, Pale Eyed Thrush, a pair of Red Headed Barbet, and this Empress Brilliant on her nest was a lovely sight.



We got back to the Lodge in time to catch the last of the light and a few of the hummingbirds.

Empress Brilliant male





 

Purple-Throated Woodstar female

 

 

We didn't have it all our way as we missed all the Owls later in the evening, only the Crested Owl gave any response. however we ended the day with over 90 species of bird.

 

We finish the evening off with a few beers and a good chat before we retired ready for some lower elevation birding tomorrow.

Jose, Noah and Jeff settle down for dinner as the light fades on our first day in the Andes

 

Spring in full bloom

Bluebells - Hyacinthoides non-scripta

I saw these by the roadside this morning not too far from home so had to turn round for the camera.



April moths - at last a few species in better numbers

Winter for mothing is much of a write off so its nice to feel the slightly warmer mornings although as we know its sometimes undone with the rather lengthy month of April showers. Friday night lived upto expectations then.......

I place the trap slightly under cover to try to miss most of the night time rainfall and it worked with a relatively dry trap and my largest count of the early season upto now.

Hebrew Character

Small Quaker



this one confused me and is possibly a Clouded Drab



4 species from 19 individual moths, with the Hebrew Character being a lifer.

Orthosia cerasi	Common Quaker x2
Orthosia incerta	Clouded Drab x 6
Orthosia cruda	Small Quaker x1
Orthosia gothica	Hebrew Character x10