27 Feb 18 - Colombia: Early Morning At Montezuma

We had time for a quick pre-dawn coffee before jumping into the jeeps for a long & slow bumpy hour along the track to the top of the Montezuma trail in the Tatuma National Park. We arrived just before first light on a forested ridge. There was a small army camp on the hill to our right. We were told, that the army is tolerant of Birders visiting the trail, especially as most who visit are staying at the Montezuma Rainforest Lodge & going up with their guides & jeeps. However, we were also told to avoid pointing cameras in the direction of the base. The guides also told us that the camp had been attacked on more than one occasion during the civil war by members of the FARC, so the lack of photos rule was understandable. Soon after we arrived, we saw our first goodie for the day: a pair of Chestnut-bellied Flower-piercers.

First light: It looked like it was going to be good weather

Chestnut-bellied Flower-piercer: They weren't close & the light wasn't great, but this was the only occasion we saw this local Colombian endemic

Looking across to the distant mountain ridge

Having seen the Chestnut-bellied Flower-piercers, we dropped back down the trail a bit to an area where a few Hummingbird feeders had been hung in the forest, to allow us to have breakfast with the local Hummers. The guides visited the area frequently enough to keep the feeders topped up to attract the Hummers.

Collared Inca: I'm always happy to see an easy to identify Hummingbird

Dusky Starfrontlet: This species was a real bonus species. It is a tricky endemic that is restricted to a few Choco sites. Fortunately, a couple had recently started appearing at these forest feeders

Dusky Starfrontlet

We also saw our first Purplish-mantled Tanagers around the same area. Initially, they were quite skulky.

Purplish-mantled Tanager: A tantalising view of  this Choco forest species from Colombia & NW Ecuador

Purplish-mantled Tanager: Fortunately, they became more confiding

Purplish-mantled Tanager: Absolutely gorgeous

Another species that was good to see again was this Black-throated Tody-tyrant, which I had only seen once before in Ecuador in 2002.

Black-throated Tody-tyrant

Studies of the Grey-breasted Wood-wrens in Colombia in the early 2000s revealed that there was more than one species involved. One of the splits was Muchique Wood-wren which was described from the Choco forests on the Pacific slope of the Colombian Western Andes. Obviously, this was another target species & one that we saw close to the Hummer feeders.

Munchique Wood-wren: It's fairly easy to see how this species was overlooked as a Grey-breasted Wood-wren

Munchique Wood-wren: This species is restricted to a few locations on the Pacific slope of the Colombian Western Andes

Buffy Tuftedcheek: A record shot of the johnsoni subspecies which is sometimes split as Pacific Tuftedcheek

American Swallow-tailed Kite: One of the most distinctive Birds of Prey in the World

As always, Rainforests are great places to explore for the vast number of less obvious species. The problem is I generally don't have a look of time to start looking at the ground & it's even harder on an organised tour.

Centipede sp.: I always given Centipedes a wide berth in the Tropics as I've heard too many stories of people handling them & later finding they have tropical skin infections from chemicals they have released that take a long time to clear up

I generally find small Rainforest flowers are hard to find, but they can be very rewarding to look at.

Orchid sp.

Flower sp.

Flower sp.

It was only mid morning & we had most of the day to head back down the mountain track to the lodge. I'll cover the rest of the day in the next Post.

24 Feb 18 - Colombia: Andean Pygmy-owl & White-capped Tanager

While the other four Birdwatchers were having their lunch at the accommodation block, there was time to photograph some of the Hummingbirds that were arriving for their lunch. Although the reality of lunch for many Hummingbirds is probably an extended breakfast which starts soon after they leave their roost site & finishes just before they head off to roost. Finally, it was our turn for lunch.

Long-tailed Sylph: Another widespread South American species which occurs from Colombia & Venezuela to Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia

Collared Inca

Collared Inca: It is always good to have an easy to identify Hummingbird

Buff-tailed Coronet: The buff in the outer tail feathers & the bend of the wing help to identify this species

Fawn-breasted Brilliant: This species occurs in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador & Peru

Lunch over, we headed back into the upper forest.

The forest looked excellent

Another forest view 

Streaked Xenops: The Xenops group are some of the smallest of the 300 or so Ovenbirds & Woodcreepers family

The afternoon was good for Tapaculos with Ocellated Tapaculo, Spillmann's Tapaculo & Blackish Tapaculo seen & Ash-coloured Tapaculo heard. Tapaculos are one of the trickier Neotropical families to figure out. About 75% of the family are small, dark grey or black species with a few having a hint of white on the forehead & maybe a patch of chestnut around the vent. They are incredibly skulky & generally scurry around on the ground like Mice in the darkest of ground vegetation. Their one saving grace is they can be enticed to investigate recordings, when they will sometimes show close to the forest edge. It's then a matter of luck if you catch a movement & they pose briefly in a more open area for a photo. Thanks to Janos's knowledge of their calls & ability to pull them out with recordings, I managed to see thirteen species of Tapaculos on the Colombia trip.

Ocellated Tapaculo: This is the exception in Colombia to the rule of non-descript dark grey or black Tapaculos. It's a big & bulky species with obvious white spots with a bright rufous face & rump. It's a pity I wasn't in the right place when it showed clearly without vegetation in the way

Blackish Tapaculo: This is fairly typical of the rest of the Tapaculos in Colombia

One of the species that we saw that afternoon was my first Andean Pygmy-owl. This is a small, dirurnal forest Owl that occurs in the Andes of Colombia & Venezuela to Ecuador & Peru.

Andean Pygmy-owl

Andean Pygmy-owl: To confuse predators, they have these obvious white markings on the nape

Masked Trogon: There are 29 species of Neotropical Trogons & Quetzels. It's important to note the head & belly colouration and undertail pattern. The red belly with the white separating band & broad white patches on a black tail confirm the identification

Masked Trogon: Trogons can be really tricky to figure out from the back

The other big highlight of the afternoon was my first White-capped Tanager.

White-capped Tanager: They are a very large & distinctive Tanager

White-capped Tanager: They occur from Colombia & West Venezuela to Ecuador & Peru

One of the interesting things about wandering around in tropical forests is some of the bizarre species you sometimes bump into. I try to avoid touching trees or plants before looking at them first, to reduce the chances of leaning on trees with large Ants or other invertebrates on them. Likewise, I'm checking plants for those with spikes or thorns.

Fly: This looked like a normal looking Fly, until I looked a bit closer to see the heavy defences

A leaf best avoided

However, not everything in the forest was worth avoiding as the following photos show.

Flower sp.

Pink Orchid sp.

Orange Orchid sp.

Although we hadn't been allowed to arrive till after first light, there didn't seem to be a problem staying in the reserve until dusk & so we were on the main track at dusk when a White-throated Screech-owl & a Rufous-bellied Nighthawk provided some final Nightbird entertainment. Soon after we were back in the minibus at the main accommodation block to head back to hotel in Manizales. The Rio Blanco reserve had been a good place to visit.

18 Feb 18 - Colombia: Afternoon Coffee With Extra Hummers

After a two & a half hour journey in the minibus from the upper slopes of Sumapaz National Park, we finally reached our destination for the afternoon: Chicaque Park. We were quickly to discover that it was never quick travelling between sites in Colombia, even though the destinations weren't always far apart. This was partly due to travelling in a minibus on roads with few opportunities for overtaking. Chicaque Park looks to be a large national park, although we spend most of our time drinking coffee whilst photographing the Hummers coming into the feeders by the cafe. I normally find it takes a while getting my eye at a new place with Hummer feeders. This isn't helped by my normal pattern of travelling around in the Neotropics. No sooner than I get familiar with the typical Hummer species at one site, then I'm moving onto a new elevation or Andean slope & have to start working out & learning the regular species again. Additionally, many species have overlapping features & I can't remember all the features in my head. Seeing 64 species in three & a half weeks didn't help either. The best way to start is to find a species that looks obvious & familiar. Collared Incas are fairly obvious to pick out, as they are distinctive and have a large range from Colombia & Venezuela to Peru & Bolivia, which means that I've bumped into them on a few occasions in Ecuador.

Collared Inca: I was happy with this photo considering it was an overcast & damp afternoon & the light wasn't great

Collared Inca: They are a fairly large Hummingbird with this distinctive large white collar & a lot of white in both the undertail & the outer tail feathers on the upper side of the tail and a long straight bill

This Hummingbird looks superficially similar to a Collared Inca, but is a female Tourmaline Sunangel.

Tourmaline Sunangel: Female. This has an obvious white throat, but the white doesn't extend around the sides of the neck. Additionally, it doesn't have the white in the tail & is noticeably shorter-billed

Tourmaline Sunangel: Male. The males are more non-descript, especially when the light doesn't catch the purple throat

The next easy identification was a Woodstar. Woodstars are one of my favour groups of Hummingbirds as they are small & hyperactive. Most of the Woodstars I've seen hover while feeding, so it was good to see one which was happy to come in & perch up: making it easier to photograph them. A check of the excellent Pro Aves field guide & it was confirmed as a female Gorgeted Woodstar. At just over 2 inches long, it one of the world's smallest Birds.

Gorgeted Woodstar: The small size, pale underparts & pale collar suggest this is a Woodstar. The buff underparts & rufous uppertail & the Eastern Andes location indicates this is a female Gorgeted Woodstar

The next species to get my eye in on was a Puffleg. Pufflegs are less obvious, but have noticeable white feathering around the legs. This is a very useful feature as it helps to narrow the range of pages to check down from thirty two, to just two.

Glowing Puffleg: This individual is starting to develop its shiny purple gorget which is surrounded by a narrow buffy border on the Eastern Andes vestita subspecies

Another of the more subtle Hummingbirds was this Lesser Green Violet-ear. A few years ago, this species was known as Green Violet-ear. When the Northern subspecies was split as Mexican Violet-ear, the remaining subspecies from Costa Rica to Peru, Bolivia & extreme NW Argentina was renamed Lesser Violet-ear. Rather than lose all links to the original name, I often try to keep a reference in the English name to the original name.

Lesser Green Violet-ear: This is an all green Hummingbird with a noticeable purple lower face and ear coverts

Finally, we saw our main target species for Chicaque Park: a Golden-bellied Starfrontlet. No amount of sharpening will cover up that this photo wasn't in focus: but it's the best I have of this near endemic Hummer.

Golden-bellied Starfrontlet: This species occurs in the Eastern Andes & just over the border into Venezuela

Brian was using the same camera & lens as I was: a Canon 7D Mark II with the Mark II 100 - 400 mm lens. I was disappointed for the few days with my photographs compared to what Brian was getting. Finally, I realised the image stabilisation wasn't enabled on the lens & that made a big difference, especially on days when we were in the forests & the light wasn't great. We had a short walk along the entrance track, before the minibus caught us up & we returned to our hotel in Bogota. it had been a long day, but good with ten Ticks. I was glad we had arrived early the previous day so that we had had chance to start getting over the jetlag & used to the altitude.