Walking the main track from the entrance at the Rio Claro reserve had been a good start to the morning with a good selection of Birds, including six Ticks. Unfortunately, as we started on a narrow track going uphill & away from the river, it started drizzling. Some of the party immediately got their umbrellas out, even though it was only drizzle. None of the Brits thought it was worth using an umbrella. Birdquest have a policy of rotating the position of people on the narrower trails, so some of us were stuck behind others using umbrellas, which made it difficult to see past them. Birdquest should show a bit more sense with their policies: if people want to use umbrellas unnecessarily, they should stay at the back. After about a half hour, we finally reached a more open area & this had a lot of activity in it, especially as the drizzling had stopped & the umbrellas had disappeared. As the sun came out, it became even more warm & humid.
White-mantled Barbet: Another Central Colombian endemic
White-mantled Barbet: Showing off its acrobatic skills
The sunshine started the Manakins lekking. There was a small lek of Golden-headed Manakins near the path.
Pale-breasted Thrush: This is a widespread species that occurs across most of South America as far South as Peru, Bolivia & Northern Argentina
Pale-breasted Thrush
I think we were all pleased to be heading back to grab some lunch & a short siesta in the A/C rooms, before heading out in mid afternoon. We weren't use to this heat & humidity.
Beautiful Woodpecker: This endemic species is a speciality of the Northern Magdalena Valley
Long-tailed Tyrant: Despite being ten inches long, this species has a small body, thanks to the long tail
Walking back along the narrow track was probably better than walking up the track: probably as a result of the sun coming out again.
Olivaceous Piculet: They occur from Guatemala & Honduras to Colombia & West Venezuela
Golden-headed Manakin: Male. The females are dull green
Nearby, we saw a single Striped Manakin, but it didn't want to show itself properly.
Striped Manakin: This is another species which has been recently split with the Eastern Striped Manakin occurring in coastal SE Brazil, while Striped Manakin occurs from Colombia & Venezuela to Ecuador, Peru & W Amazonian Brazil
Slaty-winged Foliage-gleaner: This species which occurs from Panama to Colombia & West Ecuador
Slim-fingered Rain Frog: This medium-sized Frog was on the narrow path & thanks to the internet, it can be identified
Finally, we were back on the main track. It was late morning & most of the activity had dropped off. The exception was this Pale-breasted Thrush, which looked like it was feeding some youngsters.
