4 Mar 18 - Colombia: A Slower Morning At Rio Claro

We were back into the Rio Claro reserve for a final morning after an excellent, but long, first day. It was wetter than the first morning. That would have made the photograph more difficult, as I was struggling with light in the forest when it was sunny. As a result, after some initial photography around the entrance, I decided to leave the camera in the minibus for most of the morning.

The entrance gate

Great Kiskadee: This morning, there was a Great Kiskadee around the entrance gate, which provided a nice contract to the previous morning's Boat-billed Flycatcher. Note, the slimmer, more normal bill & the extensive rufous in the wings

Boat-billed Flycatcher: They are quite different. I normally have problems in South America & end up checking the features as I generally can't stay awake long enough to remember them: they are as dull as large immature seagulls (3 Mar 18)

Another Tyrant Flycatcher group that I end up having to check the books on the Streaked Flycatcher & Piratic Flycatcher group. Again, they aren't particularly tricky to separate if you can remember the features. We saw both species at Rio Claro & it was the first time, I had seen these species for fourteen & sixteen years, respectively.

Streaked Flycatcher: Piratic Flycatcher is superficially similar, but has a smaller, stubbier bill & doesn't have the dark moustachial line

Band-backed Wren: This is one of the large group of large Neotropical Wrens

Saffron Finch: Male

Varied White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Having its breakfast

One of the highlights of the morning was seeing a Yellow-striped Poison Frog. I got into Frogs as a small kid & several years before Birds. So, I have always had an interest in seeing them. This is particularly true of the 'Poison Arrows' Frogs of Central & Southern America. These species are usually small & brightly coloured to advertise they are all very poisonous. There are a number of species that have been used in the past by native Indians to poison their arrows when hunting. Presumably, the effect of the poison must wear off, only be a problem if it gets into the blood stream  or disappear as the meat is cooked.

Yellow-striped Poison Frog: This is a widespread Colombian endemic species

We walked back up the small trail & saw a similar set of species to the first morning, albeit we didn't see the Beautiful Woodpecker again, as we didn't go far enough up the trail. The highlight of the morning was when Janos heard a singing Magdalena Antbird on the small trail: it wasn't close. We ended up having to find a small path down to the small stream, next to the trail. There was a steep rocky hillside on the far side of this stream, which looked impossible to get up. After a bit of searching, we started to see the Magdalena Antbird moving around about twenty metres above our heads. It was singing from a number of preferred rocky ledges & bushes, before disappearing out of sight & reappearing at another of its preferred song points. Once we had worked out where it was singing from, it was possible to get reasonable views of it. This was one of only two Ticks for the day: the other being Grey-headed Tanager. While we were watching the Magdalena Antbird, a Barred Forest Falcon appeared & gave some nice, prolonged views. The views were much better than the brief pre-dawn views we had seen at Montezuma. Pity the camera was still in the minibus. It had finished raining, by the time we arrived back at the hotel. There was a Ruddy Ground-dove feeding around the restaurant area. Time to make use of the camera again. After some food, we packed the bags & spent the rest of the afternoon travelling to Medellin. There wasn't any further Birding opportunities as it was close to dusk by the time we arrived.

Ruddy Ground-dove: This is a widespread species which occurs from Mexico to Central Argentina

The bags were all packed as we only had a short time for Birding the next morning, due to an early flight. But there was time for a dawn visit to the nearby site of La Romera. This was a quiet minor road with forest on either side. A few years earlier, Yellow-headed Manakins had been found breeding. After a bit of searching we found a male singing from a small perch in the forest. We had already seen five endemic Red-bellied Grackles soon after arriving & Janos had lured an endemic Stiles's Tapaculo into view. We were leaving by 08:00 & I had three Ticks under the belt. The first flight was to Bogota, where we had plenty of time for a leisurely lunch, before a mid afternoon flight to the Northern coastal city of Santa Marta. We were met by three 4WDs which slowly took us & all our bags up to the excellent ProAves El Dorado Lodge, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range. It was dark by the time we finally arrived. This was to be our base for the next three nights.

3 Mar 18 - Colombia: Early Morning At Rio Claro

We only had a few minutes of  driving to get to the entrance to the Rio Claro National Park which was a pleasant change. We were still up well before light as we had the opportunity to have a quick breakfast before leaving the hotel. The first few minutes of Birding was around the entrance gate, as it was locked up. However, somebody quickly appeared to let us into the park. There was a small open area once we got through the entrance gate which allowed a selection of species to be easily seen.

Boat-billed Flycatcher: Best told from the similar looking Great Kiskadee by the heavy bill with a curved upper mandible and the olive brown upperparts, compared to the rusty coloured wings & tail of a Great Kiskadee

 Straight-billed Woodcreeper: This is a widespread species which occurs from Panama to Venezuela, Brazil, Peru & Bolivia

There were a number of groups of Parrots & Parakeets flying passed, but none were close. But our attention quickly changed when somebody saw my first Barred Puffbird in the open area. Puffbirds often sit still for some time while looking for their next meal. So, they can be reasonably cooperative to see at times, but their sedentary habits mean they can also be easily overlooked.

Barred Puffbird: They occur from Panama to West Ecuador

Barred Puffbird: Just gorgeous

Just as we started to walk along the main track into the forest, Janos heard a Bare-crowned Antbird calling. It provided some reasonable views close to the forest edge. We had only been going about thirty minutes & this Bare-crowned Antbird was my third Tick.

Bare-crowned Antbird: This species occurs from Guatemala & Belize to Northern Colombia

As we continued along the main track, we ran into our second species of Puffbird for the morning: a White-whiskered Puffbird.

The main track with the river to the left

White-whiskered Puffbird: They occur from SE Mexico to Central Colombia

Varied White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Sadly, this party were very wary & quickly disappeared

This was the first time on the trip we had been in low elevation forest & the good Birds kept on coming.

Gartered Violaceous Trogon: This species used to be known as Violaceous Trogon, before it was split a few years ago into three species. Guianan Violaceous Trogon & Amazonian Violaceous Trogon were the other two species. I've chosen to retain the old name within its name

Gartered Violaceous Trogon: This species looks very similar to Amazonian Violaceous Trogon, but can be split on range and it also had a more extensive white line separating the yellow from the blue upper breast & throat

Black-headed Tody-flycatcher: This species occurs from Costa Rica to Colombia. NW Venezuela & West Ecuador. Despite having Birded in all these countries, albeit only Eastern Venezuela, it was another Tick for the morning

Yellow-margined Flycatcher: This is a widespread species which occurs from Colombia & Venezuela to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia & Brazil

Not surprisingly there were a few Butterflies along the track, as well as, some excellent large dainty Damselflies.

Butterfly sp.

Another Butterfly sp.

Large Damselfly sp.: This was closer in body length to a small Hawker Dragonfly

Large Damselfly sp.: They were amazing in flight. It's a pity this photo isn't sharp, but it gives an idea of how different they looked compared to UK Damselflies

We had been walking slowly along the main track for around an hour or so. We hadn't covered a great distance, but had seen a lot in that time. There was a small track heading uphill & away from the river, which we took. I will cover the Birds along that track in the next Post.