25 Feb 18 - Colombia: C Is For Colibri

After spending the morning up on the Paramo watching the excellent-looking Buffy Helmetcrests, we descended a bit for lunch at the Hotel Termales del Ruiz, which was an impressive looking hotel built around some hot springs. We were booked to spend the night in the hotel. After a bit of hassle with keys, the bags were safely in the rooms and we could check out the Hummingbird feeders in the garden. It was a Sunday lunchtime & the hotel was clearly popular with Colombian day trippers visiting the mountains. There was a steady stream of people heading to the feeders to see & feed the Hummingbirds. It isn't hard to see why it was a popular hotel. It proved to be one of the most enjoyable sites we visited.

Brian Field: Making a new friend

Rainbow-bearded Thornbill: This is one of my favourite Hummingbirds

Rainbow-bearded Thornbill

Rainbow-bearded Thornbill: Although I had seen it before in Ecuador, this was one of the best Birds of the trip

Black-thighed Puffleg: This looks like a female or sub-adult male Black-thighed Puffleg after comparing it with other photos online

Golden-breasted Puffleg: Just gorgeous

Golden-breasted Puffleg

Shining Sunbeam

Shining Sunbeam: This is a large & distinctive species

Buff-winged Starfrontlet: The prominent buff wing panel makes this an easy Hummingbird to identify

Buff-winged Starfrontlet: The buff wing panel is just about visible in this photo

Buff-winged Starfrontlet: These feeders were being sold for a US dollar & were very popular with visitors and Hummingbirds

Buff-winged Starfrontlet

Mountain Velvetbreast: Another easy to identity species as it was the only Hummingbird at the hotel with a curved bill

Mountain Velvetbreast: Female

Great Sapphirewing: A large & long-winged species

Great Sapphirewing

Great Sapphirewing: My only natural habitat photo

The local Flower-piercers had also worked out that there was an easy source of sugar. The holes in the feeders were too small to get their bills in, however, they were able to open their bills & get their tongues in.

Glossy Flower-piercer

Glossy Flower-piercer

Masked Flower-piercer

It was a pity when we had to leave to explore further down the road below the hotel.

25 Feb 18 - Colombia: Punks On The Paramo

It was a very early pre-dawn alarm call as we had to up at the paramo at first light: we only just made it. The plan was to be at some roadside cliffs looking for the endemic Rufous-fronted Parakeets. We had only just got out of the minibus when four flew out of their roost on the cliffs. Fortunately, we saw another thirteen in flight towards the end of the morning, but I didn't manage to get any worthwhile photos.

Rufous-fronted Parakeet: The light was too poor for any photos, so here is a photo from the park sign board

With the endemic high altitude Rufous-fronted Parakeet seen, we were back in the minibus to continue to the park entrance gate at over 4000 metres. It was a cold, overcast & misty morning, but the heavy duty down jacket I had bought for the initial part of the Atlantic Odyssey proved perfect.

The Nevado del Ruiz park entrance

The park entrance

There was a nice flowery garden outside the main office: Unfortunately, there was also an awkward jobsworth who was just as annoying to his colleagues as he was to us & who objected to us looking at the Hummers using these flowers

One of these would have been very nice: We did spend some time looking on hillsides, but with no success

It didn't take long to find a male Buffy Helmetcrest. But it did take some time to get some good photos, but it was worth the effort.

Buffy Helmetcrest: This must be one of the best looking of the Central Andean Colombian endemics

Buffy Helmetcrest

Buffy Helmetcrest

Buffy Helmetcrest: Superb

Brown-backed Chat-tyrant: Another Andean species which occurs from Colombia & Venezuela to Peru & Bolivia

Stout-billed Cinclodes: This species occurs in the Andes of Colombia & Ecuador

Stout-billed Cinclodes: There were a few around

Stout-billed Cinclodes: Most of the Cinclodes species have wing bars

Plumbeous Sierra-finch: Male. They occur from Colombia & West Venezuela along the full length of the Andes to Chile & Argentina

Glossy Flower-piercer

Rufous-collared Sparrow: A very widespread Neotropical species. But looks like somebody is studying this local population, given the rings

Paramo lake: We had a quick look on this Paramo lake before we left. There were a few Andean Teal & Andean Ducks, but not much else

Finally, we had had our fill of the Buffy Helmetcrest & it was time to drop down in elevation. We had time for a final walk along the road, where the highlight was good views of a Red-crested Cotinga. We had seen a couple of distant individuals at Cerro Guadalupe, so, it was good to get better views.

Red-crested Cotinga: No prizes for guessing how it gets its name

Viridian Metaltail

Plain-coloured Seedeater: This species occurs from Colombia & Venezuela along the full length of the Andes to Chile & Argentina

It was time to move on for lunch & early afternoon treats at our next hotel: the excellent Hotel Termales del Ruiz.