3 Mar 18 - Colombia: Oilbirds

In the middle of the afternoon, we all met up again. The plan was to walk to some nearby Oilbird caves. Oilbirds are a monotypic Nightbird family. They roost & nest colonially in caves. They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating Bird & also are capable of echo locating in the dark. Although they have a wide range covering Trinidad, Panama, Colombia & Venezuela, Guyana, North Brazil,  Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia, there seemed to be a limited number of sites where they can easily be seen. I had only seen them once before in Eastern Venezuela & I was keen to see some more. We drove for a few minutes from the hotel, before pulling over. It was then a half hour walk across open, hot fields where we saw a few familiar species, before we reached a stream within a wood. It was good to get out of the sun. We had been told before in the itinerary, that we would be walking up the stream. In the end, I decided it would be too hot to wear the wellies I had brought & went in my travel sandals. They were perfect in the cool stream, which would have been too deep for the light boots I was normally wearing.

Spectacled Parrotlet: Finally, some reasonable views

 Bare-faced Ibis

After about ten minutes of walking along the stream, we arrived at the Oilbird cave. Not surprisingly, they were dark where the Oilbirds were roosting. Janos had brought a torch which had a broad coverage, but wasn't particularly bright to avoid disturbing the Oilbirds. The photos aren't fantastic, but considering they were taken with a 100 - 400mm lens, on maximum extension, with an ISO setting of 16,000 & 1/25 second, they have come out well enough. All I had was a rock to hold the camera against.

Oilbird

Oilbird

The only problem was after the Oilbird, Janos wanted to head up a very rocky stream bed to look for a Southern Bentbill he had seen on previous trips. Southern Bentbill is yet another Tyrant Flycatcher & while it was a Tick, I decided that it was too slippery to risk breaking an ankle in the sandals & quickly turned back. I decided, it wouldn't be the end of the world, if I miss a few Tyrant Flycatchers in my lifetime. However, when they returned having seen the only Grey-cheeked Nunlets of the trip, then I wished I had pushed on.

Slim-fingered Rain Frog: The second of the day

Slim-fingered Rain Frog: The last view many invertebrates have ever seen

Jesus Lizard: This Lizard is found in streams & rivers. When disturbed, they are able to run across the water's surface, which is why they are commonly known as Jesus Lizards. Their alternative name is Common Basilisk

Damselfly sp.

We were back at the hotel close to dusk. There was enough time to skip the starter at dinner & enjoy a cooling swim in the swimming pool. Every now & then large, Paraque-sized Bats hawked over the pool chasing Moths. A great end to the day.

3 Mar 18 - Colombia: Steamy Birding At Rio Claro

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.

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

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.

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.

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.