Tropical Birding Trip Report Colombia, February-March 2016 Colombia February 25th to March 10th, 2016 TOUR LEADER: Nick Athanas Report and photos by Nick Athanas White-whiskered Spinetail – bird of the trip! It had been a while since I had guided a Colombia trip, and I had forgotten how neat the birds were! This two week customized tour combined a Northern Colombia trip with some of the best sites in Central Colombia. The weather was beautiful, the birds were spectacular and cooperative, and most importantly we had a fun and friendly group; we all had a blast. Custom trips are a great option for groups of friends that like to travel together, and it really worked well this time. I really love that White-whiskered Spinetail was voted “bird of the trip” – it’s the only time I can remember a spinetail winning that honor – it’s an often unappreciated group, but this one is really special and we had point-blank views. Runner up was Santa Marta Antbird, which was also highly deserving as one of the newest splits of a truly www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Colombia, February-March 2016 amazing genus. Other favorites were Golden-winged Sparrow, Russet-throated Puffbird, Scarlet Ibis, Turquoise Dacnis, Blue-billed Curassow, Red-bellied Grackle, Sword-billed Hummer, Crested Owl, Chestnut Piculet, Striped Manakin, and shockingly, even a couple of tapaculos, which impressed some by showing amazingly well. We started off in the “megapolis” of Bogotá, which served as our base for the first few nights as we made day trips to nearby sites in the eastern cordillera of the Andes. A morning in the páramo at Chingaza National Park gave us great scenery and some birds not possible elsewhere, such as Pale-bellied Tapaculo, Golden-fronted Whitestart, Buff-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Rufous-browed Conebill, Pale-naped Brushfinch, and the distinct local forms of Tawny and Rufous Antpittas, White-chinned Thistletail, and Sedge Wren. We had one single female of the recently-split Green-bearded Helmetcrest, but we wished we could have found a male. Our afternoon stop was the “Hummingbird Observatory”, a private home that recently opened up their feeders to the public. It was an amazing show highlighted by the superb Blue-throated Starfrontlet, Sword-billed Hummer, both trainbearers, and Coppery-bellied Puffleg. Another day trip took us down to the subtropical forest near Laguna Pedro Palo. The endemic Turquoise Dacnis was our main target which we had good success with. I have to admit that the photo below was taken before the tour officially started, and we didn’t see it quite this closely on the tour, but we still had pretty nice views. Turquoise Dacnis at Laguna Pedro Palo It was a really birdy morning and we had tons of other species like Black Inca, Moustached Brushfinch, Emerald Toucanet, Scrub Tanager, and a nest of Spectacled Parrotlets, just to mention a few. In the afternoon we stopped at the www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Colombia, February-March 2016 nearby Parque Chicaque. It was foggy and quiet, but it was well worth the stop for the Golden-bellied Starfrontlets at the feeders and a cooperative Chestnut-crowned Antpitta. Before leaving Bogotá, we made the obligatory stop at Parque La Florida, having nice luck with the main targets: Bogotá Rail and Apolinar’s Wren. There was a good selection of other waterbirds, and we all enjoyed several Spot-flanked Gallinules (photo below) really showing off in amazing early morning light. Finally we left Bogotá’s horrible traffic behind and started descending into the Magdalena valley. We stopped for a while at the “Enchanted Garden”, which has the highest concentration of hummer feeders in a tiny back yard that I have ever seen. The swarms of hummers were almost dizzying! The endemic Indigo-capped Hummingbird was the most common, but there were many others like White-bellied and Gorgeted Woodstars, Red-billed Emerald, three violetears, White- necked Jacobin, Andean Emerald, White-vented Plumeleteer, and others. Afterwards, we crossed the Magdalena River, Colombia’s longest at nearly 1000 miles, and reached the friendly town of Victoria. We spent the afternoon and the following morning in the Bellavista Forest Reserve above the town and great success finding our target endemics: White-mantled Barbet, Beautiful Woodpecker, Velvet-fronted Euphonia, and Sooty Ant-Tanager, as well as some other neat birds like White-bibbed Manakin, Striped, and White-bearded Manakins, Bar-crested Antshrike, and Rufous- naped Greenlet. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Colombia, February-March 2016 Indigo-capped Hummingbird White-bibbed Manakin Sooty Ant-Tanager www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Colombia, February-March 2016 Leaving Victoria, our driver Hermes put me on to a site I hadn’t visited before, a lake called Charca de Guarinocito. It was pretty amazing the number of birds we saw there in a very short time. A nesting pair of Russet-throated Puffbirds was really neat, and the local cops even thought so too as they looked in the scope. They then warned us about the ferocious caimans and told us not to go swimming... Some of the other birds here were Savanna Hawk, Wattled Jacana, Large- billed Tern, Green Kingfisher, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Yellow-headed Caracara, Pied Water-Tyrant, Black-capped Donacobius, and Yellow-chinned Spinetail. Hermes also recommended a restaurant near the river called Don Dario – the food was great but the service slow, however there balcony provided nonstop birding even the heat of the day so all was fine. In the afternoon, we reached the Rio Claro Canyon, where we spent the night. With an afternoon and a morning here we added a bunch of lower elevation species, and also visited a nearby Oilbird cave, which was also fun. A friendly but over-enthusiastic dog followed us into the cave and did its best to scare the birds away, but luckily did not succeed. We had nice views of the birds, and those willing to wade through thigh-deep water got even closer. We also found the endemic Antioquia Bristle-Tyrant near the cave, and a fierce looking Crested Owl showed well near our lodge – we could hear it calling late into the night. Other birds we saw in this area were Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Blue-chested Hummingbird, Black-throated Trogon, Rufous Motmot, Collared Aracari, Yellow-throated Toucan, Chestnut-fronted Macaw, Pacific Antwren, Wedge-billed and Cocoa Woodcreepers, Southern Bentbill, Black- headed Tody-Flycatcher, Olivaceous Flatbill, Black-bellied and Bay Wrens, Buff-rumped Warbler, Plain-colored Tanager, and Orange-crowned Oriole, among others. We had one night in a nice hotel on the outskirts of Medellín, which was conveniently located near a small forest reserve called La Romera. The reserve has a few endemics, and it was a nice way to spend our last morning in central Colombia before flying north. Red-bellied Grackle is the star bird here, and we had several nice sightings of this striking endemic. Others included Colombian Chachalaca and Stiles’s Tapaculo, along with more widespread species like Sickle-winged Guan, Greenish Puffleg, Bronzy Inca, Western Emerald, Andean Motmot, Red-headed Barbet, Spotted Barbtail, Golden-crowned Flycatcher, and Green Jay. Our flight to Barranquilla was on time, and we spent a night there. We left the city early and reached Isla de Salamanca National Park at dawn. We were hoping to find a Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird, but had to be content with superb views of the similar Sapphire-throated Hummingbird before having our field breakfast. We quickly racked up a bunch of target species in the mangroves like Panama Flycatcher, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, Black-crested Antshrike, Chestnut Piculet, Golden-green Woodpecker, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Pied Puffbird, Bicolored Conebill, and amazing numbers of Prothonotary Warblers before driving to another spot. Here we had a different selection of species, including Stripe-backed and Bicolored Wrens, Pale- legged Hornero, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Limpkin, Black- collared Hawk, all three anis, Brown-throated Parakeet, White-headed Marsh-Tyrant, Bronzed Cowbird, and Yellow, Yellow-tailed, and Baltimore Orioles. We then headed northeast along the coast to the arid Guajira Peninsula. Our driver for this section of the trip, Virgilio, knew a stakeout for Double-striped Thick-knee, and sure enough a small flock (photo right) was lounging around www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Colombia, February-March 2016 in a cow pasture. We spent one night in a hotel in Riohacha and had an afternoon and a morning to bird the desert, dry woodland, and coastal lagoons. We did pretty well with our targets, though the exceptionally dry weather may have cost us a bird or two. Highlights included the aforementioned White-whiskered Spinetail, Vermilion Cardinal, Orinocan Saltator, White-fringed Antwren, Glaucous Tanager, Crested Bobwhite, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Black-faced Grassquit, Pileated Finch, and Green-rumped Parrotlet. The lagoon in the Los Flamencos reserve was teeming with waterbirds and shorebirds – Scarlet Ibis was the big hit, but it was also nice to see things like Black Skimmer, Reddish Egret, and even several rare Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Orinocan Saltator Vermilion Cardinal Tayrona National Park protects some nice rainforest near the Caribbean coast. Recent changes to park regulations that make it hard to get in early, and require all visitors to endure a 30+ minute presentation and briefing (given only in Spanish), had me considering removing it from the tour. However, our fantastic afternoon visit there makes me think it is worth the hassle.