Yellow-eared Parrots

Not much chance to work on the sleep deficit as once again we made a 4.30am start taking breakfast with us.


Our destination this morning was the Reserva del Loro Orejiamarillo. It was a sign of things to come that in place of yesterday’s minibus we were now using two Jeeps. Our journey in the dark on a rough winding road was punctuated by mudslides and rockslides which soon began to present something of a challenge even to these tough 4 x 4 vehicles. Eventually we reached a huge mudslide that had completely destroyed the road. It was time to start walking!

Once we had negotiated the mudslide and set off uphill, it took an hour or so to reach the reserve, an hour during which we were, of course, stopping regularly to look for birds. Species seen included Collared Inca, Amethyst-throated Sunangel, Tourmaline Sunangel, Buff-tailed Coronet and Tyrian Metaltail (all hummingbirds) plus Ocellated Tapaculo, Blue-capped Tanager, Lachrymose Mountain-Tanager, Tanager-Finch, Stripe-headed Brush-Finch, Slaty Brush-Finch, Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant, Golden-fronted Whitestart and Citrine Warbler. What wonderful names some of these birds have!

Golden-fronted Whitestart

Tourmaline Sunangel

Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant

We had climbed to about 2,900 metres above sea level. We positioned ourselves where we could see over a wide area of the reserve and then waited for our target birds to appear. Loro Orejiamarillo is Spanish for Yellow-eared Parrot and the reserve is part of the remarkable conservation success story that surrounds this species which for many years was thought to be extinct.

Yellow-eared Parrots live among wax palms (Ceroxylon quindiuense), the national tree of Colombia, a species which itself is threatened. They nest in the hollow trunks of the palm trees. The story of their decline is a familiar one, involving hunting and habitat destruction, particularly the harvesting of wax palms, which are traditionally cut down and used each year on Palm Sunday.

Following the rediscovery of a small population of Yellow-eared Parrots in 1998, a combination of measures has seen the population increase significantly to the point where the species is no longer considered Critically Endangered, simply Endangered! These measures included habitat protection, a nest box scheme and a campaign to reduce the use of the wax palm for Palm Sunday celebrations.

We didn’t have to wait too long. First, five birds were seen at quite some distance but they dropped into the forest and promptly disappeared. Then two birds flew more or less over our heads and landed on a bare snag, again some way off but allowing reasonable views through a telescope. And then another bird flew by not too far away. It had been a struggle to get there and see the birds but eventually they were seen well, it had been a worthwhile climb; we called it a “landslide victory”!

Yellow-eared Parrot

We also saw three other Psittacids here: Scarlet-fronted Parakeet, Blue-headed Parrot and Speckle-faced Parrot.

After lunch back in Jardín we set off on the long road trip to the Reserva Natural Rio Branco, located near Manizales. That we arrived there later than planned was due in part to a small diversion along the way to look for Greyish Piculet and Apical Flycatcher, two more endemic species. It wasn’t that it took a long time to find them, it was the fact that we also found many more birds in the same area and stayed much longer than we had intended. Amongst them were Scrub Tanager, Moustached Puffbird, Bar-crested Antshrike and the more familiar Bay-breasted Warbler, a migrant that I’ve seen often in the USA.

Moustached Puffbird

It had been another long day. I didn’t need much rocking, as they say.

More to come…

Colombia - Part 2

Our third morning in Colombia required another early start as we left the Pacific coast bound first of all for Medellín. We arrived early at the airport at Bahía Solano and there was plenty of time for birding along the road where Spot-headed Barbet, Ringed Kingfisher and Rusty-margined Flycatcher were amongst the species that helped pass the time before the arrival of our SEARCA charter aircraft.

Our SEARCA flight arrives at Bahía Solano

In Medellín, we had plenty of time to visit La Romera, a park well-known as a site where the endemic Red-bellied Grackle can be found. We struggled initially to get good views of these birds but eventually one or two came to feed in trees along the roadside and later a small group of them came close as we were eating our picnic lunch. Also here were a White-capped Dipper and Russet-backed Oropendolas.

Our onward flight to Manizales was delayed for more than an hour with the result that further birding was limited to a visit to a water treatment plant. This unlikely place was home to a pair of Lyre-tailed Nightjars which we saw very well, including a nest with young located in a hole in a concrete wall. The male Nightjar had actually entered a building, presumably to feed on moths attracted to the lights - not sure what the Red-necked Nightjars of the Algarve or the European Nightjars of Cannock Chase would have made of it all!

Lyre-tailed Nightjar

Our two-night stay in Manizales was at the very nice Hotel Termales del Otoňo, featuring as its name suggests thermal hot springs. Southern Lapwings were not only on the grass outside our rooms but also on the roof!

As usual, time to enjoy our comfortable accommodation was strictly limited and next morning we left pre-dawn intending to spend the day at Rio Blanco Ecological Reserve. We were probably more than half way there when we found the road blocked by a mudslide that had presumably been triggered by the heavy overnight rain. A change of plan was required and so, after returning to the hotel to get warmer clothes, we went instead to Los Nevados National Park in the central Colombian Andes. In this park is Nevado del Ruiz, the 5,321-metre volcano that in 1985 erupted, killing an estimated 23,000 people in the town of Armero. However, this morning the volcano was unfortunately hidden by cloud.

At this high elevation we were in páramo, a neotropical ecosystem that consists of grasslands, peat bogs and a variety of shrubs, notably the succulent, Espeletia. Our first short birding stop was above a small lake where several Andean Ducks could be seen. A Many-striped Canastero was singing from the top of a nearby bush.

Páramo with Espeletia

A little bit higher up, near the park entrance, we found one of THE birds of the entire trip, a Bearded Helmetcrest, a hummingbird in case you're not familiar! Also here were a Tawny Antpitta and a Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant that at a distance had the look of a Whinchat about it as it perched on the top of a bush.

Bearded Helmetcrest

On the way back downhill, we birded along the road and found a succession of new birds that included Andean Tit-Spinetail, Black-backed Bush Tanager, Blue-backed Conebill, Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager, Golden-fronted Whitestart, Black-chested Buzzard Eagle, Stout-billed Cinclodes and Sedge Wren. However, good as this was, when word was received that the road to Rio Blanco was now open again, off we went reverting to our original plan.

We had lunch at the lodge there and then spent more than an hour photographing the scores of hummingbirds that were coming to the feeders. Easily the most numerous species was the easy to identify Buff-tailed Coronet, but Sparkling Violet-ear, Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Speckled Hummingbird, Bronzy Inca, Collared Inca, Tourmaline Sunangel, Long-tailed Sylph and White-bellied Woodstar soon became familiar.

Lodge at Rio Blanco

Buff-tailed Coronet

Collared Inca

Tourmaline Sunangel

We were persuaded to leave this spectacular hummingbird show when the opportunity to see one or more species of antpittas was promised. These birds are being fed daily on a diet of juicy worms put out for them in a metal bowl placed in a forest clearing, a ploy that has been used to good effect at various places in Ecuador. Not surprisingly, the feeder of the antpittas was christened the 'worm man' and we followed behind him as he went about his task. He might have been disappointed that on the way to the feeding site we couldn't help but be distracted for several minutes by one of the best feeding flocks that we saw all week, but before too long we settled down to watch the antpitta show. The bowl was placed in its usual place and we all sat quietly as the 'worm man' began to whistle, signalling to the birds that dinner was served! It was remarkable - we didn't have to wait long at all before three species of antpittas arrived: Chestnut-crowned, Slate-crowned just briefly and the endemic Brown-banded. It was quite a sight!

Chestnut-crowned Antpitta

And so ended our fourth day in Colombia but there was much more to come...