Chingaza - 23rd February
After meeting with Manuel and our driver at Bogota airport we set off to our first birding site. The plan was to travel out of Bogota to La Calera Hummingbird Garden in Chinganza National Park, a journey of about an hour. Then we had to return to Bogota airport late afternoon for a flight to Medellin. However that did give us quite a few hours birding time.
On route to the Hummingbird Gardens we did stop off at a few promising looking places. In fact we had clocked up 29 species before we got there. One stop was at Carpatos Reserve where we saw our only Torrent Duck of the trip and that was quickly followed by a White-capped Dipper. Two of the more notable birds seen during this time was a Plushcap and a Black-billed Mountain Tanager.
Here we saw ten species of hummingbird, including the two Trainbearers, two Woodstars, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Amethyst-throated Sunangel and Great Sapphirewing. Other notable birds were Andean Solitaire, Silvery-throated Spinetail, a pair of Citrine Warblers and Pearled Treerunner.
On route to the Hummingbird Gardens we did stop off at a few promising looking places. In fact we had clocked up 29 species before we got there. One stop was at Carpatos Reserve where we saw our only Torrent Duck of the trip and that was quickly followed by a White-capped Dipper. Two of the more notable birds seen during this time was a Plushcap and a Black-billed Mountain Tanager.
 |
| Torrent Duck - This species distribution covers the complete length of S America but restricted to the Andes. This was one of the first birds seen on our trip. |
 |
| American Kestrel - Conveniently perched for us. |
La Calera Hummingbird Garden
This was an attractive garden with many Hummingbird feeders and open to the public and there were several other people viewing and photographing the Hummers.Here we saw ten species of hummingbird, including the two Trainbearers, two Woodstars, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Amethyst-throated Sunangel and Great Sapphirewing. Other notable birds were Andean Solitaire, Silvery-throated Spinetail, a pair of Citrine Warblers and Pearled Treerunner.
 |
| Blue-throated Starfrontlet - The main part of the distribution of this near endemic is in Colombia with a small population creeping into Venezuela. |
 |
| Black-tailed Trainbearer - This species has a more restricted range than the other species on this page. It occurs from Colombia to Bolivia in small pockets. We only saw this species on our first day. |
 |
| Green-tailed Trainbearer - a female. An Andean species found from N Colombia to Bolivia. |
 |
| Glowing Puffleg - Another bird with a more restricted range, from western Venezuela to the very north of Bolivia. Again only seen on day 1. |
 |
| Sword-billed Hummingbird - Another species with an Andean distribution from Venezuela to Bolivia. Not a scarce species but we only saw two during the trip. |
 |
| Tyrian Metaltail - Fairly common in some places. Readily coming to feeders. |
 |
| Amethyst-throated Sunangel - The only one seen during the trip. An Andean species found from Venezuelea to Bolivia |
A few non-hummers were also seen during the day including :-
 |
| Citrine Warbler - This species is found at lower levels of montane forest from 2300-3400 meters altitudes. This was the only sighting during our trip. |
 |
| Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant - This species is found along mountain streams between 1600 and 3000 meters in elevation and is restricted to the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia. We only saw this species on two days during our trip. |
 |
| Pale-naped Brushfinch - Another bird with a more restricted range, from western Venezuela to the very north of Bolivia. A little more common and we saw on three occasions. |
After the Hummingbird garden we drove to the airport and took the short flight to Medellin. We stayed overnight at the comfortable Hacienda La Extremadura which was on the southern edge of Medellin.
OR
No comments:
Post a Comment