La Romera and Jardin 24th February 2020
After breakfast at the Hacienda
La Extremadura we drove for about an hour on a mountain road to the La Romera reserve where we began birding in earnest.
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| Early morning view over Medellin from our hotel |
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| La Extremadura Hotel |
La Romera Reserva
We only visited a small part of the reserve and this was along a road that ran around the side of a forested mountain and valley. The target bird was the rare and beautiful Yellow-headed Manakin which we found without too much trouble on its favourite perch. We also saw in the forest the endemics Red-bellied Grackle and Colombian Chachalaca, plus Sickle-winged Guan, and Emerald Toucanet.
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| First stop of the day was La Romera Reserva. |
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| View across La Romera Reserva |
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| Yellow-headed Manakin - This was the main target bird at this site. A NEAR ENDEMIC and rare species and sat on it's favourite perch. It did take a while for it to appear but when it did it stayed for a while. |
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| A near endemic to Colombia. It has a very restricted range in Colombia as well as Ecuador. |
A short video of the Yellow-headed Manakin. Select HD playback for the best result.
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| Colombian Chachalaca - Another ENDEMIC species restricted to the Colombian Andes. About six were present. |
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| Red-bellied Grackle - Another ENDEMIC species. About 9 birds were present. |
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to the northern tip of Argentina. |
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| Yellow-throated Vireo - A species that breeds in N America and winters through Central America, the Caribbean to Colombia. A scarce bird in Colombia. |
By mid-morning we had seen most of the key species at La Romera, we boarded our vehicle for the journey to Jardin. On route we had an excellent lunch at a roadside restaurant.
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| Lunch stop |
Jardin
After lunch we continued our drive to Jardin and checked in to the Valdivia Plaza Hotel, which was on the main square. We then walked a short distance along a level street then down a steep slope towards the river and the Cock-of-the-Rock lek.
The lek was situated in a private garden which ran alongside the steep slope that ran down to the river. There were about 20 birds present in the lek all displaying like crazy in the trees. Many were very close so chances for a good photo were good. As a bonus there were other birds to photograph: Green Jay, Red-bellied Grackle and Green Hermit. After leaving the lek we stopped off at a cafe with an open balcony overlooking the valley and with trees below us. Here we saw a number of species including Guira Tanager, Blue-necked Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Green Honeycreeper and Green Jay. In the evening we returned to our hotel in Jardin.
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| Andean Cock of the Rock - A stunning and rather strange looking species. Up to 40 males gather at this roost in order to try and get the attention of the single female! The species range is in the Andes from Venezuela though to Bolivia. |
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| You can just about make out the bill in this photo |
A short video clip of one of the Andean Cock of the Rock
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| Green Hermit - A widespread species found from Costa Rica and Venezuela to Peru. We saw three individuals in three locations during the trip. |
Other birds seen during the day included Greenish
Puffleg, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird, Red-headed
Barbet, Brown-capped Tyrannulet, Slaty-capped Flycatcher and Black-winged
Saltator.
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