Another pre-dawn start and we were on our way to Rio Blanco, one of the best bird reserves in the country and at an altitude of about 1300 metres. Before reaching the research station we had a walk along a track in the forest. Here we found Black-billed Mountain Toucan, Golden-plumed Parakeet and many other species.
On arriving at the reserve we had a quick look at the feeders and then had a rather informal but pleasant breakfast.
Rio Blanco Reserve - The cloud forest living up to it's name.
A great way to get around this large reserve. We walked!
Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager - One of the first birds seen at Rio Blanco, coming to a feeding station.
The reserve featured several antpitta feeders. We saw four species: Bicoloured, Slate-crowned, Chestnut-crowned and Brown-banded, all at close range. At the research centre the hummingbird feeders gave us 12 hummingbirds. We then met our local guide, the young, sharp-eyed and very knowledgeable Daniel Nuñoz. He then took us around the reserve and found some pretty tricky species!
Bi-coloured Antpitta - Previously considered to be a Colombian endemic,
a tiny population has been found just inside Ecuador.
Brown-banded Antpitta - An ENDEMIC. It's range is a tiny area within Colombia's Central Andes.
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta - It ranges from northern Venezuela south to central Peru, and has seven subspecies.
It has a wide altitudinal range, from 1200 to 3600 m,
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
Slate-crowned Antpitta - Found from the north coast of Venezuela south and west, discontinuously,
to northernmost Peru, with a small population in. western Guyana
Slate-crowned Antpitta
A video clip of all four Antpitta Species.
In the afternoon another walk gave us quite a few species which included a small party of the rare White-capped Tanagers, Smoky Bush-tyrant, Golden-headed Quetzal, Yellow-plumed Parakeet, Crimson-mantled Woodpecker,Ash-coloured Tapaculo, Spillman's Tapaculo and we heard Blackish Tapaculo.
White-capped Tanager - A rare and local species in Andean cloud forests from Colombia to central Peru.
White-capped Tanager - A small flock were present. This species wanders throughout the forest and is difficult to pin down so we were fortunate to get good views.
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker - Our only sighting of this attractive woodpecker.
It can be found in humid montane forests of the Andes from northwestern Venezuela south to Bolivia.
Golden-headed Quetzal - A poor photo but the only sighting of this species during our trip. Found in the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia.
Golden-plumed Parakeet - A flock landed in trees close to us but in terrible light conditions.
The species is found in high elevations in the Andes from Colombia to southern Peru.
Black-billed Mountain Toucan - An Andean species only found in N Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador.
Just before exiting the reserve there are a few buildings and some rather nice flowering shrubs which attract a variety of hummingbirds, so we stopped off for a while. Our main target bird was the Choco Daggerbill which often visits these flowers.
Choco Daggerbill - Formerly known as the Wedge-billed Hummingbird.
It is known as a parasite as it takes nectar by making a hole in the base of the flower as shown here.
Choco Daggerbill - A scarce species only found in Colombia and Ecuador. It does not visit feeders.
Choco Daggerbill
Bronzy Inca - A fairly common hummer found from Venezuela to Bolivia.
White-bellied Woodstar and Long-tailed Sylph - Both are found in the Andes from Columbia to Bolivia.
The Long-tailed Sylph is also found in Venezuela.
After leaving the reserve we stopped off a little further down the track. This long, action-packed day ended with some nightbirds. On a trackside cliff Lyre-tailed Nightjars roosted. It was merely a matter of waiting for them to fly out and become silhouetted against the darkening sky - which they duly did. And then a short time later we came across a Tropical Screech-Owl perched at the side of the road.
Lyre-tailed Nightjar - We visited a known roost site for the species which was on a steep rock face that was covered in vegetation. Several birds were seen including a few males. This female landed close by after leaving it's roost site. Very dark conditions!
Tropical Screech-Owl - We came across this individual from our moving vehicle when heading back to the accommodation. Found from Costa Rica south through much of lowland South America, and also is present on Trinidad.
Some of the other birds seen during the day were;-
Also seen were a number of interesting plants and insects including this rather nice moth and flower.
Moth - Not yet identified
Flower - To be identified.
Then it was back to the Varuna hotel arriving quite late. We again ate in the hotel restaurant and it was good to meet up with Luis Uruena, the owner of Manakin Nature Tours who was leading a group of birders from Taiwan.
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