The Reserva Ecologica Rio Blanco is a nature reserve just east of Manizales and is one of the handful of places that has been building on the legacy of Angel in Ecuador by feeding Antpittas. We started bright and early with a breakfast made at the main house and of course they had hummingbird feeders.
Buff-tailed Coronet
The Coronets tend to do this weird thing where they open their wings as if to make themselves bigger and flash the buff color in their arm pits (axillaries).
After scarfing down some eggs, farmer's cheese and Coffee/Chocolate, we headed to the first Antpitta stop.
Bicolored Antpitta - it didn't take long for this one to show after the guide began calling for it.
Rufous-crowned Tody-Tyrant - this was inexplicably one of the my favorite birds of the trip and I even bought a key chain with its likeness on it later in the trip. I think it was mainly because I was happy to get a good photo of a bird that flits around high up and is usually hard to see.
Crimson-mantled Woodpecker - what a striking and imposing woodpecker! It was quite large.
Grass-green Tanager - this beauty was heavily backlit so I had to ramp up the exposure compensation.
Black-capped Tyrannulet
It wasn't long after the first Antpitta stop that we came to another.
Green-and-black Fruiteater - apparently fruiteaters are starting to learn that they can also benefit from these stops and have learned to take mealworms from the guides too.
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta - its such a cool experience to see these amazing birds so close up even if it feels a little like cheating. Also, most of the guides name the birds and sing to them in order to bring them in when it's feeding time. Hearing the locals sing this love song and then seeing these enigmatic birds pop up on a log is something everyone should experience, birder or not.
We actually tried for some other Antpittas that we dipped on so they are not all reliable.
Masked Saltator - apparently this is a really good bird so I had to deal with the poor backlit conditions and make do with this record shot.
Flammulated Treehunter - another very difficult to see bird.
Blue-capped Tanager
The city of Manizales as seen from the reserve.
Sickle-winged Guan
Gray-browed Brushfinch
Golden-plumed Parakeet
Tarantula
Russet-crowned Warbler
Blue-and-black Tanager
Streaked Xenops
Plushcap
Back at the main house the bees were swarming the hummingbird feeders but we still picked up a new one with this Speckled Hummingbird.
Buff-tailed Coronet
Bronzy Inca
Fawn-breasted Brilliant
Buff-tailed Coronet
White-sided Flowerpiercer stealing nectar by piercing the base of the flower.
White-throated Daggerbill! A new one for us.
Much like the flowerpiercers this guy also parasitizes the flowers.
Golden-headed Quetzal!! This stunning bird was on everyone's wishlist.
The head is not so much gold as it is green.
With the Quetzal under our belt we called it a day a little early for my taste but it was kind of nice to recharge in the hotel room for a bit.
The view of Manizales from my room.
The next post will be a good one, we went to Hacienda El Bosque and got some more Antpittas. Stay tuned.
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