Colombia Day 8 Part 2 (13Aug2024)

Montezuma Rainforest Lodge was up at the top of the list of the most birdy places we went to.  We arrived at lunch and after feasting we did some local birding before getting settled in our rooms.  The hummingbird and fruit feeders offered tons of birds we didn't see elsewhere on the trip.

Green Thorntail

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Silver-throated Tanager

Blackish Rail!  Don't worry, I got better photos later as this bird was hanging out in the pond next to our eating area for the next two days.

Purple-throated Woodstar

Green Thorntail

Grayish Piculet!  It was nice to find a good bird on my own.  The group did find another later.

White-necked Jacobin - at this point I was birding literally right outside my hotel doorway as I had a nice feeder all to myself.

Andean Emerald

Violet-tailed Sylph - this is still burned into my minds-eye to this day.  These birds are gorgeous.

Empress Brilliant

Violet-purple Coronet

Torrent Tyrannulet - this was one of my favorite pictures of the trip. 

White-necked Jacobin

Green Thorntail

Bronze-winged Parrot

White-booted Racket-tail

Variable Seedeater - down in South America they can have "variable" underparts.

This is about when I met up with the group and we walked the dirt road up from the main building.

Golden-hooded Tanager 

Flame-rumped Tanager - they have yellow "flames" in the western cordillera instead of the orange/red.

Red-faced Spinetail

Red-headed Barbet - I was surprised on how small these were.  

Plain Xenops

Sometimes when I wandered off on my own, I would miss something good the group got but a few times I found something the group didn't get.

Green-fronted Lancebill - this was one of the few birds I was the only one to see on the whole trip.

Lemon-browed Flycatcher

Another view of the same bird.

Black-winged Saltator

That was it for Day 8.  We had a delicious meal at the main building and then hit the sack pretty early because we lost power.  Might as well sleep when its pitch dark.

Colombia Day 8 Part 1 Apia Birding Lodge (13Aug2024)

For the first part of Day 8, we were scheduled to check out a spot on the way to our next destination that was new for our tour guides.  The Apia Birding Lodge is a low key birding lodge up a dirt path about a couple hundred yards from the road.  The people who live there had been working to slowly gain the trust of a covey of Chestnut Wood-Quail which are normally very tricky to see.  We got there bright and early and hiked up the trail to find a small structure overlooking the valley below with feeders of all types (seed, fruit and nectar).  But before we could get settled in, we were shepherded to an area in the back where we lined up and got ready for the stars of the show.  The Wood-Quail are not brought in with calls or coaxing by the local guide, instead they have just trained them by putting out seed at the same time each day.

This Chestnut-capped Brushfinch came in first to allow us to test our camera settings in the low light.

As did a Greenish Puffleg

Chestnut Wood-Quail! The covey came in and join us for a good 15 minutes which allowed us to get our camera settings dialed in even more.  9 out of 10 of the pics we took were blurred because of the low light.  

As an example, you can see the bird on the left blurred because it was moving.  The one on the right was standing stock still.

Another Greenish Puffleg flew in and tried to distract me from the Quail.

Wow!  What an awesome experience.  I wonder if we can do some of the same things here in North Carolina with Ruffed Grouse for example.

We celebrated with a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and cafe mochas (coffee and hot chocolate) which we watched the feeders in from of the "lodge". 

This White-winged Becard sang from the trees in front of the lodge.

Blue-winged Mountain Tanagers were regulars at the feeders.

A pair of Parker's Antbirds were also singing nearby.  Here is the male.

And the female.

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Flame-rumped Tanager

Tawny-bellied Hermits rarely visit feeders so be ready to snap away when they do!

An Ornate Hawk-Eagle perched up the hill and sat for a good ten minutes allowing hundreds of photos all of which were backlit.

Andean Emeralds do not get old!

We had to get going but the local guides had one more bird to showcase for us, so we talked down the trail and lined up to get a glimpse at yet another endemic Tapaculo which gave us really good looks.

Tatama Tapaculo!

What a great couple hours of birding!  

We hopped in the van and headed to our next destination and home base for the several days, the famous Montezuma Rainforest Lodge where we would explore Tatama National Park in the Western Cordillera. 

https://montezumarainforest.com/

I will handle this place in a couple separate posts because there are so many good birds and photo ops from this location.