Las Flamencos FFS - Colombia Day 4.5 (31Jul2019)

Our fearless leader Jan hired an off-road vehicle in the afternoon so we could explore Las Flamencos Park Fauna and Flora Sanctuary.  A beautiful spot and the steady wind made an otherwise unbearably hot walk on a fully exposed promontory actually quite nice.  This was shorebird heaven!

It did not take long to find one of our target birds, the Scarlet Ibis.  They kind of stick out like a sore thumb.

Black Skimmers were nice to see even though they are common back home.

I found a Stilt Sandpiper which flagged as rare and actually the guides we were with had never seen one before.

Reddish Egret

American Flamingos

So many species in this photo!

I never realized how patriotic Reddish Egrets are..... from left to right Red, White and Blue..

Great size comparison of a Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Scarlet Ibis

Crested Caracara

Black-necked Stilt

Snowy Plover



Southern Lapwing - check out the pink "spurs" on the wings that they use to fight with when competing for mates.

Cari Cari Colombia Day 4 (31Jul2019)

On Day 4 we spent our last full day in the Riohacha area with a long session at a place called Cari Cari.  This was an epic walk down a dirt road with no traffic starting in thorn scrub then meandering past some ponds and eventually ending at some wetlands. When all was said and done we had close to 100 species in 4 hours.

Our only Striped Cuckoo of the trip was just barely close enough for a photo.

Glaucous Tanagers

Rufous-browed Peppershrike

White-collared Swift

You will be glad to hear that these pictures with weird pixellation will be a thing of the past for me.  I just purchased a new EOS 7D.



Red-billed Emerald

Chestnut Piculet

Trinidad Euphonia and not sure about the other one but maybe a Blue-black Grassquit.

White-whiskered Spinetail - we had three different species of spinetail.

Chestnut Piculets again.

Male Pileated Finch

Rufous-tailed Jacamar

Yellow Oriole

Blue-black Grassquit

Yellow-chinned Spinetail

Spot-breasted Woodpecker

Yellow-hooded Blackbird

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Bare-faced Ibis

Wattled Jacana

Dwarf Cuckoo

Green-rumped Parrotlet

Savannah Hawk

Black-collared Hawk

Black-crested Antshrike

Gray Seedeater

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

Greater Anis

Green Ibis

The bird of the day (not mine) was a Blue-winged Teal mainly because it was out of season.

Red-breasted Meadowlark - I had wandered off from the group a bit and was the only one to see these specialty birds.  I tried to get the group but the birds had left before they could peep them.

Pale-breasted Spinetail

Barred Antshrike

Wattled Jacana

Tropical Gnatcatcher

Birding in Colombia is mentally exhausting.  So many lifers... and only in about 4 hours.  Virgilio was waiting for us with a nice picnic lunch and some coffee.. Awesome.