PeterHG's Big Year-4th time

[Peter Connan]

Wow!

[PeterHG]

The last few from the "Observatorio' as the light was getting dim.

 

396. (C19). Tyrian Metaltail.

 

397 (C20) Great Thrush. Considerably larger than our European Blackbird. Its melodious song could be heard whenever we visited the higher altitudes in the Andes mountains.

 

[TonyQ]

The hummingbirds are stunning,and beautifully photographed 

[Soukous]

gorgeous Hummingbirds @PeterHG

[xelas]

Fantastic hummers, Peter!

[Kitsafari]

Fabulous hummmers, and those trainbearers are awesome

[michael-ibk]

Outstanding Hummers!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @TonyQ, @Soukous, @xelas, @Kitsafariand @michael-ibk.

 

More hummers then. The day after (26th of November we visited another Hummingbird garden with lots of feeders. The Jardin Encantado, the 'Enchanted garden' Some familiar species, but also some new ones.

 

398 (C21) Violet-bellied Hummingbird. It only made one brief appearance, but enough to get a shot.

 

 

399 (C22) Black-throated Mango. Perhaps the most dominant species of the garden. Male and female are quite different. First the male.

 

And then the female:

 

The Rufous-tailed Hummingbird was also present, but it's already in the Costa Rica count. Still, an attractive hummer in my view:

 

 

400 (C23). Indigo-capped Hummingbird. One of the smaller species around.

 

 

 

401 (C24). Gorgeted Woodstar. Of course this Woodstar species was the tiniest of them all. This is the female.

 

The colour was not only provided by the hummers. This finch was also quite striking.

 

402 (C25) Saffron Finch.

 

 

And some plain black to finish up with.

 

403 (C26) Shiny Cowbird.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by PeterHG

[xelas]

All beauties!

[PeterHG]

The last one for the day was this colourful flycatcher. The only time we saw it on the trip.

 

404 (C27) Vermilion Flycatcher. San Francisico, Col. Nov. First the male:

 

 

And then the female:

 

 

[Kitsafari]

wow again on the hummers, and the vermillion flycatcher is a beauty. 

[PeterHG]

From the town of Honda, we made a morning trip to the 'Hacienda El Triunfo', a private reserve, which is also run as a sustainable cattle farm. A mixture of pastures, dry forest and some little lakes rpvided a good mix of species and a very pleasant walk.

 

405 (C28). Black-chested Jay. Nov 27th. Rather noisy, but also shy.

 

 

406 (C29) Fork-tailed Flycatcher. Distant, so a heavy crop of this beautiful flycatcher.

 

407 (C30) Yellow-crowned Amazon. The most common parrot there was the blue-headed parrot, which we had already seen in Costa Rica. These ones was much  less common and kept their distance

 

 

408. (C31) Grey-breasted Martin. Onl seen here and on our last day in Cartagena.

 

 

409 (C32). Yellow-chinned Spinetail. A true EBC shot. Spinetails are notoriously difficult to see and captute and this one was no exception. I think I saw three different Spinetail species and this may be the only one I at least got some sort of a shot of.

 

 

410 (C33) Greater Ani. We knew the Groove-billed Ani from Costa Rca, but we'd never seen this, much larger, cousin. 

 

 

 

411 (C34) Yellow-bellied Seedeater. The female is a rather inconspicuous bird. We saw it on several locations.

 

 

On the walk we saw several herons, two of which were new to us. The only place we saw them.

 

412 (C35) Capped Heron. Superficially similar to the night herons, but does not share their nocturnal feeding habits. The sole member of the Pilherodius genus.

 

413 (C36). Whistling Heron. 

 

414 (C37). Red-breasted Meadowlark. A really striking member of the meadowlark family. Uncommon, but slowly increasing in number, sadly because of deforestation.

 

 

[Dave Williams]

Bah humbug,Christmas is just another day, a hummer is just another bird!

 

 

 

 

 

Some beauties seen and photographed there Peter and not just the Hummers either.

[PeterHG]

57 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

Bah humbug,Christmas is just another day, a hummer is just another bird!

[pedro maia]

Incredible pictures, the hummingbirds are my favourites.

[PeterHG]

Still from the 'Hacienda el Triunfo' near Honda on the 27th Nov.

 

415 (C38) Yellow-backed Oriole. One of the two oriole species we managed to see.

 

 

416 (C39) Short-tailed Swift. A fast flying little sift that we met on several occasions.

 

 

417 (C40) Bare-faced Ibis. Seen in various locations

 

 

418 (C41) White-tipped Dove. Heard in all forested areas, but only actually seen once or twice.

 

 

419 (C42). Alder Flycatcher. One of the vast number of Colombian flycatchers, found and determined by our local guide.

 

 

420 (C43) Russet-throated Puffbird. Not uncommon but a lucky find there all the same.

 

 

421 (C44) Wattled Jacana. Widespread in Colombian wetlands and seen in various locations.

 

 

422 (C45) White-fringed Antwren. Hard to get eyes on and even harder to get a shot, but it showed for a few seconds. I think it's the only antwren we saw.

 

 

423 (C46) Colombian Chachalaca. Endemic but certainly not rare. Seen in 2 or 3 locations.

 

[PeterHG]

At the end of the day we took a walk, through the town of Honda, crossing the Magdalena River on a pedestrian bridge. Quite scary as the planking had many holes, but at least it provided one new species.

 

424 (C47). White-winged Swallow. Honda, Nov.

 

 

[PeterHG]

The next morning we had a rather long drive to the Los Nevados National Park, surrounding the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. Our aim was to stop at one of the high altitude lake and then go even higher into the park. Unfortunately time ran out on us, so we never got to see the specialties of the highest altitudes. The 'Laguna Negra' however produced a few new birds.

425 (C48) Hooded Siskin. Resembling the Andean Siskin, but with much more black on the head.

 

 

426 (C49) Andean Duck. We looked down on the lake, some 300 metres below us, so a heavy crop. The Andean Duck was formerly considered conspecific with the Ruddy Duck, but is now treated as a separate species. Well, perhaps not by everybody, but certainly by me...;)

 

 

427 (C50) Stout-billed Cinclodes. A high altitude member of the ovenbird family.

 

 

428 (C51) Brown-backed Chat Tyrant. An attractive flycatcher, seen in two locations.

 

[PeterHG]

On our way down we stopped for a late lunch in the 'Hotel Thermales de Ruiz' A well-chosen spot, for the hotel also had a beautiful garden with some feeders. I do apologize for once again throwing in some hummers...;)

 

429 (C52) Shining Sunbeam. How I love those hummingbird names... A localized, high altitude species, with a very distinct colouring.

 

 

431 (C54) Golden-breasted Puffleg. The only place we saw it. A brief visit to the feeder was all we got, but enough for a shot at least.

 

 

431 (C54) Rainbow-bearded Thornbill. Talking about names... Rather uncommon and we didn't see it anywhere else.

 

 

432 (C55) Great Sapphirewing. One of the larger hummingbirds.

 

 

The tanager family is quite extensive and many of its members are quite colourful

 

433 (C56) Lacrimose Mountain-tanager.

 

[Soukous]

never apologise for beautiful photos 

[PeterHG]

At the end of the day we arrived in the Rio Blanco reserve.Great accommodation in the middle of the forest. And hummingbirds, of course...

 

434 (C57) Bronzy Inca. There are four Inca species in Colombia, all montane hummers. Two of them were present at this location. 

 

 

435 (C58) Collared Inca

 

 

436 (C59) Buff-tailed Coronet.

 

 

437 (C60) Speckled Hummingbird. One of the smaller species and easily chased off the feeders by bullies like the previous hummer.

 

 

438 (C61) Tourmaline Sunangel.  One might wonder why it is named after a colourful mineral...

 

....until a simple turn of the head reveals a splash of bright pink throat feathers

 

[PeterHG]

Not all birds were as easy to see as the hummingbirds. For many it involved staring intensely into the trees, following the directions of the local guide and even then I did not always manage to lock onto the bird. For the next two, at least, I succeeded.

 

439 (C62) Strong-billed Woodcreeper. One of the many different woodcreeper species, which all look more or less the same. The bill, as the name suggests, is the give-away.

 

 

440 (C63). Rusty-faced Parrot. A very luck find as this is an endangered parrot in both Colombia and Equador.

 

 

As I've mentioned before, the Tanager family is a colourful one. Rio Blanco had some striking examples.

 

441 (C64) Blue-winged Mountain Tanager.

 

 

442 (C65) Blue-capped Tanager. The only time we managed to see it.

 

 

The Brushfinches weren't too shabby either.

443 (C66) Grey-browed Brushfinch.

 

 

444 (C67) Slaty Brushfinch

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

Wow, all beautiful, but the Blue-winged Mountain Tanager is stunning.

[PeterHG]

Again we venture into the cloud forest. Some more or less recognizable species:

 

445 (C68) Three-striped Warbler.

 

 

446 (C69) Masked Saltator. A rare, near threatened member of the saltator family

 

 

447 (C70) Beryl-spangled Tanager.

 

 

448 (C71) Streak-necked Flycatcher.

 

 

450 (C73) Southern House Wren. Now considered a different species from the regular House Wren, albeit not by all authorities (Troglodytes musculus as opposed to Tr. aedon)

 

 

And two more flowerpiercers:

 

451 (C74). Masked Flowerpiercer.

 

 

452 (C75). White-sided Flowerpiercer.

 

 

One of the two Motmot species we saw. Rather obscured unfortunately.

 

453 (C76). Andean Motmot

 

 

And a new raptor:

454 (C77) White-rumped Hawk.

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

The stars of the Rio Blanco Reserve, however, are the Antpittas. The reserve has a few feeders, where, with a lot of patience, four different Antpittas may be seen. We were very lucky, seeing all four of them.

 

455 (C78) Brown-banded Antpitta

 

 

456 (C79). Bicolored Antpitta

 

 

457 (C80) Slaty-crowned Antpitta

 

 

458 (C81) Chestnut-crowned Antpitta. The most striking one.