BIRDING COLOMBIA - SANTA MARTA and MORE DAYS 1 AND 2 !

ONE OF THE BEST birding excursions I've been on, my 11 day (2 - 13 January 2015)  trip to northeastern Colombia was a classroom of endemism, speciation, and downright extreme birding.  
I used Mindo Bird Tours, who is based in Ecuador, but runs tours around South America. I used a private guide, Dusan Brinkhuisen, who I've birded with 3 times before, and consider a friend as well as a guide. Along with a growing number of committed neotropical birders, Dusan is quickly increasing the body of knowledge of the avifauna of the 'bird continent'.

EL DORADO AIRPORT, BOGOTA

DAY 1 : El Dorado airport in Bogota was modern, clean and efficient; I met Dusan there, and we  headed to our hotel planning to catch an early morning flight to Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast.  We managed to find an accommodating taxi to take us to our first birding stop, Parque La Florida to look for the rare endemic birds BOGOTA RAIL and APOLNIAR'S WREN. The wetlands in the park, which also has a golf course, is the most reliable place in Colombia for these secretive birds.  We dipped on the wren, but had good looks at the colorful SPOT-FLANKED GALLINULE, and the endemic SILVERY THROATED SPINETAIL.  We saw the rail, but under bizarre circumstances;  after a good amount of time of futile searching, the ROADSIDE HAWK that had been watching from a nearby snag left his perch. The next time he appeared, he had in his talons a juvenile BOGOTA RAIL!!  With the help of the eyes of Dusan and our park guide, we were able to make out the diagnostic marks that identified the prey definitively as the rail.  Not the best of conditions, but the rail is on my life list!

DAY 2:  After a good night at the Hotel Aloft, we took an early morning flight to the coastal city of SANTA MARTA, population 380,000, interestingly enough the sister city of Miami Beach, Florida, whose skyline of beachfront highrises this city resembles. 
After disembarking, we met our driver for the week, Alfredo and his indestructible Toyota, and took off for our first destination,  EL DORADO LODGE. The nerve center of the Fundacion Proaves El Dorado Reserve, it consists of a a 1600 acre property of subtropical and montane forest on the northern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta,  a 19,000 foot massif rising from the Caribbean coast.  Due to its unique geologic positiion, it hosts the highest concentration of continental range restricted bird species in the world. The lodge sits at around 6200 feet elevation.

The guest house at El Dorado Lodge

Beautiful Caribbean sunset from El Dorado Lodge.

The accommodations at the lodge were rustic and friendly; the food was tasty and staff were especially helpful. They made every effort to  accommodate my vegetarianism, and the coffee was always available and hot, even for our EARLY morning departures. The nights were cool and comfortable.

BLUE-NAPED CHLOROPHONIA

BLACK-CAPPED TANAGER

As we started to explore the grounds, we were drawn to the platform feeders located about; we were drawn to the colorful songbirds BLUE NAPED CHLOROPHONIA and BLACK-CAPPED TANAGER, common at the bananas.

BAND-TAILED GUAN

BLACK-FRONTED WOOD-QUAIL

As the day wound down, we were able to two more common denizens of the lodge grounds; the near-endemic BAND-TAILED GUAN and the vulnerable BLACK-THROATED WOOD-QUAIL, both of which occurred at the ground feeding stations. 
The day couldn't have been better, and we retired early for the next day's foray into upper elevation El Dorado.




   NEXT : SAN LORENZO RIDGE AND HIGH                 ELEVATION EL DORADO !!!