MINCA, COLOMBIA !!

BICOLORED WREN

After our wonderful stay at El Dorado Lodge, we worked our way down the mountain to the town of MINCA, a funky town sitting at 1600-2000 feet elevation, with a far different avifauna.  Birds in the neotropics often live in narrow elevational zones, and are only found at the appropriate altitudes.  We worked our way down, and as we approached the town, we were able to find such species as SCALED PICULET, from a genus of small woodpeckers hardly bigger than an oak leaf.  We also found such common species as BLUE-BLACK GRASSQUIT, YELLOW-BELLIED SEEDEATER, and CRIMSON-BACKED TANAGER.

WHITE-NECKED JACOBIN

SCALED PICULET

The Hotel Minca was a bohemian affair, not exclusively for birders, but certainly birder-friendly.  The rooms were small and spare, but welcomed at the end of a long day in the field.  Around the grounds, we found our only TROPICAL PEWEE, the stunning BICOLORED WREN, and at the hummer feeders on the veranda STEELY-VENTED HUMMINGBIRD, WHITE-VENTED PLUMELETEER, LONG-BILLED STARTHROAT, and WHITE-NECKED JACOBIN.  All special birds . . 
Three special passerines that occur around the Minca area are the near-endemic BLACK-BACKED ANTSHRIKE, the CINNAMON FLYCATCHER (A subspecies that is soon to be recognized as a separate species), and the striking GOLDEN-WINGED SPARROW, a difficult to find skulker despite it's gaudy plumage.

BLACK-BACKED ANTSHRIKE

GOLDEN-WINGED SPARROW

 After two nights of dinner at local restaurants, we were ready to leave the Sierra and head to the Guajira Peninsula for some low elevation dry habitat birding.

CINNAMON FLYCATCHER