More habitats, more birds

Canoeing along the Caño Negro creek is not the only way to reach the Laguna Negra... you can drive to some touristic cabins at the shores of the lagoon, passing through more degraded habitat, cultivated fields and gallery forests.  That's why we decided to walk that route during our second day of birding in the department of Guaviare (Colombia), with Rafael Cortes, Mauricio Rueda and our guides Derly Blandon and Luis Fernando Galindez.   The cultivated fields were full of birds, including many Bare-faced Ibis, Little Blue, Cocoi and Capped Herons, Great Egrets a Limpkin and a very attractive Whistling Heron.

The road we followed runs along a gallery forest bordering the Caño Negro creek, and we saw some interesting species like Amazonian Streaked-Antwren, our third species of jacamar for the site (a pair of White-chinned Jacamar), many Cobalt-winged Parakeets and a noisy Black Caracara.  Its cries reminded me those of the Yellow-headed Caracara in Panamá.

The combination of habitats was so extraordinaire that we saw five vultures species during the walk (that also happened the day we saw Harpy Eagles in eastern Venezuela), including these Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures (adult on top, immature below in the first picture) and Turkey Vulture of, perhaps, the resident subspecies considering its pale nape (of course, the others birds seen were Greater Yellow-headed, King and Black Vultures).

An interesting fact: we didn't only saw both Black-tailed and Black-crowned Tityras... we saw both of them excavating nests in different sites along the trek!  Also saw Cinnamon Attila, Bare-necked Fruitcrow and a pair of Gilded Barbets.

Once at the touristic cabins, we had some cokes and rest a little... the heat was barely bearable.  While comfortable seated, we enjoyed some birds around: both Ruddy and Blue Ground-Doves, more White-winged Swallows, Black-capped Donacobius, Shiny Cowbirds, and a familiar bird for me in the form of of a Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet calling constantly.

We returned to Playa Guio, watching mostly the same birds we had in the morning, plus hearing the call of a Green-backed Trogon.  To be honest, it sounded to me exactly like our White-tailed Trogons back in Panama, despite the differences in voice were part of the arguments to separate these two species (we saw later a pair close to our cabins).

As soon as we crossed the Caño Negro creek, a flock of Maroon-tailed Parakeets landed over a palm tree and stayed for a couple of minutes, allowing great views and photographic opportunities.  Notice the flash of color in the closed wing... very evident at flight.

Great way to spend most part of the day... after a late lunch we decided to stay around our cabin in a wait-and-see fashion... and it worked! 

Birding the Caño Negro and Laguna Negra

After our morning walk around Playa Guio and the Guaviare river (Colombia), Rafael Cortes, Mauricio Rueda and your blogger host were ready to do some canoeing-&-birding.  Aboard a "piragua", and guided by Derly, our route started at the dinning hall through the winding Caño Negro... as its name suggest, a black water creek that drains into the Laguna Negra (black lagoon).

It was a delightful travel, watching many birds at the banks and at the floating vegetation while comfortable seated in the boat.  The water was so calm that it was easy to take photograph... however I still don't know why my only pics of these attractive Red-capped Cardinals turned out so unfocused!

I'm pretty sure that will not see again so many Hoatzins in the same place... they were abundant!  They not only looked like relics of the past... they sound like that too.

Each stretch of the creek had a pair of White-eared Jacamars watching the surroundings waiting for an unfortunate insect to pass.  They have heavy-looking bills so different to the others jacamars of the region.  In the other hand, the Brown Jacamars were always in groups of three to four individuals, and they do have more typical bills (for a jacamar that is).

The real masters of the water were the kingfishers... we saw four species in total.  We only saw once the Pygmy Kingfisher and a Green-and-Rufous Kingfisher (excavating a nest), but both the Ringed and Amazon Kingfishers were very common.  This male Amazon Kingfisher stayed enough for photos.

Once in the lagoon, the more open waters and the floating vegetation supported a different set of birds.  By far the most impressive was the Horned Screamer.  A pair of these prehistoric-looking birds were vocalizing atop some trees at the edge of the lagoon.  They look quite heavy and have a strong flight.  I don't know if the latin name Anhima have something to do with their vocalizations (in spanish, an ánima is a kind of wandering, crying spirit)... its common name, aruco, certainly does!  

Some other birds around the lagoon were the Black-capped Donacobius, making the car alarm-like duet, a pair of Bare-necked Fruitcrow, an Osprey and a Neotropical Cormorant.  The boat then entered a zone with reeds, flushing first a Least Bittern.  Then, we spotted a heron hiding in the reeds.  It looked like a juvenile tiger-heron at first, but then we noticed the finely barred hindneck, the streaked back and wings (instead of barred) and the heavy bill pointing upward toward the sky... a Pinnated Bittern!  That is a bird that curiously skips Panama in its distribution, so I was glad of watching it. 

We were very happy with our first day around Playa Guio, lots of birds and spectacular scenes...  but the birding didn't ended with the sunset... the night came accompanied with all sort of songs and calls by several night birds that, curiously, we saw in the day... but that is another post!

Laguna Negra