Around Playa Guio

After our arrival to Playa Guio, in the department of Guaviare (Colombia), we started to bird around the cabins and then took a trail leading to the shores of the wide Guaviare river.  This trail passes first through quite disturbed habitat, then enters a nice gallery forest along a creek where we used fallen trunks to pass, and finally reach the river shore from where you follow it along the river for a while before returning to the cabins essentially crossing the same types of habitats, except that using a different trail.

Rafael crossing over a falling trunk

This variety of habitats is ideal if you want to see many birds... as we did.  The activity was pretty amazing at the disturbed habitats (around the houses, plantations, etc...).  Many species where taking advantage of the fruiting trees, like Violaceous Jays, Lettered Aracaris and Russet-backed Oropendolas.  Notice that the subspecies present in the lowlands have black bills and plain faces, quite different from those at the Andes (see the photo at the bottom of this post for example).

Another pretty common, and colorful bird of that type of habitat was the Scarlet-crowned Barbet.  It is quite large for a barbet, and quite active too... always in the move.

Once in the forest, the activity decreased, but we saw good birds anyway.  An unexpected species for me was the calling male Collared Trogon.  I know now that this species is quite common in the lowlands forests of South America... but I was used to see them as highlands species in Panama.

Another common bird inside the forest was the Black-fronted Nunbird.  Several times we flushed individuals that were in the ground... probably excavating nests?  Once you detected them, they simply left us to approach quite close... remembering me our encounter in Venezuela with its relative, the Black Nunbird.

Eventually, we reached the huge Guaviare river... I felt like in the Amazonas itself! (despite this river joins eventually the Orinoco -not the Amazonas- river).  Large-billed and Yellow-billed Terns patrolled the shores, while a group of South American Black Skimmers were resting in the sand banks (trust me, they are in the second photo below).  Even a Boto (Amazon River Dolphin) showed up!!!

Can you find the Black Skimmers in this photo?

The birding close to the river was simply excellent... not only the terns and the skimmers, we also saw Red-capped Cardinals (which are tanagers), migrant Scarlet Tanagers (which are cardinals), Gray Seedeater and a pair of Drab Water-Tyrant.  Both the drab and water parts of its name are very adequate!

Another bird strongly associated with the river was the White-banded Swallow.  Flocks of this attractive species flew fast and low over the water, perching always close to the river.

The White-winged Swallow was also found always close to water.  It is very similar to our Mangrove Swallows in Panama, and is known for Panama only from the extreme east... and only by one report.

We returned to the cabins just in time to have lunch and to prepare for the next outing, a "boat" trip birding the caño Negro (the creek in front of the dinning hall below).

Birding the eastern slope

After my quick introduction the previous day to the birds of the Bogota savanna (Colombia), Rafael took me to the eastern slope

of the eastern cordillera, picking up Oswaldo Cortes in the way. I knew about Osvaldo and his birding skills time before meeting him, thanks to the technology (facebook), and it was a real pleasure to have the opportunity to bird with him in one of his area of expertise. Our main destination was Monterredondo, the type site of the near-mythical Cundinamarca Antpitta, described in 1992 by G. Stiles. We quickly left Bogota behind and started the winding road descending the eastern cordillera, passing at first the entrance to Monterredondo in order to have a tinto (black coffee) in the town of Guayabetal. Of course, we did bird in Guayabetal, waiting for the weather to improve in the higher slopes, and the birding was very good. Oswaldo showed us a reliably spot for Green-bellied Hummingbird, which we saw, right by a pristine creek and a flowering tree that was attracting tons of birds, including my life Silver-beaked Tanager (female in the photo), Bananaquits, Spectacled Parrotlets, and so on. An important note, that area was severely affected by the insecurity some years ago, and rapidly, a pair of cops asked for our ids cards when they noticed our cameras and binoculars; however, as soon as they realized we were birders, they wished us good luck!

In the way to Monterredondo, a short stop to appreciate a pair of Cliff Flycatchers resulted in a myriad of birds, including Swallow, Fawn-breasted and Blue-necked Tanagers, Purple Honeycreepers, Golden-faced Tyrannulet and a very cooperative Crested Oropendola (again on a flowering tree).

The way up to the right habitat for the Cundinamarca Antpitta was long and slow, and the weather was not improving... it was very cloudy, with occasional showers. However, in the first stop we made to check, we heard a Cundinamarca Antpita quite close! The bird didn't respond to playback and it slowly walked away. Considering that it didn't make the alarm/aggression call, it probably was a female or a young bird. In any case, I was happy with simply hearing it... since I read Stiles' article,

always I have wanted to have the opportunity of experiencing this enigmatic bird! The site was also very good for mixed flocks, but the mist sometimes prevented us from identifying its members. A pair of Ochre-breasted Brush-Finches showed well... they were gorgeous... no illustration in any guide match its colors! Above our heads, a Stygian Owl was quietly following our movements... the mist only add a mysterious touch to its presence. We tried other spots for the antpitta, without answers, so we decided to go down, to the entrance of Monterredondo where the flowering trees were alive with birds, and we quickly add more and more species to our growing list. One of the main targets, the Magpie Tanager, was pointed out by Oswaldo... in the photo you can see the beautiful jay-like tanager with a Spectacled Thrush, which was also a life bird for me.

The place was also extremely good for migrants, with American Redstart (a female), Tennesee, Blackpoll, Black-and-white and Blackburnian Warblers showing very well.

More color was added in the form of Inca (Green) Jay, an absolutely gorgeous Red-headed Barbet (can you find it in the photo?), and very vocal Russet-backed Oropendola of the pale-billed sub-species (next to the bromeliad in the photo).

It was an excellent morning birding the eastern slope, the company of Rafael and Oswaldo was simply incomparable, and the birds, exceptional! A short stop in the way to Bogota produced some more species, but we (Rafael and me) were in a hurry in order to prepare ourselves for our next day's flight to our first international birding destination: eastern Venezuela!