We took a 7.30am flight to Pereira and upon arrival met up with our trusty driver Hermes, and drove for around an hour towards Otun Quimbaya. We made a few stops along the way to scan the fast-flowing Otun River and after a few stops found the hoped-for Torrent Duck. A pair were feeding on the shady side of the river and we really enjoyed nice views in the scope.
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| Torrent Duck |
We also saw a few Torrent Tyrannulets, White-collared Swifts, Thick-billed Euphonia, Scrub Tanager and a Green-fronted Lancebill for myself and Vera. It was much warmer today than we had previously experienced so it was nice to get to the isolated Research Station where would spend the night. A quick walk around the gardens before lunch in the restaurant gave us a pair of stunning (and I know I use that word a lot) Flame-rumped Tanagers, Tropical Pewee, Southern Rough-winged Swallow and a nesting pair of Pale-edged Flycatchers.
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| Pale-edged Flycatcher |
After a nice meal we spent the afternoon walking along the road and found birding to be slow overall, although we did find some great birds. So we began with an Andean Motmot spotted by Lia, before Rob picked up our first of several Red-ruffed Fruitcrows. What a bird!
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| Red-ruffed Fruitcrow |
Next up was an obliging Chestnut-breasted Wren singing away from his perch beside the road and what you can only say is ‘showing well’.
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| Chestnut-breasted Wren |
We walked for a couple of kilometres at which point we decided to head back, but just at that moment a Multicoloured Tanager was spotted and it duly flew away before everyone could get on it. So we raced around the corner to see if we could relocate it but needless to say it was nowhere to be seen. We heard both Golden-headed Quetzal and Stiles’s Tapaculo before walking back around the corner. Here we had a lot of activity with lots of birds, most of which skulked in the dense foliage and it was impossible for everyone to see everything. However, there was Variegated Bristle-Tyrant, Black-billed Peppershrike, Sooty-headed Tyrannulet, Greenish Puffleg, Common Bush-Tanager, and some flyover Bronze-winged Parrots and Neil even had a glimpse of another Multicoloured Tanager. The walk back to the research station was enlivened by a group of endemic Cauca Guans, whilst a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird was in the garden.
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| Colombian Screech-Owl |
After dinner a few of us went owling and what a productive hour we had, as first of all a Colombian Screech-Owl was found beside the road. Then a throw away comment from Rob about Mottled Owl resulted in one flying in within 30 seconds of its call being played!
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| Mottled Owl |
And we finished off with a close Tropical Screech-Owl.
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| Tropical Screech-Owl |
Oh and an Opossum and a confiding Crab-eating Fox were also seen tonight.
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