Today was simply an arrival day, but with a 4am arrival for some of us and Martin & Lia
already in Bogota following their long flight from Johannesburg we decided to make the best of it. Our excellent guide, Jose Castano, had some time ago suggested we go to Chicaque National Park for the day, so that’s what we did but not before picking up some items for breakfast and some much-needed coffee. It was just getting light as we arrived on site and for a change the first bird of the trip wasn’t House Sparrow but Eastern Meadowlark! We quickly got ourselves organised, donned birding gear, bins and camera and we were off down the lane that was bordered on one side by open forest and the other by meadows. For the first hour we walked maybe only 75 yards seeing several Blue-capped Tanagers, a pair of Black-crested Warblers, lots of Great Thrushes, a pair of White-throated Tyrannulets, and a stunning pair
of Rufous-browed Conebills. A Superciliaried Hemispingus then appeared, followed by a beautiful Pale-naped Brushfinch, and a group of Yellow-backed Orioles.
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| Pale-naped Brushfinch |
All that within touching distance of the minibus. Walking a little further a Glowing Puffleg appeared right beside us, and then the first of many Black Flowerpiercers, followed by the equally common Masked Flowerpiercer and a stunning little Coppery-bellied Puffleg. More and more flowerpiercers were present and we spotted a White-sided Flowerpiercer in a close flowering tree just before a Blackish Tapaculo began calling. A quick burst from the iPhone and it came straight in, probably too close and way too quick for everyone to see well unfortunately.
A little further down the lane and a pair of Blue-black Tanagers were feeding low down in some bushes, a pair of Brown-bellied Swallows were quartering the fields, a Mountain Elaenia came in, a Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager positively glowed in the early morning sunshine and our first Black-billed Thrush appeared. Phew! Birds were coming thick and fast now. Our first Sparkling Violetears then appeared and a pair of endemic Silvery-throated Spinetails showed well after a short search. Just then a few Common Chlorospingus came into view and a small flock held several Black-capped and Beryl-spangled Tanagers, Black-eared Hemispingus, Golden-bellied Starfrontlet and Tourmaline Sunangel.
At the restaurant there were quite a few hummers present at the feeders which initially all appeared to be Sparkling Violetears. But as we sipped our coffee it was apparent there were some Lesser Violetears as well. As time went on a stunning Golden-bellied Starfrontlet came in, along with Collared Inca, Tyrian Metaltail, Tourmaline Sunangel and a tiny White-bellied Woodstar.
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| Golden-bellied Starfrontlet |
After enjoying this we began the walk down the hill to the next restaurant, which turned out to be a paved path for quite a way and then onto a paved road and finally a trail through excellent forest. Initially things were quiet apart from a little group towards the top that held a few Moustached Brushfinches, a Slaty Brushfinch that almost snuck past us and a Bluish Flowerpiercer. Further down we saw several Grey-throated (formerly Emerald) Toucanets, a few Grey-browed Brushfinches, Rufous Spinetail, Russet-crowned Warbler, more Black-eared Hemispingus, an endemic Black Inca, Speckled Hummingbird and had fine looks at an Andean Solitaire– all in one flock. There were long quiet spells when we didn’t see a bird but when the weather is this sunny you just have to find the flocks… and we did. A Yellow-legged Thrush eluded some of us and a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta was glimpsed by two of us to add to our slight frustrations but a couple Striped Treehunters were much appreciated.
Once on the trail we well and truly nailed Spillmann’s Tapaculo, when one individual literally ran over my right boot before calling away from a couple of semi-exposed perches. Then we hit another flock with Fawn-breasted Tanagers, several Montane Foliage-Gleaners, Montane Woodcreeper, Grey-breasted Wood-Wrens, and a couple of close Three-striped Warblers. Overhead some White-tipped Swifts were seen and from the refuge’s restaurant we had even better view of them, along with Chestnut-collared Swifts. A Brown-capped Vireo was seen during our late lunch and after some much-needed food we walked back along the trail to meet our 4-wheel drive that was going to take us back uphill to our minibus.
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| Chestnut-crowned Antpitta |
Along the way a Chestnut-crowned Antpitta decided to start singing back at us from a large rock and what a cracker this was, and after hearing maybe 20 birds today to actually see one this well was mind-blowing. A pair of Chestnut-capped Brushfinches were practically ignored by the antpitta paparazzi as well. And that was our day.
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