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Colombia tours
Nov 2002 and March 2003
Due to a general strike in Venezuela we had to cancel all trips to this country.
This gave us time to organise an extra trip in Colombia. I deal with the 2 tours
together as they cover the same areas.
In october I received emails from friends telling me that the reserve in the
Western Andes was not safe enough. We went to 2 other good areas instead (Rio Blanco
above Manizales and Bosque Yotoco and Laguna de Sonso in the Cauca valley).
The first reserve we went to was the Ucumari NP. A long trail that follows the
Rio Otun from 1900 till 4000 m asl.
During the nov trip we went all the way to the paramo and stayed here one night.
This gave us excellent views of a flock of the rare endemic Rufous-fronted Parakeet.
Other toppers were Black-billed and Grey-breasted Mountain-toucan, Cauca Guan,
Spotted Barbtail, Dusky Piha, Mountain Cacique and Multicoloured Tanager!
After a short rain, we found the endemic Chestnut Wood-quail sitting on a low branch
at only 4 meters from us.
During our March 2003 trip we had as well Black-billed and Grey-breasted Mountain-toucan,
Cauca Guan (excellent views), Dusky Piha and a flock of Mountain Caciques.
Additional we had Black-banded Woodcreeper, White-capped Tanager and Black-thighted
Puffleg (this time very abundant in the highlands).
A Tyrannine Woodcreeper in a mixed flock followed us for more than a half hour.
Most spectacular were the Golden-plumed Parakeets. There was an abundance of fruits
and we could see them even at only 3 meters above our heads.
The next area was Bosque Yotoco were in Nov we had again 2 encounters with
Multicoloured Tanager, Southern Nightingale Wren as well as Turquoise
Dacnis-Tanager.
You can see the pictures of these trips on the picture page.
The full bird lists seen during the trips can be downloaded here
(trip 1, trip 2).
All pictures were taken during the trip and are copyrighted ( (C) 2002 Jurgen Beckers).
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