Author Archives: Tara

Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis)

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The Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis), is an endangered parrot of tropical America. It is found in the western Andes in Colombia and (perhaps only formerly) Ecuador and is closely associated to the wax palm Ceroxylon sp. which is itself endangered.

The foggy weather messed up my photos so I have added the Wikipedia shot so you can see the gorgeous colours of this beauty.

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They are the symbol of conservation in Colombia and there is a reserve to protect them near Jardin, Antioquia.dscn2900 img_5813

Although they once had a larger range according to Birdlife’s map, nowadays they have a very limited area at Ventanas near Jardin, Colombia.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT YELLOW-EARED PARROTS

Wikipedia

World Parrot Trust

Birdlife

American Bird Conservancy

ProAves

Our Endangered World

VIDEOS

Peter Odekerken, a top Australian photographer was more fortunate (sunny weather + superb photography skills) than I was in getting very detailed footage of these amazing birds.  He made a really interesting mini-doco.

Hungry much?

And another mini-doco!

 

Expedia Coupon Deal – $50 Off $200 Booking – Today Only & Works On Prepaid Eco-lodges

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This is a great deal for eco-tourists as many lodges can be booked via Expedia and it gives you a chance to save some money.  I would be using this deal myself for next year’s Africa trip if the dates had aligned.  It’s only valid for stays between October 11, 2016 and January 31, 2017 (inclusive).

See full T&C’s on their page.

Here’s an example of a lodge I have my eye on for Livingstone, Zambia (near Victoria Falls & Mosi-oa-Tunya NP).

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The room MUST be pre-paid to use this promo.  Hotels where you pay on arrival can’t accept coupon codes.  This lodge does require pre-payment and the room rate BEFORE taxes is over $100 and I have selected 2 nights on random dates to show the promo.expedia1-5

And here you can see the $50 taken off the total!  I hope they do this promo again next year so I can use it for my actual dates!expedia2

So if you will be traveling before 31 Jan 2017, make use of this deal but hurry!  You only have until midnight USA PDT!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Hotel Offer: $50 off on select hotels 

Coupon Code: AUTUMN50

Qualifying Bookings: This coupon code discount applies only to qualifying stand-alone hotel bookings (not a hotel booking in combination with any other product or offering such as flight + hotel or flight + hotel + car) made online at www.expedia.com that are prepaid at the time of booking (subject to the restrictions set out in the Terms and Conditions below). 

Coupon code value: $50 USD off.

Minimum Spend: $200 USD (minimum spend is the price of the travel reservation excluding any taxes, fees or additional costs). This spend must take place in one transaction.

Redemption Period: 12:01am PDT, to 11:59pm PDT, October 11, 2016.

Travel Period: The travel dates must be between October 11, 2016 and January 31, 2017 (inclusive).

Birding The Yellow-eared Parrot Area

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Looking back, I can’t believe this birding excursion booked at the last minute turned out as well as it did.  I had been in contact with a highly recommended guide who lives in Jardin, Colombia named José Castaño.  Unfortunately, he was booked for the time we were there but fortunately he was able to put us in touch with his friend Diego Guerrero, who is also a birding guide from Jardin.  We had barely checked in at the Valdivia Plaza around 8pm-ish and called Diego to see if he could take us birding the next morning.  He and his friend Paula came to the hotel and we formulated a plan to bird the area near the Yellow-eared Parrot Reserve (the reserve proper was closed) and then take us to our next destination – Rio Blanco Reserve near Manizales.

They picked us up VERY early and we started driving to Ventanas, the location of the Yellow-eared Parrot Reserve.  As dawn broke, I was worried to see how foggy it was.  Thankfully the parrots are noisy and Diego soon located a small flock near the roadside and we pulled over to watch them for as long as possible.  The fog made the lighting terrible but we could still make out the yellow ears.

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I was being so cautious of spooking the parrots that I wouldn’t let anyone open a car door and was just poking my camera out the window and hoping they would stick around until the sun came up.  They may very well have done just that but a motorcyclist came up behind us and roared past scaring off the birds.  I was really upset as I watched them fly off, but glad that we got to at least see them!dscn3022a dscn3023 dscn3024

We drove on a bit past the entrance to the reserve proper and arrived at a finca (Colombian farm).  The scenery was gorgeous!

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The finca has lots of hummingbird feeders and we setted in to see some real beauties such as Tourmaline Sunangel,  Collared Inca, Buff-tailed Coronet, White-bellied Woodstar and the amazing Sword-billed Hummingbird who was happy to show off his extremely long bill!
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There were lots of other birds on the property as well.
Black-billed Mountain-Toucan

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Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager

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“Turn around so I can id you!”img_5929a
Speckle-faced Parrots flying overhead.

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TBD

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Rufous-collared Sparrow img_5535a

Great Thrush

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Masked Flowerpiercer
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After we left the finca and were driving through the mountain, Diego spotted a
White-capped Tanager near the road – quite a coup as they are apparently difficult to find!
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Typical road near Ventanas.dscn3091

Andean Motmot, a nice find a bit further down the road.

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We had a great day of birding and got some pretty cool species in addition to the targeted Yellow-eared Parrot, the Sword-billed Hummingbird was amazing, the White-caped Tanager a nice suprise and that Andean Motmot was gorgeous!

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I can highly recommend Diego Guerrero as an excellent birding guide.  He doesn’t speak English but he knows the birds and will point them out in a book.  His friend Paula does speak English well.  Here are his contact details.

Diego Guerrero

311 752 6550

digruz23 at gmail.com

Hotel Review: Valdivia Plaza

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Jardin, Antioquia, Colombia was the only place on this trip we didn’t have a pre-booked room.  My research showed that there were enough budget hotels in town and I figured it would be easiest to just get one as soon as we got off the bus.

We were lucky, the bus stopped right in front of the Valdivia Plaza and they had rooms we could afford and they even took credit cards!   I had remembered the name from preliminary research on Trip Advisor and knew it would be a decent place.

The location is superb, right on the main plaza with restaurants and a small market just outside.

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Small but functional and clean roomdscn2997 dscn2998

Wifi only works in the restaurant near the reception.dscn2999 dscn3000

Cathedral in the main plaza dscn3002 dscn3012

The market has some food stalls and random stuff but nothing artistic that interested me.dscn3004 dscn3003 dscn3005

Margarita’s Restaurant is just across the plaza from Valdivia Plaza and has a good budget menu.

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Minca – Santa Marta – Medellin – Jardin

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Although we had some birding time in Minca while having breakfast, we still had a big travel day ahead.

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We used a taxi from Minca to the airport at Santa Marta to save time and let us hang around a bit longer and watch birds.

Santa Marta Airport

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Pray for a safe flightdscn2959

Avianca domestic flights in Colombia are only 3000 Lifemiles, a real bargain!dscn2960

Goodbye Santa Marta!dscn2961

Approaching Medellin airport we can see the city has a very attractive location.dscn2963 dscn2964

I was amused to see a Spirit plane here.dscn2965

Taxis are pretty straight-forward, passengers just line up and take the next one in line and people supervise.  There are set fares to the city, can’t remember what I paid to go to the bus station, it was around $35-ish in pesos.  It’s quite a long ways though.dscn2966

If we had more time for this trip, I would have liked to spend a couple days in Medellin but we had no time to spare so had to be content with seeing the outskirts from the taxi.dscn2967 dscn2968 dscn2969 dscn2971 dscn2972 dscn2974 dscn2975 dscn2976 dscn2977

Terminal del Sur is the bus station you need to go to Jardin.  We bought tickets on the next bus which was departing around 4-ish for 20,000 pesos each, about $7 USD.dscn2978 dscn2979 dscn2980 dscn2982 dscn2983 dscn2984 dscn2985

Nice scenery enroute!dscn2990 dscn2991

We arrived in Jardin around 8pm-ish and walked into the nearest hotel which happened to be the Valdivia and the rooms were cheap enough so we took one.dscn2995

White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora)

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The large and showy White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) can be seen very easily at any lodge within its range usually at the hummingbird feeders and adjacent trees.  Of course the male is the most brilliantly coloured but the female is pretty albeit more subtle.

Male

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Femaleimg_5436 dscn2928

Male in flightdscn2932

The have a huge range from Mexico, south to Costa Rica, Panama,  Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and south Brazil. It is also found on Tobago (sub-species F. m. flabellifera) and in Trinidad (sub-species F. m. mellivora).  Honestly, you would have to be extremely unlucky NOT to see them if you visit any of these countries and stay at lodges with hummingbird feeders!

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LEARN MORE ABOUT WHITE-NECKED JACOBINS

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Neotropical Birds

VIDEOS

This guy OWNS the feeder!

 

This one is enjoying a rain shower.

 

Some tongue action in this clip!

Lodge Review: Hotel Minca – La Casona

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When I was researching accommodation in Minca, I noticed that people kept raving about the hummingbird feeders at Hotel Minca La Casona so it was an easy choice!  Circumstances made us arrive after dark but we did get a good look around early the next morning.

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The one thing I would have liked is if the restaurant had been open for dinner or at least sandwiches.  We were just too tired (having woken up at 4:30am for birding) to walk into town.dscn2897 dscn2898

Nice bird posters on the walls in the lobby/restaurant.dscn2899 dscn2900

Rooms along an attractive corridor that also had some nice artwork.dscn2901

Our room was fairly simple but functional.  dscn2903 dscn2904 dscn2905 dscn2907

The corridors overlook some nice gardens and a swimming pool.  We had a morning walk around looking for birds.dscn2908 dscn2911 dscn2912 dscn2910

Hummingbirds were already gathering near the feeders just outside the restaurant.  The feeders were empty so I chased up one of the workers to come fill them up.  dscn2913 dscn2914

The hummingbirds lost no time in getting their breakfast!dscn2915 dscn2917 dscn2918 dscn2924 dscn2928

We were also served breakfast (included in the rate).dscn2951 dscn2953

But it’s more fun to watch hummingbirds eating!dscn2932 dscn2940 dscn2946 dscn2949 img_5393 img_5400 img_5427 img_5430 img_5436 img_5479 img_5492 img_5495 img_5447

The breakfast area overlooked a valley where we could see several parrot species flying through – Blue-headed Parrots & Orange-chinned Parakeets.  No Military Macaws though.img_5459 img_5464 img_5467 img_5473 img_5500 img_5504 img_5507

We hung around most of the morning to enjoy the birds, then had the receptionist call a taxi to take us to the airport which cost around 50-60,000 COP.  We could have saved a few pesos but taking a collectivo but that would have wasted time I would rather spend watching the birds!

You can book this pleasant little hotel directly on their website or via a few online hotel agencies like Booking.com.

Back To Minca For The Night

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After a rewarding birding trip to El Dorado Reserve, we headed back to Minca for the night hoping to see some Military Macaws the next morning.  There were no others to share the jeep so we had to pay the $80 ourselves but there is no other way to get down the mountain unless you want to walk!

We only had one night before our flight to Medellin.  We got a late start on the return trip as the jeep was still in use by other people who had been picked up at the airport and were checking in.  I didn’t mind though as the late departure enabled us to see a beautiful female Masked Trogon fairly close up!

We finally hit the road with another driver and met up with the other car headed up the mountain and I came up with the idea of a car swap so each driver could end up back at his station.  I was a bit envious of the young couple who had a great adventure in store but then again so did we elsewhere in Colombia!

Although we arrived at our lodge well after dark, I did get some pics of the small town of Minca the next day (and a few from passing through on the way up).

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Masked Trogon (Trogon personatus)

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It’s time to unmask the beauty of the elegant Masked Trogon (Trogon personatus) who is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae.  They have 8 different subspecies:

  • T. p. assimilis is found in the subtropics of the west Andean slope in Ecuador.
  • T. p. duidae is found on Mount Duida in the tepui region of southern Venezuela; males of this subspecies are reddish-bronze on the back.
  • T. p. personatus is found in the subtropical Andes of Venezuela, central and east Andean slopes in Colombia, and east Andean slopes in Ecuador and Peru; males of this subspecies are glossy green above.
  • T. p. ptaritepui is found in the tepui region of southern Venezuela; males of this subspecies are golden-green on the back.
  • T. p. roraimae is found on Auyantepui and Monte Roraima, on the border between Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.
  • T. p. sanctamartae is found in the Santa Marta Mountains of northeastern Colombia.
  • T. p. submontanus is found in the Andean foothills in Bolivia.
  • T. p. temperatus, sometimes considered to be a separate species, the highland trogon, is found in the temperate Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

I took the photos below from the verandah of the El Dorado Reserve Lodge.  This female  bird (T. p. sanctamartae) seemed to know how gorgeous she is and made sure I got her good side – both of them!

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Here’s a male bird from the Mindo area.

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Another male from Cabanas San Isidro

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They have a huge range throughout the mountainous areas of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia.  You may get lucky as I did at Mindo, San Isidro,  El Dorado and Rio Blanco.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT MASKED TROGONS

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Neotropical Birds

Not Your Average American

VIDEOS

This clip from the Mindo area has the male bird’s call.

A quiet but curious female.

 

 

Last Chance To Book United Stopovers Under Current Rules

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Just a reminder if you have an itinerary that won’t be allowed under the new “Excursionist Perks” rules you need to get them booked within the next couple of days.  A few examples of flights you won’t be able to book as of 6 Oct.

SYD – BKK (stopover) – Europe – BKK – SYD because it has a stopover in a different region

JNB – LUN – ADD – NBO because it’s all in one region

I have more details here.