The Scarlet-fronted Parakeet (Psittacara wagleri), also known as the Scarlet-fronted Conure or Wagler’s Conure, is a long-tailed South American species of parrot.
They are found in Colombia & Venezuela. I saw the “3 Amigos” pictured above at the El Dorado Reserve in Colombia.
This little guy didn’t know he was being scoped as he groomed himself.
These youngsters are enjoying a meal.
The Santa Marta Warbler (Myiothlypis basilica) is a species of bird in the Parulidae family. They are extremely quick-moving, this was the only photo I got that was less blurry.
They are endemic to the Santa Marta mountains and your only chance to see them is on the excursion with the El Dorado Reserve Lodge.
I could only find one and it was taken by a Colombian birding guide. Notice how quickly the bird keeps moving?
The highlight of a visit to the El Dorado Reserve is an early morning birding trip with the local guide to the top of the mountain where many endemic birds can be seen. With luck, this would include the Santa Marta Parakeet.
It’s an early start from the lodge, about 5am-ish as it takes about a hour to reach the top due to a very bad road. Here’s what that part of the trip looks like.
This is the most common place where people see Santa Marta Parakeets because they have nesting boxes there but they can be seen anywhere in the reserve and occasionally even are seen near the lodge. Unfortunately they didn’t show up this morning.
Some Scarlet-fronted Parrots were hanging around the area. Notice how misty it was-very frustrating for photography.
We walked around the trails for a while while the guide pointed out birds, many of which were endemics. I have a full bird list here.
These guys always stayed together and I was calling them “the 3 amigos”.
This is what the walking trails were like.
Black-cheeked Mountain-Tanager |
We headed back down the mountain very slowly, still watching for Santa Marta Parakeets. The guide would listen, hop out and scan the trees with his binoculars.
Just when we were about to give up, he spotted 2 flying to a tree and told us to come quickly. I barely had time to try a couple of Hail Mary shots (which failed) before the birds flew off.
The mist closed in and it started to rain so I knew we weren’t going to get another chance. At least we caught a glimpse which is better than nothing. We went back to the lodge for lunch.
The Santa Marta parakeet (Pyrrhura viridicata) is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is extremely rare and only seen by visitng the El Dorado Reserve. There aren’t many photos of this bird online, and my sighting was distant and in bad weather so I didn’t get a shot. I only saw a pair flying through the trees across the valley and this time “Hail Mary” didn’t work.
This is the photo from the ProAves website for El Dorado Reserve which is where you go to see these birds.
This Colombian endemic has an extremely limited range in the Santa Marta mountains. The only realistic way to see them is through El Dorado Reserve.
Other people (Colombian birding guides) have been lucky enough to see this lovely bird at close range and get videos of them eating.
The Blue-naped Chlorophonia (Chlorophonia cyanea) is a colourful South American species of bird in the family Fringillidae; it was formerly placed in the Thraupidae.
I just fell in love with them at El Dorado where one bird was building a nest just opposite the front door of our room. These little birds are seriously cute! They seem to like banana feeders.
They have a huge range throughout Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia. El Dorado seems to be an easy place, I have been all over Brazil and didn’t see them there.
This is how you eat a banana.
And this is how you share some bananas with 20 of your best friends!
After getting a look at the lodge in the El Dorado Reserve, we really need a closer look at some of the birds you can see just by sitting on your balcony, the main verandah or wandering the garden.
Look how they all are happy to share!
This one had me worried with that crooked neck but when I went to find the guide to check him out, he had flown off so hopefully he was ok.
Blue-naped Chlorophonia
Band-tailed Guan just lept up onto the banana table.
It was a bit misty but I did my best!
This adorable little Blue-naped Chlorophonia was building a nest just outside our room! 
A very elegant Masked Trogon
The El Dorado Reserve is the flagship of the ProAves Conservation group and was founded over 10 years ago. Their location high atop the Cuchilla de San Lorenzo, in the western sector of the northern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta provides access to many Colombian endemic birds such as the Santa Marta Parakeet. This place is a must for any birding trip to Colombia!
I’d like to say that getting there is half the fun but nothing compares to getting from the lodge to the birding location further up!
A welcome sight after the bumpy ride!
A restaurant with a view!
Some nice handicrafts made by locals
The verandah looks out over the grounds and you can see some of the hummingbird feeders. I’ll have to so a separate post for the birds as there are so many.
We had a jennian room with a private balcony. The room was beautifully furnished and the view was amazing!
We went back to the restaurant for lunch and to look for birds.
The second story of the main building has another viewing terrace and a cozy lounge to relax and talk to other birders.
The lounge is decorated with conservation posters.
Amazing sunset!
Educational video about ProAves and the El Dorado Reserve
Dinner was quite tasty with local home-made food and delicious juice. 
El Dorado Lodge is easy to book on their website. I recommend pre-paying the transfers and the morning birding excursion so you can use your credit card as much as possible. They can accept credit cards at the lodge but only if the signal is working. This lodge is an amazing experience and the staff clearly love what they do and their contribution to conservation. Highly recommended!
The El Dorado Reserve is one of Colombia’s top birding destinations and once you get there, you are sure to see some amazing birds! Getting there can be quite the challenge though, especially if you are on a budget. The easy way is to book a transfer on the El Dorado Reserve website when you book your accommodation. You can have them pick you up at your arrival airport – Baranquilla, Cartegena or Santa Marta but this won’t be cheap. Rates from Santa Marta start at $140 one way but that does include up to 5 people so may be cost effective if you are in a small group.
The rock-bottom cheapest way to get there is to take a collectivo (shared taxi) from Santa Marta to Minca for 7000 COP (Around $2.50 USD), then hire a motorcycle taxi to take you to the reserve. You don’t need to book these in advance, the round trip costs for 2 people are around 160,000 COP ($55 USD-ish). But the road is long and in very bad condition so your spine and posterior may be the worse for wear!
We went middle-of-the road. We got a taxi in Santa Marta for around 30,000 COP ($10.00 USD so only $5 more than the collectivo for a couple. This went very smoothly and the road is excellent up to Minca.
Gotta love a supermarket with a parrot as a logo!
The only annoying thing was getting stuck behind trucks but the taxi passed them as quickly as he could do so safely. 
Welcome to Minca! Here’s a few pics as we passed through. 
I decided that there was no way my dodgy back was going to withstand the road to El Dorado on a motorbike so I booked the one-way transfer from Minca to El Dorado to leave at 9am for $80 USD since I wanted to get there as early as possible to see more birds. I held off on the return transfer hoping to meet other people there to share the cost. (didn’t happen, we paid by ourselves)
The driver was ready and waiting as we arrived. We stopped at a small shop to get some snacks & drinks, use the conveniences and we were off and running! 
The road started out not so bad…………………………….
…………….but gradually got worse (albeit very scenic)…………………………
…………………….and worse (getting stuck behind trucks)…………………………
……………until we finally saw the sign for the lodge! Arrived at last!
So for this part of the trip we paid $160 USD round trip vs the $55 for motorcycle taxis but it was worth it to save our backs and derrieres!
Although we didn’t have too much time to spend because we were expected in Minca to meet our ride to El Dorado, we still got up early and took a short walk around the area. Our hotel, La Casa del Farol was 5 minutes from the main plaza.
There’s a bank with an ATM about 2 blocks from the main plaza. I tried to get some cash using my Aussie NAB card and just like the last night in Bogota airport, the transaction was rejected. Having no time to waste, I used another credit card to get a cash advance (with the intention to transfer money to pay it off as soon as we had internet again) so we wouldn’t be stuck in El Dorado & Minca (No ATMS). It wasn’t until Jardin and more rejected transactions that I realized something was wrong with THAT one card and I would have to sort it out with the bank.
Anyway, banking done for the time being, we found a taxi on the main plaza and negotiated the fare to Minca for around 35,000-ish. Since we had to be there by 9am, we didn’t have time to haggle or use the collectivos for 7000 pesos.
OK this is an eco-tourism blog so I don’t keep up with all the issues regarding elite status and 5 star hotels. I prefer smaller independent hotels & eco-lodges. But what I do need is airline miles to get to those amazing birding hotspots preferably through ordinary everyday spending.
The most popular program in Australia is American Express Membership Rewards and most Aussies in The Hobby are familiar with 40,000 Amex MR = 20,000 SPG = 25,000 AA or other SPG partner airline miles. You can earn up to 3x MR per AUD (Amex Edge supermarket spend) which equates to 1.5 SPG per AUD. Normal un-bonused spend gets 1 MR per AUD which equates to .5 SPG per AUD.
There is usually a lucrative promo in August or September to get 20% bonus when transferring to AA so you end up with 40,000 Amex = 20,000 SPG = 30,000 AA.
The one elusive program for Aussies has always been United MileagePlus as the SPG ratio is 2:1 rather than 1:1 plus bonus 5000 for transferring 20,000 SPG points.
Since the Marriott-SPG merger went through yesterday, they have released details of how to link your Marriott & SPG accounts. You can transfer back and forth at the rate of 1 SPG = 3 Marriott.
The sweet spot for airline miles collectors is the preferred rates Marriott has with United Airlines. (HT: Dan’s Deals for this section).
As you can see from the image, you can exchange 56,000 Marriott for 25,000 United MileagePlus.
With the new merger, that means that you can now transfer 38,000 Amex MR to 19,000 SPG which will get you 57,000 Marriott; that you can transfer into 25,000 United Mileage Plus with 1000 Marriott left over.
Don’t forget that you can also transfer Australian Amex MR to Singapore Krisflyer at 1:1 but SQ does have pretty hefty YQ “fuel” surcharges whereas United doesn’t have this surcharge. So if you are after a Star Alliance award, you need to weigh up your options on the SQ and UA award charts and see if the cheaper transfer rate directly to SQ is better or if you would rather spend more Amex MR to save the “fuel” surcharges.
Amex 40,000 = 25,000 AA or other SPG partner in batches of 20k SPG
Amex 38,000 = 25,000 UA via SPG/Marriott
Amex 40,000 = 40,000 SQ (or VA, CX, MH, EK, EY). But watch the surcharges!
We still don’t know how long Marriott will keep SPG as a separate program. We also don’t know if the Australian Amex MR will partner with Marriott if/when SPG disappears. Conventional wisdom says the full integration of SPG to Marriott should happen around 2018 and we would be given fair notice so we can do any last transfers required.