Birding The Yellow-eared Parrot Area

Posted on by

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.

dscn3016a dscn3015a dscn3014a dscn3019 dscn3020a

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!

img_5813 img_5811 dscn3076 dscn3075 dscn3074 dscn3073 dscn3069 dscn3070 dscn3030 dscn3034 dscn3035

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!
dscn3037 dscn3040 dscn3066a dscn3052a img_5592 img_5593a img_5601 img_5625a img_5680 img_5680a img_5681a img_5683a img_5697a img_5706a img_5711 img_5722 img_5729 img_5746 img_5755 img_5759 img_5764a img_5777a img_5829a

There were lots of other birds on the property as well.
Black-billed Mountain-Toucan

img_5652a

Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager

img_5801 img_5801a img_5805a

 

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

img_5582 img_5582a img_5585a

TBD

img_5512 img_5515a img_5519a

Rufous-collared Sparrow img_5535a

Great Thrush

img_5656a

TBDimg_5565a img_5566a
Masked Flowerpiercer
img_5562a img_5574a img_5558a img_5579a

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!
dscn3078 dscn3082

Typical road near Ventanas.dscn3091

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

dscn3092 dscn3095

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!

dscn3147

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