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.

Band-tailed Pigeon

Mountain Elaenia

Santa Marta Warbler

Black-capped Tyrannulet

Cinnamon Flycatcher

Scarlet-fronted Parakeet

These guys always stayed together and I was calling them “the 3 amigos”.

Scaly-naped Parrot

Golden-olive Woodpecker

This is what the walking trails were like.

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.