Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis)

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Tara

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

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!

Birding The Yellow-eared Parrot Area

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Tara

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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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

Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis)

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Tara

The Yellow-eared Parrot nests and lives among wax palms in a few areas of Western and Central Cordillera of Colombia, where it inhabits cloud forests about 1800–3000 meters above sea level. It nests in the hollow trunks of the palms, usually 25–30 meters over the floor level. It also occurred very locally in northern Ecuador where wax palm grows. Their numbers had been greatly reduced, and only 81 individuals were recorded in the Colombian census of 1999. Their populations have been impacted by hunting and habitat destruction, particularly the harvesting of wax palm, which was traditionally cut down and used each year on Palm Sunday. There has been no confirmed records of this parrot from Ecuador since the mid-90s.

This colorful, green and yellow parrot was believed to be extinct until April 1999, when a group of researchers, sponsored by Fundación Loro Parque and ABC, discovered a small population of just 81 individuals in the Colombian Andes. Fundación ProAves, which was formed as a result of this discovery, has been working on recovering the species ever since.

The Yellow-eared Parrot has suffered greatly from habitat loss and fragmentation – over 90% of montane forests in Colombia have been cleared for agriculture or settlement, and Quindio wax palms, on which the parrot depends, have been decimated by logging and disease. Wax palms were also being unsustainably exploited for use in Palm Sunday celebrations within the parrot’s range.

Getting to Colombia is easy with airline miles. Since Colombia is in the northern South America region with Peru, please see this post for details on how many miles you would need. The main airport, Bogota is well served by both Star Alliance (Avianca, Copa, United, Lufthansa, Air Canada) and One World (American, LAN, Iberia).