Category Archives: Destinations

Birding Nariva Swamp, Trinidad

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Nariva Swamp is high on most birders’ lists to visit in Trinidad.  I would have preferred to get here earlier but we arrived around 8am due to getting lost.  We headed to the main birding spot – Kernahan Road.  I was targeting parrots of course plus anyone else who flew by.  Flying by at great speed was one pair of Red-bellied Macaws even before we turned off the main road to Kernahan Road but they disappeared before I could get a shot and I couldn’t find them again.

We didn’t see either the monkey or the macaw this time.  Probably because we got there so late.

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This is where I saw the Red-bellied Macaws fly overhead while we were driving.dscn3608 dscn3612 img_6777

Turn left here.  Then just drive very slowly and keep your ears and eyes open!img_6778 dscn3613 dscn3614 dscn3616 dscn3617

Great Egretimg_6780

Swallowimg_6782

Smooth-billed Aniimg_6784 img_6796

Ruddy Ground Doveimg_6797 img_6799

Orange-winged Parrots (Amazons)img_6806 img_6807 img_6808 img_6811 img_6815

Yellow Oriole img_6822 img_6826

Great Egretimg_6831

 

Getting Lost In Trinidad

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There are a few must-see birding hotspots and with only 2 full days I had organized two very ambitious itineraries.  The first day involved driving out to Nariva Swamp before dawn, getting to Yerette (Hummingbirds) for lunch, then doing the sunset boat ride at Caroni Bird Sanctuary.  What I didn’t realize is how confusing some of the roads were and without a GPS, we would get lost several times.  Ordinarily getting lost isn’t a bad thing as you can stumble into some pretty cool places but I really needed to get to all these places on time.  This is what it looked like (blue is Google maps, red is how we got to Nariva Swamp and green is getting back to Yerette.

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I have no idea where most of these places are, I was just snapping photos out the window to show every day Trinidad life.dscn3574 dscn3575 dscn3576 dscn3577 dscn3578 dscn3579 dscn3580

I love this colour!dscn3581

Public transportdscn3583 dscn3585

Pretty police stationdscn3586 dscn3588 dscn3589 dscn3590 dscn3591 dscn3592 dscn3593

After finally finding the road to Nariva, we stopped here to buy food and drinks.dscn3595 dscn3596

The sea at last!dscn3597 dscn3598 dscn3600 dscn3601 dscn3605

Yay, we found it!dscn3606

This next group of photos is getting back from Nariva to Yerette.  We ended up in some really remote rural area and only got back to the main road after following a local man who was headed that way.dscn3618 dscn3619 dscn3620

 

Planning A Birding Trip To The Caribbean

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The Caribbean is one of the most challenging regions to go birding in, especially if you are on a budget.  You can get to most of the best islands for birding with miles but if you want to hop around between islands you are stuck with very expensive short flights.  Sooner or later, you will probably have to fly on Liat which is popularly known as “Leave Island Any Time or Luggage In Another Termnal”.

The other option is birding from a cruise ship.  This will get you to several islands and if you choose your itinerary wisely you could position yourself for some excellent birding.  I was successful in birding Jamaica & Grand Cayman from a cruise ship several years ago.

The islands highlighted in yellow are some of the most popular ones for birding and for parrot lovers, they all have endemic parrot species.

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CHOOSING THE ISLANDS TO VISIT

This was the easiest part.  The islands are fairly small and it’s easy to find out where the birds are.  I used eBird to get an idea but knew I would be hiring a guide at least on St Lucia and Dominica since time was short.  I was after several amazing Amazon Parrot species which are endemic to particular islands.  Puerto Rico has the Puerto Rican Amazon.  Dominica has the Imperial Amazon (Sisserou) & Red-necked Amazon (Jaco).  St Lucia has the St Lucia Parrot.  St Vincent has the St Vincent Parrot.  Trinidad has a couple of Parrotlets I was chasing – Green-rumped Parrotlets & Lilac-tailed Parrotlet.  There are also several Macaws and Amazon species plus lots of hummingbirds & manakins around the island so it was a great all-rounder.

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GETTING AROUND

We used United miles on Copa to get from Bogota to Trinidad via Panama.  Then we used miles from Port-of-Spain to St Lucia, only 4500 Avios for the short flight.  After that, we had to use Liat to St Vincent, Dominica & San Juan.

On Trinidad & Puerto Rico, we rented a car and drove around on our own.  On St Lucia, St Vincent & Dominica, we used a combination of guided birding tours (St Lucia), buses & taxis to national parks (St Vincent) and a private birding day trip on Dominica.

ACCOMMODATION

The Caribbean can be very expensive and even small lodges can be at least $150 a night.  Luckily I had some Hotels.com free nights, 2 Expedia credits for a promo they messed up on and some Orbucks from a photo competition they ran in 2014 which got our small hotels on St Lucia, St Vincent & Dominica plus one night at a small hotel south of San Juan for free.

We had 2 nights free in Trinidad at the Radisson thanks to the 2 for 1 redemption opportunity that came with the Club Carlson Visa booked just one month before that particular benefit went away.

We had one free night at the San Juan Intercontinental courtesy of the Chase free night with the IHG Rewards Visa.

Yes, you read that right, getting lucky with some hotel promos got us the entire week in the Caribbean for FREE!

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting in detail about our birding in the Caribbean so stay tuned!

Day Trip – Birding Chingaza & Bioandina Area

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Once again I was up for a very last minute off-the-cuff birding excursion-the last one in Colombia.  This time I was on my own as my husband wanted to take a day off and relax in the hotel and get over his altitude sickness.  I was targeting Brown-breasted Parakeet and had studied their locations on eBird.  Birds of Passage had a nice post about their birding in the area, looks like they had bad weather to contend with as well!  I contacted Oswaldo Cortes on Facebook but he was already booked that day but he suggested we go to Chingaza for the parakeets.  So I got the hotel to book a car & driver (SUV) who arrived promptly at 5am to take me to Chingaza.  The scenery was gorgeous along the way!

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Finally we arrived at Chingaza National Park.  I was already looking for parakeets!dscn3507 img_6706

This is the desired Brown-breasted Parakeet and the mascot of the park.img_6707 dscn3508 dscn3509

This is the office where you pay admission and enter the park.  However they didn’t want to let me in since I didn’t have a guide!  I was hoping a guide might show up or be waiting around the entrance like they do at some other parks but no dice.  The area where the parakeets frequent is further into the park so I couldn’t just hang around the car park area and hope to get lucky.  So not wanting to waste any more time, I decided to try the other place where the parakeets had been seen – Bioandina which is on the north side of Chingaza.

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bogota-surrounds

You can see how we traveled from the hotel to Chingaza (blue line) and then we backtracked to where the red line begins.  I knew Bioandina was in that general area (yellow) but it wasn’t very well signposted and we ended up going all the way to where the red line ends until we realized we missed it. dscn3511 dscn3512

This is the road we turned down which finally led to the right area.  I never saw the word “Bioandina” but we did head into prime bird habitat.dscn3513 dscn3516 dscn3517 dscn3519 dscn3520 dscn3522

I think this is some kind of school, anyways it is very near the trees where we finally saw and heard a good-sized flock of parakeets!  The trees are in the photo above.dscn3525

The area was fenced off so all we could do was sit on the side of the road and wait.  It was so frustrating, I could hear LOTS of parakeets and see them flitting back and forth.  I knocked off a few Hail Mary shots but just couldn’t get them.  After about 20 minutes, they took off like bats parakeets out of hell and disappeared down the valley. The fence kept us from getting closer and I was feeling minor effects of altitude sickness from the previous trip so I was sitting in the car hoping they would come closer.  They didn’t.

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We drove around the area some more hoping to find the parakeets again.  dscn3526 dscn3527

We found a crested guan hiding in a bush near the road.img_6708 img_6710 img_6736 img_6711 img_6717 img_6732 img_6735

A few shots of the road heading back into Bogota.  I wanted to go to some craft shops but we couldn’t find any along the route.dscn3529 dscn3530 dscn3537 dscn3538 dscn3539 dscn3541

The driver dropped me back at the hotel and I found Ina in much better spirits after having a day to rest.  I was one one hand happy to have found a flock of parakeets but disappointed I didn’t get any photos.  Maybe I should have bought some flowers!

Quest For The Fuertes Parrot

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The rare and endangered Fuertes Parrot is highly sought after by birders in Colombia.  I knew that ProAves had a reserve south of Armenia, the Giles Fuertes Reserve.  I had contacted them to inquire about a visit but was told that the reserve was not open to visitors.  So I turned to eBird to see where other people had been seeing them and found a few sightings near the Termales San Vincente which was easily reached from Pereira or Santa Rosa de Cabal.  But what really turned this expedition around for me was finding a blog (Birds of Passage) by two American birders – Josh & Kathi who were traveling around South America in a camper van.

This is what it looks like from Pereira to Termales San Vincente, then the small road leading up the mountain to the Fuertes Parrot site.

fuertes-area

This post on their blog had detailed instructions on how to get to the Fuertes Parrot site!  Now all I needed was transport.  This was when I chose the Kolibri Hostel in Pereira as an overnight staging point.  I knew backpacker places would have drivers available at backpacker prices………….and they did!  Although I don’t remember the exact cost, it was around 130,000 COP for the morning and we would be dropped at the airport afterwards..

This is the junction of the Termales San Vincente and the road on the left is where you turn.

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This is the checkpoint at 3000m and it was manned.  We told them we were birding and there were no problems.  We signed in and back out again as we left.dscn3429

Rough road best done with an SUV at least.dscn3430 dscn3431 dscn3433 dscn3435

We kept driving past the farms as instructed.dscn3437 dscn3440

Drove over the little yellow bridge.dscn3442

Time we arrived after leaving Pereira at 5am.dscn3443 dscn3444

We drove slowly with windows and ears open.  I was dismayed with the weather, the clouds (yes it is a cloud forest) would make finding the parrots very difficult.dscn3447 dscn3452 dscn3463 dscn3466

We parked at a good vantage point and waited well over an hour with only this bird (whatever it is) being seen.img_6632

More waiting until FINALLY some Fuertes Parrots appeared out of the mist and flew into a tree.  I couldn’t get a focus on them.img_6638

They were flying from tree to tree but unfortunately came nowhere near us.img_6645 img_6650 img_6661 img_6670

Interesting group of people driving up the road.img_6676

Meanwhile the weather was getting worse and I was no longer hearing the parrots squawk and couldn’t see them flying anymore.  img_6683

We headed back down the mountain past the yellow bridge, weather getting worse by the minute.  I really HATE cloud forests, especially ones at high altitudes.  Why can’t these awesome birds pick more accessible places to live?img_6685

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We decided to visit the Termales San Vincente to see if there were any interesting birds.  As we got near, the heavens opened up so we weren’t able to walk around the grounds.dscn3457 dscn3458 dscn3459

This Andean Motmot felt sorry for us having such a lousy day so posed for a photo to cheer us up.dscn3460 dscn3461 dscn3463 dscn3466 dscn3467 dscn3469

Continuing back towards Santa Rosa, we found another Andean Motmot.img_6686 img_6689 img_6690

A pretty Fork-tailed Flycatcher on a wire.img_6692 img_6698

Random raptor in the mist.img_6702

It was still raining as we drove back through Santa Rosa.dscn3470 dscn3471 dscn3473 dscn3474 dscn3475 dscn3476 dscn3477 dscn3481

The end of the trip as we enter the Pereira airport.dscn3482 dscn3483 dscn3484

A Visit To Colombia’s Páramo

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Up to now, we had visited some mountainy areas in Ecuador and Colombia but none were REALLY high up.  Quito is at 2850 metres and the El Dorado Reserve in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is around 2600 metres.  On previous travels long ago I had been to Lhasa at 3700 metres and we have both been to Cuzco at 3399 metres.  I can recall spending one day in Lhasa pretty woozy then acclimating and being ok.  In Cuzco we were out of breath a bit but otherwise fine.

On this trip, we had flown into Medellin 1495 metres and traveled overland via Jardin to Manizales at 2160 metres and barely noticed anything.  I knew that many tourists use Manizales as a base to make day trips to the Nevado del Ruiz and some had complained of altitude sickness but they were going much further up than we were.  I was targeting a couple of parrots found in the Páramo  – the Rusty-faced Parrot and the Rufous-fronted Parakeet.  I had good data from eBird on where people had been seeing them and Albeiro from Rio Blanco Reserve had organized a car & driver for us and explained to the driver were we were going and why.

The driver picked us up around 5am so we could get to the birding area by dawn.  It was beautiful scenery throughout the whole trip.

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It wasn’t far but it was uphill all the way and we were going very slow to listen for the birds.  It was extremely foggy the whole day which pretty much ruined my chance to get bird shots, especially if they were in flight.   After slowly driving along the area where others had reported Rusty-faced Parrots, we finally heard the calls and saw a pair fly overhead and off to the bush without stopping.  This was as good as we were going to get.dscn3255 dscn3256

At this point, I was shocked to see how high we were – 3400 metres!  Shortly afterward we took a turn towards the Termales del Ruiz.dscn3257 dscn3258 dscn3259 dscn3261

 

The fog was getting worse – bad news for birders.img_6140 img_6149 img_6152

I just about freaked out when I saw this sign!img_6153 img_6160

From this point up to the Termales del Ruiz is the area where you are most likely to see Rufous-fronted Parakeets. So we drove slowly along listening anxiously but nothing could be heard.

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At this point we stopped for about half an hour.  I could hear what seemed to be parrot calls in the trees but none of them came out where we could see them.

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Spectacular view of Manizales!dscn3272 dscn3273

This is the Hotel Termales del Ruiz where we stopped for a short visit.  There is a fee to go inside the property to see the hummingbird feeders and I didn’t have enough cash for everyone so I went in to grab some photos while Ina & the driver hung around outside.  I’ll put this birding walk on a separate post due to large number of photos.dscn3274

Ina was starting to feel the effects of the altitude by this time so we had to go back down the mountain.  Surprisingly, all I got was a bit out of breath but nothing serious.  Ina got pretty woozy.dscn3320 dscn3323

Not sure what this is, I was just happy to see a bird close enough to get a photo of!dscn3324 dscn3329

The road is pretty bad so if you come here, make sure you have a 4×4 or at least high clearance.dscn3326 dscn3327 dscn3333

At this point we were almost back to Manizales when we got a call from Albeiro letting us know the Golden-Plumed Parakeets were hanging around the lodge area so we high-tailed it back to Rio Blanco.dscn3340

The Avian Wonders Of Rio Blanco Reserve, Colombia

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To organize a visit here, please see my review post.  Even if you aren’t spending the night, you still have to book a day visit with Aguas Manizales.  Now on to the birds!

HUMMINGBIRD FEEDERS

Always a nice variety of hummers hanging around!  I’m not sure which ones they are because I can’t match all their pictures but I found a few!

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Bronzy Inca

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Long-tailed Sylph

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BANANA FEEDERS

Masked Flowerpiercer

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Rufous-collared Sparrow

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Blue Winged Mountain Tanager img_5957 img_5959

ANTPITTA EXTRAVAGANZA

Albeiro has won the confidence of several different Antpittas which are usually shy birds and very hard to see.  He offers them worms (part of their usual diet) and in exchange birders get to see them up close!  Prior to this trip, I didn’t know much about Antpittas but now that I have seen a few, they are really cute birds and a real treat to see!

Chestnut-crowned Antpitta

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Worms are served!  It was like Dominoes for Antpittas!dscn3195 img_5986 img_5994 img_6025 img_6008 img_6030

Brown-banded Antpitta

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Antpitta observation areadscn3202

Slate-crowned Antpitta

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A couple of the Antpittas were too shy to come out in the open – dscn3215 dscn3216

FOREST BIRDS

In many cases the light was bad and all I got were silhouettes.  Here’s a few of my better shots.  My full eBird list is here.

Andean Motmot
 I saw a few of these beauties on the road between the reserve and the access road from town.

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Masked Trogon

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Crimson-mantled Woodpecker
 Not sure why this handsome bird was being so shy!

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Great Thrush

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Grass-green Tanager

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Russet-crowned Warbler

img_6115 img_6120 img_6123 Another Andean Motmot

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Golden-plumed Parakeets

This was an amazing experience we owe to the dedication of Albeiro.  We had already checked out of the lodge, moved to a hotel in Manizales and were out on the Paramo day trip with the driver he had organzed for us.  Close to noon as we were back in town after birding the Paramo, the driver got a call from Albeiro that the Golden-plumed Parakeets were hanging around the lodge!  We high-tailed it up to the lodge and there they were – in tree tops and playing with each other, so beautiful!  We were able to spend a good 20 minutes watching them before they all flew off in unison.  It was pretty cool how they circled the property a few time (making sure we got a good look?), then vanished into the forest.  A most fitting farewell to one of Colombia’s top birding reserves!

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