Today was a full on and very busy day. When leaving Jorupe the previous day, we had spoken with Leo, the reserve manager and he had offered to come with us to our next Jocotoco reserve, Utuana. He offered to take us to a few locations along the way for species that we were missing, all free of charge. We were stunned at the offer and immediately took him up on it.
So we started at 06:00 collecting Leo from the entrance gate
of Jorupe, before driving half an hour to Sozoranga, where we headed to the
road to El Tundo, the very same we had visited just the previous day. However,
with Leos knowledge, this time we were more successful, and quickly found a
pair of Slaty Brushfinch, followed by a bird that we both really wanted to see;
the Elegant Crescentchest. Initially it made us work, calling only from deep in
the ravine we were overlooking, but after some time it helpfully came up and
showed exceptionally well.
On the journey between Sozoranga and Utuana we had a few
other stops. A thicket of bamboo on the roadside did not provide many of the species
we hoped for, but it did give us the range restricted Black-cowled Saltator.
Another stop for Black-crested Tit-Tyrant did not produce the goods while we were
with Leo, but when we returned around lunchtime we got fantastic views of this
absolutely stunning bird. At this location there was also Green-tailed
Trainbearer. And then, just before the reserve we had good views of Jelskis
Chat Tyrant. All of these species have restricted ranges, and all are
strikingly beautiful.
Once into Utuana reserve itself, we headed straight for the
hummingbird feeders. Almost immediately we had both Purple-throated Sunangel
and the dazzling Rainbow Starfrontlet. The Sunangel performed excellently, but
the Starfrontlet refused to perch in the open when not visiting one of the
feeders. This was not helped by the strong sunlight, which made photography an absolute
nightmare. However, after a walk around we returned to the feeders at midday,
and the afternoon cloud cover had begun to roll in, improving the light
conditions greatly. At the same time, we managed to find a few Starfrontlets
that perched more conspicuously, so we did manage some nice shots in the end.
Our walk around the reserve was also very productive,
although punctuated by bursts of thick fog. We found both Chapman’s Antshrike
and Grey-headed Antbird, but neither performed well for us. Red-crested Cotinga
was also a nice bird to spot, but it was extremely distant, even more so than
when I had seen it before it Colombia.
We finally left the site at 14:00, ready for the four-hour drive to Tapichala, our next destination. The drive was smooth, but a brief stop for a few arid species failed to yield our targets. A Comb Duck flying up the river there was the best we managed. We finally arrived at our destination at 18:30, just as the last of the light vanished. A wander around looking for owls only produced heard only White-throated Screech-Owl.
Sozoranga: Pale-browed Tinamou, Striped Cuckoo, Amazilia Hummingbird, Elegant Crescentchest, Chestnut-crowned Antpitta, Loja Tyrannulet, Tropical Kingbird, House Wren, Great Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Bay-crowned Brushfinch,
Reserva Utuana: Band-tailed Pigeon, Sparkling Violetear, Lesser Violetear, Purple-throated Sunangel, Speckled Hummingbird, Green-tailed Trainbearer, Rainbow Starfrontlet, Black Vulture, Roadside Hawk, White-rumped Hawk, Chapman's Antshrike, Grey-headed Antbird, Blackish Tapaculo, Montane Woodcreeper, Streaked Xenops, Pacific Hornero, Line-cheeked Spinetail, Azara's Spinetail, Red-crested Cotinga, White-banded Tyrannulet, Black-crested Tit-Tyrant, White-crested Elaenia, Jelski's Chat-Tyrant, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Blue-and-white Swallow, Great Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Black-crested Warbler, Slate-throated Whitestart, Blue-capped Tanager, Silver-backed Tanager, White-sided Flowerpiercer, Masked Flowerpiercer, Black-cowled Saltator,
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