Colombia Day 15; Chingaza National Park

  For our second day with Fredy we prioritised birding, to see as many of the species in the area as we could at various sites that he knew. With his help, we were able to mop up many of my target species around the area of the Chingaza National Park, before finishing up early afternoon and heading back to Bogota.

  We started at a roadside spot that Fredy knew was a good place to look for the Coppery-bellied Puffleg hummingbird. Although it took some time, we did eventually get a nice but brief view of a male feeding in the flowers. Our search was complicated by an abundance of Glowing Pufflegs, which were very common around the site. However, the birding here was generally excellent, with a nice flock of Black-chested Mountain Tanagers entertaining us throughout, and a confiding Black-capped Tyrannulet being the highlight. Other smart birds here included a Black-headed Hemispingus, Bronze-tailed Thornbill and a female Great Sapphirewing hummingbird.

  After some time birding here, we drove over the top of the mountain to an area of farmland Fredy had established as a nice birding site, with a few feeders set up and nice areas of forest explored. The main target here was his staked-out Muisca Antpitta. Fredy was much more relaxed with his Antpitta than many other places I have visited, with him being able to summon his Antpitta any time of day just by calling its name. And it was very responsive, coming straight out of the bamboo to devour the worms on offer, before scuttling back in. The bird was brilliant, completely confiding and evening taking the worms before Fredy had finished putting them out.

  The hummingbird feeders were also nice. They were quite new, and away from the forest so the birds were a bit more timid than at other more established feeders, but all of our target species still came out, including the beautiful Blue-throated Starfrontlet which was the one we most wanted here. Both males and females showed nicely at the feeders. Additionally I had a new hummingbird with Longuemare’s Sunangel, which was extremely shy and never stuck around for long. White-bellied Woodstar and Mountain Velvetbreast made up the best of the other species visiting.

  Exploring the forests was difficult as it was already late morning and generally activity was low. We had a nice encounter with a couple of Black-billed Mountain Toucan, but our main target was Flame-winged Parakeet. These initially proved a bit more challenging, but after about an hour a medium-sized flock of some 35 birds arrived and started to move around the forest fragments there, giving excellent views at times, as they fed in the trees.

  We wrapped up our time with Fredy at 14:00 and said goodbye to Chingaza National Park, one of the absolute highlights of the trip, with brilliant birding, bears and an excellent guide to show us everything. The drive into to Bogota was reasonably smooth and we found ourselves a nice hotel to crash out in during the afternoon. 

Species List:
Chingaza National Park: Andean Guan, Sparkling Violetear, Lesser Violetear, Longuemare's Sunangel, Bronze-tailed Thornbill, Tyrian Metaltail, Glowing Puffleg, Coppery-bellied Puffleg, Blue-throated Starfrontlet, Mountain Velvetbreast, Great Sapphirewing, White-bellied Woodstar, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Black-billed Mountain Toucan, Flame-winged Parakeet, Muisca Antpitta, Pale-bellied Tapaculo, White-throated Tyrannulet, Mountain Elaenia, Black-capped Tyrannulet, Streak-throated Bush Tyrant, Tropical Kingbird, Brown-bellied Swallow, House Wren, Rufous Wren, Tropical Mockingbird, Great Thrush, Lesser Goldfinch, Andean Siskin, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Slaty Brushfinch, Pale-naped Brushfinch, White-capped Tanager, Black-chested Mountain Tanager, Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager, Golden-crowned Tanager, Blue-backed Conebill, Rufous-browed Conebill, Glossy Flowerpiercer, Bluish Flowerpiercer, Masked Flowerpiercer, Black-headed Hemispingus, Saffron Finch,