For our final morning in Minca, we explored a trail near the lodge that we had not tried before. Instead of heading down the mountain towards Minca, this trail led back up through the forests and it was the most productive birding we had done since we arrived in Colombia. There were a lot of commoner species, but mixed in between them were a few other goodies, including one new bird for me with Rufous-and-white Wren. A Little Tinamou called distantly but we could not get it to approach. One key target for the area, which I saw on my previous visit, was Golden-shouldered Sparrow and we had a nice individual show well this morning. A Laughing Falcon came close calling early morning, but we only saw it flying away.
Mid-morning we took a mototaxi back down from our lodge to
Minca and then spent the best part of an hour waiting for our next ride to
arrive, a 4x4 to take us to the El Dorado lodge on San Lorenzo Ridge. From my
last visit the road had been paved with concrete for the most part, and we made
quick progress. I asked the driver to stop on just occasion to try to find the
Santa Marta Antbird at a location with multiple eBird pins, and after a short
search I had a responsive pair come out of the vegetation just long enough to
get some nice views. The first key target of my time in Colombia was safely on
the list.
The final five kilometres of the road up to the lodge was,
as expected, pretty rough. The bigger shock came when I arrived at the lodge to
find that the entire setup had changed. The old restaurant was now closed, or a
private café, and a new building had opened near to the buildings we had stayed
in back in 2019, a 10 minute walk from the old restaurant. Still, this new spot
offered much better views of the Sierra Nevada, although we did not know it at
our first arrival due to the thick fog and heavy rain.
Once the rain lifted a little we were able to start
exploring. We decided to check out the garden of the old restaurant, and then
carry on the trails there before heading back for dinner. Despite the rain
persisting for the early part of our walk, it worked out well. The garden was
as lively as I remembered, although the old compost heap was gone. The endemic
White-tailed Starfrontlet was present at the feeders there, and showing much
better than last time, with a female also in tow.
The trail was quiet for the most part but with a few nice birds, such as Slaty-backed Nightingale Thrush and especially a very showy pair of Grey-throated Leaftossers, which offered fabulous views in the undergrowth. In addition to the birds we saw, there was also a very nice Colombian Red Howler Monkey feeding in the canopy near the trail, showing much better than when we had saw them a few days ago. Once we got back to the lodge we had another of the Santa Marta endemics, although not a particularly rare one, with Rusty-headed Spinetail showing well, and rounding off an excellent first afternoon back on the mountain of endemics.
Minca: White-tipped Dove, Squirrel Cuckoo, White-vented Plumeleteer, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Plumbeous Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, Whooping Motmot, Keel-billed Toucan, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Laughing Falcon, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Barred Antshrike, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Masked Tityra, Pale-eyed Pygmy Tyrant, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher, Streaked Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Chivi Vireo, Black-chested Jay, House Wren, Bicolored Wren, Rufous-and-white Wren, Pale-breasted Thrush, Thick-billed Euphonia, Lesser Goldfinch, Golden-winged Sparrow, Crested Oropendola, Carib Grackle, Chestnut-capped Warbler, Grey-headed Tanager, White-lined Tanager, Crimson-backed Tanager, Blue-grey Tanager, Palm Tanager, Swallow Tanager, Buff-throated Saltator, Streaked Saltator,
Proaves El Dorado: Band-tailed Guan, White-tipped Dove, Sparkling Violetear, Brown Violetear, Lesser Violetear, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Crowned Woodnymph, Grey-throated Leaftosser, Rusty-headed Spinetail, Mountain Elaenia, Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Santa Marta Brushfinch, White-lored Warbler,
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