As described previously, today we decided to take a 4x4 all the way to the top in order to watch the sunrise, then find the birds I wanted and then walk the trail back to the lodge. If the weather held, it promised to be a very pleasant morning, with a few important species seen and some excellent scenery enjoyed.
The drive to the top started at 04:10 and took around an
hour, despite not being a long distance, such is the absolute state of the
road. We still managed to arrive before sunrise, but had a moment to work out
exactly how to renter the reserve grounds, with the gate being locked.
Fortunately, after a short walk up and down the road to figure things out a
bit, a member of staff who they apparently have stationed up here now, let us
in and we were able to watch from the tower as the mountains slowly revealed themselves.
Why they have a ranger here now seemed a little odd, but the
reason became apparent as the morning wore on. We birded a little around the
top, and by pure chance, the ranger called us over and brought us down to a
little clearing in the bamboo. There, in the middle of it, scoffing down worms,
was a Santa Marta Antpitta. Having missed this bird in 2019, and heard it only
distantly the previous day, I was not sure that we would see it, but to see it
so well was incredible. I had no idea that this species was even being fed
here, so that made the surprise the surprise all the more incredible.
And it got even better, as the ranger gestured for us to
come with him to try another one, which turned out to be the Sierra Nevada
Antpitta, another endemic to the Santa Marta mountains since its split from the
old Rufous Antpitta complex. This one took some more effort and it did not come
for some time, eventually arriving at a different spot just around the corner
from where we had been trying. But it was worth the wait as in the end we had
two different individuals come to take worms. Incredible that I had prepared
for a long morning trying to find both antpittas, but had instead had them
incredibly easily.
Sadly what was not easy was the most important species at
the top of the mountain; the Brown-rumped Tapaculo. In the end the third
individual I heard gave brief views but no photos, but this was followed by
about another 10 individuals that just would not show. In the end, I tracked
down a responsive pair but to see them I needed to crawl into the bamboo they
were refusing to leave and only then was I able to really add species number 38
to my tapaculo collection.
The walk back took some time and was pretty exhausting, it
was excellent that we did not have to deal with any rain. Generally birding was
pretty slow, but we had nice views of White-tipped Quetzal and White-throated
Toucanet. Since we arrived late morning I went back to the old restaurant
garden but there were only the usual species around, no sign of anything
different using the feeders apart from a Red-tailed Squirrel.
At nightfall we went out with one of the local guides to explore the forest for other animals, and we had a great time with numerous species of frogs on offer, although which ones was difficult to determine. We also saw the local endemic Salamander and then to top it off we saw three of the local endemic snake species. Of course there were also plenty of other creepy-crawlies that were less exciting, but still a great night out exploring the trails.
Proaves El Dorado: Band-tailed Pigeon, White-tipped Dove, Lined Quail-Dove, Sparkling Violetear, Brown Violetear, Lesser Violetear, Tyrian Metaltail, Lazuline Sabrewing, Crowned Woodnymph, Mottled Owl, White-tipped Quetzal, Masked Trogon, White-throated Toucanet, Scaly-naped Amazon, Santa Marta Antpitta, Sierra Nevada Antpitta, Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Strong-billed Woodcreeper, Montane Woodcreeper, Montane Foliage-gleaner, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Olive-striped Flycatcher, Mountain Elaenia, Black-chested Jay, Hermit Wood Wren, Great Thrush, Sierra Nevada Brushfinch, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Santa Marta Brushfinch, Slate-throated Whitestart, Yellow-crowned Whitestart, Black-capped Tanager, White-sided Flowerpiercer, Paramo Seedeater,
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