Monday 2/21/2021 – We were up early to pack. Daniel was at the hotel at 6:10 and we were off by 6:20. We drove up the same road toward PNN Los Nevados, and about halfway up turned into Hacienda de Bosque. Hacienda De Bosque is a 1000 hectare (about 2500 acres) working cattle ranch, that has added ecotourism in the past three years. The road up to the ecotourism area was incredibly steep, and we ended up at over 10,000 feet elevation.
At 7:00 we had a quick breakfast in a small restaurant
with glass walls that gave great views of Mantizales in the valley far below.
There was a group of 8 photographers from Spain that we’d run across at the
previous day at Hotel Termales de Ruiz so we knew that things we going to get
crowded again.
We drove back down to a parking area and hiked about 200 yards on a steep wet trail to the blind where the Equatorial Antpitta was fed. Daniel has spoken with the manager of the farm, Juan Martin, and he made sure that Teri and I both had good seats.
This was necessary because the Spaniards had a great deal
of equipment including backpacks, tripods, extra cameras, etc. and had shown themselves to be
completely discourteous the previous day. Reminded us of our experience with
the French photographers in Ecuador last fall.
They started calling to the Antpitta and had tossed out some large grubs. First to take advantage were Gray-browed Brushfinches.
Before long one, and then another Equatorial Antpitta showed up to feed. They jumped up on some nice moss-covered perches in the small clearing and everyone got great looks and photos.
From there the entire group headed off to a second
viewing area, this time for Crescent-faced Antpitta. Once again Juan Martin
made sure that Teri and I had good viewing positions. It didn’t take long for a
handsome Crescent-faced Antpitta to appear on a nice perch, and again we got
great looks and photos.
Daniel asked if we had gotten good looks, and when I indicated that we had he motioned for Teri and I to join him. We left the others and walked down to yet another viewing area, this time for Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucans. This was a much more open site, with horizontal perches set up about 5’ for the Mountain-Toucans to land on.
Juan Martin had a bunch of grapes tied to the end of a long pole, and began calling “Tookie, tookie, tookie”. A Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan appeared shortly and was treated to a couple of grapes. It flew off and was replaced by another. All told we saw four different Mountain-Toucans.
We also enjoyed seeing a Slaty Brushfinch at this site. While not as striking as a Mountain-Toucan, it was a handsome bird and another lifer for us!
It is gratifying to see operations like this dairy farm recognize that they have some good forest habitat and interesting birds. Developing the sites a bit and hosting birders gives them an additional source of income, preserves the habitat, and gives others reason to consider conservation as well. Many farm operations in Colombia are preserving existing forest and even reforesting some land with the goal of developing ecotourism.
We left a little after 10:00 and headed back up the road
toward the National Park. Being Monday, it was so much quieter than the
previous day, and the weather was better as well. We stopped several times to
look for Paramo species that we’d missed the previous day. Things started out
nice and sunny, but soon it clouded up and began to sprinkle, much as it had
the previous day. Weather changes very quickly in the Andes!
It wasn’t too long a drive and we arrived at about 3:00. The lodge had been closed since the start of COVID and had only recently re-opened. We think that we were the first post-COVID guests.
And it turned out that we were the only guests. They gave us an enormous room with three single beds and a large bathroom. We were pleased with the room but would find out later that the large size wasn’t a good thing after all.
After relaxing for a bit we watched the hummingbird feeders around the lodge, and walked the grounds around the lodge.
Teri and I got caught up on a few things in the room, and then went to dinner at 6:30.
It was odd in that they seated us at a table in the dining room, brought the food, and then closed the door and left. A very low-key operation!
When we arrived at the lodge they had mentioned an alcohol heater in the room, and it was starting to get cold, so we asked that they show us how to light it. It was a very simple steel table with two slots that were filled with alcohol and then lit. It provided a welcome amount of heat, as the single portable electric heater in the room was on its last leg! As night approached the room got colder and colder. I lit the alcohol heater and hoped that it would warm up the room, but it was a losing proposition. With the large room, high ceilings, and low outdoor temperature (around 50 degrees) it was going to be a cold night!
Next time: Day 9
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