Colombia 2023 - Day 2

 8/23/2023 Wednesday

We had another 5:00 start, but this time with packed bags as we were heading to a new town and hotel.  

Getting out of Bogota was once again a task. We headed east up and over some significant mountains. Apparently this highway is a popular and challenging road biking course, so in addition to the cars, heavy trucks, and motorcycles, there were hundreds of bicyclists testing themselves on the ascent. Some were in organized groups with trailing vehicles to block for them, while others seemed to be going it alone. Just a bit more chaos on an already chaotic road!

We stopped at a gas station/market to pick up sandwiches for lunch, along with big bottles of water and a few snacks for the next couple of days. 

We arrived at Chingaza National Park at 6:40. This was high altitude, roadside birding. It was cool and breezy, but unlike the previous day sunny. The sun is really intense on the equator at this altitude of 11,000+ feet!

We started out with some very nice birds. 

Bluish Flowerpiercer

Great Thrush - male

Black-crested Warbler

Black-crested Warbler

It is amazing that at these high elevations we still find hummingbirds. In fact, some species are found only in these zones. The Glowing Puffleg male was especially nice and you can see the big white leg "puffs" that give it part of its name. 

Glowing Puffleg

Glowing puffleg

As we moved up in the elevation and the day warmed it got quiet, and Daniel decided that the sunny, windy conditions were not in our favor at these high elevations. So we backtracked a bit down to a lower elevation road to explore some more sheltered areas. 

On our way down we spotted a Tawny Antpitta. Antpittas are generally secretive and hard to see, but this one cooperated nicely. Perhaps because it was carrying a nice breakfast?

Tawny Antpitta

As Daniel had predicted birding was better down out of the wind, and we started seeing good birds once again. 

Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant

Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant

Red-crested Cotinga

Guides sometimes play a Pygmy-Owl call as a way to attract birds. The other birds don't want the owl in their area as it is a predator, and will come to chase the owl away. But sometimes, you end up attracting the real thing, which is always a treat!

Andean Pygmy-Owl

Andean Pygmy-Owl

All Pygmy-Owls (there are many species) feature a pair of "eye spots" in the back of their heads. It is thought that these protect the small owls from attacks from behind. 

Andean Pygmy-Owl

As planned we ate our lunch in the field. It was cool, sunny, green and a lovely spot to enjoy. 

We always look for plantain chips when we're in Central or South America, and we'd picked some up for lunch. Daniel had picked up some of his favorite, chicken-flavored potato chips!  We each tried them. Teri liked them ok, but I wasn't a fan.

And for dessert, Happy Black cookies. High in sugar, high in sodium, and high in saturated fat!  They were good...

After lunch we headed to Observatorio de Colibres (Hummingbird Observatory) at Finca Muchareja, arriving at 3:30. This was the home and gardens of a successful local artist. She has hummingbird feeders hanging throughout the garden, and allows visitors (for a fee!).  

There was a warning sign regarding the dog that got our attention!

Avoid physical, eye, or voice contact with the dogs. Yikes! We never saw a dog, so we were safe...

Our main target here was the Blue-throated Starfrontlet, a species of hummingbird. It seemed that every part of their body showed some color of iridescence. Just amazing. 

Blue-throated Starfrontlet - male

The gardens were very nice, with plenty of different hummingbird species to see.

Some had long tails, others long bills. 

Black-tailed Trainbearer - female

Black-tailed Trainbearer - male 

Sword-billed Hummingbird

We saw the second largest hummingbird in South America, the Great Sapphirewing, which is about 7" long. And we saw the tiny White-bellied Woodstar, which is only 2.5" long.

Great Sapphirewing - male

White-bellied Woodstar - female

White-bellied Woodstar - male

And a few more "ordinary" hummers as well. 

Sparkling Violetear

Tyrian Metaltail

We saw lots of great hummers and got plenty of pictures, finishing up around 5:00.

We then drove to the small town of Guatavita and checked in to Hotel El Dorado. Small and simple, but nice.  

Our room

The hotel restaurant had closed down since Daniels last visit, so we ended up walking a couple of blocks to one of the few open places. It advertised itself as being a “fast food” hamburger and pizza place. Teri and I each ordered a personal pizza thinking that it would likely be a frozen one, but it was fresh and surprisingly good. 

The elevation was quite high (8800') and the night was very cool. There was no heat in the room but good blankets and we slept fine after our busy day.

Next - Up, up we go.