Colombia 2023 - Day 5

8/26/2023 Saturday

We were out on the balconies at 6:00 to check out the dozen or so hummingbird feeders hanging from the eaves. 

They were busy and we quickly picked up Black Inca and Lazuline Sabrewing, both lifers. 

Black Inca

Lazuline Sabrewing

It took a bit longer to see the Short-tailed Emerald, another lifer. But that one didn't cooperate for a picture!

After a quick breakfast we walked down the entrance road, calling for a Mustached Brushfinch which is supposed to be very reliable here. But it was strangely quiet and we didn't get an answer. 

We walked out to the main road and tried again with the same result. This looked like very nice forest but the birds just didn't seem to be around. 

We did get to see a few Grassland Yellow-Finches in the more open grassland on the other side of the road. 

Grassland Yellow-Finch

We returned to the lodge and hiked a few forest trails. They too were quiet, though I did spot another Black Inca sitting in a bush. I always prefer hummingbird pictures on natural perches rather than at feeders. 

Black Inca

We departed the lodge at 10:30, with the host giving Teri a magnet with the lodge name and a Black Inca on it. That will go onto the refrigerator at home. On the drive out Daniel stopped on a bridge over a small stream and we found a Torrent Tyrannulet, a small flycatcher that lives beside rivers and streams. 

Torrent Tyrannulet

We had lunch at 12:30 at a place that serves traditional East Llano food, a country soup and grilled meats. As we entered a huge vertical rotisserie over an open fire was loaded with different meats. 

We each had a big bowl of the soup and then they delivered a platter with about 3 pounds of grilled meat, sausage, potatoes, Yuca, etc.  It was a lot!  Some of the meat was very good but some was pretty dried out. Our heaviest lunch so far by a long shot.

We then headed toward Soatá, a several hour drive. We broke it up by stopping at a few places up on the Paramo. We found many different species, but never managed to find the rare hummingbird called the Green-bearded Helmetcrest.

Black-tailed Trainbearer - male

Grass Wren

Plain-colored Seedeaters - female & male

Rufous-browed Conebill

Andean Siskins

As we were exploring back roads in the highlands, we saw several large potato fields. One was being harvested. 

We arrived in the town of Soatá about 6:00 to find that the electricity was out!  It was still light enough to check into our nice hotel mid-town and get our bags up to the room. 

The power came back on at about 6:30. We headed out to dinner, also stopping for fruit and bread for tomorrow's breakfast as these small hotels don't have restaurants or any type of food. 

Next - Birding around town and a private hummingbird garden.