Colombia 2022 - Day 4 Journal

Thursday 2/17/2022 – We met Daniel for breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 6:15, and then packed up and were on the road at 6:50. We had only about a 15 minute drive to the first viewing of the Sonso Marsh from a parking area next to the busy main highway.

 

The very first bird was a Horned Screamer perched on a snag. This turkey-sized bird has an odd appendage on top of their head (the "Horn") and are said to be very vocal, but we never heard it call. Too bad! 

This was the only one that we saw on our trip, but it was a target bird for us, and a lifer!

Horned Screamer

There were also dozens of Limkins, over a hundred Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, and several Snail Kites. We watched one of the kites drop down for a great big Apple Snail and then extract it with its slender hooked bill.  

Snail Kite - adult

Young Snail Kite eating an Apple Snail

In several areas of the marsh we saw these bright pink clusters on grass and sticks. At first we thought they were flowers of some type, but learned that they are the egg clusters of the Apple Snails.  Plenty of food for the Snail Kites!

Snail Eggs

Daniel had arranged for a young local guide to join us. His name was Jonathon and he was nice and enthusiastic. There is a program in Colombia to train young men and women to be nature guides, and Jonathon was taking part in it.

Mark and Jonathon

After we picked up Jonathon we headed down a dirt road into the marsh.  It was much quieter than the main highway and we saw a lot of waterfowl, waders, and other water birds. 

Bare-faced Ibis

Cocoi Heron

Further in was some dry forest and we picked up quite a nice variety of birds there as well, including two endemic target birds, the Grayish Piculet and Apical Flycatcher.

Piculets are the smallest woodpeckers, and the Grayish Piculet is found only in the Western Andes and Cuaca Valley of Colombia. 

Grayish Piculet

The Apical Flycatcher is also found only in a small area of Columbia. Apical means the end of tip of something, in this case the tail. The name comes from the pale end of the tail. 

Apical Flycatcher

Thanks to our sharp-eyed guide Jonathon, we got to see a pair of very well camouflaged roosting birds that we'd have never spotted ourselves. 

Common Nighthawk

Common Potoo

At the end of the road was a newly constructed visitor center, with some benches, restrooms, pavilions, etc.

Bamboo had been used in many of the structures, and dozens of Spectacled Parrotlets were nesting in the hollow bamboo sections.

Spectacled Parrotlet - male

Spectacled Parrotlet - pair

Near the visitor center we spotted another new bird for us, the Little Cuckoo. We often see the larger Squirrel Cuckoo which is widespread throughout Central and South America, but the Little Cuckoo is found only in South America, and is, you guessed it, much smaller!

Little Cuckoo

We checked out another adjacent pond where we found White-faced Whistling Ducks (lifer!), and then dropped Johnathon off and hit the road at noon. 

White-faced Whistling Ducks

We stopped for lunch at 1:00 at a toll road service center café that was surprisingly good. We stopped again at 3:00 at a Mini-market to stock up on water and snacks for the remainder of the trip, as we would be in more remote areas. Daniel wanted to have a coffee before continuing, and I had a very good coconut ice cream bar.

Back on the road at 3:30, arriving in the town of La Florida about 5:00.  We went directly to a bridge over Rio Otun and enjoyed looks at Torrent Ducks, Torrent Tyrannulets, White-capped Dipper, and Black Phoebe. The Otun River is a steep mountain river that is absolutely roaring as it descends the mountain. How anything can survive in that river is a mystery, but the Torrent Ducks seem to love it! 

Rio Otun

Torrent Duck - male

Torrent Tyrannulet

White-capped Dipper

We checked into our lodge at 6:00, and were surprised to find a group of 11 birders there already. Maybe a Tropical Birding trip as the guide was from Tropical Birding. They had their dinner in an outdoor pavilion while the three of us ate in a small dining room. They were leaving early the next morning and heading up the mountain to the same area that we were planning to bird, so we decided to start a bit later to stay separated from them.

The streets are very narrow!

Our Lodge.

Our room.

Small dining area.

Very simple meal.

Next Time: Day 5 Journal