Friday 2/18/2022 – It rained all night. We had breakfast at 6:00, and then into the SUV for the trip up the road toward Otun-Quimbaya SFF (Santuario de Fauna y Flora).
It was raining when we left and rained harder as the morning went on. We stopped in a few places to try to call in specific birds, but the noise of the rain and movement of the leaves made it impossible to find anything. After a couple of stops we ended up just sitting in the SUV listening to the rain.
Finally, we drove to the top of the road to a little restaurant/patio so we could at least get out of the car. Daniel had coffee and I had a Gatorade.
A group of young men and women showed up on motorcycles, leading a group of mules. One of the mules had a pack full of supplies, while the others were saddled. They were getting ready to take the mules into the national park to conduct some animal surveys. It continued to rain while they put all of the supplies into plastic sacks and then back onto the pack mule.
We finally decided to just head back down to the lodge as the rain wasn’t letting up.
As we neared town the rain stopped so we stopped at a couple of places and did some birding. Teri spotted a Red-ruffed Fruitcrow from the back seat and we got amazing looks.
Closer to the lodge we came to a large grassy field that had a number of seedeaters and grassquits feeding. While not the flashiest of birds, they are interesting in their own way, and fill a niche similar to our sparrows in North America.
We did get to watch a couple of male Blue-black Grassquits doing their display flight. They fly straight up for a foot or two, pause, and then fly straight back down to their perch. I put together this composite of nine pictures taken over less than 2 seconds.
We had lunch back at the lodge, and while there I took a few pictures of common birds feeding at a banana feeder.
After lunch we loaded back up into the SUV and started again. By this time the rain had stopped completely, and we had a pretty good afternoon of birding, getting into a couple of good mixed flocks and seeing many different species. Highlight was a pair of Parker’s Antbirds traveling low with a mixed flock. Unfortunately antbirds generally stay buried in the thickest of foliage, and these were no exception, so no decent pictures! Some of the birds were more cooperative.
Next time: Day 6
Whoo! Great job on the composite picture! I'm glad you were able to salvage the day. Rain is such a joyous thing here, but it is all in the perspective!
ReplyDeleteThanks. The composite is a good way to put the entire display flight into a single image. We feel that same way about rain here, but we ended up with a good day, in spite of it!
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