Sunday, February 26, 2017

26 February 2017 - Colombia, The Fun Stuff

During the trip, we gave ourselves bird names that we liked the sound of or thought fitting. Lynn became Shining Sunbeam which is a kind of hummingbird and extremely appropriate. She decided if she was in a bad mood (never happened) she would be a Paltry Tyrannulet. Barb chose Spangled Coquette, also a kind of hummingbird and equally apt.  

So often while we would be looking up at birds, Lynn would be fingering foliage or pinching petals. I would love to take a class from her. She is hysterically funny and I bet her students remember all the information because of the way it is presented. 

Begonias grow wild here--up near the cloud forest we found some that were at least four feet tall. Beautiful! We learned that the flowers were edible. Sweet and spicy. Barb is checking out the begonias on the side of the path. In the top right you can see a cluster of blooms taller than she is. 


Lynn would find a plant, pick a leaf, taste it, offer it to us to taste and then show us something interesting. 


Serious business, sap tasting.  

And the something funny?  Here she is showing us "the suggestive bud."


Another time we were shown a flower in the genus clitoria. family. Yep. There really is such a thing. Many legumes fall into this genus. 

She would break open pods and explain what we were looking at, and whether or not we should taste it. 





 













The people on this trip were extremely smart, but didn't mind being silly. Love that! Two mornings in a row we were up, breakfasted and in Land Rovers by 4 am for a two-hour drive to get to birding spots. The roads were about all a Land Rover could handle: a combination of huge ruts, big rocks, steep drop offs. It was probably just as well we couldn't see. Although the second morning, the headlights would not work on one of the cars, so our guide leaned out the window with a flashlight. The driver was not concerned, he said "I know this road, I drive it about 300 days a year."  Still. Scary. I know my roads, but I wouldn't drive them in the dark, and they are paved! We were hanging on to anything bolted down to help keep the body from jouncing and being thrown around. I think all of us had our heads banged hard against the side frame of the car. More than once. Aargh. Do you call a Land Rover a car?   

Since it was dark, nothing to see out the windows, the folks in my car entertained ourselves by singing rounds and playing word games including I am going to Colombia and I want to see a ____.  Colombian birds tend toward long descriptive names so it was challenging. After getting to Z we did it again backwards. My brain hurt. Then, since we still had time left, we did it again changing the first word to something ridiculous.  Hmm. I can't seem to remember all the silly names. 

Agami Heron                          Agnostic Heron
Buffy Hummingbird               Bodacious Hummingbird
Crested Caracara                     Chaotic Caracara
Dusty-capped Flycatcher        Dingy-capped Flycatehr
Elegant Tern                            Effervescent Tern
Flame-rumpted Tanager          Facitious-rumped Tanager
Golden-breasted Fruiteater
Horned Lark
Inca Tern                                 Iconoclastic Tern
Jabiru                                      Jabbering Jabiru
Keel-billed Toucan                 Kill Bill 3 Toucan
Laughing Gull                        Lugubrious Gull
Montane Woodcreeper           Morbid Woodcreeper
Neotropic Cormorant             Naughty Cormorant
Ornate Flycatcher                   Obstreporous Flycatcher 
Pied Water tyrant
Quail, Brown-fronted wood    Querulous Quail
Rufous-tailed hummingbird
Solitary Sandpiper                   Solicitous Sandpiper
Thick-billed Euphonia            Thin-lipped
Upland Sandpiper                    Uppity Sandpiper
Veery                                        Virginal Veery 
White-tipped Dove
Xenops                                     Xenophobic Xenops
Zone-tailed Hawk                    Zaftig-tailed Hawk

I was quite taken with the road signs, and the group indulged my obsession. When it was possible, Ricardo our bus driver, would pull over so I could get a picture. Since 99% of the roads we traveled were only two lanes, I was trying to get photos as we flew down the road. The caution signs really talked to me. In Utah we have caution signs for deer and cattle, occasionally moose and buffalo, but these?  Fun!



 

My favorite of these caution signs was for an anteater. I would so have liked to see one!  

Driving was more than a little scary. Two lane roads, fast speeds and many many motorcycles careening in and out between and beside cars and trucks. A quick google search revealed that motorcycles way outnumber cars in Colombia.  I was astonished at how quiet the motorcycles were. With so many bikes on the road it was wonderful not to listen to the roar. Loved it. But continuing with my road sign affair... I like this before and after set. 





This sign came in three versions: one, two and three bumps depending on what was up ahead. 

The signs with circles are a bit baffling. Finally figured out the half-black circles meant dim your headlights.  Not sure what the other one means. 





 



The falling rock signs are always a favorite of mine. There was a similar sign that had a man walking where the car is in the sign below and his arms were over his head as the rocks fell down. 


Not sure if this falls into the funny stuff category or if it is just seriously weird.  El Totumo mud volcano. It may be seriously weird, but it is one of the biggest tourist attractions around. Since it is surrounded by wetlands we were there for the birds. Unfortunately it was near dusk and extremely windy. 

This is the mud volcano. For about $13US, you can take the stairs to the top, climb down a ladder and get thoroughly covered in mud. For a couple more pesos you can pay someone to give you a massage. A mudsage?  Then you climb back up the muddy, slippery vertical ladder, down the stairs and head to the wetlands for a wash.  




Rumor has it that the mud is sticky, invasive and can take days to get it removed from all your body parts. It is also supposed to have healing properties. 

Other funny stuff?  Ladies, here's your sign. 


Then there was the closed Visitor's Center that was built in the shape of a hat. 



This next one is kind of a mystery. A ladder leaning against a palm tree with some fake coconuts newly painted green. Okaaay. 

Ever heard of the Seven Minute Workout?  It is a phone app that goes through 12 different exercises in seven minutes. It is supposed to be great for people who travel because you can do it in a hotel room. Vivian, Barb and Lynn are in great physical shape and take part in pre-ski season exercises, pilates and more. To our bemusement, they got their exercise in. Nope. Wasn't tempted to join. 

In the center of Cartegena's old town is a statue of the founder. 

It wouldn't be a proper statue or a birding trip without this. I think the caption is "Really? You had to do that on my epaulettes?" 

Saturday, February 25, 2017

23 February 2017 - Columbia Caribbean Coast, Part 2

Today (Day 4) we started early at the lovely beach-side hotel. Our destination was Taironaka Park and the Rio Don Diego. (Okay, is it just me, or does Don Diego make you think of Zorro?)  We arrived with high expectations and with many target birds on our list. The park did not disappoint! Here are a few of the best birds. 

Rufous-tailed Jacamar                       Gartered Trogan


                                                       
White-necked Puffbird       Common Tody-flycatcher



Collared Aracari


Keel-billed Toucan


We walked the park, toured the museum of the Tairona Civilization. had a wonderful lunch, waded and swam in the Rio Don Diego, then took a slow boat ride down to where the river empties into the ocean.  This was a wonderful day. 

                    





Even in the boat with the incredible scenery, the birding was non-stop.






Just around the sandbar is the ocean.   






The next morning (Day 5) we took a walk up the very long drive from the Hotel Hukumeizi to a secondary road. It winds through some mangrove swamps and large fields that used to be farmed. We usually start before the sun comes up, so it is hard to get photos with the humidity mist and not a lot of light. Nevertheless, the birds are up and singing and we manage to see a lot of them. 


Orange-crowned Oriole


Barred Antshrike. Wonderful spiky crest!

Rusty-margined Flycatcher  


 

Southern beardless tyrannulet 

Crimson-backed tanager


Blue-gray Tanager



Russet-throated Puffbirds  


Day 6 took us to the desert and dry forest area to look for scarlet ibis and flamingos.  Dry forest is very interesting. You find a mix of cactus, scrubby trees and vines.  





A six inch long grasshopper was a big surprise!






If I lived here, a cactus fence would definitely be on my short list! 



These power poles were worrisome. 








 















Even though we were in an area considered to be desert, it connected with a bay into the ocean.


There were only five minutes of rain during the entire trip, and it happened while we were standing here checking out the gulls and terns in this inlet. 

Vermillion Flycatcher (male and female) 



Vermillion Cardinal (female)



Lesser Kiskadee                      Orinocan Saltator


White-whiskered spinetail


White-fringed antwren  



Ibis. This was quite interesting. Here are a Scarlet Ibis, a White Ibis and the pink one is a hybrid of the two.

 American Flamingo






Another fabulous day of birding. 

Note below. I am having fits with this post. As soon as I hit update, it changes my font to a small size.