Our birding took us on some wonderful hikes through gorgeous country.
At this point we were leaving an area where we had hiked and birded for several hours. On the way out someone spotted a toucan in a far off tree and we screeched to a stop and tumbled out of the van.
Exotic flowers everywhere
One of the many sights that thrilled me were these blooming trees, electric orange against the mountain sides.
Oropendolas love to nest in these trees. They weave long hanging nests and nest in colonies.
A closer look at the yellow-rumped cacique. they have bright blue eyes.
Everyone asks me what my favorite bird was. All of them! But I must admit I did fall hard for the tanagers. In Utah, we have Summer, Scarlet and Western Tanagers. Colombia has 140 species of tanagers, of which I've seen 45. They are beautiful and come in an array of colors.
Blue-necked tanager
Masked cardinal. Yep, Cardinals are in the tanager family.
Another of the many things I enjoyed were the bridges. All were painted a cheerful yellow.
We spent a few days at Hato La Aurora, a working ranch which has been in the same family for several generations. The ranch hands in that area are called llaneros, and are famous for working barefoot, whether on horseback working the cattle, walking or farming. This particular family has turned much of their property into a nature reserve in order to protect many endangered species of birds as well as tapirs, great anteaters and jaguars. Because their land has several diverse ecosystems, they also have pumas, ocelots, capybaras, anacondas, caimen and oronocan crocodiles.
To get to the part of the reserve where most of the birds are we had to cross a river. There was no bridge, so we were poled across in a flat boat. I did get tickled because there were often caimen basking on the side of the river. There was a couple staying at the ranch and the woman refused to set foot in the river. Her husband carried her across.
About half of our group chose to ride.
The ranch/preserve was incredible. Here are some of my favorite sightings.
This is a Jabiru. A stork-like bird over 5 feet tall with a bald head and neck. A rapacious carnivore, it stalks its prey. They almost don't look real. The huge beak looks as though it could have been carved from wood.
Scarlet ibis, with a juvenile (left) and adult wattled jacuna in front.
A white ibis flying with the scarlets.
Roseate spoonbill
Whistling heron
That evening as we were leaving, ibis of all kinds were flying in to roost. It was an unforgettable sight. There was a small pond with several dead trees on the edge that were filled with ibis.
The prairie was pock-marked with watering holes and little ponds that were filled with birds, capybaras, peccaries, caiman and crocodiles.
You could look across the water and see crocodile eyes just above the surface. At one point we were watching a large caiman as he sank underwater then seconds later erupted out of the water under a duck.
Sneaking up on an unsuspecting jacuna.
The crocodiles were more sinister looking.
We saw hundreds of capybaras. The largest rodent in the world, they resemble, in my opinion, guinea pigs. They mingle in large family groups. the babies are so darned cute! Soaking seems to be a favorite activity.
We saw the obligatory anacondas and iguanas. The anaconda was about 12-13 feet long.
Oh yeah, almost forgot, we had monkeys. There were five different kinds of monkeys, most of them had babies so they were unhappy we were around. They stayed high in the trees, screamed and threw sticks at us. I believe the next two photos are spider monkeys.
And a Woolly monkey (maybe).
