We have been here in Colombia for almost a month, slowly wending our way from Bogota northeastward with a general goal of maybe flying out from Cartegena, Bucaramanga, or whatever seems feasible. It has been an enjoyable trip. Especially after leaving Bogota, events there in the news made us a bit leery of lingering.
After That we made our way to Tunja, Duitama, San Gil, Barichara – Thank you kind lady sitting next to me on the plane coming down for telling me about this gem of a town! – and now we are in Giron, also a colonial white-walled town similar to Barichara, but somewhat grittier. I have been so occupied with exploring these towns – and also my other writing projects – that I neglected this blog. Since I have so many good nature photos accumulated that seems like a way to remedy my publishing hiatus here. Below are some of the Colombian beauties we saw, mostly birds:
Left : Carib Grackle , Quiscalus lugubris , Bogota. He sings better than his Mexican cousins. Center : Glossy Flowerpiercer , Diglossa lafresnayii , caught in the act of piercing a flower! La Zarza, near trinidad. Right : Central American Agouti , Dasyprocta punctata . San Gil.
The Rock Dove, Columba livia . Pigeons, especially when the light favors them as here, can be quite striking. Barichara.
Left : This Colombian Chachalaca , Ortalis columbiana , was the first bird I saw as we arrived in San Gil. Raucous birds, especially when they get together, but always fun to watch. Center : Immature Yellow-headed Caracara , Milvago chimachima . San Gil. Right : Pale-breasted Thrush , Turdus leucomelas . San Gil.
These next twelve photos are all from Barichara, Colombia , a mountain town just a half an hour’s bus ride from San Gil. Close by, but quite different. Peaceful, touristy yet not overwhelmingly so. We spent about ten days here. And each day there was a different part of town and countryside to explore.
The names of these motmots are in a constant state of flux, it seems. As of this week, at least, this is the Whooping Motmot , Momotus subrufescens . Beautiful birds, whatever the name.
Left: Tropical Mockingbird , Mimus gilvus . Center: Blue-and-white Swallow s, Notiochelidon cyanoleuca , make themselves at home under the eaves of the colonial houses. Right: Bar-crested Antshrike , Thamnophilus multistriatus .
Left : Roadside Hawk , Rupornis magnirostris . . I have never seen so many of these hawks in one place as I have here in Barichara, especially along the cliffside that marks the north edge of town. Right: Black-faced Grassquit , Melanospiza bicolor
Scrub Tanager , Stilpnia vitriolina . This striking gem of a tanager was a frequent visitor to the courtyard garden of our guesthouse, allowing me to get a decent photo from our window.
Some familiar friends from further north, Mexico and the Southwest states of the US, respectively. Left: Chestnut-capped Warbler , Basileuterus delattrii . Right: Vermilion Flycatcher , Pyrocephalus obscurus
Venezuelan Troupial , Icterus icterus . They look a bit like Orioles of the Baltimore persuasion, but they are not nearly as “well-behaved” as their northern cousins. They don’t build their own nest, but take over other nests, abandoned or occupied. If the nests are occupied they push out or – in some cases – eat the eggs and nestlings and then settle in to their new home! This fellow sang such a nice, fluty song. But the blue robber-type mask gives him kind of a lean and hungry look!
Left: Yellow-olive Flatbill , Tolmomyias sulphurescens . Right: Spectacled Parrotlet , Forpus conspicillatus . These little parrots, once they light into the trees are very hard to pick out from the leaves around them. The second morning that I saw these birds they were working over the Müllerian bodies (“Gummi Fruit”) of a Cecropia Tree.
All the photos below are from Giron, a town just a few kilometers outside of Bucaramanga.
Left: Straight-Billed Woodcreepers , Dendroplex picus , are pretty common on the far bank of the stream. Right: Green Iguana , Iguana iguana . And these are especially common on the near side of the stream, along the aptly-named Parque las Iguanas . It is “las Iguanas” because they are fed here with fruits and vegetables from the nearby market. I noticed that they left the carrots untouched.
Left : One of the most unusual bird calls among the wrens is that of the Bicolored Wren , Campylorhynchus griseus . Center : The Spectacled Parrotlet , Forpus conspicillatus , like the other parrotlet above, is hard to see – even with the male’s pronounced eye-ring and wing margins. Right : Red-Tailed Squirrel , Sciurus granatensis . I would just call it Red Squirrel, but that name was already taken by a North American squirrel.
Two feisty and very successful competitors are these two colorful birds. Left : The Blue-Gray Tanager , Thraupis episcopus , is especially aggressive. Right : I have not seen the Saffron Finch , Sicalis flaveola , actually chase away other birds like the Tanager has. They are probably just successful because of environmental degradation. But both of these are very photogenic, don’t you think?
Southern Lapwing , Vanellus chilensi .
Red-crowned Woodpecker , Melanerpes rubricapillus . One of those birds that is usually first heard, then seen.
I hope to write more next time about the towns that we have visited this last month, especially Barichara and Tunja. Hopefully in a few weeks. Or maybe I will finish my set on Africa and start writing about our Malaysia adventures.