Colombia Day 13, Dec. 19. Return to Reality

The last day of a birding trip is always difficult. I always feel a little sad. On this trip I felt more than a little sad. We had a flight from Barranquilla to Bogota at 1PM. The drive from Santa Marta was going to be the last opportunity to bird. Luckily this is a really good road for that. We got up at 500AM and drug all of our stuff downstairs at the hotel. Our first target bird, Chestnut-winged Chachalaca, was best gotten at dawn. We sat and waited for Jaime, our driver. He was late. Pablo called him, and he said he would be right there. We suspected that he had overslept. (I was a little bit sympathetic. It had been an exhausting trip) He made good on the promise and showed up shortly after. We jumped in the car and headed east, towards the long thin barrier islands between Santa Marta and Baranquilla.

The sun was rising and we were driving out of Santa Marta. We were all scanning the scrubby trees along the road, looking for the silhouette of a chachalaca. We were a little worried that it might be too late, when we saw a flock right next to the highway. We jumped out the car, which was a little un-nerving, as the traffic was fast and heavy. The birds were a bit shy, but we got very good looks. There were more birds to try for, so we took off. I could almost feel time ticking by. We turned onto the highway that goes to Baranquilla. The landscape quickly changed from desert scrub to mangroves and salt flats. The Caribbean was on one side of the road and on the other a huge estuary formed by the delta of the Magdelena River. We padded our trip list with shorebirds and egrets and herons.

We stopped at a truck stop for a quick breakfast. There was an open porch with a balcony overlooking a little barn yard with peacocks. Hanging on the wall was a small cage holding a Tropical Mockingbird. I asked Pablo if that was legal and he said no, but that the law isn't enforced. There was also a very large walk in cage with an Orange-winged Amazon. These were not exactly the birds we were looking for, but it ended up that it was a good stop. I spotted a Pied-water Tyrant in a tree right next to the balcony. He posed for a couple of photos. Then another black and white bird flew in, a gorgeous Fork-tailed Flycatcher. Its a bird I have seen many times, even a couple of times in Texas, but it was still nice to see him.

We left and drove to Isla Salamanca National Park to look for the last few birds. One of our main targets appeared right next to the road, a male Bicolored Conebill. The gate to the park was closed, so Pablo flagged down a worker behind the wall. There is a charge for admission, but Pablo explained that we had a very short time. They were nice enough to let us bird for about an hour without paying the admission. Again, Martin and I were struck by the graciousness of the Colombians that we encountered. We walked in and I heard a call that I thought I recognized, a Greater Ani. I said something to Martin, but he thought it was something else, so we moved on. We were looking for flowering trees, where Sapphire-throated and Sapphire-bellied Hummingbirds feed. Unfortunately we never found them. We did have a Panama Flycatcher, which was new for me. We needed to leave to make our flight, so we started back to the car. Pablo was walking ahead of us and called out "Greater Ani!" It was exactly where I had heard the call. Hmmm. I was very happy to get this, as it was my last Ani. Yeah, I know, there are only three of them, but its still nice to complete a group.

We drove into Baranquilla, which I found less than impressive. This area has more poverty than we had seen anywhere else in Colombia. The condition of the animals was much worse than other places, which I think is telling. There are many shanties. A large bridge crosses the Magdelana, a huge river. There is heavy industry all around this area. The sky line is packed with large buildings. We didn't get into this area, so I can't really comment on the downtown area. We arrived at the airport, which was a little chaotic. Pablo was returning to Medallin, where he lives and we were going to Bogota, where our flight home would depart from the following day. As we sat waiting for our flights we talked a bit about doing a trip to the Magdelena Valley sometime in the future. We said our goodbyes and hopefully "see you later"s and boarded our flight. We arrived in Bogota, where we returned to our previous hotel, Casona del Patio. We ate pizza in bed and reveled over our long trip list, 385 species. We were very successful, particularly with endemics. Obviously we were very happy. I am posting two lists, first the day list, then our trip list.

I apologize for how many postings I have done on this trip, but it was a long trip! If you have read these I imagine you think the posts went on longer than the trip! I hope you have enjoyed reading them. My last word is GO SOMEPLACE! Its easier than you think and it will change your life forever.

Pictures from the day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157623206256134

Day List:
1 Neotropic Cormorant
2 Brown Pelican
3 Magnificent Frigatebird
4 Cocoi Heron
5 Cattle Egret
6 Great Egret
7 Reddish Egret
8 Tricolored Heron
9 Little Blue Heron
10 Snowy Egret
11 Striated Heron
12 Green Heron
13 Black-crowned Night-Heron
14 Boat-billed Heron
15 Turkey Vulture
16 Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
17 Black Vulture
18 Blue-winged Teal
19 Roadside Hawk
20 Crested Caracara
21 Yellow-headed Caracara
22 American Kestrel
23 Peregrine Falcon
24 Chestnut-winged Chachalaca
25 Rufous-necked Wood-Rail
26 Common Moorhen
27 Purple Gallinule
28 Wattled Jacana
29 Black-necked Stilt
30 Black-bellied Plover
31 Semipalmated Plover
32 Whimbrel
33 Solitary Sandpiper
34 Spotted Sandpiper
35 Willet

36 Sanderling
37 Western Sandpiper
38 Large-billed Tern
39 Royal Tern
40 Sandwich Tern
41 Bare-eyed Pigeon
42 Eared Dove
43 Common Ground-Dove
44 Ruddy Ground-Dove
45 Scaly Dove
46 Brown-throated Parakeet
47 Green-rumped Parrotlet
48 Orange-winged Amazon
49 Greater Ani
50 Groove-billed Ani
51 Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
52 Ringed Kingfisher
53 Russet-throated Puffbird
54 Red-crowned Woodpecker
55 Yellow-chinned Spinetail
56 Bar-crested Antshrike
57 Northern Scrub-Flycatcher
58 Pied Water-Tyrant
59 Cattle Tyrant
60 Panama Flycatcher
61 Great Kiskadee
62 Social Flycatcher
63 Tropical Kingbird
64 Fork-tailed Flycatcher
65 Gray-breasted Martin
66 American Yellow Warbler
67 Prothonotary Warbler
68 Bicolored Conebill
69 Yellow Oriole
70 Baltimore Oriole

Trip List:
1 Pied-billed Grebe
2 Cattle Egret
3 Great Egret
4 Black Vulture
5 White-tailed Kite
6 Roadside Hawk
7 Broad-winged Hawk
8 American Kestrel
9 Common Moorhen
10 Band-tailed Pigeon
11 Eared Dove
12 White-tipped Dove
13 Spectacled Parrotlet
14 Squirrel Cuckoo
15 White-throated Screech-Owl
16 Green Hermit
17 Green Violet-ear
18 Blue-tailed Emerald
19 Short-tailed Emerald
20 Fork-tailed Woodnymph
21 Andean Emerald
22 Indigo-capped Hummingbird
23 Steely-vented Hummingbird
24 Booted Racquet-tail
25 White-bellied Woodstar
26 Red-headed Barbet
27 Olivaceous Piculet
28 Acorn Woodpecker
29 Red-crowned Woodpecker
30 Smoky-brown Woodpecker
31 Azara's Spinetail
32 Slaty Spinetail
33 Ash-browed Spinetail
34 Bar-crested Antshrike
35 Plain Antvireo
36 Blackish Tapaculo
37 Plumbeous-crowned Tyrannulet
38 Golden-faced Tyrannulet
39 Mouse-colored Tyrannulet
40 Mountain Elaenia
41 Common Tody-Flycatcher
42 Yellow-olive Flycatcher
43 Black Phoebe
44 Rusty-margined Flycatcher
45 Tropical Kingbird
46 Brown-bellied Swallow
47 House Wren
48 Grey-breasted Wood-Wren
49 Tropical Mockingbird
50 Swainson's Thrush
51 Great Thrush
52 Pale-breasted Thrush
53 Black-billed Thrush
54 Rufous-collared Sparrow
55 Saffron Finch
56 Yellow-bellied Seedeater
57 Yellow-faced Grassquit
58 Sooty Grassquit
59 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
60 Summer Tanager
61 Crimson-backed Tanager
62 Blue-grey Tanager
63 Palm Tanager
64 Fawn-breasted Tanager
65 Flame-faced Tanager
66 Bay-headed Tanager
67 Scrub Tanager
68 Blue-necked Tanager
69 Beryl-spangled Tanager
70 Blue-and-black Tanager
71 Black-capped Tanager
72 Green Honeycreeper
73 Rusty Flowerpiercer
74 Bananaquit
75 Tropical Parula
76 Black-and-white Warbler
77 Blackburnian Warbler
78 Canada Warbler
79 Slate-throated Redstart
80 Rufous-browed Peppershrike
81 Red-eyed Vireo
82 Brown-capped Vireo
83 Rufous-naped Greenlet
84 Andean Siskin
85 Lesser Goldfinch
86 Yellow-backed Oriole
87 Sooty-headed Tyrannulet
88 Smooth-billed Ani
89 Sparkling Violetear
90 Speckled Hummingbird
91 Black Inca
92 Tyrian Metaltail
93 Crimson-mantled Woodpecker
94 Silvery-throated Spinetail
95 Black-capped Tyrannulet
96 White-throated Tyrannulet
97 Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant
98 Short-billed Marsh-Wren
99 Plumbeous Sierra-Finch
100 Rufous-naped Brushfinch
101 Blue-capped Tanager
102 White-sided Flowerpiercer
103 Black Flowerpiercer
104 Tennessee Warbler
105 Eastern Meadowlark
106 Turkey Vulture
107 White-throated Hawk
108 Striped Cuckoo
109 Lazuline Sabrewing
110 Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird
111 Amethyst-throated Sunangel
112 Montane Woodcreeper
113 Rufous-rumped Tapaculo
114 Cinnamon Flycatcher
115 Smoke-colored Pewee
116 Bicolored Cactus-Wren
117 Green Jay
118 Pale-naped Brushfinch
119 Moustached Brushfinch
120 Common Bush-Tanager
121 Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager
122 Golden-fronted Whitestart
123 Colombian Mountain Grackle
124 Sora
125 Spot-flanked Gallinule
126 American Coot
127 White-tipped Swift
128 Blue-and-white Swallow
129 Barn Swallow
130 Apolinar's Marsh-Wren
131 Nicéforo's Wren
132 Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
133 Streaked Saltator
134 Golden-rumped Euphonia
135 Yellow-hooded Blackbird
136 Apical Flycatcher
137 White-rumped Hawk
138 Flame-winged Conure
139 Short-tailed Swift
140 Black-throated Mango
141 Green-bellied Hummingbird
142 White-vented Plumeleteer
143 Bronzy Inca
144 Collared Inca
145 Long-tailed Sylph
146 Cundinamarca Antpitta
147 Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
148 Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet
149 Tawny-crowned Pygmy-Tyrant
150 Streak-necked Flycatcher
151 Olive-striped Flycatcher
152 Social Flycatcher
153 Sharpe's Wren
154 Andean Solitaire
155 Ochre-breasted Brushfinch
156 Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager
157 Silver-beaked Tanager
158 White-lored Euphonia
159 Saffron-crowned Tanager
160 Metallic-green Tanager
161 Purple Honeycreeper
162 Three-striped Warbler
163 Philadelphia Vireo
164 Russet-backed Oropendola
165 Great Blue Heron
166 Black-crowned Night-Heron
167 Andean Ruddy Duck
168 Speckled Teal
169 Blue-winged Teal
170 Bogotá Rail
171 Wilson's Snipe
172 Noble Snipe
173 Brown Pelican
174 Short-tailed Hawk
175 Scaly Dove
176 Brown-throated Parakeet
177 Blue-headed Parrot
178 Black-backed Antshrike
179 Northern Scrub-Flycatcher
180 Scrub Greenlet
181 Magnificent Frigatebird
182 Reddish Egret
183 Snowy Egret
184 White Ibis
185 Scarlet Ibis
186 Roseate Spoonbill
187 Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture
188 Caribbean Flamingo
189 Crested Caracara
190 Yellow-headed Caracara
191 Merlin
192 Limpkin
193 Wattled Jacana
194 Whimbrel
195 Lesser Yellowlegs
196 Solitary Sandpiper
197 Spotted Sandpiper
198 Willet
199 Laughing Gull
200 Royal Tern
201 Sandwich Tern
202 Bare-eyed Pigeon
203 Common Ground-Dove
204 Plain-breasted Ground-Dove
205 Ruddy Ground-Dove
206 Green-rumped Parrotlet
207 Lesser Nighthawk
208 Red-billed Emerald
209 Shining-green Hummingbird
210 Buffy Hummingbird
211 Green Kingfisher
212 Rufous-tailed Jacamar
213 Russet-throated Puffbird
214 Chestnut Piculet
215 Straight-billed Woodcreeper
216 Pale-legged Hornero
217 White-whiskered Spinetail
218 Black-crested Antshrike
219 Barred Antshrike
220 White-flanked Antwren
221 Slender-billed Inezia
222 Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant
223 Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant
224 Venezuelan Flycatcher
225 Brown-crested Flycatcher
226 Great Kiskadee
227 Gray Kingbird
228 Tropical Gnatcatcher
229 Gray Pileated-Finch
230 Vermilion Cardinal
231 Buff-throated Saltator
232 Orinocan Saltator
233 American Yellow Warbler
234 Blackpoll Warbler
235 Prothonotary Warbler
236 Yellow Oriole
237 Troupial
238 Baltimore Oriole
239 Great-tailed Grackle
240 Neotropic Cormorant
241 Savanna Hawk
242 Bat Falcon
243 Semipalmated Plover
244 Caspian Tern
245 Common Tern
246 Orange-chinned Parakeet
247 Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
248 White-collared Swift
249 Band-rumped Swift
250 White-fringed Antwren
251 Yellow-bellied Elaenia
252 Ochre-bellied Flycatcher
253 Ochre-lored Flatbill
254 Vermilion Flycatcher
255 Boat-billed Flycatcher
256 Striped Manakin
257 Southern Rough-winged Swallow
258 Rufous-breasted Wren
259 Black-chested Jay
260 Blue-black Grassquit
261 Gray Seedeater
262 Tocuyo Sparrow
263 Blue-black Grosbeak
264 Trinidad Euphonia
265 Red-legged Honeycreeper
266 Northern Parula
267 Yellow Warbler
268 Northern Waterthrush
269 Carib Grackle
270 Shiny Cowbird
271 Lesser Black-backed Gull
272 King Vulture
273 Band-tailed Guan
274 Black-fronted Woodquail
275 Lined Quail-Dove
276 Red-fronted Conure
277 Red-billed Parrot
278 Pale-bellied Hermit
279 Stripe-throated Hermit
280 Santa Marta Sabrewing
281 Coppery Emerald
282 Violet-crowned Woodnymph
283 Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
284 Blossomcrown
285 White-tailed Starfrontlet
286 Scaled Piculet
287 Plain-brown Woodcreeper
288 Brown-rumped Tapaculo
289 Slaty-capped Flycatcher
290 Tropical Pewee
291 Bright-rumped Attila
292 Dusky-capped Flycatcher
293 Cinnamon Becard
294 White-bearded Manakin
295 Golden-breasted Fruiteater
296 Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush
297 Black-hooded Thrush
298 Thick-billed Seed-Finch
299 Golden-winged Sparrow
300 Black-striped Sparrow
301 Santa Marta Brushfinch
302 Rosy Thrush-Tanager
303 Blue-naped Chlorophonia
304 American Redstart
305 Rufous-capped Warbler
306 Crested Oropendola
307 Black-and-chestnut Eagle
308 Santa Marta Parakeet
309 Scaly-naped Amazon
310 Colombian Woodstar
311 White-tipped Quetzal
312 Masked Trogon
313 Keel-billed Toucan
314 Golden-olive Woodpecker
315 Strong-billed Woodcreeper
316 Streak-headed Woodcreeper
317 Rusty-headed Spinetail
318 Montane Foliage-gleaner
319 Santa Marta Antpitta
320 Black-throated Tody-Tyrant
321 Golden-crowned Flycatcher
322 Stripe-headed Brushfinch
323 Santa Marta Mountain-Tanager
324 Yellow-crowned Whitestart
325 Gray-throated Warbler
326 White-lored Warbler
327 White-tailed Nightjar
328 Mountain Velvetbreast
329 Black-backed Thornbill
330 Streak-capped Spinetail
331 Rufous Antpitta
332 Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant
333 Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant
334 Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant
335 Paramo Seedeater
336 Southern Yellow Grosbeak
337 Santa Marta Warbler
338 Tiny Hawk
339 Bicolored Hawk
340 Barred Forest-Falcon
341 Sooty-capped Hermit
342 Lineated Woodpecker
343 Ruddy Foliage-gleaner
344 Plain Xenops
345 Rusty-breasted Antpitta
346 Santa Marta Tapaculo
347 Olive-sided Flycatcher
348 Thick-billed Euphonia
349 Black-headed Tanager
350 Golden-fronted Greenlet
351 Emerald Toucanet
352 Groove-billed Toucanet
353 Hook-billed Kite
354 Gray Hawk
355 Rufous Motmot
356 Masked Tityra
357 Rufous-and-white Wren
358 Yellow-legged Thrush
359 Swallow Tanager
360 Cocoi Heron
361 Tricolored Heron
362 Little Blue Heron
363 Striated Heron
364 Green Heron
365 Boat-billed Heron
366 Peregrine Falcon
367 Chestnut-winged Chachalaca
368 Rufous-necked Wood-Rail
369 Purple Gallinule
370 Black-necked Stilt
371 Black-bellied Plover
372 Sanderling
373 Western Sandpiper
374 Large-billed Tern
375 Orange-winged Amazon
376 Greater Ani
377 Groove-billed Ani
378 Ringed Kingfisher
379 Yellow-chinned Spinetail
380 Pied Water-Tyrant
381 Cattle Tyrant
382 Panama Flycatcher
383 Fork-tailed Flycatcher
384 Gray-breasted Martin
385 Bicolored Conebill

Sheridan Coffey
San Antonio, Tx
http://sngcanary1.blogspot.com/
www.flickr.com/sngcanary