Our first full day we went with the forest ranger up the mountain at
4:30am. It was really foggy and at that elevation was quite chilly so I
am glad we dressed for the weather. It was difficult to see birds at
first with the fog and poor lighting. We drove up and then walked down
with a short stop at the lookout point. It was foggy the entire time we
were there but apparently you should be able to see the peak of the
Sierra Navada mountains on a clear day.
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
The birds we saw were:
Santa Marta Warbler
Santa Marta Brush Finch
Sierra Navada Brush Finch
Broad-winged Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon
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| Band-tailed Pigeon |
Brown-rumped Tapacula (only heard but so very close to us in the brush)
Rusty-headed Spinetail
Streak-capped Spinetail
Mountain Elaenia
White-throated Tyranulet
Montane Woodcreeper
Santa Marta Bush-tyrant
Yellow-bellied Bush-tyrant
Black Flowerpiercer
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| Black Flowerpiercer |
Paramo Seedeater
Yellow-crowned Redstart
Santa Marta Parakeet
Scarlet-fronted Parakeet
Scaly-naped Parrot
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| Scaly-naped Parrot |
Red-billed Parrow
Sparkling Violetear
Black-backed Thornbill
Tyrian Metaltail
White-tailed Starfrontlet
Mountain Velvetbreast
Red-billed Emerald
Santa Marta Wood Wren
Great Thrush
Santa Marta Mountain Tanager
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Tennessee Warbler
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| Tennessee Warbler |
White-lored Warbler
I also had the chance to find a small scorpion up the mountain.
Along
the road on the way down we passed this large rock formation with
packed dirt at the entrance and there were large cat prints. The 'cat
cave' appeared to go pretty deep and had multiple entrances.
After
lunch I saw Black-chested Jays and Emerald Toucanets eating in the
trees around the lodge property while the guan and aguti rained the
compost heap and the hummingbirds fought over territory.
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| Emerald Toucanet |
We
walked down the road to look for Quetzals again and got lucky enough to
find a mixed flock coming across the road. We also had a great view of
woodpeckers, trogon and the female quetzal. Some of the new things for
the day that we didn't see up at the top of the mountain were:
Black and White Warbler
Crimson Crested Woodpecker
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| Crimson Crested Woodpecker |
Blackburnian Warbler
Bay-headed Tanager
Black-striped Sparrow
White-tipped Dove
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| White-tipped Dove |
Black-hooded Thrush
Crested Orupendula
White-tipped Quetzal
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| White-tipped Quetzal |
Strong-billed Woodcreeper
Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner
Masked Trogon
Yellow Warbler
Slate-throated Redstart
We
walked the quetzal loop trail up to above the cabins where we sat and
watched the sunset over the mountains. Now it was finally clear enough
to see the peaks of the mountains beyond and we could see the ocean at
Barranquilla. The clouds came in as we watched the sunset and
encompassed the mountains below in this odd poisonous green coloured
mist. It was quite lovely and peaceful to watch as the scenery changed
colour before us.
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
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| El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia |
Walking back we didn't see any more herps by the creeks than the few brown frogs that were around during the day and some
Pristimantis.
Even those few frogs were silent. The amazing rock face with 3 snake
skins had no live snakes. The bats however got incredibly active and two
different sizes, one massive and one much smaller were flying up and
down the trail around us.
That night after dinner two species of
monkeys, Kinkaju and Night Monkeys came to be fed. The night walk had a
lot less even though there were only three of us on it. It was just so
dry and we only saw the endemic frog
Pristimantis santamartae and the endemic tarantula
Kankuamo marquezi. The little salamander was even further tucked into its bromeliad as much of the water had evaporated.
