I found a roadside hotel near Puerto Araujo to spend the night - only 30,000 pesos (around $10 CAD), with an excellent and cheap restaurant next door. For thirteen dollars I had a room and a delicious meal. Ah, Colombia!
In the morning I hit the road, heading west towards Medellín. Following a few errands (groceries and lunch), I turned north to head towards Anorí, driving the last couple of hours during the hottest part of the day. It was already after 3 PM when I finally rolled up to the area near Reserva Natural de las Aves Arrierito Antioqueño - the Chestnut-capped Piha Reserve. Since I had gained some elevation, the temperatures were quite reasonable as I exited the car.
 |
| Roadside wetland near RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
I thought about entering the actual reserve but instead, chose to only explore the roadside near a wetland complex a few kilometres past the lodge (pictured above). This wetland can be a good location to search for a variety of rail species, including Blackish Rail, Russet-crowned Crake and White-throated Crake.
It felt great to stretch my legs and look at some birds after a long day cooped up in the car. And birds, there were many. Within a few minutes I was listening to a Russet-crowned Crake and a pair of Blackish Rails (my first of this species). Scrub Tanagers and Black-winged Saltators skulked in the roadside shrubbery, various swifts coursed overhead and Pale-breasted and Azara's Spinetails called incessantly from somewhere along the wetland's shrubbery edges. My first Bran-coloured Flycatcher for Colombia posed in a close tree.
I soon spotted one of the Blackish Rails, its frequent vocalizations making it easy to locate.
 |
| Blackish Rail - wetland near RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
 |
| Blackish Rail - wetland near RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
While I was watching the rail, a Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch perched on one of the sedges protruding from the wetland but I had scarcely trained my binoculars on it when the bird flew away from me, diving back down into the vegetation. This was another new species for me, and a long overdue one at that.
I paid attention to the swifts since they were flying lower and lower in the sky, lit up by the evening sun. With some effort, I captured a few Gray-rumped Swifts well enough with my camera.
 |
| Gray-rumped Swift - wetland near RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
 |
| Gray-rumped Swift - wetland near RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
As the sun set, my next order of business was to find a camping spot for the night. I had originally planned on staying at the ProAves lodge, and several weeks earlier I contacted them by email to arrange everything. Despite emailing multiple times, and trying several different email addresses, no one got back to me. Fortunately, I am no stranger to car camping and actually quite enjoy it. It would have been nice to have been able to support ProAves by staying at their lodge here and it was a shame that they apparently do not monitor any of their listed email addresses.
I had scouted out a few areas on the drive in and settled on one of them - an area of flat gravel beside a newly paved section of road, less than 100 m from the entrance to the trail system of the reserve. I took this photo the next morning.
 |
| Camping spot near RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
The road to Anorí had been quiet enough during the day and, as expected, it was almost devoid of traffic in the evening. Only a few vehicles passed all night, most of them buses. The elevation was perfect for creating optimum sleeping temperatures and I drifted off.
I awoke before dawn and readied my daypack with all necessary items for a long hike. I first passed the ProAves lodge, just up the road, but there were no vehicles around and no sign of life and so I was unable to ask anyone for permission to hike the trails.
I headed up anyways and enjoyed a full morning of birding.
 |
| RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
The morning was productive and frustrating at the same time. I found some great birds, including my main target - the Chestnut-capped Piha - but all of the "best" birds were the dreaded heard-only. I heard two different pihas along the ridge trail but was unable to actually see either of them.
The Chestnut-capped Piha was only first discovered in 1999 and is now know from around 16 sites between the Porce and Nechí river valleys. Much of its global range lies within areas with high rates of deforestation and fragmentation, and as such, the piha is listed as Critically Endangered. ProAves was instrumental in protecting some of its habitat; this reserve contains 3,271 hectares of primary and secondary forest. Cotingas are some of my favourite birds and I had been really excited to search for this piha, one of the rarest cotingas in the world.
 |
| Unidentified beetle - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
Some of the other great birds I found during my mostly fruitless Chestnut-capped Piha search included Lanceolated Monklet (heard only), Chestnut-crowned Gnateater (heard only), White-bellied Antpitta (heard only), Indigo Flowerpiercer (heard only) and Stile's Tapaculo (heard only). Do you sense a theme? I was sure that I was going to see the monklet since it sang from just up the hillside from my location. Despite fifteen minutes of searching and waiting, I just could not. Today was one of those days!
 |
| Hook-billed Kite - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
But that being said, I still had some memorable moments with species that I actually saw. Parker's Antbirds are quite common in the reserve and I finally photographed this endemic species to Colombia for the first time.
 |
| Parker's Antbird - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
 |
| Parker's Antbird - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
At one point I rounded a bend and was face to face with a Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner. It just sat there, allowing me to collect full-frame photos from only a few feet away!
 |
| Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
 |
| Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
The ridge trail was where I spent the last couple of hours of my day before I had to hit the road. In addition to the heard-only Chestnut-capped Pihas, I also lucked into a few other great birds. A little mixed flock contained some Purplish-mantled Tanagers and a Rufous-rumped Antwren, while a Uniform Antshrike sang from only metres off of the trail. Eventually I obtained some decent photos of him as well.
 |
| Purplish-mantled Tanager - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
 |
| Uniform Antshrike - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
As the morning turned to afternoon, dozens of butterflies took advantage of the bright sun filtering through the canopy. Below are two that I photographed.
 |
| Oxeoschistus puerta - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
This next butterfly is a type of hairstreak known as Balintus tityrus. It is uncommonly encountered and is apparently endemic to Colombia.
 |
| Balintus tityrus - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
 |
| Balintus tityrus - RNA Arrierito Antioqueño, Antioquia, Colombia |
With the sun high in the sky, I pulled myself away from the piha search since I had a lot of road to cover in the afternoon and evening. I watched a few Red-bellied Grackles alongside the road near my car, the 100th bird species that I encountered at RNA Arrierito Antioqueño in my short time there. My solo road trip was coming to a close, but first I had a visit planned to the Urrao area and RNA Colibrí del Sol, the Dusky Starfrontlet Reserve.
No comments:
Post a Comment