Reserva Natural Cañon del Río Claro
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Introduction
It had been a busy couple of weeks for both of us. While I had completed a big loop via rental car, Laura had spent her time volunteering with two different animal rescue foundations along the Caribbean coast of Colombia. We were ready to settle down for a week or so - our final week in Colombia - to catch up on life and prepare for the next leg of our adventure, Costa Rica.
We had hoped to find a place with reasonable accommodations, good hiking opportunities, and decent internet to accomplish these goals. We had heard about Reserva Natural Cañon del Río Claro, a place popular among birdwatchers due to the presence of the endemic Antioquio Bristle-Tyrant as well as many other birds that find habitat in these rich lowland forests. The eBird hotspot currently shows 532 species, though quite a few of those are, as my good friend Alan Wormington used to say, "bogus". But perhaps 450 species have been legitimately observed there.
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| Panama Flycatcher - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
Checking out their website, RN Cañon del Río Claro seemed to fit the bill as the accommodations looked quite nice and meals were included, for a not too ridiculous price. We had heard that Río Claro was popular among "muggles", but we figured that we could find some quiet areas to hike, away from the Colombian tourists hoping to get their caving and zip-lining fix.
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| Fasciated Tiger-Heron - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
Unfortunately, I have to report that Río Claro was a big letdown and I would advise against naturalists spending more than a night there. For one, the accommodations were not anything like they project on their website. We stayed at the El Refugio suites and while the view over the river from our third floor balcony was amazing, the room was pretty disappointing. For starters, there was no fan at all, despite Río Claro being situated in the lowlands. Not a hint of a breeze blew for the entire week and sleeping at night was, at times, quite difficult due to the stifling air. It was impossible to borrow or rent a fan from the staff, though we had the option to upgrade to the Mulata Cabins which had a ceiling fan, for an extra 60,000 pesos ($21 CAD) per night. No thanks!
Mildew covered everything and the walls were paper thin, meaning that we could hear every noise from our neighbours. Acquiring towels was impossible for the last two days of our trip because there were apparently no dry ones. I guess not even the maid staff have access to a clothes dryer.
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| At least the views were nice! - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
Another big drawback for us was that there was no wifi anywhere at Río Claro. This oversight was our fault, since there is nothing on the website mentioning wifi. I guess I had assumed that a place like this that accommodates hundreds of people would have wifi available somewhere, even for a fee. Normally this would not bother me too much, but we were hoping to use this week to plan our Costa Rica trip. Luckily, we each had a few hundred megabytes of data remaining on our phones, and a good signal could be acquired at the restaurant. This way, we still were able to research and book things for Costa Rica, though we had to seriously ration our data. Any blog posts, uploads to eBird/iNaturalist etc, would have to wait.
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| Río Claro - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
We ate all of our meals at the restaurant which was a ten minute walk from our room. The food was prepared cafeteria style and was generally adequate, though it was not anything fancy. Drinks, however, were not provided - not even water. You could purchase water bottles at the restaurant. For a place that supposedly markets itself as being ecologically minded, I wondered how many thousands of plastic water bottles they go through each week! This was the first "lodge" that I had ever visited that did not have a drinking water station. Laura and I decided to risk drinking the water out of the tap since we wanted to avoid purchasing a dozen water bottles each day. Fortunately, we had no issues drinking the water; a relief, given our location in the lowlands.
But, despite the drawbacks of Río Claro, we had some enjoyable experiences here. The birding was really fantastic and I recorded over 170 bird species during the week without trying too hard. Herping was also excellent, though we did not complete any long night walks. This blog post will document our explorations of the Mulata Trail, the only nature trail at RN Cañon del Río Claro. The next post will cover the entrance road and the areas near the river, and the final post will cover some of our fun finds during nocturnal rambles.
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The Mulata Trail is the main nature path at Río Claro, one that is mentioned in all of the trip reports from birders that spend time here. The Mulata Trail is not well-signposted off of the entrance road, nor is it mentioned in the list of activities that one can do at the reserve. This is a good thing since it prevented the trail from being overrun with people. We only saw four others in total during our visits, and one of them was a fellow birder from Colorado who we befriended.
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| Creek crossing along the Mulata Trail - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
When coming down the main entrance road into the reserve, the Mulata Trail comes off on the right hand side just before the creek crossing. There are some wooden stairs signalling the start of the trail, though there is no actual sign.
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| Anolis sp. - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Unidentified Lepidopteran - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
The beginning of the trail follows the creek valley and passes through a mix of secondary forest and disturbed habitat types, with higher quality forest found just up the slope. We lucked into a few mixed flocks in these areas, some of which contained the scarce Slaty-winged Foliage-Gleaner. Additionally, I had two sightings of Antioquia Bristle-Tyrant, both in mixed flocks near the beginning of this trail.
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| Slaty-winged Foliage-gleaner - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
Several birding trip reports mention that the area before and just after the creek crossing along the Mulata Trail can be good for antbirds, including Bare-crowned and Magdalena. However, I only encountered these birds along the main entrance road before the trail (both species), as well as past the Refugio accommodations (Magdalena only). There were, however, quite a few Chestnut-backed Antbirds along the Mulata Trail near the creek. I finally had a crack at photographing this species well!
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| Chestnut-backed Antbird - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
As I mentioned above, eventually there is a creek crossing along the Mulata Trail. I did not note its exact location but it is perhaps 0.5 km down the trail. You have to cross the creek, walk upstream for 50 meters or so, and then catch the trail on the opposite side of the creek which continues upslope.
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| Creek crossing along the Mulata Trail - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Creek crossing along the Mulata Trail - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
Birding around the creek was often productive and we had many great sightings here. They included Slaty-winged Foliage-Gleaner, Slate-coloured Grosbeak, White-whiskered Puffbird, Scarlet-browed Tanager, Olivaceous Flatbill, Wing-barred Piprites (heard only) Broad-billed Motmot and more. Small flocks of Dusky-faced and Tawny-capped Tanagers often moved through. It is definitely worth taking half an hour to relax here as you never know what may pass by. The air temperature was a degree or two cooler by the creek, and I felt a slight breeze here once (which in itself was a highlight!).
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| Olivaceous Flatbill - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Broad-billed Motmot - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
This pair of Broad-billed Motmots provided exceptional views and were a lifer for Laura.
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| Broad-billed Motmot - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| White-whiskered Puffbird - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
Laura spotted a neonate South American Forest Racer (
Dendrophidion percarinatum) along the trail near the creek on our second visit, and it was still in the same area the next day! This was a new species for both of us.
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| South American Forest Racer (Dendrophidion percarinatum) - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
After crossing the creek, the trail gains some elevation and passes through a mixture of forest types before eventually opening up into a partially cleared area with some tall trees. I did not venture past this area, though the trail eventually opens up into a cleared area a little further past here.
We encountered a small troupe of White-fronted Capuchins in the area just after the creek and enjoyed watching their antics as they moved through the trees.
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| White-fronted Capuchin - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
The open area with the tall trees was a very productive birding area, despite us never visiting during the best hours of the day. On two occasions, we located a pair of Beautiful Woodpeckers working over snags on the tall trees. I had previously heard this species at the Blue-billed Curassow Reserve but this was the first time that I had laid eyes on this endemic Colombian species.
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| Beautiful Woodpecker - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
I heard some Saffron-headed Parrots in this area, and we watched a single Black Oropendola fly overhead here. Dusky Antbirds and Rufous-tailed Jacamars were particularly vocal as well.
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| Rufous-tailed Jacamar - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
The sun came out for an extended period during my final visit to the Mulata Trail. As expected given the conditions, a nice selection of butterflies and lizards appeared.
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| Widespread Bent-Skipper (Cycloglypha thrasibulus) - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Magdalena River Tegu (Tretioscincus bifasciatus) - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Blue-frosted Banner (Catonephele numilia) - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Mabuya sp. - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Lyca Numberwing (Callicore lyca) - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Rainbow Whiptail (Cnemidophorus lemniscatus) - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Pellicia sp. - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
A Black Hawk-Eagle soared close overhead, taking advantage of the thermals provided by the sunny morning.
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| Black Hawk-Eagle - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
I crossed back over the creek on my way back and spotted two odd lumps in some branches beside of the trail. A pair of Barred Puffbirds! This uncommon species of puffbird is pretty easy to find at Río Claro and we had sightings most days.
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| Barred Puffbird - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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| Barred Puffbird - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
I will finish with a parting shot of the trail during a heavy downpour one morning. We finally had an opportunity to put our umbrellas to good use during our time here. Colombia had been pretty dry up to this point during our travels in January and early February.
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| La Mulata Trail - RN Cañon del Río Claro, Antioquia, Colombia |
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