Return To Colombia

Our three weeks in Canada flew by far too quickly but on the evening of January 7 we were airborne. Our destination: Colombia. 

Colombia is a country that we have visited together on two occasions. First, in the fall of 2019 we embarked on a scouting tour to southern Colombia for Quest Nature Tours, and then we returned to Colombia for two months to begin 2020. I had also traveled to Colombia for a three-week hardcore birding trip with a few friends back in 2015, representing my first trip to South America. 

Despite spending more than three months in Colombia previously, the possibilities of novel habitats and species remain nearly endless. This is what happens when a country hosts as much biodiversity as Colombia does! One region of the country that we have not visited is the Amazon and so we have some plans in the works to explore a few separate locations in the far east of Colombia - more on that later. 

Saffron Finches - El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

The Chocó lowlands are high on my list of favourite places in the world and so we hope to spend a decent amount of time there as well. These forests west of the Andes stretch from eastern Panama south through Colombia into northwestern Ecuador. Despite heavy deforestation, there are still vast swaths of Chocó rainforest remaining in Colombia. My previous exploits in the Chocó regions include a few days along the Montezuma Road in Risaralda Department, Colombia, a few weeks in Ecuador (mainly in the western foothills but a couple of days in the lowlands), and two trips to Darién in Panama. There is still so much to see, even if one focuses mainly on the birds with everything else as by-catch.

Meriania speciosa - El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

In a bid to explore more of the Chocó, we initiated our 2022 Colombia trip by flying to the city of Cali. Located in Valle del Cauca department in the southwest of the country, Cali is the only major Colombian city with access to the Pacific coast. Therefore, it is a major urban and economic centre, but it also provides access to relatively pristine Chocó forest. 

Our first day was a bit of a write-off. We took a red-eye flight from Toronto to Bogotá, slept in the airport for a couple of hours and then caught a domestic flight to Cali. We picked up our rental car and completed a few errands, but sleep deprivation caught up with us and we took it easy for the rest of the evening. 

Following a sleep-in this morning, we headed south and then west from Cali to explore a mountain road that meanders into Parque Nacional Natural Farallones de Cali, located in the western cordillera. We did not have any big target birds this day; really, we were just looking forward to re-familiarizing ourselves with some of the common birds of the Andes. 

Golden Tanager - El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

The area we chose to explore is called El Topacio, and it includes a few trails that wind into the forest. The drive in took a bit longer than Google Maps indicated. It was a Sunday after all, and this road is popular amongst cyclists. When we were in Colombia in 2020 we always had to be aware of this, planning to visit certain areas on weekdays to avoid the cyclist rush. Since the pandemic began, it appears that cycling has massively increased in popularity - at least, that is our suspicion given what we observed on the road to El Topacio. We witnessed literally hundreds of cyclists, perhaps more than 500 over a 10 km stretch of road. I have never seen anything like it! We slowly crawled up the narrow road and eventually made it to our chosen site. 

Laura making friends with the parking attendant

We found a cheap place to park the car for the day, grabbed our cameras and binoculars, and started to walk up the road. 

Road to El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

And there were birds! Right away we found a nice mixed flock. We reacquainted ourselves with woodcreepers, flycatchers, hummingbirds, trogons. Laura's favourite, the Blue-necked Tanager appeared, while we also saw some old friends from Canada like Blackburnian Warbler, Canada Warbler, and Swainson's Thrush. A crisp White-winged Becard provided excellent views, and we enjoyed watching a pair of Guira Tanagers as they foraged. It felt great to be back in the Andes!

White-winged Becard - El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Our hike up the road didn't produce any spectacular rarities and they were all species that we had seen before, but that did not bother us one bit. When you haven't seen a Red-headed Barbet for several years, one will certainly bring a smile to your face and cause you to gaze through your binoculars for a good while.

One of our favourite finds during our brief walk was an Andean Cock-of-the-Rock that I noticed just off of the path. I am usually pretty terrible at spotting birds sitting still on a branch, especially compared to Laura's incredible skill in this category of birding. The only reason that I spotted this one was because it was, well, bright red!

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock - El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock - El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

We reached the entrance gates to El Topacio only to be turned away by an employee. The trails were closed today, the explanation being something about trail maintenance. So we retraced our steps back to the car, finding a whack of species on the way down including Yellow-bellied Siskin, Scrub, Golden-naped and Metallic-green Tanagers, a Blue-naped Chlorophonia and an Apical Flycatcher (our first Colombian endemic of the trip). As it was now midday, a number of brightly coloured butterflies appeared, flitting through the dappled sunlight. 

Blue Doctor (Rhetus dysonii) - El Topacio, PNN Farallones de Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

We collected our car and joined the main road to drive back down the mountain. The cyclists had cleared out, but now the road was an endless lineup of vehicles, full of weekend warriors heading up to swim in the crystal clear river whose footprint the road paralleled. We were glad to get out of there as it was absolute mayhem. At least our morning walk had been productive and relatively quiet from other people!

Though it was now the heat of the day, we drove south to the town of Jamundí to check out a few rice fields. These flooded areas are not only ideal for the production of rice, but they attract high numbers of birds. 

Arrozales de Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

The day's only potential new bird species for me, the Tricolored Munia, is sometimes reported from these fields. This is actually a species from the Indian subcontinent that has been introduced into the Americas. It is established in various locations in the Caribbean, as well as in parts of Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. 

Little Blue Heron - Arrozales de Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

We enjoyed our time at Jamundí, finding bird activity to be quite high despite the time of day. All three whistling-ducks were represented in good numbers.

White-faced Whistling-Ducks - Arrozales de Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Fulvous & Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - Arrozales de Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Several hundred Blue-winged Teals were also present, and I picked out a female Cinnamon Teal with the bunch. Shorebirds were not in especially high diversity with just Black-necked Stilt and Lesser Yellowlegs joining the Southern Lapwings. Other birds of note included many Yellow-hooded Blackbirds and Spectacled Parrotlets, a Plain-breasted Ground-Dove, a family of Gray-cowled Wood-Rails and three species of ibis - Glossy, Bare-faced and Buff-necked. 

Spectacled Parrotlets - Arrozales de Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

As we were on our way out I spotted a whirling flock of finch-like birds in a weedy field. Munias! There were over 30 of them present, and they were all Tricolored Munias as far as I could tell. They were a little far for photos, but close enough for great scope views. A nice way to cap off a good day. 

Tricolored Munias - Arrozales de Jamundí, Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Tomorrow we head into the mountains where many tanagers and hummingbirds await. It should be fun!