March 1, 2022
Our first morning began with a little bit of miscommunication. I had mentioned to Miguel that I wanted to visit a site close to town called Sendero Bocatoma, which provides access to high quality white-sand forest. However, a dirt road just east of Cerrito Verde is sometimes referred to as Cruce Bocatoma. The site that I had wanted to explore (near Mitú Cachivera) is called Linea Bocatoma by the locals.
Despite this small setback, we enjoyed an excellent morning of birding at Cruce Bocatoma and we found several species that we did not observe anywhere else in Mitú, so it all worked out in the end.
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| Green-backed Trogon - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
We arrived at dawn with our tuk-tuk flushing a couple of Common Pauraques off the road to signal the transition from night to day. Immediately, we heard a distant but distinctive bird vocalization. A Collared Puffbird! Laura and I hastily downed our packed breakfast (scrambled eggs and cheese on an arepa and a thermos of hot chocolate) and headed off down the muddy trail to find the puffbird. You may recall that the Collared Puffbird was one of our misses from Inírida.
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| Amasonia sp. - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
Unfortunately, the puffbird was neither heard nor seen again, but we were quickly distracted by another vocalizing species: a Striped Woodhaunter. This one we managed to track down for good views and poor photos!
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| Striped Woodhaunter - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
The trail cut through tall secondary forest interspersed with cleared areas. Though it wasn't the highest quality forest we had ever witnessed, it was full of birds. An unusual vocalization that piqued my interest morphed into a cute Collared Gnatwren, while our first White-cheeked Antbirds appeared in a mixed flock. It was cool to see this Amazonian counterpart to the Bicolored Antbird, a species which we encounter quite often west of the Andes.
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| Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
The Imeri Warbling-Antbird is a somewhat local species that prefers white-sand habitats in northern Amazonia. Though we had heard this species in Inírida, we had never seen one before. A pair were teed up beside the trail, singing away.
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| Imeri Warbling-Antbird - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
Though the Pavonine Quetzal is a relatively widespread species in the Amazon, it was a big target of mine. Quetzals are objectively awesome, and this was the only member of this genus (Pharomachrus) that I had never encountered before. We did not have to wait long before we heard one crying out in the distance. It soon flew in, giving us amazing views!
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| Pavonine Quetzal - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
The great birding continued and lifers came frequently. The only problem was that most of them were heard-only, including Brown-winged Schiffornis, White-throated Tinamou, Black-headed Antbird, Yellow-throated Antwren, Dusky-capped Greenlet and Rusty-fronted Tody-Flycatcher. Luckily, we would turn most of those "heard-onlies" into "seen-well and photographed" later on in the trip.
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| Owl-Butterfly (Caligo sp.) - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
There are always various insects to admire in the Amazon, though of course they are more noticeable when the birding is a little slow. Owl-Butterflies (Caligo spp.) are always impressive to see, while Lubber Grasshoppers in the genus Chromacris can be quite showy.
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| Chromacris sp. - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
Some shrill twittering calls from high up in the canopy proved not to be avian in origin, but mammalian. A little troupe of Mottle-faced Tamarins passed through the treetops. Several Black Titi monkeys were in the area as well.
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| Mottle-face Tamarin (Saguinus inustus) - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
Most of the day's photos had been low quality record shots up to this point. Not that I am complaining - it comes with the territory when birding tall forest in the Amazon. Good photographic opportunities just do not present themselves too often. I finally turned things around when we found a Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin right beside the trail. These tiny fluffballs generally hang out high in the canopy so this was a nice surprise!
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| Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
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| Dwarf Tyrant-Manakin - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
Around the same time, we found our lifer Yellow-billed Jacamar. This beautiful species is found mainly in the northern and western parts of the Amazon basin, and it prefers tree-fall gaps within tall forest.
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| Yellow-billed Jacamar - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
The hits just kept coming. First, we watched a few White-browed Purpletufts, then we spotted a Great Jacamar, and a little while after that we found some cooperative Moustached and Spot-backed Antwrens.
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| White-browed Purpletufts - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
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| Great Jacamar - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
The sky had threatened rain all morning and it finally delivered on that promise, forcing us to break out our umbrellas and ponchos. It was a short-lived spell of precipitation and we were soon back to birding. An Amazonian Barred-Woodcreeper obliged us by perching on a sapling right beside the trail. I love the intricate barring that this species shows!
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| Amazonian Barred-Woodcreeper - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
The rest of our hike was relatively slow from a birding perspective, no doubt because the humidity and heat had been dialled up after the rain. We were happy to reach the tuk-tuk and feel the breeze on the drive back to town.
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| Heliconius xanthocles - Cruce Bocatoma, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
That afternoon, Laura, Miguel, Felix and I visited a site very close to town called the Urania bridge. This is at the end of the road north of town, though a footbridge crosses the river here and one can continue on foot (or moto) to the indigenous town of Mituseño Urania. There is an entrance fee for foreign birders to visit this community and we had planned on visiting this site later on, but for this afternoon we simply birded the area just before the bridge.
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| Urania Bridge, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
The sky was threatening once again and the wind had picked up, keeping the bird activity to a minimum. Most of the species that we found are fairly widespread Amazonian birds, but great to see regardless.
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| Yellow-tufted Woodpecker - Urania Bridge, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
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| Many-banded Aracari - Urania Bridge, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
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| Many-banded Aracari - Urania Bridge, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
We noted a few specialties of the area including Bronzy Jacamar, Double-banded Pygmy-Tyrant and Black-throated Antbird. We both picked up a single lifer, the spectacularly beautiful Amazonian Scrub-Flycatcher.
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| Amazonian Scrub-Flycatcher - Urania Bridge, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
With the sun setting, we reconvened with Felix to ride back to town. Several stops were made along the way, wherever we could find large stands of Moriche Palms, since the specialized Point-tailed Palmcreeper frequents these trees. Unfortunately, we came up empty and had to be happy with Sulphury Flycatchers and Moriche Orioles instead.
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| Epaulet (Moriche) Oriole - Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
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| Sulphury Flycatcher - Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia |
It had been an excellent first full day in Mitú and we were excited for what else was in store!
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