I finally made it back to Colombia for my second visit and again used the guide services of Pablo Florez. I went with my friend Martin Jackson. We visited Inirida on the Orinoco, Santa Marta of course, Guajira Peninsula on the Caribbean coast, and a couple of National Parks around Bogota.
Tanagers are a large New World family of mostly colorful birds. They include seedeaters, conebills, tanagers, flowerpiercers etc. Any birding trip to the tropics will find a large number of them.
The 5.25 " Blue-backed Conebill (Conirostrum sitticolor) is an easy ID with his black head, rusty underparts, and blue back.
 |
| Blue-backed Conebill |
The 5" Hooded Tanager (Nemosia pileata) is a rather plain colored tanager. The male is white below, gray above and he has a black hood. He has a bright yellow eye.
 |
| Hooded Tanager |
The 7" Blue-capped Tanager (Sporothraupis cyanocephala) has a blue head, olive back, light blue breast and yellow under the tail.
 |
| Blue-capped Tanager |
The male 6" Red-shouldered Tanager (Tachyphonus phoenicius) is an all black bird with a silver bill. The small red shoulder patch is usually hidden.
 |
| Red-shouldered Tanager - male |
The female Red-shouldered Tanager is dull brown on her head and back and white below.
 |
| Red-shouldered Tanager - female |
T
he 7" Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch (Emberizoides herbicola) looks more like a non-descript sparrow than a brightly colored tanager.
 |
| Wedge-tailed Grass-Finch |
Flowerpiercers are tanagers with hooked upper mandibles,. They make a small hole in the base of the flower and draw the nectar from there.
The 6" Glossy Flowerpiercer (Diglossa lafresmayii) is black with a light shoulder patch.
 |
| Glossy Flowerpiercer |
The 6" Masked Flowerpiercer (Diglossa cyanea) is dark blue with a black mask and red eye.
 |
| Masked Flowerpiercer |
The 5" male White-naped Seedeater (Dolospingus fringilloides) is the typical black and white pattern seen in other seedeaters. Its habitat is the white sand forest along the Orinoco River. This was a target bird for the Inirida section of the trip and we finally saw it the last morning.
 |
| White-naped Seedeater |
Lastly is the 4.5" male Purple Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus). It is bright purplish blue, with black wings, throat and mask. The best feature to ID is the bright yellow legs. This was my best ever view of this bird.
 |
| Purple Honeycreeper |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2022 David McDonald
To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.
