I was planning to go to Peru in 2022 but there were riots and road closures in the areas we were planning to go. So at the last minute I went back to Colombia and saw some other places.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of overlap, so I did not get a lot of new birds on the trip. However, many areas now have set up feeding stations and several were built for photography. I used the same guide Pablo Florez and I had my daughter with me on the trip this year.
However on the bright side, the setups for photography and the number of places that had feeders allowed me to get many improved photos of birds I had not so good photos before.
Antpittas are terrestrial songbirds that are very shy and retiring and hard to see. They have very long legs, and tails so short that they look tailless. But people discovered that they could be fed worms and attracted that way. So now it is possible to see and photo several species on a trip. They are so cute!
The 6.5" Bicolored Antpitta (Grallaria rufocinerea) is reddish-brown above and charcoal gray below. The meal worms can be seen on the branch. This was a lifer for me.
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| Bicolored Antpitta |
The 6.75" Scaled Antpitta (Grallaria guatimalensis) is brown overall with white stripe on chin and white spots on the throat. This was also a lifer for me.
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| Scaled Antpitta |
The 6.5" White-bellied Antpitta (Grallaria hypoleuca) is rusty brown above and white below. I had seen and photographed this in in Ecuador previously.
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| White-bellied Antpitta |
The 3.75" male Pacific Antwren (Myrmotherula pacifica) is streaked black and white.
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| Pacific Antwren - male |
The 5" female Dot-winged Antwren (Microrhopias quixensis)is black above and rusty brown below with extensive white in the wings and tail.
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| Dot-winged Antwren - female |
Lastly is the 7" Western Fire-eye (Pyriglena maura). The male is all black with a bright red eye.
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| Western Fire-eye - male |
The female is similar except she has a brown back and wings.
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| Western Fire-eye - female |
The only vireo on the trip was the 5" Rufous-naped Greenlet (Hylophilus semibrunneus). It is olive above and grayish below with an obvious rusty crown and nape.
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| Rufous-naped Greenlet |
Tapaculos are small mouse-like birds that are difficult to see well, as they stay close to the ground in thick brush. The 4.5" Paramao Tapaculo (Scytalopus opacus) is only the 3rd one I have managed to photograph, although I have seen s a few other species. Like most tapaculos, he is charcoal gray with a brown undertail.
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| Paramao Tapaculo |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2022 David McDonald
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