La Calara - Take Two

We dragged ourselves out of our very comfortable bed. Our room is spacious, beautiful and clean. We are going to enjoy staying here.

We arrived in the lobby promptly at 4:30 and I was immediately suspicious because there was no guide or van waiting for us outside. Bill checked his email and our itinerary and since our tour was changed due to a bridge outtage, that our start time had shifted to 5:30... back to the room for another 40 min of sleep. I will take all I can get! 

We were greeted by Christian our guide and Angel our driver when we arrived in the lobby the second time that morning. 

We both took advantage of the drive to Calera for breakfast to catch some more sleep. We were told that Calera was a typical Columbian town. We were seated in the restaurant at a folding table with plastic chairs beside the road. The ladies were cooking on small gas stove tops and wood burning ovens. Their speciality was arepitas with cheese. Bill immediately made a new friend, a black lab mix dog that nudged him with his paw. Bill obliged and shared some of his breakfast since he does not have an appetite. I am still trying to avoid grain, corn and legumes, so I only had a sample of the arepitas, but really enjoyed my omelette with ham and tomatoes.

Our birding tour began at 7:30, a short distance away in the Chingaza National Natural Park which caps out at 3,500 metres above sea level.

For the next 5 hours we drive and walked along the road or paths in search of birds. It was a bit of a slow bird day, but we did see the following (ones with * I hope to have a good photo of):

Masked flowerpiercer
Black flowerpiercer*
Glossy flowerpiercer*
Glowing puffleg Humming bird
Band tailed pigeon*
Great thrush*
Pale-naped brush-finch* with a yellow belly
Black crested Warbler
Scarlet-Bellied mountain Tanager* black with red belly
Tyrian metal tailed hummingbird
Smoky-Brown Woodpecker male and female*
Riuffus collared sparrow*
Slivery-Throated spinetail
Brown-bellied swallow
Ear Dove*
Golden-fronted Whitestart
Adult Glowing puffleg Hummingbird
White-Throated tryannulet
Flowerpiercer eat camemdesha which locals use to make sweets and juice
Palm like frailejon tree endemic to this cloud forest
Booted racket-tailed hummingbird
Riuffus collared sparrow* has a crested head. This one was a juvenile
We wemt Trogan hunting in the forest among the rocks, steam and moss, but were not successful. 
We tried hard, but only caught a glimpse of the rare blue-Throated starfrontlet. It is only found in Columbia and Venuzalia. 
Masked Trogan
Flying in the valley black-chested buzzard-eagle
Brown-backed chat tyrant

On the way out of the park, we stopped and took some photos of the abandoned cement factory and town. It was super creepy and think it would be a cool spot for a photo or film shoot. It definitely has a post apocalyptic vibe. 

We had a fantastic meal (our eyes are bigger than our stomachs) at a traditional Columbian restaurant, Don Parrillon. I think Christian and Angel were pretty happy with our choice of cuisine. Our traditional Columbian lunch included BBQ beef/carne, fresh tropical lulu juice, potatoes, plantains and yuca, ajiaco soup, and chicken with rice and avocado. 

I was able to have another 30-45 min nap enroute to our next destination. 

The Hummingbird Observatory or De Observatorio Colibries was an incredible end to our tour. I could have spend the whole day there. It was a private property and the owner began feeding hummingbirds 8 years ago. 2 years ago she was discovered by birders who requested that she open her home and yard for tourists. https://www.observatoriodecolibries.com/ 

We were able to see the following beautiful birds while there: 
Lesser violetear
Green violtear*
Sparking violetear
Black-tailed trainbearer
Green-tailed trainbearer
Tyrian metaltail
Glowing puffleg*
Coppery-bellied puffleg
Blue-Throated starfrontlet*
Sword-billed hummingbird*
White-bellied woodstar*

In her gift shop I bought a pretty silver Hummingbird necklace as a keepsake for our birding tour in Columbia.

In the driveway we saw a Red crested cotinga and along the road we saw an Eastern meadowlark on the fence post.

We also stopped to take photos of the hydroelectric dam that forced the relocation of a town 20 years ago. 

It was a full day and we arrived back at the hotel around 5:30pm. 

We ate early dinner in our hotel so we could get to bed early and hit the ground running tomorrow. We had sashimi and a delicious lobster roll. The wine was very good. It’s nice to be in a country that has access to great wines despite not producing any themselves.