Pitter
Well-known member
I’ve acquired a two acre country place in the mountains outside Cali, Colombia started a yard list that includes anything within a fifteen minute or so walk from the house. This report describes my “first fifty”. My new place is at just over 2100 meters and the change in species is noticeable especially in the variety of hummingbirds present. The “finca” is in subtropical humid (often called cloud) forest and the trees are laden with bromeliads, orchids and ferns. The clouds come rolling down the mountain every afternoon and sometimes sock the property in for most of the day. Every morning I awake to the “pi-doop” of the Blue-crowned Mot Mot. The call sounds like a stone tossed in a pool. They call regularly from the surrounding woods and one sat in the driveway in front of my car the other day barring egress until he finished eating a large spider. I’ve put out a couple of hummingbird feeders and these are regular clients: Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Bronzy Inca, Buff-tailed Coronet, Speckled Hummingbird, White-necked Jacobin, Andean Emerald, Long Tailed Sylph (female only at the feeder) Purple-throated Woodstar (female only) Brown Violetear and Sparkling Violetear. The Violetears flair their colorful “ears” in what appears to be an effort to intimidate the other species when competing for space at the feeder. Others like the Jacobins appear to flair their tails for that purpose. Hummers I’ve seen that don’t come to the feeders are, Booted Raquet-tail, Collared Inca, and Blue-tailed Emerald. There are two toucanets, the Crimson-rumped and Emerald. The Emerald repeats the same “caw” for almost ten minutes then lowers and changes the tone as though the bird has grown horse from such sustained calling. Another “pair” are the Masked and Collared Trogons. They’re most easily told apart by the fine or course barring on the underside of the tail. I’ve seen one dove so far, the White-tipped and the Band-tailed Pigeon. There is no sign of Ruddy Ground Doves perhaps the most common bird down in the city of Cali. There is a tree on the edge of the property that produces a fruit extremely popular with the Glossy-black Thrush. The ubiquitous Black-billed Thrush hunts the lawn when freshly cut. There are two wrens, the House Wren ever present at seemingly any altitude and the less visible but very audible Grey-breasted Wood-Wren. I count my self lucky to have as a yard bird one of the most sought after tanagers in the Cali area, the Multicolored Tanager. Other tanagers so far include Golden, Saffron Crowned, Masked, Ash-throated Bush and Beryl-spangled. I’ve seen the Blue Grey Tanager about fifteen meters lower down at what I think must be it’s upper limit. My favorite is the Blue-winged Mountain Tanager. Blue-hooded Euphonias are really striking and fairly common in the fruit trees around the house. The other euphonia to date is the Orange-bellied. Yellow Throated Brush Finches are pretty common in the under story. Less visible is the Chestnut-capped Brush Finch. Another frequently heard but less often seen is the Andean Solitaire. Most outstanding flycatcher so far is the Cinnamon. There are a pair but I can’t say yet if they really are “sedentary” as described in Hilty & Brown’s Birds of Colombia. My only cuckoo is the Squirrel Cuckoo. Blackburnian Warblers are extremely common in the winter months. Blue and White Swallows live in the eves of the house and White Collared Swifts blast through the mountain vistas. Sporadic but extremely noisy and entertaining visitors are Scarlet-fronted Parakeets. The only sparrow is the Rufus Collared. They’re nearly tame and their fetching call can be counted on any time through out the day. There are almost always Black Vultures cruising the air currents in the distance. My only woodpecker so far is the Yellow-vented. The latest additions to my list are Red-headed Barbet, Streak-headed Wood creeper, Red-faced Spinetail, Lesser Goldfinch, Slate-throated Redstart, Barred Becard and Rusty Flower-piercer. Now on to the next fifty.