AdamWinstanley
Member
Hi,
I did an independent tour of Colombia this summer with two friends from the UK. For details of this, see here: Independent Colombia (Santa Marta and Central / Western Andes) July 2023
But, I just wanted to highlight one particular site/area, which was Anaime in Tolima. In little more than twenty four hours, we saw all four Tolima endemics, Yellow-eared Parrot and Indigo-winged (Fuerte's) Parrot. It saved a lot of driving on the central route as we didn't have to go all the way up to Jardin for Yellow-Eared Parrots after/before Montezuma. It also meant we didn't have to dedicate a day to Santa Rosa de Cabal.
As Simmo Junior has suggested in the trip report, it's really worth contacting Diego Espitia for guiding near Anaime. We did so on Instagram. Having some Spanish will help as his English is limited, but you could get by with Diego by using Merlin to ask about stuff. Three of the endemics were in his parents' garden, with the Brushfinch nearby. We then went in the late afternoon to some nearby wax palms where we saw plenty of Yellow-eared Parrots and Golden-Plumed Parrots.
The next morning, Diego arranged transport in a high clearance 4x4 up to Giles Fuertesi. The road was awful (possibly worst than the road to Cerro Kennedy above Minca) and I wouldn't recommend driving it. I think safety has also been an issue in the past. We saw some absolutely stunning stuff at Fuertesi in addition to the Indigo-winged Parrots including Black-chested Mountain-Tanager, Chestnut-naped Antpitta and Black-headed Hemispingus.
Diego also told us that he sees Masked Saltator quite regularly near Anaime, but we couldn't find that in a brief afternoon search. Fortunately, we were lucky to see that later at Rio Blanco.
Adam
I did an independent tour of Colombia this summer with two friends from the UK. For details of this, see here: Independent Colombia (Santa Marta and Central / Western Andes) July 2023
But, I just wanted to highlight one particular site/area, which was Anaime in Tolima. In little more than twenty four hours, we saw all four Tolima endemics, Yellow-eared Parrot and Indigo-winged (Fuerte's) Parrot. It saved a lot of driving on the central route as we didn't have to go all the way up to Jardin for Yellow-Eared Parrots after/before Montezuma. It also meant we didn't have to dedicate a day to Santa Rosa de Cabal.
As Simmo Junior has suggested in the trip report, it's really worth contacting Diego Espitia for guiding near Anaime. We did so on Instagram. Having some Spanish will help as his English is limited, but you could get by with Diego by using Merlin to ask about stuff. Three of the endemics were in his parents' garden, with the Brushfinch nearby. We then went in the late afternoon to some nearby wax palms where we saw plenty of Yellow-eared Parrots and Golden-Plumed Parrots.
The next morning, Diego arranged transport in a high clearance 4x4 up to Giles Fuertesi. The road was awful (possibly worst than the road to Cerro Kennedy above Minca) and I wouldn't recommend driving it. I think safety has also been an issue in the past. We saw some absolutely stunning stuff at Fuertesi in addition to the Indigo-winged Parrots including Black-chested Mountain-Tanager, Chestnut-naped Antpitta and Black-headed Hemispingus.
Diego also told us that he sees Masked Saltator quite regularly near Anaime, but we couldn't find that in a brief afternoon search. Fortunately, we were lucky to see that later at Rio Blanco.
Adam
