April 7, 2015, Montezuma Reserve, Colombia — Because of the way logistics worked out, I had a travel day. Chris went to the airport this morning to pick up two Brits, Dave and Jeff, who have kindly agreed to let me tag along with their trip to three birding spots in western Colombia during my last several days in South America. Meanwhile, Jose Luna and I took a bus to meet them. By the time we all converged at a place called Montezuma, in a big tract of forest in the West Andes, it was late in the afternoon and I’d done no significant birding since yesterday morning.
At the moment I’m on a pretty good streak: I’ve seen at least one new bird every day this year except for January 3rd (when I maxed out on penguins in Antarctica). There’s no reason I can’t keep this up all year long, as I’ll be visiting new places everywhere I go. So I was a bit worried when, 20 minutes before dusk, I still hadn’t seen a new bird today! Luckily, Jose picked up on a strange call in the forest near Montezuma Lodge shortly after we arrived, and was able to tease out a pair of Ruddy Foliage-Gleaners just before dark. The streak stays alive! And, having settled in at Montezuma, we are looking forward to two full days of birding in one of Colombia’s most productive natural hotspots.
New birds today: 1
Year list: 1946
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