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William Orellana of Beaks and Peaks Birding and Adventure Tours and Steve Sánchez of Kuntur Birding and I got together again for another wonderful Hummingbird Photography Tour, this time to Colombia. We were joined by another guide, Johan Flórez of Manakin Tours of Colombia, who would be our driver for this adventure. Three guides for one photographer: what more could I possibly want!
Our first stop on our hummingbird adventure took us to Rogitama Biodiversidad, a three-hour drive north of Bogota. This 70-acre bioreserve is the result of Roberto Chavarro's vision of converting 70 acres of pastureland back into Andean cloud forest. Over 27 years he and his family planted trees, shrubs and plants and created an area of amazing diversity. The picture below shows what the land looked like in 1984 and how it looks today.
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We were met by Isabel Chavarro, Roberto's daughter, and Awad Neme. They took us up to the hummingbird feeders on the balcony, where many different species could be photographed both on the feeders and perched in the surrounding plants. The Tourmaline Sunangel was one of my favorites.
Three new species for me here were the Short-tailed Emerald, the Black Inca and the Lazuline Sabrewing.
Short-tailed Emerald
Black
Inca
Lazuline Sabrewing
Buff-tailed Coronet
Tourmaline Sunangel
FEMALE PURPLE-throated Woodstar
TOURMALINE SUNANGEL VIDEO
BY WILLIAM ORELLANA
BLACK INCA VIDEO
BY WILLIAM ORELLANA
The Gang
Jóhan Florez
William Orellana
Steve Sánchez
Carole Turek
Isabel Chavarro
Awad Neme
Glowing Puffleg
We left Rogitama and then after lunch headed to Victoria Lizarralde's Hummingbird Garden in La Calera. Her garden is officially known as Observatorio de Colibries, or the Hummingbird Observatory, and is located about an hour drive from Bogota.
The gardens and feeders are frequented by more than 14 species of hummingbirds. The Glowing Puffleg and the Blue-throated Starfrontlet were my target birds here. Gorgeous Green-tailed Trainbearers and other species were numerous and easy to photograph.
Female Blue-Throated Starfrontlet
Female Glowing Puffleg
Green-tailed Trainbearer
FEMALE GREEN-TAILED TRAINBEARER
White-bellied Woodstar
Black-tailed Trainbearer
