Day 8 - La Vega del Volcan

Today was the big day for the toughest bird of the trip. The Horned Guan! We had a very early breakfast at Doña Lidias and then set off towards La Vega del Volcan. We arrived on location at sunrise and started scanning the mountainside for the mythical unicorn. The Horned Guan always takes a lot of effort and an hour and a half into the waiting game we finally heard one vocalize. The Guan hopped into a window from the backside of a tree, and we quickly set the scope on it for everyone to see. After several rounds of scope views, we relaxed and ended up spending over half an hour with the mythical beast. We watched him sing, scratch himself and finally fly off into the valley. With huge smiles in our faces, we birded our way down to the village and to Roman’s house, picking up and enjoying great views of Blue-throated Motmot and several migrant warbler flocks. Before lunch at Roman’s house we went down a little trail across the valley where we finally got to see Blue-and-white Mockingbirds, a gorgeous male Flame-colored Tanager and three very nearby Black-capped Siskins. After lunch we returned to Sibinal for a lengthy afternoon break, before heading to Canjulá for dinner and a little birding. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side, and made the planned Owling session impossible. But we still managed to pick up a few Black Thrushes and Mountain Thrushes before we called it a day.もっと詳しく