CERULEAN WARBLER RESERVE & LIST 
COLOMBIA

San Vicente de Chucuri, SANTANDER (Compass)

Lat:00^o00´S/00^o00´W ha topography msl 
ProAves reserve. 
Best Time for visit

NOTE: Juan Carlos Luna is Director of ProAves Reserva Reinita Cerulea and coordinator of De La Estacion De Anillamiento-Yariguies. He is an avid ringer/bander and is keen to do a no-cost exchange program with a British based organisation. Juan is especially keen to study the moult, sexing and aging of migrant passerines, and to study trapping methods and census techniques as well as radio telemetry. An east coast site during migration is preferred. He has previously worked with Nick Bailey of the Wetland Trust and Mark Graham of the BTO. Juan speaks good English. If you think you may be able to offer an exchange for Juan through ProAves please contact him on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone 3115962545. 

 

Birding Site Guide

BSG visited this new reserve recently and did 2 mornings birding in the forest, other time was spent birding the plantations. Accommodation was basic, on sleeping mats in an open (unsecured area), the food was pretty bad and there was no variety from meat, rice and yucca. New accommodation is being built, so things should improve. The birding is good but access to the forest is not easy. Access to the forest is difficult as it is a 1hr walk through pastures up a steep hill. In the forest natural stone cobbles have been used for the trail, these are extremely slippery especially on the steep slopes.

Bicoloured Hawk can be seen in and around the plantations and forest edge. Indigo-capped Hummingbird is found in the red flowering bush near the gate to the accommodation, Black Inca is uncommon in the good forest higher up. Silvery-throated Spinetail is found in pasture near the accommodation. Parker’s Antbird skulks low down in dense tangles in good forest, tape may be needed. Ruddy-breasted Seedeater and Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch should be looked for in pasture on the climb up the hill to the forest, they may be with other commoner seedeaters. Migrant tanagers are in mixed flocks in the forest, other migrants can be found around the plantations (which belong to the reserve). 

Species seen by BSG (2-5.11.06) (heard only species not listed) totalled 111 species, 98 on the reserve (other common open area species were seen on journey), which included 4 endemics, and 2 species new for the reserve.
Great Egret Ardea alba 

·         Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis 

·         Black Vulture Coragyps atratus 

·         Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura 

·         White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus 

·         Bicolored Hawk Accipiter bicolor 

·         Roadside HawkButeo magnirostris 

·         Yellow-headed Caracara Milvago chimachima 

·         Barred Forest-Falcon Micrastur ruficollis 

·         Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus 

·         Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 

·         Rock PigeonColumba livia 

·         Band-tailed Pigeon Patagioenas fasciata 

·         Eared Dove Zenaida auriculata 

·         Ruddy Ground-Dove Columbina talpacoti 

·         White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi 

·         [Scarlet Macaw Ara macao ] tame bird at the bus station in Bucaramanga Spectacled Parrotlet Forpus conspicillatus

·         Smooth-billed Ani Crotophaga ani 

·         White-tipped Swift Aeronautes montivagus 

·         Violet-crowned Woodnymph Thalurania colombica 

·         Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Amazilia tzacatl 

·         Andean Emerald Agyrtria franciae 

·         Indigo-capped Hummingbird Saucerottia cyanifrons Endemic

·         Speckled Hummingbird Adelomyia melanogenys 

·         Black Inca Coeligena prunellei Endemic

·         Endangered Booted Racket-tail Ocreatus underwoodii 

·         Crimson-rumped Toucanet Aulacorhynchus haematopygus 

·         Andean Toucanet Aulacorhynchus albivitta 

·         Red-crowned Woodpecker Melanerpes rubricapillus 

·         Golden-olive Woodpecker Piculus rubiginosus 

·         Rufous Spinetail Synallaxis unirufa

·         Silvery-throated Spinetail Synallaxis subpudica Endemic

·         Pale-breasted Spinetail Synallaxis albescens 

·         Montane Foliage-gleaner Anabacerthia striaticollis 

·         Lineated Foliage-gleaner Syndactyla subalaris 

·         Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner Philydor rufus Olivaceous Woodcreeper Sittasomus griseicapillus 

·         Wedge-billed Woodcreeper Glyphorynchus spirurus 

·         Strong-billed WoodcreeperXiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus 

·         Streak-headed Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes souleyetii 

·         Brown-billed Scythebill Campylorhamphus pusillus 

·         Uniform Antshrike Thamnophilus unicolor 

·         Slaty Antwren Myrmotherula schisticolor 

·         Parker's Antbird Cercomacra parkeri Endemic

·         Golden-winged Manakin Masius chrysopterus 

·         Large Elaenia Elaenia spectabilis ?

·         Olive-striped FlycatcherMionectes olivaceus 

·         Golden-faced Tyrannulet Zimmerius chrysops 

·         Common Tody-FlycatcherTodirostrum cinereum 

·         Bran-colored Flycatcher Myiophobus fasciatus 

·         Smoke-colored PeweeContopus fumigatus 

·         Tropical Pewee Contopus cinereus 

·         Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans 

·         Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus 

·         Cattle Tyrant Machetornis rixosus 

·         Social Flycatcher Myiozetetes similis 

·         Golden-crowned Flycatcher Myiodynastes chrysocephalus 

·         Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus 

·         Cinnamon Becard Pachyramphus cinnamomeus 

·         Blue-and-white SwallowNotiochelidon cyanoleuca 

·         Southern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx ruficollis 

·         Bicolored WrenCampylorhynchus griseus 

·         House Wren Troglodytes aedon 

·         Gray-breasted Wood-Wren Henicorhina leucophrys 

·         Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus 

·         Swainson's Thrush Catharus ustulatus 

·         Great Thrush Turdus fuscater 

·         Pale-vented Thrush Turdus obsoletus 

·         Green Jay Cyanocorax yncas

·         Rufous-naped Greenlet Hylophilus semibrunneus 

·         Tropical Parula Parula pitiayumi 

·         Blackburnian Warbler Dendroica fusca 

·         Blackpoll Warbler Dendroica striata 

·         Cerulean Warbler Dendroica cerulean first record since reserve bought

·         Mourning Warbler Oporornis philadelphia 

·         Canada Warbler Wilsonia canadensis 

·         Slate-throated Redstart Myioborus miniatus 

·         Three-striped Warbler Basileuterus tristriatus 

·         Bananaquit Coereba flaveola 

·         Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager Chlorospingus canigularis 

·         Summer Tanager Piranga rubra

·         White-winged Tanager Piranga leucoptera new for the reserve

·         Silver-beaked Tanager Ramphocelus carbo 

·         Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus 

·         Palm Tanager Thraupis palmarum 

·         Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager Anisognathus somptuosus 

·         Orange-bellied Euphonia Euphonia xanthogaster

·         Golden Tanager Tangara arthus 

·         Saffron-crowned Tanager Tangara xanthocephala 

·         Flame-faced Tanager Tangara parzudakii 

·         Blue-necked Tanager Tangara cyanicollis 

·         Beryl-spangled Tanager Tangara nigroviridis 

·         Black-capped Tanager Tangara heinei 

·         Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina

·         Black-and-white Seedeater Sporophila luctuosa 

·         Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis

·         Ruddy-breasted Seedeater Sporophila minuta 

·         Yellow-faced Grassquit Tiaris olivacea 

·         White-sided Flowerpiercer Diglossa albilatera 

·         Saffron Finch Sicalis flaveola 

·         Yellow-breasted Brush-FinchAtlapetes latinuchus 

·         Moustached Brush-Finch Atlapetes albofrenatus 

·         Rufous-collared SparrowZonotrichia capensis 

·         Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus 

·         Yellow-tailed Oriole Icterus mesomelas 

·         Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula 

·         Scarlet-rumped Cacique Cacicus uropygialis 

·         Russet-backed Oropendola Psarocolius angustifrons 

·         Orange-backed Troupial Icterus croconotus 

·         Yellow-bellied Siskin Carduelis xanthogastra 

·         Lesser Goldfinch Carduelis psaltria 

This section by Charles Hesse (28th-30th August, 2006)

To get there take a bus from Bucaramanga to San Vicente de Chucuri taking 2 hours (14,000). From there you can hire a jeep to take you up to the reserve (30,000). The director of the reserve, Juan Carlos Luna who met me in San Vicente is a good source of information about birds in the reserve and the surrounding area. I stayed in a house in a coffee plantation (1300m). This was in the process of being bought by ProAves. I slept in my tent but there should be beds in the future. From the house it is about 40 minutes walk up to the forest. The reserve is only small having about 200ha but another 400ha of municipal owned forest borders. 

Around the house and coffee plantation are some interesting birds including: Aplomado Falcon, Russet-backed Oropendola, Bicolored Wren and Yellow Oriole. On the way up to the forest I saw Azara's Spinetail (with an unusual call), Yellow-throated Brush-Finch and Yellow-bellied Seedeater. 
The forest itself was fairly quiet, even in the mornings, but I still managed to see a good range of tanagers and woodcreepers. About 20minutes walk after entering the forest is a trail leading off to the right though good forest. This junction is a good spot to listen out for the critically endangered endemic Gorgeted Wood-Quail. It is more vocal in some seasons than others. This time it is very quiet and it took us 3 days to hear it call just once. Get there as early as possible. Along the trail into the forest I saw Parker's Antbird and the endangered endemic Black Inca. The latter I also saw higher up, where the trail is very straight, and again at the ridge called Talisman (1900m). On clear days, the latter is good for spotting raptors and swifts. 

Charles Hesse saw 96 species including 7 lifers 
Species seen 

• Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
• Roadside Hawk Buteo magnirostris
• Black Hawk-Eagle Spizaetus tyrannus Heard only
• Aplomado Falcon Falco femoralis
• Gorgeted Wood-Quail Odontophorus strophium Endemic Critically endangered Heard only
• Rock Pigeon Columba livia Introduced species
• Band-tailed Pigeon Patagioenas fasciata
• Plumbeous Pigeon Patagioenas plumbea
• White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi Seen near San Vicente
• Orange-chinned Parakeet Brotogeris jugularis
• Squirrel Cuckoo Piaya cayana Heard only
• Smooth-billed Ani Crotophaga ani
• Striped Cuckoo Tapera naevia Heard only
• White-collared Swift Streptoprocne zonaris
• White-tipped Swift Aeronautes montivagus
• Violet-crowned Woodnymph Thalurania colombica
• Andean Emerald Agyrtria franciae
• Speckled Hummingbird Adelomyia melanogenys
• Black Inca Coeligena prunellei Endemic Endangered
• Collared Trogon Trogon collaris
• Crimson-rumped Toucanet Aulacorhynchus haematopygus Possibly seen
• Santa Marta Toucanet Aulacorhynchus lautus Endemic
• Golden-olive Woodpecker Piculus rubiginosus
• Crimson-crested Woodpecker Campephilus melanoleucos Possibly seen
• Azara's Spinetail Synallaxis azarae
• Spotted Barbtail Premnoplex brunnescens
• Streaked Xenops Xenops rutilans
• Montane Foliage-gleaner Anabacerthia striaticollis
• Flammulated Treehunter Thripadectes flammulatus
• Lineated Foliage-gleaner Syndactyla subalaris
• Plain-brown Woodcreeper Dendrocincla fuliginosa
• Black-striped Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus lachrymosus
• Olive-backed Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus triangularis
• Straight-billed Woodcreeper Dendroplex picus
• Streak-headed Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes souleyetii
• Montane Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger
• Brown-billed Scythebill Campylorhamphus pusillus
• Uniform Antshrike Thamnophilus unicolor
• Plain Antvireo Dysithamnus mentalis
• Slaty Antwren Myrmotherula schisticolor
• Parker's Antbird Cercomacra parkeri Endemic
• Nariño Tapaculo Scytalopus vicinior Possibly seen
• Golden-winged Manakin Masius chrysopterus
• Olive-striped Flycatcher Mionectes olivaceus
• Slaty-capped Flycatcher Leptopogon superciliaris Possibly seen
• Plumbeous-crowned Tyrannulet Phyllomyias plumbeiceps
• Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant Lophotriccus pileatus
• Ornate Flycatcher Myiotriccus ornatus
• Cinnamon Flycatcher Pyrrhomyias cinnamomea
• Smoke-colored Pewee Contopus fumigatus
• Tropical Pewee Contopus cinereus Seen near San Vicente
• Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
• Cattle Tyrant Machetornis rixosus
• Apical Flycatcher Myiarchus apicalis Endemic Possibly seen
• Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
• Boat-billed Flycatcher Megarynchus pitangua Possibly heard
• Golden-crowned Flycatcher Myiodynastes chrysocephalus
• Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
• Southern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx ruficollis Seen near San Vicente
• Bicolored Wren Campylorhynchus griseus
• Whiskered Wren Thryothorus mystacalis
• House Wren Troglodytes aedon
• Gray-breasted Wood-Wren Henicorhina leucophrys
• Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus
• Andean Solitaire Myadestes ralloides
• Black-billed Thrush Turdus ignobilis
• Green Jay Cyanocorax yncas
• Tropical Parula Parula pitiayumi
• Slate-throated Redstart Myioborus miniatus
• Russet-crowned Warbler Basileuterus coronatus Possibly seen
• Three-striped Warbler Basileuterus tristriatus
• Common Bush-Tanager Chlorospingus ophthalmicus
• Flame-rumped Tanager Ramphocelus flammigerus
• Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus
• Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager Anisognathus somptuosus
• Orange-bellied Euphonia Euphonia xanthogaster
• Golden Tanager Tangara arthus
• Saffron-crowned Tanager Tangara xanthocephala
• Flame-faced Tanager Tangara parzudakii
• Golden-naped Tanager Tangara ruficervix
• Metallic-green Tanager Tangara labradorides
• Blue-necked Tanager Tangara cyanicollis
• Beryl-spangled Tanager Tangara nigroviridis
• Black-capped Tanager Tangara heinei
• Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis
• Yellow-faced Grassquit Tiaris olivacea
• Bluish Flowerpiercer Diglossopis caerulescens
• Saffron Finch Sicalis flaveola
• White-naped (Yellow-throated) Brush-Finch Atlapetes albinucha (gutturalis)
• Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch Buarremon brunneinucha
• Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis
• Black-winged Saltator Saltator atripennis
• Yellow Oriole Icterus nigrogularis
• Russet-backed Oropendola Psarocolius angustifrons
• Lesser Goldfinch Carduelis psaltria
• Black-mandibled Toucan Ramphastos ambiguus Possibly heard

 

Other Fauna 
A total of -- species of mammals. 

There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles. 

Flora 

Author: Charles Hesse & BSG

 

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