The Green-rumped Parrotlet (Forpus passerinus) is a small Neotropical parrot. It is one of seven species in the genus Forpus and is found in Northeastern South America.
They are found in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, northern Brazil and the Caribbean island of Trinidad. I was lucky enough to spot a few at Aripo Livestock Station in Trinidad.
These tiny little beauties can be hard to spot, look how they lend in with the trees!
The Orange-winged Amazon (Amazona amazonica), also known locally as Orange-winged Parrot, Curica and Loro Guaro, is a large amazon parrot. Its habitat is forest and semi-open country. I took these photos in Nariva Swamp.
They have a huge range from Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil. I have seen them in the Pantanal, on Parrot Island near Belem and Nariva Swamp in Trinidad.
I had to wade through a lot of pet bird videos to find these wild birds!
The Flame-winged Parakeet (Pyrrhura calliptera), also known as the Brown-breasted Parakeet, is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.I was unable to get a photo and all Wikipedia has is a drawing. However there are some good photos on the “Learn More” links below.
They are endemic to Colombia and found in forest edge and shrub at altitudes of 1700–3400 m. The best places to see them are Chingaza & Bioandina areas near Bogota.
All uploaded to YouTube by Oswaldo Cortes, proving that he is the birding guide of choice when looking for this elusive little bird!
The Fuertes’s Parrot (Hapalopsittaca fuertesi), also known as the Indigo-winged Parrot, is a parrot which has a highly restricted range on the west slope of the Central Andes of Colombia. You know a bird profile is going to be a challenge when Wikipedia doesn’t have a photo. Birdlife does have a drawing I can hopefully use (link below).
Fuertes’ Parrots are endemic to Colombia in an extremely challenging location to go birding with the bad weather and high altitude cloud forest. See my description on how to find them on my post and the Birds of Passage blog. Pereira or Santa Rosa de Cabal are the staging points, both can be easily reached by bus but you need a hired car-SUV to get to the habitat.
You can see some photos by professional photographers on some of these sites.
On Youtube, I found a video taken by Peter Odekerken during his trip to Colombia. He managed to get into the Giles Fuertes Reserve that I couldn’t get into.
You can see what a cute little bird this is!
You can see how well they blend into the trees but Oswaldo Cortes got a good clip.
One more clip by Alejandro Cartagena, very clear footage!
The Rufous-fronted Parakeet, (Bolborhynchus ferrugineifrons) is endemic to Colombia and can be a real challenge to see as they like very high altitudes between 3000-4000 metres. Wikipedia doesn’t have a photo but I do have a picture from Rio Blanco. Photos are available on the websites in the “Learn More” section.
Not only are they a Colombian endemic but their range is very small in the high paramo near Manizales & Pereira. The best place to see them is in and around the Termales del Ruiz. You will be at 3500 metres so plan for altitude sickness. Once you get within 5km of the hotel, keep your windows down and ears open, they are the only parrot species in this area so listen for the squawking.
Not an easy bird to photograph or film, even with a scope! Top Colombian guide, Oswaldo Cortes got a few clips.
The Rusty-faced Parrot (Hapalopsittaca amazonina) is found in subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland. I didn’t get a shot and there is only a drawing on Wikipedia so this shot of a drawing I got at Rio Blanco will have to do. There are better photos in the “Learning More” section below and video clips.
They are mostly found in the mountainous areas of Colombia with a small population in western Venezuela. This is not an easy bird to get. I caught a glimpse of a pair in flight on the road leaving Manizales going towards the Nevado del Ruiz.
The only video clips I could find on YouTube were taken by one of Colombia’s top birding guides – Oswaldo Cortes. I wish I could have hired him as a guide, especially when I see how cute this parrot is up close!
The Golden-plumed Parakeet (Leptosittaca branickii) is a Neotropical parrot species within the family Psittacidae, belonging to the monotypic genus Leptosittaca.
They can be found in the eastern Andean slopes in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
The Rio Blanco Reserve in Colombia is a good place to see them in the lodge area.
Looks like some people were able to see this beautiful bird a bit closer!
This one looks pretty young going by the pin feathers.
The Scaly-naped Amazon or Scaly-naped Parrot (Amazona mercenarius) is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae.
They have a huge range throughout the mountainous areas of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia. You may get lucky as I did at Wildsumaco, El Dorado and Rio Blanco.
I really struggled to find anything on these charming parrots. The first one is a slideshow.
I couldn’t find any live-action filmed in the wild so I have to use a clip of a captive bird to show him up close.
The Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis), is an endangered parrot of tropical America. It is found in the western Andes in Colombia and (perhaps only formerly) Ecuador and is closely associated to the wax palm Ceroxylon sp. which is itself endangered.
The foggy weather messed up my photos so I have added the Wikipedia shot so you can see the gorgeous colours of this beauty.
They are the symbol of conservation in Colombia and there is a reserve to protect them near Jardin, Antioquia.
Although they once had a larger range according to Birdlife’s map, nowadays they have a very limited area at Ventanas near Jardin, Colombia.
Peter Odekerken, a top Australian photographer was more fortunate (sunny weather + superb photography skills) than I was in getting very detailed footage of these amazing birds. He made a really interesting mini-doco.
Hungry much?
And another mini-doco!
Looking back, I can’t believe this birding excursion booked at the last minute turned out as well as it did. I had been in contact with a highly recommended guide who lives in Jardin, Colombia named José Castaño. Unfortunately, he was booked for the time we were there but fortunately he was able to put us in touch with his friend Diego Guerrero, who is also a birding guide from Jardin. We had barely checked in at the Valdivia Plaza around 8pm-ish and called Diego to see if he could take us birding the next morning. He and his friend Paula came to the hotel and we formulated a plan to bird the area near the Yellow-eared Parrot Reserve (the reserve proper was closed) and then take us to our next destination – Rio Blanco Reserve near Manizales.
They picked us up VERY early and we started driving to Ventanas, the location of the Yellow-eared Parrot Reserve. As dawn broke, I was worried to see how foggy it was. Thankfully the parrots are noisy and Diego soon located a small flock near the roadside and we pulled over to watch them for as long as possible. The fog made the lighting terrible but we could still make out the yellow ears.
I was being so cautious of spooking the parrots that I wouldn’t let anyone open a car door and was just poking my camera out the window and hoping they would stick around until the sun came up. They may very well have done just that but a motorcyclist came up behind us and roared past scaring off the birds. I was really upset as I watched them fly off, but glad that we got to at least see them!
We drove on a bit past the entrance to the reserve proper and arrived at a finca (Colombian farm). The scenery was gorgeous!
The finca has lots of hummingbird feeders and we setted in to see some real beauties such as Tourmaline Sunangel, Collared Inca, Buff-tailed Coronet, White-bellied Woodstar and the amazing Sword-billed Hummingbird who was happy to show off his extremely long bill!
There were lots of other birds on the property as well.
Black-billed Mountain-Toucan
Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager
“Turn around so I can id you!”
Speckle-faced Parrots flying overhead.
TBD
Rufous-collared Sparrow 
Great Thrush
TBD
Masked Flowerpiercer
After we left the finca and were driving through the mountain, Diego spotted a
White-capped Tanager near the road – quite a coup as they are apparently difficult to find!
Typical road near Ventanas.
Andean Motmot, a nice find a bit further down the road.
We had a great day of birding and got some pretty cool species in addition to the targeted Yellow-eared Parrot, the Sword-billed Hummingbird was amazing, the White-caped Tanager a nice suprise and that Andean Motmot was gorgeous!
I can highly recommend Diego Guerrero as an excellent birding guide. He doesn’t speak English but he knows the birds and will point them out in a book. His friend Paula does speak English well. Here are his contact details.
Diego Guerrero
311 752 6550
digruz23 at gmail.com