Otun Quimbaya

Otun Quimbaya is situated south of Pereira. We arrived with an afternoon flight and drove straight to the reserve. The main attractions in Otun is Cauca Guan (E) and Red-ruffed Fruitcrow with both species being common and easily seen. A dirt road goes from the accomodation and into higher elevations stopping at a small shop. All the birding is done along this dirt road. We stayed two nights at Otun.

9/2 The main building at Otun. All meals are served here.

9/2 Sleeping quarters at Otun. Good birding just outside your door.

9/2 Our dinner companion. Loads of different moths in the evenings.

We drove to the top and walked down to the "resort". Besides the already mentioned species, Otun is also a good place for Multi-colored Tanager (E), Moustached Antpitta, Colombian Screech-Owl (E) and several other good species.
Our first morning started really well at the open area at the end of the dirt road with Black-billed Peppershrike and a noisy group of White-capped Tanagers. Working our way down the road more good birds were seen with Cauca + Sickle-winged Guan, the Friutcrow, Bronzy Inca, Pale-vented Pigeon, Masked Trogon, Highland Motmots, skulking Chestnut-breasted Wrens and our only Lineated Foliage-gleaner,Tyranine Woodcreepers, Plumbeous-crowned Tyrannulet, Bronze-olive Pygmy-tyrant of the trip. About a kilometer before the lodge we finally connected with Multi-colored Tanager and actually ended up seing 3 of these amazing birds within the last stretch of the dirt road. The species can be tricky as they often forage high in the vegetation and quickly moves between trees.

9/2 White-capped Tanager at Otun. One of my most wanted species.

9/2 White-capped Tanager at Otun. We actually ended up seing this species in four places.

9/2 Blackburnian Warbler at Otun. Very common through out the trip

9/2 Black Phoebe at Otun. Widespread and common species.

9/2 Collared Trogon at Otun. Nice male eating a cicada.

9/2 Cauca Guan, Otun. Listed as Endangered but easily seen at Otun.

9/2 Cauca Guan, Otun. A big Guan.

Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, Otun

9/2 Saffron Finch, Otun. Common bird over much of South America.

9/2 Strong-billed Woodcreeper, Otun. Amazing Woodcreeper!

9/2 Sickle-winged Guan, Otun. Seen in several places.

The remainder of the day we birded around the lodge with a small trip before dusk to the small stream. Here we had 3 Crested Ant-Tanagers (E) easily located by their very strange calls. After dinner we did some owling without much luck. Tropical Screech-owl, a few Paraques and a small troop of Andes Night Monkeys was the best.

9/2 Andean Night Monkey at Otun. Just outside the cabins

9/2 Paraque at Otun. Common at night time. 

As we had seen most of the specialities the previous day we decided to move on the next morning with only a short stop before the village of Quimbaya where we luckily connected with both White-capped Dipper and Torrent Duck.

RDN