Watching Wildlife

Chestnut-capped Piha

The genus lipaugus refers to the gray color of this bird and derives from the Greek term lipauges which means dark. The epitheus weberi was dedicated to Walter H. Weber for his great contribution to the Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología (SAO) and for promoting the study and conservation of the birds of Colombia. The name in English (Chestnut-capped Piha) refers to its most contrasting morphological characteristic (Coronilla castaña) and the name in Spanish (Piha Antioqueña) refers to the department of Antioquia, the only region of Colombia where this bird has been found.

It is a small hummingbird with a short beak, endemic to the biogeographic Choco. It has an iridescent purple pectoral crescent and conspicuous, mainly white inner rectrices. Its name Urosticte means spotted tail and derives from the Greek roots oura = tail and stiktos = spotted. The Benjamin Pitet was established in honor of the naturalist and merchant John Benjamin Leadbeater.

It is the only hummingbird in the highlands with completely white underparts. Her name Amazilia was established in honor of Amazili, who was an Inca heroine in Jeam Marmontel’s novel Les Incas, ou la destruction de l’Empire du Pérou. His French epithet was established in honor of Francia Bourcier, the daughter of the naturalist Jules Bourcier, an expert in hummingbirds.

For a long time, it was considered an endemic species to Colombia although recently a population was found in the north of Ecuador. Its name Grallaria derives from the modern Latin grallarius = stiltwalker and the epithet rufocinerea from the Latin roots rufus = rufous and cinereus = ash gray.

It is a very striking small bird of mainly black and white coloration that is found east of the Andes. The term cayanus was used in the principles of ornithology to refer to a bird of doubtful origin, probably from the Amazon.

The bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) is a species of passerine bird of uncertain relation. It is tentatively placed in the tanager family, but classified as incertae sedis by other authorities such as the American Ornithologists Union. Its classification is debated, and it is often placed in its own family: Coerebidae. It has recently been suggested the bananaquit should be split into three species, but this has yet to receive widespread recognition. This small, active nectarivore is found in warmer parts of the Americas, and is generally common.

This species is a very noisy and gregarious bird typical of the Andes that is strongly associated with oak forests (Quercus). Its name Melenerpes means black woodpecker and derives from the Greek roots melas = black and herpes = climber. The epithet formicivorus means that it eats ants and derives from the Latin roots formica = ant and vorus = that eats or devours.

It is a small hummingbird. Short beak. Its colors range from black for the most part, with a distinctive red color on the crown. It also has iridescent orange and dark olive brown tones. They are mostly loners. It is found in the Western Cordillera and other places with arid lands.

The white-tipped quetzal (Pharomachrus fulgidus) is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae found in Venezuela, Colombia, and Guyana. Two subspecies have been described. Pharomachrus fulgidus fulgidus is found in the mountains of northern Venezuela and Pharomachrus fulgidus festatus ranges through the Santa Marta mountains of northeast Colombia.

The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) is a South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and is the only member of the genus Vultur. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan. It has a maximum wingspan of 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) exceeded only by the wingspans of four seabirds and water birds—the roughly 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) maximum of the wandering albatross, southern royal albatross, great white pelican and Dalmatian pelican.