Hi everybody. Arrived,safely, in Bogota at 16-00 local (21-00 GMT) afetr an uneventful journey door to door. Air France was splendid serving a light snack and coffee on the way to Charles de Gaulle, a 90 minute wait and we were in the air again. Same, same really with very attentive cabin staff, decent food, a drink if you wanted it and, most important, no delays. In fact the whole journey seemed very quick.
Formalities at Columbia's capital airport were swift, polite and efficient, Steve Bird our 'group leader' was at the terminal and even the hotel trasfer was laid on. Both Darragh and I had guessed what the first identifiable bird would be, and he was spot on with Cattle Egret, but not to be outdone I did come second with Black Vulture. The Egrets were seen as we made our landing approach, and were in company of a number of Green Ibis and pefore we pulled up to the stand Eared Dove was also seen in numbers. Outside the airport the ubiquitous Rufous-collared Sparrows were in full song, while at the hotel 3 of the afore mentioned Vultures flew over as Feral Pigeons forraged on the grass verges. There was a real highlight as well as half a dozen Brown-bellied Swallow circled above us. This wasn't just a 'lifer' for me, but also Darragh and Steve, a good start for the trip you might say! We, in company with our new found Dutch friend Bart, went for a sortie but only saw more of the same, and the rapidly fading light made for poor photographs. I'm hoping to produce better than these 2 images before much longer.
Eared Dove
Great Thrush
So finally today, before a much needed shower and kip, Love to Julie, Lisa and Families and the same to Ille. Watch these pages or miss out!!
