Red-bellied Macaws - Orthopsittaca manilata from our balcony - Mitu

Outside our balcony... every day coming to eat a bit!

This video was made during a FANTASTIC trip we did to the white sand forests of SW Colombia in Mitu near the Brazilian border. We went there to help a bit in the process of a brilliant course (Bird watching in an inter-cultural context) that is being offered for local birding guides from indigenous communities around Mitu. This course by SENA/Tropenbos is directed by our mate Jorge Gonzalez... and believe me, he is been doing an awfully good job there! - Local guides have shared their knowledge about fruiting and flowering times, detailed cartography of the communities, times for local phenomena as army ants swarms or flying ants eaten by raptors, among others, they been sharing detailed info on who to find target birds, specially the Orinoco-Negro White-Sand Forest EBA ones . They also have shared and compared how birds evolved and where they came from, and what they represent, for each different indigenous community. It is a beautiful work going on down there in Mitu with these local guides.

ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THESE GUYS IF YOU ARE VISITING MITU... THEY ARE THE REAL BIRD AND NATURE LOCAL GUIDES LIVING IN THE COMMUNITIES AROUND MITU AND THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO MOVE AROUND AND GET EXPEDITE PERMITS GRANTED TO VISIT EVERY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY. (There will be a web site available soon!.. meanwhile, PLEASE feel free to contact me).

They are very knowledgeable and not only local guides showing you the trail!

We want to thank al SENA and TROPENBOS staff, especially Gloria Rivera and Norma Zamora, as well as Luis Fernando Jaramillo and his family, for their hospitality. All the course participants were grand and we believe most of them are in the right way to be very good local guides.

Photos from our scouting trip in 2009 to this marvelous land are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/colombia_birding_diego/sets/72157622990026743

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• COLOMBIA Birding
• birding
• birdwatching
• birding tours
• birdwatching tours
• Colombia
• endemic
• endemics
• endemico