Black-headed Lapwing

Long tailed and rather plain parakeet endemic to Colombia’s Santa Marta Mountains. The thick, white eye ring and red blotches on face and breast are its best features. Blue and red in wings is mostly concealed with the bird is perched. Typically encountered in small flocks that fly from tree to tree in the cloud forest, screeching loudly. Regularly seen along the San Lorenzo Ridge in El Dorado Nature Reserve, where nest boxes have been placed to improve its breeding success. Also nests and roosts in dead palm trees.

Widespread and often numerous; found at shallow lakes and lagoons from the high Andes to Patagonian steppe and even in coastal waters. Adult is distinctive: pale pink with a salmon-pink “bustle” and grayish legs with red feet and “knees.” Immature often obviously smaller than adult, but has longer bill “hook” than the smaller and shorter-legged James’s Flamingo. Chilean Flamingo lacks the clean-cut black triangle on closed wings seen on Andean Flamingo. Far-carrying calls can suggest honking of geese.

Handsome and distinctive dabbling duck of the high Andes. Note the black cap, bright pale creamy cheeks, and powder-blue bill. Like most South American dabbling ducks (but unlike most Northern Hemisphere species), sexes look similar year-round, although male on average is brighter and more boldly patterned. Often fairly common on bogs, lakes, and other wetlands, especially with reeds and other emergent vegetation. The smaller and duller Silver Teal occurs in lowlands, not the high Andes.