LAGUNA DE SONSO

The Sonso Lagoon, an old oxbow of the Cauca River, is one of the only remaining wetlands in the Cauca Valley. Within this 600 hectare Reserve, 162 bird species have been recorded.

The wetland is teeming with aquatic birds, so we will search the waters for Wattled Jacana, Northern Crested Caracara, Little Blue, Roseate Spoonbill, Cocoi and Striated Herons, Snowy Egret, Bare-faced and Glossy Ibises, Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Cinnamon Teal, Osprey, Snail Kite, Black-necked Stilt, Neotropic Cormorant, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted and Least Sandpipers and our own Blue-winged Teal. Rare species we might come across include Pinnated Bittern, the endemic Apical Flycatcher and Grayish Piculet, Ruby Topaz, Pied Water Tyrant and Horned Screamer.

Along riparian areas it is possible we see Southern Lapwing, Greater Ani, Ringed Kingfisher, Northern-Crested and Yellow-headed Caracara, Common Nighthawk, Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Southern Beardless and Mouse-coloured Tyrannulets, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-olive Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Grey and Ruddy-breasted Seedeater, Blue-black Grassquit, Cinereous Becard and countless Spectacled Parrotlet and Eared Dove. In nearby oxbows (called madres viejas in Colombia) we will also be able to observe the Jet Antbird, Orange-crowned Euphonia, Slaty-capped Flycatcher and Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher.

Laguna De Sonso bird list (Download PDF)

Photo Credits: C Calonje