First, I just went for a walk and my mountain is completely cloud covered. It was nearly impossible to see color or anything more really than silouette at fifty feet. Thatīs exactly the condition the birds like here and the trees were full of them. There are of course un-cloudy days from time to time in Cloud Forest and on those days thereīs typically not a single bird to be seen or heard.

Second, except for some experts most bird watchers in the US learn the birds by their common names in the guides. In Colombia all bird watchers learn the birds by their scientific names. I guess this simplifies confusion when dealing with guides some of which are in English and some in Spanish. If I want to keep up with the conversation on group outings Iīve got my work cut out for me!

That requires a whole other training. How are you coming with that? Heck up here we don't even use full common names for a lot of the birds. Magnolia Warblers are Maggies, Black-throated Blues just Blues and Black-throated Green are Greens, male Harriers are gray ghosts or just ghosts.

Yes! Or LBB...