Traveling-with-TLC

1/21/25 to 1/27/25

Jardin (pronounce HardEEN) is the quintessential small Colombian colonial town. We were immersed into Colombian life and overwhelmed by the Birdwatching! Daniel drove us from Medellin to Jardin and then spent a day with us before he returned home and we stay a few days on our own doing tourist things. It was a wonder! I ran out of superlatives and frankly got a little bit dazzled. So much so that I lost track of which fabulous day we did which event. This is a bit of a survey

On the way down to Jardin, we stopped to see birds in a Tropical Dry Forest. We did see some great birds. I was impressed by this little Finca we passed. About 10 minutes later we found ourselves in the middle of a cattle drive!

A famous mountain half between Medellin and Jardin is shaped like a pyramid:

We stopped for another hearty Colombian lunch at a traditional open air restaurant and had beef, pork, chicken potatoes, and arepas (why?). Luckily we split the meal! Just outside of town Daniel took us to a bridge across the river flowing out of Jardin. We met the little old man who lives next to the bridge. He looks forward to seeing Daniel and his clients. Here we saw the torrent tyrant (a tiny little guy who always hangs out near fast water) – thats a great name for the bird. We also saw a really yellow oriole – guess what? it’s called a Yellow Oriole. Another decent name. Then we saw a all black Tanager with a white line on it’s wing. The female is brown. In English, the bird is called the White-lined Tanager. In Spanish it’s called “Bad Marriage”. Isn’t that a more original name?