December 1-11, 2025 with Jesse Fagan & (and Daniel Uribe)
One of our most popular Colombia tours for good reason. This year was another birding bonanza. Almost 400 species of birds recorded in 9 days of birding! We made a few logistical changes this year, which paid off big time. We added a night in the new cabins at Finca La Florida. This allowed us substantial more birding time at their feeders, which included several varieties (fruit, nectar, and worms!). Indeed, the feeding phenomenon at many of the birding sites has gotten incredibly sophisticated. Species that years ago were nearly impossible to see well are visiting blinds, and this isn't just antpittas. It now includes Golden-bellied Chat-Tyrant, White-browed Spinetail, antbirds (Jet and Blue-lored, for example), brushfinches, fruiteaters, and even Rufous-collared Sparrow. What's next, tapaculos? Overall, it was a smooth trip and we enjoyed good weather for most of it. We had some heavy rain at Montezuma Rainforest Lodge, but that was expected. Thanks to my fun group, plus Daniel Uribe for his excellent guiding, and John, for taking care of us in the van.
Our birding highlights were many. For so many species it is a difficult task to pick the standouts. In 2025, this included Gold-ringed Tanager, Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia, Cauca Guan, White-capped Tanager and Empress Brilliant. Brown-banded Antpitta is a Colombian endemic and for that reason alone it stood out for a couple of folks. Gray-and-gold Tanager was tops for your guide. It is a such an unusual tanager, now in the genus Poecilostreptus, which only includes two species: Gray-and-gold and Azure-rumped. However, these two species are so widely separated and rare in their range you wonder how they are even related?! Speaking of rare, we need to mention Dusky Starfrontlet. One of the rarest hummingbirds that showed up literally within the last 30 seconds of us departing the mountain top. Some folks were already in the vehicles when it put in an appearance, but we scrambled out (more like tumbled) and had awesome looks. This species is Endangered and found at just two tiny spots in the Western Cordillera of Colombia. Many of you enjoyed the Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucans feeding on grapes at El Bosque while others were thinking about those close views of Red-ruffed Fruitcrow at Otun-Quimbaya. However, there was a clear favorite. It was colorful, multi-colorful. Those famous feeders at Finca La Florida treated us to multi(ple) looks at Multicolored Tanagers, another Colombian endemic, one of 15 endemic species seen on the tour.
There were other non-avian highlights, of course. Like clearwing butterflies dancing through the dappled forest light, and that delicious Colombian hot chocolate, (and) those comfortable cabins at Finca La Florida, and (and) even Happy Dogs! Thanks to everyone for traveling with Field Guides. It is a pleasure to share all these adventures together and I look forward to the next one in the near future. Safe Travels and Happy 2026.
CRITTER LIST (also see attached iNat link):
1) Colombian Red Howler (Alouatta seniculus)
2) Red-tailed Squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)
3) Andean Squirrel (Sciurus pucheranii)
4) Western Dwarf Squirrel (Microsciurus minimulus)
5) Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata)
6) Crab-eating Fox (Cerdocyon thous)
7) Tayra (Eira barbara)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/457199
You can see my iNaturalist report of non-avian taxa at this link: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/colombia-s-cloudforests-2025?tab=observations
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cce25TRIPLIST.pdf
Jesse Fagan aka Motmot (from Barranquilla, Colombia)