February 21-March 1, 2026 with Dan Lane & Manuela Zapata
Northern Colombia is quite a hodgepodge of habitats that results in some pretty impressive avifaunal variety. Our tour started in the bustling port city of Barranquilla, which grew from being the crossroads of goods coming down the Magdalena river from the interior of Colombia to be exported to North America, Europe, and beyond. Also, imports arriving from these regions arrived here to be carried to the interior cities of Bogota, Cali, Medellin, and others. The Magdalena also provides a constant source of water for an otherwise fairly arid region, resulting in extensive fertile marshes near its mouth and mangrove swamps thrive along the immediate coast nearby. We certainly took advantage of these features our first couple of days. We then continued east, across the sand spit separating the Caribbean Sea from the Laguna Grande de Santa Marta, a huge brackish lagoon barely visible through the mangrove canopy. After passing the city of Santa Marta, we entered the coastal foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a region that is presently incorporated by Tayrona National Park, the name of which commemorates the local tribes of the Tayrona, who still control much of the region. We passed farther east along the coast to the arid Guajira peninsula, a thumb shared by Colombia and Venezuela that sticks out into the Caribbean yet appears more like the thorn-scrub desert of southern Arizona! After a day spent in this unique environment, we returned to the Santa Marta range and headed upslope into the humid forests and coffee fincas near the town of Minca and then higher still into the El Dorado reserve, cloaked in luxurious cloud forest. Here, we spent several days exploring different elevations before returning to Barranquilla.
These various habitats and land features in a tropical setting all contributed to our success in encountering over 300 species of birds! Just around Barranquilla, our visit to the Isla Salamanca area, expertly guided by Omar, resulted in a morning of 100+ species! These included things such as a wintering Belted Kingfisher, the flashy Golden-green Woodpecker, the local subspecies of Bronzed Cowbird, the range-restricted Northern Screamer and Dwarf Cuckoo, and the exceptionally poorly known Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird. Around Camarones at the base of the Guajira peninsula, we had a very different set of species, including the stunning Vermilion Cardinal, the roadrunner-like Double-banded Thick-knee, the feeders run by a local couple and the boat trip on the shallow estuary to see the American Flamingos, Scarlet Ibis, and other waders, and of course the Mangrove Rails! Around Minca, in the humid foothills, we enjoyed a visit to a set of feeders operated by a local family (again) that provided stunning views of Blue Ground-Dove, Golden-winged Sparrow, Whooping Motmot, and more!
Higher up, a visit to the Mountain House resulted in a nice smattering of tanagers, hummingbirds (including the endemic Santa Marta Blossomcrown and the stunning Lazuline Sabrewing) and the constant Flower-piercer and Tennessee Warbler show. At our lodging at the Koguihabs of El Dorado, amid the stunning views, another set of feeders provided in-our-face views of Crowned Woodnymphs and violetears, the endemic (sub?)species of Blue-naped Chlorophonia, and crowds of Band-tailed Guans. Even on the San Lorenzo ridge, feeders there allowed us easy views of the White-tailed Starfrontlet, Mountain Velvetbreast, and even the Santa Marta Antpitta! Our return visit to the San Lorenzo ridge was Manuela’s day to shine, as she expertly picked out most of the remaining targets! Band-tailed Seedeater? Check. Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant? Yup. Santa Marta Parakeet?? Wait, where’s Manuela? Oh, over there waving her arms to come over: she somehow located a small group of snoozing parakeets! Finally, the recently-split Carriker’s Mountain-Tanager finally came in at the parking area, giving us stunning views. It was a magical day, and we were all pleased at its end! In the cloudforest nearer to our digs, we had a couple of walks on the road that also resulted in some great views of targets: White-tipped Quetzal (which was nesting near the lower buildings of El Dorado), an amazingly extroverted Barred Forest-Falcon that was a lifer for many, and even North American migrants such as Mourning and Blackburnian warblers, the latter bringing tears to Carol’s eyes after 40 years of absence! Overall, it was a successful visit and we will keep these lovely memories for a long, long time!
So now it’s time to “flip the tortilla (or arepa?)” and say that the group was also one of the memorable aspects of the tour: a fun bunch of folks who enjoyed one another’s company, rolled with any minor inconveniences we experienced, and drank up the birding, food, culture, and scenery we experienced over the course of the tour! Manuela and I sincerely thank you for joining us for this visit to one of the great endemic landmarks on planet Earth. We would love to bird with you all again! Until then, keep the binoculars close at hand and a sense of adventure in your hearts!
Mammals:
Gray-legged Night Monkey (Aotus griseimembra)
Colombian Red Howler (Alouatta seniculus)
Red-tailed Squirrel (Sciurus granatensis)
Crab-eating Fox (Cerdocyon thous)
Northern Neotropical River Otter (Lontra annectens)
Herps of note:
Green Iguana (Iguana iguana)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/484449
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cms26bTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Dan (the Barbet)