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Our view from San Lorenzo Ridge looking out at the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Fantastic morning up high. Photo by guide Jesse Fagan.

It can be hard to capture in words and photos the magnitude of this tour. It is certainly one of the longer tours you may take at 16 days and it probably covers a lot more ground than most tours; the Magdalena River is 949 miles long and we transect most of the river drainage! And the days are long, too. Typically, up at 4:30 am and in bed after owling, where do we find time to eat?! However, the most impressive thing by far with respect to this tour is the birds. There are not many tours that cross the 500+ species mark. Heck, there are countries with far fewer species! So, that explains it. Colombia is big, has the most species of birds in the world, and we kicked some serious butt this year trying to see many of them (551 taxa!) including 30+ country endemics.

We started off on the high Bogota plain (or valley) settled in at 8,660 feet. The plain used to be a huge system of freshwater marshes, but it is now mostly drained for a city of 10 million people, with just a few patches of tall cattail grasses and wetlands remaining for the endemic Bogota Rail and Apolinar's Wren. Chingaza NP sits even higher above Bogota and it was here the tour began in the subtropical montane forest and paramo grassland. It was a fun morning under puffy white clouds and blue skies, later followed up by a visit to Observatorio de Colibris for fantastic looks at Blue-throated Starfrontlet, two species of trainbearer, and Sword-billed Hummingbird. Early the next morning we stopped at La Florida marsh for in-the-open views of the endemic rail, then headed down into the foothills with a visit to Jardin Encantado and Tabacal (above the town of La Vega). Both sites were excellent for birding and included Gorgeted Woodstar and White-bellied Antbird, among many others. We descended down the west slope of the Eastern Cordillera, crossed the Magdalena Valley, and ended the day at the coffee producing town of Libano on the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera. Libano was an important site for at least two endemic birds (Yellow-headed Brushfinch and Crested Ant-Tanager) and later a stop at La Victoria yielded White-mantled Barbet and Beautiful Woodpecker!

We continued to skirt the eastern foothills of the Central Cordillera with a couple days at Rio Claro. For some, this was a highlight because of our night visit to the Oilbird cave. We listened to them screaming before they exited just after dusk, fluttering around like bats in our lights, and streaming off into the nights like vegetarian vampires. We also had excellent looks at Antioquia Bristle-Tyrant, a very rare and local flycatcher, only formally described in 1988. After Rio Claro, we crossed the Magdalena Valley, again returning to the foothills of the Eastern Cordillera with nights at Reinita Cielo Azul ProAves Reserve and at the bustling town of Ocana, which sits below the Recurve-billed Bushbird Reserve. Each site was exciting in its own way. We got to ride horses, hike a 150 year-old mossy cobblestone pathway (the Lengerke Trail), and visit the capilla at Ocana with a piece of wood that supposedly looks like an image of the Virgin Mary, or the face of Chewbacca. In between, we had fantastic birds like Black Inca, Magdalena Tapaculo, Parker's Antbird, Niceforo's Wren, Cerulean Warbler (on its wintering grounds!), and, yes, awesome looks at the real prize, Recurve-billed Bushbird. We even got to watch the bushbird doing its distinctive feeding against the bamboo stalk.

So, after "stitching" up nicely the Magdalena Valley, we made our way to the hot and steamy north coast. We found the endemic Chestnut-winged Chachalacas very near our beachside hotel; could we have seen them from the pool? We should have tried. We birded the mangrove forests at Salamanca, then headed east for a visit to Los Flamencos NP near Riohacha. The dry forest in this area is home to a host of specialties like Vermilion Cardinal, Buffy Hummingbird, and Chestnut Piculet. Well, we saw all those very well and a bunch more. After having enough fun and sun on the coast, we drove up to Minca in the foothills of the Santa Marta Mountains for a night, then slowly (very slowly) up to the wonderful ProAves lodge, El Dorado. Birding was outright intense and fun here. Lots of new things to see, lots of endemics (we got most), and memorable sunsets.

I always like to ask the group for a top favorite or three. It is ALWAYS tough to choose from a trip as diverse and a species list so big. But there was some consensus, including Vermilion Cardinal, Chestnut Piculet, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, and Oilbird. However, tops among several folks was the Recurve-billed Bushbird, like a good Boy Scout opening up the bamboo with his can opener-shaped bill. The habitat where it is found with lush stands of tall native bamboo, the morning light entering through small slits creating long cascading shadows, makes the experience even more impressive. Thanks again for a great trip. To our local ground operators, lodge staff, drivers, our local guide, Diego Cueva, Marcelo, and Colombia, thank you very much.

All the best for a fun 2019,

Jesse aka Motmot (from Lima, Peru)

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

The trip started off very well with a Bronze-tailed Thornbill at Chingaza NP. This appears to be a young male. Photo by guide Jesse Fagan.

Another really good hummingbird seen above Bogota was the Coppery-bellied Puffleg. Photo by guide Jesse Fagan.

Here is our group in action! Jesse is probably putting something like Spot-breasted Woodpecker in the scope. Nice photo by participant Diane Drobka.

The infamous Lengerke Trail! The birding was pretty good, but slow going up and down on this slippery trail. Photo by participant Diane Drobka.

The gigantic Strong-billed Woodcreeper is always a treat to see. Great photo by participant Lynn Chapman.

We were all smiles coming down the mountain at the bushbird reserve having just seen amazing views of this rare species. Great photo by participant Diane Drobka.

Check out this photo by Diane Drobka of the awesome forest at Rio Claro!

Finally on the north coast and here birding above the town of Minca on our way up to El Dorado Lodge. Photo by participant Diane Drobka.

Black-fronted Wood-Quail snuck in one afternoon at the El Dorado feeders. We managed to get everyone up from their afternoon siesta to see them. Photo by participant Lynn Chapmann.

This Santa Marta Screech-Owl put on a show for us in the early morning just before dawn on San Lorenzo Ridge. It was a fine way to start an awesome day! Thanks to Sue Wright for the photo.

From Marcelo, Diego, and I, thanks for a really fun and bird crazy trip. We hope to see you again soon. Thanks again to Diane Drobka for the photo.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Totals for the tour: 551 bird taxa and 10 mammal taxa