Colombia

Colombia

Friday 24 August to Thursday 13 September 2012

with Trevor Ellery and David Fisher as leaders.

Single room supplement: £310

Please click here for details and an explanation of the price breakdown

Maximum group size: 8 with 2 leaders.

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'Colombia was a joy to visit - the birds and landscapes were spectacular, the people friendly, the ProAves reserves and accommodation great! I had no safety concerns at all and, as always, David's leadership and expertise were unbeatable. I would heartily recommend the Sunbird Colombia tour to anyone wanting to explore this beautiful country!' P. Yates, 2010.

Colombia’s 440,000 square miles are the richest area for birds on the planet with some 1,870 species having been recorded, among them no fewer than 73 endemics. Although our adventure will provide ample opportunity to observe a large number of common species, this tour concentrates on visiting reserves that protect the last remaining habitats of some of the most range-restricted, and in some cases, the most endangered birds in the world.

Colombia is in many ways the most European of all the South American countries, but we’ll be visiting parts of the country that are still quite wild, making some days of this tour rugged. There are long drives between some of our destinations, and we’ll be taking some of our meals in the field. This is a rigorous trip, but those willing to take on the challenge will find the rewards great.

All the areas we visit on this tour are safe, and have been thoroughly scouted in collaboration with scientists from the Colombian NGO ProAves.

Our co-leader, Trevor Ellery is an experienced tropical birding guide, and has lived in Colombia since 2008. The group will also be accompanied by a professional driver. The openness and friendliness of the Colombians we’ll meet, combined with the endemic birds we’ll see, make this a can’t-miss tour for any world birder with a sense of adventure and the eagerness to truly experience areas that very few have ever visited.

Day 1: The tour begins in London with a flight to Bogotá. We’ll transfer to our hotel where we’ll spend two nights. Night in Bogotá.

Day 2: We’ll head out early today for a two-hour drive to Chingaza National Park, where we’ll look for the endemic Brown-breasted Parakeet, near endemic Mattoral Tapaculo and Rufous-browed Conebill, and a host of high elevation and temperate forest species including Andean Guan, Andean Pygmy Owl, Bronze-tailed Thornbill, White-browed Spinetail, White-chinned Thistletail, and Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager. Night in Bogotá.

Day 3: After an early breakfast, we’ll spend a few hours in La Florida Park, searching for three endemics - Bogotá Rail, Apolinar’s Marsh-Wren and Silvery-throated Spinetail. Other specialities could include Spot-flanked Gallinule and Subtropical Doradito. We’ll then drive to La Victoria. We will spend the afternoon birding the forest above the town where we hope to pick up several endemics including Sooty Ant-Tanager, Beautiful Woodpecker, White-mantled Barbet and Colombian Chachalaca. The site is very birdy and we are sure to encounter a host of commoner species. Manakins are especially well represented with the possibility of White-bearded, White-bibbed, Striped and Golden-headed. We will also keep an eye out for the endemic White-footed Taramin, a primate which is being intensively studied at this site. Night in La Victoria.

Day 4: We’ll spend the morning in the forest at La Victoria looking for one more endemic, the enigmatic Antioquia Bristle-Tyrant. Other specialities could include Tody Motmot and Dull-mantled Antbird. We’ll bird until late morning and then drop down in to the hot Magdalena valley stopping for lunch on the way. We will spend the afternoon birding dry forest near Laguna del Hato where we hope to see the endemic Velvet-fronted Euphonia, both Jet and White-bellied Antbirds, Barred Puffbird, Rufous-tailed Jacamar and possibly Crested Bobwhite. We’ll spend the night in a nearby hotel.

Day 5: We’ll drive to the fragmented remnant forest above Libano. Once more we will be looking for several endemics most especially Yellow-headed Brush-finch, Tolima Dove and the gaudy Crested Ant-Tanager. Other specialities may include Bar-crested Antshrike, Highland Motmot, Moustached Puffbird, Black-headed Brush-finch and possibly Sharp-tailed Streamcreeper. We’ll stay until late afternoon before climbing over the central cordillera and dropping down to the city of Manizales. We may make one or two birding stops along the roadside. We will stay in a country hotel just outside the city.

Day 6: Today we’ll visit Rio Blanco for a long but bird-filled day. We’ll arrive early and bird around the lodge where we will look out for such species as Black-billed Mountain Toucan, Sickle-winged Guan, Dusky Piha and Black-collared Jay. About an hour after dawn we’ll be led to a special antpitta feeding station where we hope to enjoy close up views of the endemic Brown-banded Antpitta and the impressive Chestnut-crowned Antpitta. We will spend much of the remainder of the day exploring the excellent network of trails. The mixed flocks at this site are often large and varied and we will hope to connect with several species of hemispingus, Streaked Tuftedcheek, Pearled Treerunner and many tanagers. This site is also rich in skulkers and we will be looking for several tapaculos, the possibility of an extra antpitta or two and the elusive Masked Saltator. We’ll take lunch at the lodge and enjoy the spectacular hummingbird show at the feeders. We will then continue birding at the reserve all afternoon. We’ll have dinner here too and then do a spot of owling with targets including Rufous-banded and White-throated Screech-Owls. We’ll then drop back down to Manizales for the night.

Day 7: We’ll climb back out of the city to the high elevation Nevado del Ruiz National Park. This will be our second chance to bird the paramo but as we are on a different cordillera we’ll hope for a slightly different mix of species. Here we may see the endemic and very localised Rufous-fronted Parakeet. Flowering bushes attract a number of colourful hummingbirds including Viridian Metaltail, Golden-breasted Puffleg and Shining Sunbeam. On occasion, the nomadic Black-thighed Puffleg can be present in some numbers, but at other times is absent. In the forest patches we will look for Paramo Tapaculo, White-banded Tyrannulet, Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager, and Black-backed Bush-Tanager. Tawny Antpittas are often very tame here and we will also search for the dazzling Bearded Helmetcrest. After lunch we’ll drive to Pereira and our lodge at Otun Quimbaya, near La Suiza, where we may have a little time for birding the garden. Night at Quimbaya Otun Ecological Reserve.

Day 8: We'll have the entire morning to look for birds around Quimbaya Otun, following a beautiful track through pristine forest at 6,500 feet. The endemic Cauca Guan is common here, and we also have a chance of seeing the endemic Chestnut Wood-Quail and the elusive Wattled Guan. We'll be on the lookout for the endemic Greyish Piculet and Multicolored Tanager, as well as exciting mixed feeding flocks. Another attraction of this site is Red-ruffed Fruitcrow and we hope to obtain great views of this large and impressive Cotinga. In the afternoon we’ll drive to the pretty colonial town of Jardin.

Day 9: We’ll make an early start and aim to visit the Yellow-eared Parrot roosting area at dawn. We will then spend the rest of the day birding down the road to Jardin looking for such specialities as Tanager Finch, Golden-headed Tanager and Chestnut-crested Cotinga. If we were unable to locate the parrots in the morning we have a second chance to visit the roost at dusk, otherwise we will return to the town in the late afternoon where we may squeeze in a visit to an Adean Cock-of-the-Rock lek just ten minutes from our hotel. Night in Jardin.

Day 10: If we were unable to visit the cock-of-the-rock lek on the previous day we have a second opportunity this morning. We will also bird the remnant forest patches around the town where we should find a host of commoner species and may locate the endemic Red-bellied Grackle. We will leave after lunch for the scenic drive to the wet western slopes of the Andes in the Choco. En route we will have another chance for Greyish Piculet at a roadside stop. This area has only opened up to birders in the last few years and many significant range extensions are still being discovered. Night at Las Tangaras Lodge.

Day 11: We will bird down a gently sloping traffic-free road through spectacular cloud forest. We’ll be searching for mixed flocks that can be large and exciting. We should locate a key endemic the Black-and-gold Tanager which seems quite common at this site, quite quickly. The flocks are often stuffed full of specialties and we will be looking for Pacific Tufted-cheek, Fulvous-dotted Treerunner, Glistening-green and Purplish-mantled Tanagers, Toucan Barbet and both Chestnut-breasted and Yellow-collared Chlorophonias. We may make occasional sorties into the understorey where we hope to find Yellow-breasted Antpitta, Nariño Tapaculo, Olive Finch, Tricoloured Brush-finch and Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant. On what will be a very full day we also hope to squeeze in a visit to the reserve’s hummingbird feeders hoping for Violet-tailed Sylph, Velvet-Purple Coronet, Tawny-bellied Hermit and White-tailed Hillstar. Night at Las Tangaras Lodge.

Day 12: On our second morning we’ll take a hike up to the ridgetop. It is mostly fairly gentle but with a short but steep final section. Here we will be searching for our second endemic Bangsia tanager the stunning Gold-ringed. We will also be trying for some of the more secretive or difficult to find forest denizens including Black Solitaire, Choco Vireo, Beautiful Jay, Bicolored Antvireo, the yet to be formally described Alto Pisones Tapaculo and we have a slim chance of Cloud-forest Pygmy Owl. Our time is limited and we will have to leave late morning for the long drive to the Chestnut-capped Piha reserve, a species only discovered in the 1990’s. We hope to arrive around dusk.

Days 13-14: The Piha reserve has many special birds but we will have to hike up a narrow trail into the forest to see most of them. We will walk slowly and be birding all the way up and will take a packed lunch for a full day. Skulkers can include the endemic Stiles’s Tapaculo, Chestnut-crowned Gnateater, and Streak-capped Treehunter. We will be scanning the canopy for the often unobtrusive Chestnut-capped Piha and will be keeping an ear out for noisy groups of Red-bellied Grackles. We hope to come across one or two of the large mixed-species flocks that roam through the forest and which can hold Multicolored Tanager, Brown-billed Scythebill and Rufous-browed Tyrannulet. We will return to the lodge in the late afternoon. Our second day at the Piha reserve will largely be governed by what we saw on our first day. We have time for a second visit to the forest and can also bird along the road. We will be keeping an eye out for further special birds including Moustached Puffbird, White-capped Manakin and Chestnut-Woodquail. We will also have time to enjoy commoner species at the lodge’s fruit and hummingbird feeders and in the evening will try for night birds including Lyre-tailed and White-tailed Nightjars and the possibility of Tropical and Cinnamon Screech-Owls, and Mottled and Stygian Owls.

Day 15: After some final early morning birding around the lodge, we will drive back to to Medellín and catch a late afternoon flight to Barranquilla.

Day 16: Taking our breakfast in the field, we’ll spend the morning around Salamanca, looking for Chestnut-winged Chachalaca and Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird. Other birds here may include Russet-throated Puffbird, Chestnut Piculet, Panama Flycatcher, and Bicolored Conebill, as well as many herons, waders, and other coastal species. After lunch we’ll begin our ascent to El Dorado in the spectacular Santa Marta mountains and will be looking for our first endemics including Santa Marta Tapaculo and Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner. We’ll arrive at the El Dorado Lodge at dusk, a comfortable accommodation with a bird-filled garden where many endemics can be seen directly from the balcony. Night at El Dorado Lodge.

Days 17-18: We’ll devote two entire days to different elevations on the San Lorenzo Ridge. On one of the days we’ll take our four-wheel-drive jeeps high up in search of endemics such as Santa Marta Parakeet, the rare Black-backed Thorntail, Santa Marta Woodstar, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Rusty-headed and Streak-capped Spinetails, Santa Marta Antpitta, Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant, Santa Marta and White-lored Warblers, Yellow-crowned Whitestart, Santa Marta Mountain Tanager, Santa Marta Brush Finch, and Santa Marta Seedeater. Other birds possible here include Black-fronted Wood-Quail, Lined Quail-Dove, White-rumped Hawk, White-tipped Quetzal, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, and Grey-throated Warbler. The area also has a still undescribed species of Megascops owl. Nights at El Dorado Lodge.

Day 19: We will leave the lodge early and bird the coffee plantations above Minca. Here we will be looking for Rosy-thrush Tanager, Golden-winged Manakin, Scaled Piculet and both Rufous-breasted and Rufous-and-white Wrens. We should encounter a good variety of commoner species and will try a site for the handsome Black-backed Antshrike. As the day heats up we’ll head east of Santa Marta to Riohacha to bird desert habitats and the Los Flamencos Reserve, where specialities include Green-rumped Parrotlet, Buffy Hummingbird, Black-backed Antshrike, White-whiskered Spinetail, Slender-billed Inezia, Vermilion Cardinal, Orinocan Saltator, Pileated Finch, and Tocuyo Sparrow. In the evening we will visit coastal lagoons for a host of waders, gulls, terns and waterbirds and often the odd surprise. We hope to end the day watching Lesser Nighthawks patrolling over the desert scrub. Night in Riohacha.

Day 20: We’ll spend the morning at Los Flamencos, searching for any species we may have missed the day before. In the late morning we will return to the hotel to shower and change before catching a lunchtime flight from Riohacha to Bogota to connect with our overnight flight back to London, arriving on Day 21.

Note: Single rooms are not available at some of the lodges.

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