Birding in the Lowlands of Colombia
Location: Colombia
Duration: 15 days / 14 nights
Start / End: Bogota / Bogota
Activities: bird watch the entire trip in biodiverse locations of Colombia; visit the lowlands of Magdalena Valley, the perfect habitat to over 500 species; visit Santa Marta Mountains, one of the endemic hotspots of the world; discover other breathtaking ecosystems in Guajira peninsula, where you will spot birds limited to its dry forests
Highlights: Florida Park, Enchanted Garden (Hummingbird house), Laguna del Hato, Rio Claro Reserve, San Vicente, Bushbird Reserve, Cesar Savannahs, Flamencos National Park, Salamanca National Park, San Lorenzo Ridge, Dorado Reserve, Minca
Price: Contact us for pricing
Included: private vans or 4×4 with A/A, 4×4 transfers in Santa Marta Mountains and Cerulean Warbler Reserve, all meals with open menu in restaurants with one drink, 2 snacks daily (water, fruit, etc.), hotels and eco-lodges as per itinerary, entrance fees in parks and reserves, professional guides, drivers, cooks
Not Included: International flights, travel insurance, optional meals/snacks, personal expenses, tips
With the biggest biodiversity of bird species in the world, Colombia has over 1,900 species, including over 90 endemic and 100 near-endemics! This tour will take you to a bird banquet in different places in Colombia, particularly Magdalena and Santa Marta, favorite spots for bird lovers all over the world.
Arrival at Bogota International Airport.
Eastern Andes, Western Slope
Morning: Visit to La Florida Park of the wetland ecosystems, where it’s possible to see birds of the savanna highlands. (Endemic birds are: Bogota rail, Apolinar marsh Wren, silvery throated spinetail, hummingbird, and others.)
Visit to the Jardin Encantado hummingbird house in San Francisco, where you can see 16 different species of hummingbirds.
Afternoon: Transfer to Mariquita Village to rest.
Magdalena Valley
Morning: Visit to the dry forest and fields of Laguna del Hato, where you will find many birds. (Birds to see: velvet-fronted euphonia, apical flycatcher, and scrub greenlet.)
Afternoon: Transfer to Rio Claro, a natural reserve where we will rest nearby the clear river.
Magdalena Valley
Bird-searching as the Rio Claro Natural Reserve. Enjoy the humid tropical forest and biodiversity of this reserve. (Birds of interest: white-mantled barbet, sooty-ant tanager, Colombia chachalaca, beautiful woodpeacker, Magdalena antbird, Antioquia bristle-tyrant, saffron-headed parrot, moustached brush-finch, and more)
Eastern Andes
Morning: birding in the Rio Claro Natural Reserve.
Afternoon: Transfer to San Vicente de Chucuri, a village in Eastern Andes close to the Yarigues National Park and Cerulean Warbler Reserve. While on the road, we will make some stops to see birds in the lowland wetlands of Magdalena Valley. (Notable birds: northern screamer, bare-faced ibis, white-collared hawk, yellowcrowned, orange-winged and blue-headed parrot, little blue, capped, cocoi and striated heron, neotropical cormorant, black-bellied and white-faced whistling duck, and more.)
Overnight in a nice colonial hotel in the village.
Eastern Andes
Morning: Transfer to the Yarigues National Natural Park via 4×4. Walk (around 1 hour) in the forests searching for birds along the “Lengerke Path” built 130 years ago. (Near endemic birds: gorgeted wood quail black inca, Parker’s antbird, Magdalena tapaculo, Colombia mountain grackle, doublebanded greytail, and others.)
Aternoon: Return to San Vicente de Chucuri to rest.
Eastern Andes
Morning: More bird searching in the coffee fields of San Vicente de Chucuri and along the road to “La Germania” where we will look for birds in the canopy trees and grasslands. (Important birds to note: chestnutbellied hummingbird, Niceforo’s wren, turquoise dacnis, red-billed emerald, bar-crested antshirke, yellow-browed shirke-vireo, and more.)
Afternoon: Transfer to Ocaña City to rest in a nice hotel close to the main city park.
Eastern Andes
Morning: Bird searching in the bamboo forest and secondary forest of Bushbird Reserve. Walk along different paths and roads around the reserve.
Afternoon: Break. Return to the reserve for more bird searching in the dry forest.
(Notable birds: recurved-billed bushbird, grey-throated warbler, striped-breasted spinetail, and others.)
Return to Ocaña City to rest.
Morning: Long travel to Riohacha City with stops along the road to see fantastic birds. (Interesting birds: green ibis, buff-necked ibis, Jabiru, double-banded thick-knee, black-collared hawk, and many more.)
Afternoon: Arrival in Riohacha City in Guajira Peninsula to rest.
Guajira Peninsula
Morning: Bird searching in the Los Flamencos National Park.
Afternoon: Transfer to Santa Marta City. Visit to the Vale location to search for endemic birds (like the chestnut-winged chacalaca) and near endemic birds (like the chestnut piculat, white-whiskered spinetail, slender-billed tyrannulet, and tocuyo sparrow).
Transfer to Santa Marta City to rest in the hotel.
Carribean Mangroves
Morning: Early bird watching in Salamanca National Park, where we will focus on very important birds of mangrove ecosystems, and along Km 4, a road with wetlands around and where we can see aquatic birds and those typical of dry and secondary forest. (Notable birds: sapphire-bellied hummingbird, sapphire-throated hummingbird, bicoloured conebill, pied puffbird, golden-green woodpecker, and many more.)
Afternoon: Transfer to Santa Marta Mountains.
Sierra Nevada’s High & Medium Elevations
Birding in San Lorenzo Ridge and the medium areas of El Dorado Natural Reserve, where you can spot many endemics of this hotspot area. (Important birds: Santa Marta parakeet, Santa Marta screech-owl, white-tailed starfrontlet, Santa Marta woodstar, rusty-headed spinetail, Santa Marta antpitta, brown-rumped tapaculo, Santa Marta bush-tyrant, yellow-crowned whitestar, white-lored warbler, Santa Marta warbler, Santa Marta (black-cheeked) mountain-tanager, black-backed thornbill, Colombian Nevada brush-finch, bang´s wood-wren, blackfronted wood-quail, white-tipped quetzal, and others.
Lowlands of Sierra Nevada
Morning: Birding in Minca and its beautiful humid tropical forest. (Notable birds: Santa Marta blossomcrown, Santa Marta foliagegleaner, Santa Marta tapaculo, Santa Marta antbird, Santa Marta sabrewing, Santa Marta wood-wren, Santa Marta brush-finch, coppery emerald, streakcapped spinetail, and many more.)
Afternoon: Flight to Bogota.
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