Female birders flocking to Colombia

Your international flights are likely to arrive in the early morning or late afternoon and you will be taken to the hotel.

The hill of Monserrate is the best known of the Eastern hills of Bogota, has an altitude of 3152 m and is located on the eastern Andes mountain range. After spend a couple hours in Monserrate, we will head to La Candelaria, the 17th locality of Bogotá, Colombia. A historic neighborhood in the city's downtown. In the afternoon we will visit the women at work in an organization called La Joya, that empower woman in Colombia who have been the victims of social problems such forced displacement.

Chicaque Natural Park is a protected area located southwest of the savannah of Bogotá at 2700 m.a.s.l. (8858 feet) and is the first private natural reserve in Colombia. We will lok for the near-endemic Golden-bellied Starfrontlet, plus some other high-elevation jewels as White-bellied Woodstar and Glowing Puffleg. We also going to walk this gorgeous Cloud-forest where we expect to find Scarlet-bellied Mountain-tanager, Black-capped, Supercilliared and Black-eared Hemispingus, Buff-breasted Mountain-tanager, Emerald Toucanet among many others.

After lunch, we will take an internal flight towards Cartagena, in the Caribbean coast.

Cartagena is a city founded as a major port in 1533, located on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region. In order to defend it against pirate attacks in the Caribbean, great castles and walls were built throughout the city. Cartagena's colonial walled city and fortress were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the way towards Isla Salamanca National Park we will stop on the Barranquilla city limits and visit some dry scrub forest where our main target will be the endemic Chestnut-winged Chachalaca. Most of the morning will be spent in the extensive wetlands and Mangroves of the Salamanca National Park east of Baranquilla. The Salamanca National Park is adjacent to the Ciénaga Grande, right in the middle of the Barranquilla- Santa Marta highway. Offers good chances for the endemic and Critically Endangered Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird, like another interesting birds as the Bicolored Conebill, Black-crested Antshrike, Golden-green and Red-rumped Woodpeckers, Dwarf Cucko,  Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Bronzed Cowbird and Striped-backed Wren.

Minca is a little village located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the birding from the dry scrub below Minca up to the shade-coffee plantations area, encompasses lots of different habitats that yield a large number of birds, including near-endemics Golden-winged Sparrow, Scaled Piculet and Red-billed Emerald, besides Keel-billed Toucan, Pale-eyed Pygmy-tyrant, Rufous-and-white Wren and Black-headed Tanager. The restaurant bird feeders attract White-vented Plumeleteer, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Steely-vented Hummingbird, White-necked Jacobin, Black-throated Mango and Whooping Motmot all of them can be photographed easily. 

In the way up, we will make one stop at one of the oldest coffee farms in Colombia founded in 1892, called Hacienda La Victoria, there you will learn about how the best coffee in the world is planted, harvested, processed and sold.

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a UNESCO- declared Biosphere Reserve, and a well-known Pleistocene refuge, is an isolated mountain, set apart from the Andes. Reaching an altitude of 5775 meters (18942 feet) above sea level, the Sierra Nevada is the world´s highest costal peak that holds the highest degree of endemism in the world per area unity. Now days, there are about 24 Santa Marta endemic birds recognized, species you cannot see anywhere else on earth.

We will leave very early morning and spend much of the day at the highest elevations that hold most of the endemic bird species of Sierra Nevada, the critically endangered Santa Marta Parakeet, Yellow-crowned Whitestart, Santa Marta Warbler, Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant, Santa-marta (Black-cheeked) Mountain-tanager, Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Rusty-headed Spinetail, Santa Marta Antpitta and a likely to be split race of Rufous Antpitta can be found at San Lorenzo Ridge. Heading back to the lodge one can find White-tailed Starfrontlet and Streak-capped Spinetail. Around the lodge are Colombian Brushfinch, Santa Marta Brush-Finch and lots of endemic subspecies including Cinnamon Flycatcher, Black-hooded Thrush, Blue-capped Tanager, and Black-throated Tody-Tyrant.

We´ll try as much as possible to clean up all the Sierra Nevada specialties, so in day 6 we may either go back to San Lorenzo Ridge or to lower elevation towards Minca if we missed any target the days before.

In the late afternoon we will descend to a Hotel on the coast where we may squeeze in a little birding before dusk.

In between the Camarones village and the Tapias River is Los Flamencos Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, western edge of the Guajira desert.The whole area is occupied by the Wayuu people, a matriarchal community where the childrens inherit mother´s names and not men´s. Here, women are the ones who, since ancient times, have taken control of their culture.

The surrounding xerophytic scrub habitat is the natural habitat of very attractive regional specialties as the amazing Vermillion Cardinal, Orinocan Saltator, Buffy Hummingbird, Russet-throated Puffbird, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Chestnut Piculet, Slender-billed Inezia, White-whiskered Spinetail, Pileated Finch, Tocuyo Sparrow and the Rufous-vented Chachalaca. Also, Black-crested Antshrike, Crested Bobwhite, White-fringed Antwren, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, Blue-crowned Parakeet, Brown-throated Parakeet and Green-rumped Parrotlet are likely to be seen.

The Wayuus or guajiros, are aborigines from the peninsula of La Guajira, on the Caribbean Sea, inhabiting territories of Colombia and Venezuela. Although the contact with the European conquerors dates from the 16th century, the wayús were not conquered until the independence of Colombia and Venezuela. This was influenced both by indigenous resistance and by the harsh environmental conditions of the desert, which served as a refuge for the Wayús. The different daily activities, festivities, and rituals widely imply the use of traditional music. The work of grazing is accompanied by the music produced by flutes or canutillas, whistles made of elements of the environment such as dried lemon are used in livestock activities. The indigenous yocna or yonna dance is used in celebrations related to the development of women and involves steps where she advances in defiance of the man, who recoils trying not to fall. You can enjoy watching them doing these traditional dances the last day before taking a flight back to Bogotá.

Our tours include:  Accommodation, meals, ground transportation, and domestic flight if required.