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| The endemic Gold-ringed Tanager, Montezuma Cloud Forest, Colombia |
When friend Heather, whom I met on a trip with birding friend, Susan, whom I met on a guided Flammulated Owl walk (see how that works?), called and asked me if I wanted to go to Colombia, I didn’t hesitate.
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| Me, Guide Alejandro and Heather |
I knew that, like Costa Rica (where I went on a birding trip in 2022) and Ecuador (where I birded as much as I could on a non-birding trip in 2023), Colombia is a birding mecca.
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| Endemic Colombian Chachalaca, La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves |
I also knew that Colombia had a reputation for violence fueled by drug cartels and guerrilla warfare. But, I had heard that much of that was a thing of the past.
Research showed me that Colombia is generally safe, although the State Department still recommends exercising caution. However, I also knew that birding expeditions do not tend to go to unsafe areas and that we would be in the company of experienced guides and local drivers the whole time. So, Heather and I signed up for both the main tour and an extension provided by the Partnership for International Birding (PIB), the same group that we went to Costa Rica with.
Where We Birded
Normally, when I blog about any kind of trip, I provide lots of background on both the history and the geography of the destination. But, since the entirety of this tour was in rural areas with no visits to historic buildings or sites, I am going to forego the political and historical stuff. Instead, I will just cover the birds and the habitats the birds live in.
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| Left: Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco; Right: Guarinocito Lake; Left photo: Heather |
The Republic of Colombia is a South American country bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east, Brazil to the southeast, Peru and Ecuador to the south and southwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west and Panama to the northwest. The time we spent in Bogotá, Cali and Manizales, which we drove through, was focused mainly on avoiding traffic and getting out.
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| Bogotá is the world's most congested city; Photo: World Economic Forum |
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| Where we went |
The extension left from Bogotá, making a loop that encompassed: Laguna de Fúquene; Rogitama Biodiversidad, a farm turned into an ecological reserve; oak forests above Soatá; Humedal Parque La Florida; and Observatorio de Aves Los Andes, a rural private reserve.
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| A smaller loop in a different direction |
The Magdalena River is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about 949 miles through the western half of the country. Its drainage basin covers a surface of 105,000 square miles, which is 24 percent of the country's area and where 66 percent of the population lives. Its headwaters are in the south, where the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental separate. The river runs east then north in a valley called (surprise!) the Magdalena River Valley between the two Cordilleras. It empties in the Caribbean Sea far, far from where we were.
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| Magdalena River; Left photo: Resilience; Right map: Wikipedia |
The Magdalena River and its valley cross a wide variety of ecosystems, including páramo and cloud forest in its headwaters, dry forest in the upper part of its valley, rainforest in its middle course and swamps and wetlands in its lower course. We spent our time near the headwaters, visiting páramo, dry forest and cloud forest.
A páramo is an intertropical alpine ecosystem with shrubby vegetation that is classified as mountain grassland and scrubland.
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| Páramo |
The Cauca River is the primary tributary of the Magdalena River, flowing between the parallel Western/Central Cordilleras before joining the Magdalena River farther north from where we traveled. Together, they form Colombia’s major river basin.
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| The Otún River empties into the Cauca |
Both valleys are rich in birdlife, including a high number of endemic bird species. Endemic refers to a plant or animal that is native to, restricted to or constantly present within a specific geographic area or population and nowhere else.
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| The endemic Indigo-capped Hummingbird |
Beyond the Colombian endemic species, there are many bird species shared with bordering Ecuador that are more easily seen in Colombia where the populations are larger or the habitats are more accessible.
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| Chocó Brushfinch, endemic to Colombia and Ecuador |
And, of course, Colombia has many birds that are also found across the broader tropics and subtropics, as well as migratory birds we also see in the U.S.
Tour Itinerary
Our main tour itinerary was:
Day 1: Arrive in Bogotá.
Day 2: Early morning birding in La Florida Marshes, then travel to La Jardin Encantado, a private Hummingbird Garden. End the day in the La Vega Valley to bird near the hotel and spend the night.
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| CW: La Florida Marshes; La Jardin Encantado; La Vega Valley |
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| CW: Guarinocito Lake; La Vega Valley; Laguna Tabacal |
Day 4: Birding in Reserva Natural Bellavista, a combination of dense forest and pastureland at about 3,200 feet above sea level, followed by birding in the town of La Victoria and along the highway outside of town.
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| La Victoria road; Reserva Bellavista Natural; La Victoria |
Day 5: Return to Bellavista to look for a few more birds and then travel up to higher altitudes in the shadow of Nevado del Ruiz, a 17,680-foot-tall active volcano. End the day at Termales del Ruiz with its marvelous Hummingbird garden.
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| Top: Nevado del Ruiz; Bottom: Termales del Ruiz; Reserva Bellavista Natural |
Day 6: Travel higher in altitude to bird the páramo by Los Nevados National Park on the Central Cordillera, reaching our highest point of the trip at above 13,000 feet. End the day at the Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco just outside of Manizales to the west.
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| Los Nevados National Park; Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco |
Day 7: A full day of birding in Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco.
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| Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco |
Day 8: Early morning birding in Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco, followed by a drive through the Cauca River Valley and a stop at Represa Cameguada lakeside park, ending up at the Montezuma cloud forest/Tatamá National Park on the Western Cordillera.
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| CW: Represa Cameguada; Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco; Montezuma/Tatamá |
Day 9 and 10: Two full days of birding on a high-altitude road in the Montezuma cloud forest/Tatamá National Park.
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| Velvet-purple Coronet, Toucan Barbet, Montezuma/Tatamá |
Day 11: Morning birding at the Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge followed by a long drive to Otún Quimbaya.
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| Left: Montezuma/Tatamá; Right: Otún Quimbaya |
Day 12: Birding in the sub-Andean jungles of Otún Quimbaya and Parque Regional Ucumari.
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| Cauca Guan, Otún Quimbaya |
Day 13: Birding at Sonso Lake in the Cauca Valley before continuing on to La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves, with its great feeding stations.
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| La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves; Sonso Lake |
Day 14: Morning at La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves, mid-day birding at the Reserva Natural Mi Universo rainforest and at the Yotoco Lodge near Cali.
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| CW: La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves; Reserva Natural Mi Universo; Yotoco Lodge |
Day 15: More birding along roadsides in the Cauca Valley (Valle del Cauca) before heading to Cali to fly back to Bogotá.
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| Spectacled Parrotlet, Valle del Cauca |
Why Colombia?
So, why is Colombia a good birding destination? One of the world's 17 megadiverse countries; it has the highest level of biodiversity per square mile in the world and second-highest level overall (behind Brazil, which is seven times larger). Colombia has between 40,000 and 45,000 plant species, equivalent to 10 or 20 percent of total global species, which is remarkable given that Colombia is considered a country of intermediate size (larger than Texas, but smaller than Alaska).
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| Passionflower, Santander |
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| Endemic Black Inca, Rogitama Biodiversidad |
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| Top: White-necked Jacobin; Bottom: Green-crowned Brilliant; Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge |
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| Colombian Chachalaca, Andean Potoo, Masked Flowerpiercer, Northern Screamer |
Guide and Driver
Our Guide for both the main tour and the extension was Alejandro Solano-Ugalde, who has
been a birding guide in Ecuador for more than 20 years and has also guided in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and southern Brazil.
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| Alejandro |
Outside of guiding, Alejandro has contributed to conservation efforts around the world. In his early career in Costa Rica, he worked as resident naturalist guide at Monteverde Cloud Forest and volunteered in Costa Rica's National Parks. He has worked in the U.S. on the MAPS project, a continent-wide collaborative effort among public agencies, non-governmental groups and individuals to assist the conservation of birds and their habitats through standardized bird monitoring.
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| Alejandro; Left photo: Partnership for International birding |
And, if that’s not enough, he is also an eco-farmer, chocolatier and recognized expert in regenerative organic agriculture and sustainable land management. He and his family own and manage a private conservation area, growing sustainable crops while preserving nearby forest areas.
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| Alejandro and his wife, Agustina; Photo: Mashpi Chocolate |
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| Alejandro: his chocolate and his farm; Right photo: Mashpi Chocolate |
He was a fantastic guide: knowledge about the country and its ecosystems, able to identify an astonishing number of birds by sight, sound and flight pattern, and patient with those of us (me) without the skills or eyesight to keep up.
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| Alejandro and me on the trail; Photo: Heather |
Our driver for the main tour was Hernan, a Colombian who now lives with his family in Barcelona, Spain. Even though he did not speak English and we didn’t speak Spanish, we were able to get along quite well.
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| Hernan and Heather; Hernan |
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| Piloting the van |
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| Alejandro (who also cleaned his plate) and Hernan; Photo: Heather |
Traveling Companions
Our tour group had, I believe, originally been six people, but two pulled out before the arrival date. So, there were just four of us: me, Heather and a couple named Enid and Bob. I don’t like to share a lot of information about other people in my blog; hence no last names, no personal information and not many pictures.
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| Left: Heather and Bob; Right: Enid and Alejandro; Right photo: Heather |
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| Bob with his camera and Enid with binoculars |
Even though Heather and I know each other, we both opted to pay a single supplement to have our own rooms. I am just too old to share rooms with anyone except close relatives. I like my space. Heather feels the same way.
Oddly, hotels consistently gave us larger rooms than they gave Bob and Enid and, of course, we never noticed until it was too late to switch.
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| In Río Blanco, I had three beds! |
Food!
If you’re being fed by Colombians, an appetite is critical. From what I could tell, Colombians who can afford it like to eat – a lot!
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| Enid, Bob and me at lunch |
The cuisine is rather monotonous. Most of our meals were at the hotels or lodges, so we didn’t have many opportunities to order off of menus. So, I think what we were eating was more typical. Breakfast was always a tall glass of fresh relatively unsweetened fruit juice (soursop, papaya, pineapple, guava and other exotic fruits); a large starter plate of fruit, with papaya being the most plentiful ...
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| This is a modest (and very fancy) starter plate at Hotel Termales del Ruiz |
... scrambled eggs (sometimes with added onions and tomatoes in what is called “huevos pericos" or “Parakeet eggs”) ...
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| Parakeet eggs; Photo: My Colombian Recipes |
... arepas (flat corn pancakes) or bread; and coffee or hot chocolate. Often, but not always, there was also a crumbly cheese similar to feta, which I liked very much.
Colombian hot chocolate is water-based and not particularly sweet and coffee is served black. You can request milk/cream and sugar, but you do get a slight side-eye for that. Colombians often drop chunks of the cheese into the hot chocolate. I tried it, but it wasn't my favorite.
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| Arepas, cheese and hot chocolate |
I am not a coffee-drinker, so I can't comment on the quality. But, Colombians are very serious about it. Many restaurants roast their own and some also grown their own.
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| A restaurant owner took us into the kitchen to see the wood-stove that they roast in |
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| Breakfast delivery in the Montezuma cloud forest |
I found it interesting that locals seemed deeply concerned that I was getting enough food. None of us Americans could keep up with the volume of food.
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| Left: that is a single tamale! Right: what we didn't eat |
Because water is not always safe, we stuck to bottled water (Hernan kept a huge jug from which we filled our water bottles; we did not have lots of individual plastic bottles). I was probably the most conscientious about not eating lettuce, tomatoes or any fruits or vegetable that might have been washed in less-than-sanitary water. At certain hotels that cater to tourists, we were told the water was safe and I relaxed a little. But, I was still careful. I fared pretty well, but picked up a minor gastrointestinal bug late in the tour. Oddly, I think it was from the allegedly safe water at the hotel in Bogotá.
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| The water jug made me nervous, which was probably correct; Photo: GHL Style Bogota |
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| A typical meal |
A lot of food. Now, I am also not super fond of lots of meat, so I sometimes opted, when I could, for just the soup or the sides and, if I could get it, avocado. Hernan caught on to my affinity for avocados quickly and bought a huge bag of delicious local avocados, which we had for almost every meal.
One day, we stopped at a food court that had lots of places serving typical Colombian food. It was too hot, in my opinion, for a big heavy meal, so I had French fries and avocado.
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| Maybe not that healthy, but it was good and Colombians make great fries |
Like much of South and Central America, Colombia does not spice its food very much. So, Alejandro and I made good use of the many types of hot sauces available.
We occasionally had dessert, but I can’t really remember much about the desserts, except that sometimes they were packaged cookies or dessert bars.
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| Our fanciest dessert; at the Hotel Termales del Ruiz |
Oh, and Hernan provided snacks – fruit, chips, cookies, fruit drinks – twice a day. So, even with little variety, we were well fed.
Ironically, besides the avocados, my two favorite meals were not Colombian food. We had delicious cannelloni at La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves and, on the extension, some really yummy birria tacos at a Mexican restaurant in Zipaquirá.
Lodging
We stayed at several types of accommodations along the way, including regular hotels in Bogotá and Cali, birding lodges and small-town hotels. Some were somewhat luxurious and some were rustic.
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| CW: Shambhala, La Vega; La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves; Hotel Termales del Ruiz; Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge; Hotel Guadalajara, Buga |
We were warned in advance that hotels in the hotter areas often do not have hot water, instead offering “tepid” water in showers. But, we were assured, it would be too hot to even want a hot shower, so, we’d be fine. We were also told that some hotels that did offer hot water had individual heaters above the shower heads that could be a bit dicey.
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| Yep, it looks like this! Photo: Reddit |
When we arrived, we were told that only one hotel didn’t have hot water – the Hotel Maria Paula in La Victoria, where we stayed for two nights.
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| Hotel Maria Paula; Photos: HMP |
At least it was early in the trip and we got that out of the way fast.
Then, two days later, we stayed at the Río Blanco Lodge, also for two nights. The evening temperature there was fairly chilly because the lodge is at about 8,000 feet.
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| That's my room; Photo: TripAdvisor |
First, I decided to forego a shower altogether. But then I decided that I would be miserable the next day without a shower, but I would skip washing my hair. I got in and showered with as little contact with the freezing water as possible.
Then, I caved and washed my hair. By the time I had rinsed my hair, I was freezing. I dressed for bed in thermal underwear pants, PJ pants, a tee shirt and a fleece jacket. Fortunately, my huge “single room” had three beds and, thus, three blankets. I used all three.
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| Excessive for one person, but I was thankful for lots of blankets; Photo: TripAdvisor |
When I brought it up the next morning, the staff seemed puzzled (many of them were new and were puzzled about a lot). It turns out that someone had turned off the propane! They fixed it and the next night was fine.
So, did I learn to always check my water when I first got to my room?
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| Nope! Photo: Dreamstime |
Toward the end of the extension, we stayed in a lodge with the individual heaters on the shower heads. I had already learned that those don’t work unless you keep the flow as low as possible (so you trade water pressure for heat). So, when the water wouldn’t get hot, I turned it down to a drip. Nope! Another cold shower (but not as bad as Río Blanco).
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| That hotel had a pool; I wondered if it was heated; Photo: TripAdvisor |
By the way, even hotels with hot shower did not often have hot water for the sinks. I guess you gotta be tough.
Birding Style
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| Looking for birds, La Vega Valley |
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| Dirt and paved roads; Left photo: Heather |
Often, our driver (Hernan did the main driving, but we had local drivers in the Montezuma cloud forest) would drop us off and then wait for awhile before picking us up to drive us to another hot spot along the road.
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| Our ride, Montezuma cloud forest |
Sometimes, we hiked directly from our lodge. Several places we stayed and a few we visited had feeding stations, including Hummingbird feeders ...
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| Bananaquits encroaching on a Hummingbird feeder, La Jardin Encantado |
... and fruit and seed stations for other birds ...
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| Lacrimose Tanager with two Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanagers, Termales del Ruiz |
These stations are great because sometimes it’s the only way to get a really good look at the tiny Hummers ...
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White-bellied Woodstar; Brown Violetear |
... or many types of brightly colored Tanagers.
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| Golden Tanager checking out a banana, La Florida El Bosque de Las Aves |
At Río Blanco, we were able to see several normally reclusive Antpittas at small feeding stations where the local guides have “trained” the cute little birds to come in for mealworms.
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| Chestnut-crowned Antpitta enjoying a mealworm snack, Río Blanco |
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| Green Honeycreeper, Yotoco Lodge |
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| Speckled Hummingbird in the Río Blanco Lodge's flowering shrubs |
Sometimes, we birded at restaurants, parks or town squares.
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| Left: La Victoria Town Square; Right: Boyaca Town Square (with Carib Grackles) |
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| Early starts make for dark photos; Striated Heron, La Florida Marshes |
Then, the days were spent either walking (never quickly), standing or riding.
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| Lots of neck-craning, too; Photo: Heather |
We had a sit-down breakfast, lunch and dinner almost every day except for a few times when we were provided a pre-packed breakfast or lunch. Frankly, I prefer not having a sit-down meal, but that’s not my call. A few days, we had a little break after lunch, which is common practice in hot climates because the birds disappear when the heat goes up. But, this trip had lots of moderate weather, so we didn’t have a lot of breaks.
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| Enid at a lunch break, Estadero el Mirador |
After dinner, we would meet to record the birds we had seen that day on lists provided by PIB and discuss the next day’s plans.
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| PIB provided us with checklists |
Then, we all headed off to bed. We were not party animals. No late nights in the bar. Bird–sleep–bird was the drill.
While we kept manual lists, we also kept eBird lists of each outing. They can be entered in real-time on the eBird app, although I have never done it. On many tours, the guides keep the lists. They were supposed to on our Costa Rica trip, but never came through and I had to spend weeks trying to create lists using my manual logs and photos. So, I wanted to create lists as we birded, I just wasn’t sure I could maintain a list while handling a camera (or two) and binoculars.
Fortunately, Enid volunteered to do the lists and I am forever in her debt for the excellent job she did. Heather did it for the extension and that was great, as well.
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| Enid making a list |
When we got back home, I tweaked a bit more and added some photos to the lists, but Enid did the heavy lifting.
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| eBird lists (I always add photos when I can) |
eBird and its companion, Merlin, have ID tools that helped me nail down what birds I had photos of. Because, no, I did not get photos over every bird I saw. In fact, I probably missed 20-30 percent. On Merlin, you can load a photo and give the date and location and it will give you “possible matches.” Sometimes it is way, way off, but it is often dead on.
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| #1 Correct (Brown Violetear), #2 Wrong (Chocó Brushfinch), #3 Confused (Cauca Guan) |
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| A great feature and more accurate |
Finally, the vehicle can be important in birding because you spend a lot of time in it, either traveling from place to place or actually birding. The one we had was a bit disappointing.
Even though it was an eight-person van, it wasn’t really big enough for all of us and our luggage, which took up the two seats behind the driver. The windows didn’t open and had lots of advertising stickers over them, making it hard to see much from inside the car. Luckily most of our birding on this trip was outside the van. Had we done more in-car birding, that would have been awful.
Birding trips are rather pricey. A nice vehicle would be good.
Getting there: the Biggest Hurdle
PIB requested that we plan our travel to arrive in Bogotá on the day before the tour was to begin. But, they also told us that the tour would begin VERY EARLY on the first day. I always have trepidation when taking a tour or a cruise because it’s important to GET TO the starting point on time. This trip started at the beginning of March and I know that weather can be dicey in Colorado in March, so I planned my travel so that I would arrive in Colombia on the 7th rather than the 8th for a March 9 start.
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| THIS can happen in March; Photo: Inc. Magazine |
I was flying on American Airlines from Colorado Springs to DFW Airport and then taking the only flight from DFW to Bogotá. It was scheduled to arrive at 11:30 p.m., meaning getting in a day early made even more sense.
Despite my concerns, the weather in Colorado Springs on March 7 was gorgeous. I arrived at the airport a bit early and, just as the agent called me up to the desk to check my bags, my phone buzzed. My flight from COS was delayed about an hour because of weather in Dallas/Fort Worth. No problem, I had booked to have an adequate layover and I had lots of wiggle room. Still, I asked it there was an earlier flight to DFW I could get on because I know there are lots of morning COS/DFW flights and I was early. The agent said no.
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| I always arrive early; Photo: US Airways |
So, I checked in, breezed through TSA and almost immediately got notice of an additional hour delay. I was still OK, but was a bit more concerned.
Then, as I sat there, another flight to DFW boarded. I should have tried to get on it, but I suspect it was full (they usually are) which is why the agent said no.
Then, my flight was delayed more. Then, it was cancelled. I called American and they did the usual song-and-dance of trying to get me to DFW. I got notice of being rebooked on another flight to DFW that was scheduled to arrive 20 minutes before the Bogotá flight was scheduled to leave. Too tight.
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| Lots of flight issues that day; Photo: Daily Express |
I had booked a room for the night of the 7th and decided to keep it so I could go straight to sleep when I arrived, if I wanted to.
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| A room would be great for a nap; Photo: Booking.com |
Interestingly, despite the weather issues and delays in DFW, my newly booked flight arrived a bit early. It is remotely possible that I could have made the original Bogotá flight, but it would have been painfully close and nerve-wracking. And, would my luggage have gotten there? I doubt it.
DFW was a zoo, but I got on the flight to Miami just fine. When I arrived in Miami, I had been at airports for about 15 hours.
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| I wanted to go to the Admirals Club, but it was closed for the night; Photo: Upgraded Points |
I had a moment of excitement when I found a sleeping pod place in the terminal. Perfect! Unfortunately, it was full.
So, I just toughed it out.
The biggest issue: Miami has NO food service after 10 p.m., not even vending machines. The best I could do was use a water filler so I didn’t completely dehydrate.
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| Nothing going on after 11:00 p.m.; Photo: Miami Airports |
And, I guess to discourage people from hanging out, they BLAST music so loud even earphones don’t help. I took me a while to find a quiet corner.
I stuck it out, working on photos and listening to music, until 5:00 a.m. when the Admirals Club opened. Then, I was able to take a shower and have some breakfast before boarding.
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| Showers: the best thing about the Admiral's Club; Photo: American Airlines |
I had let PIB know as soon as my plans changed, but they didn’t have anyone to pick me up (I later found out that Hernan was at the airport the night before looking for me – so much for their communications systems). So, I took a cab. It was a short trip, so not too bad.
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| Habitel Select Hotel, Bogota; Photo: Booking.com |
When I checked in, they had my reservation, but no record of it being pre-paid, so I had to pay (and then go back to the desk to process a refund later that day).
So, the GETTING THERE part was a bit fraught.
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| Bogotá El Dorado Airport; Photo: Skytrax |
Fortunately, except for the hot water thing, everything else went smoothly. So, all in all, not too bad. Especially since I got to Bogotá 12 hours late instead of 24. Getting up to meet Alejandro and the group at 4:45 a.m. wasn’t that bad.
Well, that’s a lot. Maybe I should get on with the tour. But, this has gotten too long. Next time, let's talk about birds …
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| Yellow-hooded Blackbird, La Florida Marshes |
Tour dates: March 7-28, 2026
