The Montezuma cloud forest (Cerro Montezuma), located in and around Tatamá National Natural Park on the Western Cordillera, is one of the most biodiverse cloud forests on Earth. The area is famous for its ...
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| 550 bird species, of which a quarter are endemic; this is a Chocó Brushfinch |
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| 450 orchid varieties; this is a spider orchid |
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| 700 species of butterflies; this is a Hypaesia Satyr Butterfly |
Obviously, we didn’t hit these numbers, but I did see 155 species of birds during our short stay. I didn’t calculate orchids (there were a lot) or butterflies (not many and I didn't photograph what I saw). You can only count so many things.
In this blog, I am going to talk about our time at the Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge, our base for exploring the area. In my next installment, I will cover our time spent on Montezuma Road, which stretches 8.6 miles from the lodge at 4,265 feet in elevation to the mountaintop at almost 8,500 feet.
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| Bob and Enid on the road |
In addition to taking guests up the road, the lodge offers feeders and flowering gardens that attract Hummingbirds, Tanagers and other birds.
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| An orchid near the Tatama River |
The Montezuma Ecolodge is operated by the Tapasco family, headed by Michelle Tapasco, who is assisted by her four daughters. At the end of this blog is a link to a 60 Minutes piece that provides fascinating background on this family.
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| Daughter Jess, far right, was our local guide; Photo: American Birding Association |
The lodge has 12 rooms. Ours were a walk down a long gravelly path. It was comfortable and roomy and the water (if run at a trickle) was warm enough. Oddly, on day 1, I had two big fluffy blankets; on day 2, they were gone and I just had one thin one.
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| CW: My room; our suite of rooms; main lodge; Hummingbird feeders by our rooms |
It was a trek from our rooms to the main lodge (where we had meals), but it was an entertaining trek. On our many trips in the mornings and evenings, we saw ...
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| Central American Agoutis |
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| Pygmy Squirrels |
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| A small Lesserblack Tarantula |
... and a variety of birds.
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| Rusty-margined Flycatcher |
One of the Hummingbird gardens was adjacent to the outdoor dining room. Another was right outside our rooms.
Lodge Feeders
The first afternoon, we saw quite a few birds on the lodge grounds, especially Hummingbirds, including ...
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| Green Thorntail (lifer) |
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| Purple-throated Woodstar (lifer) |
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| Empress Brilliants (lifer) |
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| Female Green-crowned Brilliant |
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| White-necked Jacobin |
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| Male Green-crowned Brilliant |
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| Left, Violet-tailed Sylph (lifer); Right: Long-tailed Sylph |
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| Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, front, with a Long-tailed Sylph |
I saw six additional species, including two I had seen before (Tourmaline Sunangel and Andean Emerald) and four more lifers (White-booted Racket-tail, Western Emerald, Steely-vented Hummingbird and Rufous-gaped Hillstar) with no pix. I did eventually get photos of all but the Hillstar later.
Another lifer that we saw right outside our rooms was the beautiful Flame-rumped Tanager, which actually has several morphs … lemon, orange and flame-red.
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| A striking bird |
These were all lemon-rumped. Later, I'll show you some with flame-ier rumps.
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| I would argue the lemon covers more than just the rump |
There was also a cute little Common Tody-Flycatcher was skulking in the bushes.
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| Watching the Hummingbirds eat |
The Grounds
The next morning, we headed out for our first exploration of Montezuma Road. I'll cover that in my next post. Meanwhile, when we returned to the lodge after that excursion and took a walk around the grounds, we saw more birds. I saw two lifers, but didn’t get a photo of the secretive Golden-bellied Flycatcher.
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| I did, however, capture the Blackish Rail |
The others were familiar birds, in the fields …
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| Black Phoebe (with the South American white wing bars) |
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| Chestnut-headed Oropendola ... |
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| ... and Oropendola nests |
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| Rusty-margined Flycatcher |
At the feeders …
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| Tawny-bellied Hermit |
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| Purple-throated Woodstars |
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| Andean Emerald |
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| Male and female Green Thorntails |
And, in the parking area …
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| Male Green Honeycreeper |
A Last Hike
Our final day at Montezuma was a rather quick hike from the lodge into Tatamá National Park.
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| Early morning in the Park |
As we left our rooms, we saw that breakfast starts early for the Agoutis.
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| I think it's eating a guava |
We had a quick breakfast. The feeders were full of the usual suspects, so I didn’t take many photos.
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| Hopping at the Hummingbird and fruit feeders |
I did photograph some ...
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| A male Green Honeycreeper on the feeders |
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| A cute little Northern Plain Xenops near the feeders |
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| A Northern Waterthrush below the feeders |
Then, off we went ...
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| We stopped to admire a Pygmy Squirrel overhead |
We had a few good sightings – and one ALMOST SPECTACULAR SIGHTING – on the road by the lodge. It was a bit dark and foggy and I did NOT have a good photo morning. I got pix of three birds, only one of which was a lifer … |
| The lifer: Plumbeous Pigeon |
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| Russet-backed Oropendola |
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| White-winged Becard |
I saw but didn’t capture a slew of lifers: Slaty-capped Flycatcher, Grayish Piculet, Streak-capped Treehunter, Olive-striped Flycatcher, Yellow-collared Chlorophonia, Sooty-headed Wren, Rufous-naped Greenlet, Turquoise Dacnis, Metallic-green Tanager and Red-bellied Grackle.
I really tried for that Grackle, but, it was not to be! And, once again, I’ll spare you the could-be lifers (a pretty long list) that others saw and I missed.
The big miss was when Enid saw a flash of bright red. She followed it a bit, while the rest of us tried for the merest glimpse and then it flew away. Yes, I saw it. No, I didn’t photograph it.
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| It was the iconic (and weird) Andean Cock of the Rock; Photo: eBird |
I hadn’t even dared to hope I would see a Cock of the Rock. I saw it land briefly with its back to us and then it flew. What I saw was mainly back and tail feathers, not that crazy bright red head.
Alejandro had seen a (slightly less weird) female Andean Cock of the Rock earlier near the River, but this was my first sliver of a sighting.
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| I saw movement, but didn't get a good look; Photo: eBird |
People come to the Andes to see The Andean Cock of the Rock, mainly trying to see it at a known display site where males make piglike squeals and jump and dance for females. That wasn’t on our agenda, so we were all surprised. A photo would have been so nice.
I felt – in the moment – that I was having a successful birding adventure. Later, when I reviewed what I saw and what I didn’t and what I photographed and what I didn’t, I wondered if maybe this was the wrong hobby. Or, maybe I should go back to Colombia and try harder.
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| Or, maybe, I should photograph plants – they don't move; these are pink bananas |
Not sure where I fall on that spectrum! Maybe it’s the challenge. Or the reward when I do see and photograph something good.
That brings me to another cool sighting.
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| A Tayra! |
I had seen one in Costa Rica in 2022 and blew my one photo when, at the moment I clicked the shutter, my perfect focus decided that leaves were more important!
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| Impressive! |
Then this weird critter (that, at the time, I had never heard of) disappeared in the jungle. My research after the fact called it “secretive” and the guide said that they are hard to find.
Well, this one in Montezuma was not secretive at all.
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| It walked boldly up the trail, eyeing us the whole time |
Alejandro said that it was (like many of the birds) headed to the feeders. So, it was a bit habituated. But, at least I got some photos.
Tayras are strange looking. They are long-legged weasels with long bushy tails and short, dark-brown-to-black fur with a yellow or orange spot on the chest. They look extremely muscular, a trait enhanced by the fact that the one we saw was damp from the fog and dew.
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| A dog? A weasel? A cat? Just odd |
Throughout our trip, we heard some Cicadas. They were never as loud as the ones in Costa Rica, but we knew they were around.
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| We saw a few, but this one was, by far, the most colorful |
Our walks on both days included stops by the Tatamá River, which abuts the property.
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| One of Colombia's beautiful wild rivers |
We saw a few birds, some lovely plants and a little bit of wildlife.
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| Bamboo |
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| Rueda's Anole |
The river was beautiful. I could have spent more time there if we had had more time.
Good-bye to the Lodge
Before leaving the lodge, we had one last lunch and some additional feeder time.
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| The feeders are constructed for photographers |
I got to the table first, with all my luggage, and that paid off when I saw a Hummingbird that no one else saw. I didn’t even realize I had gotten a lifer until I returned home and couldn’t ID the one photo.
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| A Purple-bibbed Whitetip! |
The birds were active and I grabbed some nice shots (yes, feeders are much easier than jungle!) ...
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| Green Honeycreeper |
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| Thick-billed Euphonia |
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Juvenile Purple-throated Woodstar
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| Silver-throated Tanager |
Beautiful birds!
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| In a beautiful setting! |
I loved our time at the Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge. The people were fantastic, the facilities good (serviceable rooms, hot-enough water, good food, great guides and drivers, much-needed laundry service and access to a wide variety of birds) and the experience spectacular (you'll see more in my next post).
When I got home, I found out that Anderson Cooper agreed! He had a segment on the Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge, the Tapasco family, the birds along the road and effects of Colombia's violent past on wildlife (it is not what you would expect) on 60 Minutes on May 3.
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| The piece focused on how Colombia's violet past actually protected the birds |
Watch the video – especially the part where a Tapaculo was too fast for even CBS to photograph. Redemption for my inability to catch some of the quick ones!
In the next blog, we'll follow Anderson down the road ...
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| Toucan Barbets in the Montezuma cloud forest |
Tour dates: March 7-28, 2026
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