August 24: Fabrice Schmitt from his recently concluded tour, Colombia
Another fantastic tour to Colombia!
The group at Nevado del Ruiz
Visiting the three cordilleras, crossing both the Magdalena and Cauca valleys, birding from sea level to 15,000 feet elevation, and even adding a few days in the isolated Santa Marta Mountains and Guajira Peninsula, we had an amazing overview of the Colombian avifauna!
Black-billed Mountain-toucan
The recently discovered Chestnut-capped Piha
It was hard to pick the best birds of the trip amongst hundreds of wonderful species, but here are some of the best as voted by the group: Hooded and Ochre-breasted Antpitta (two little ones who gave us amazing views), a male Santa Marta Woodstar displaying and showing well his pink-purple gorget, the most wanted Northern Screamer, a stunning Santa Marta Antpitta giving a wonderful show after we hid in the bamboo, and the superb Crested Ant-tanager.
Ochre-breasted Antpitta
The elusive Santa Marta Antpitta
We visited more than 10 different hummingbirds feeding stations and saw more than 60 species of these fascinating birds! We even hand feed Rainbow-bearded Thornbill and Golden-breasted Puffleg!
Rainbow-bearded Thornbill
Obviously, beside the incredible birds, we were amazed by the variety of flowers, orchids, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, etc.
Opaon varicolor, endemic to the Choco
Colombia is definitely the country of biodiversity.
Posted: August 24, 2016