Reporting from Colombia: The Santa Marta Mountains

We've just wrapped up another very successful trip to the Santa Marta mountains and surroundings, finding a bit more than 300 species in just a week!

The Sierra Nevada Cordillera and the Guajira Peninsula are home to an amazing list of restricted-range species, and we had excellent views of (just to name a few…) Vermilion Cardinal, White-whiskered Spinetail, Chestnut Piculet, Buffy Hummingbird, Orinocan Saltator, White-lored Warbler, Black-backed Antshrike and a long list of “Santa Marta” species, such as Santa Marta Blossomcrown, Antbird, Tapaculo, Antpitta, Woodstar, and Brushfinch!

Besides these very local species, we also enjoyed stunning encounters with Northern White-fringed Antwren, the lovely Blue-naped Chlorophonia coming to the fruit feeders, close-up views of a beautiful Rosy Thrush-Tanager, the charismatic Russet-throated Puffbird, a beautiful male of Golden-breasted Fruiteater, no less than four Dwarf Cuckoos, a flock of no less than 13 Military Macaws flying overhead and so many more great sightings! 

Besides birds we also enjoyed an endless list of butterflies, moths, nice reptiles including good views of Green Iguana, and a few mammals such as Colombian Red Howler, Santa Marta Yellow-fronted Capuchin and Cotton-top Tamarin at Tayrona and the extremely rarely seen Speckled Tree Rat!

The eBird trip report can be seen here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/461918