Day 1: You’ll be met on arrival in Pereira and transferred to our hotel where the tour begins this evening. Night in Pereira.

Day 2: This morning we’ll transfer to our countryside lodge, perfectly located at the edge of Tatama National Park, arriving in time for lunch. We’ll have the afternoon to bird the gardens and surroundings, and enjoy the lodge feeders which attract such stunning hummingbirds as Empress Brilliant, Rufous-gaped Hillstar and Purple-throated Woodstar.  Night at Montezuma Ecolodge.

Day 3-4: Located in the Western Cordillera, Tatama National Park protects an extensive and almost inaccessible pristine forest. The landscape, dominated by Tatama Peak, is magnificent and the list of endemics and restricted species from this site is phenomenal. We’ll have two entire days to bird the national park along the Montezuma Road. On the upper part of the road, we’ll look for Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer and the attractive Gold-ringed Tanager, known from only a very few places in Colombia’s Western Andes, as well as Toucan Barbet, Rufous Spinetail, Handsome Flycatcher, and Dusky Chlorospingus. Along the lower part of the road we hope to find Broad-billed Motmot, Red-faced Spinetail, Uniform Treehunter, Yellow-breasted Antwren, Zeledon’s Antbird, Chestnut-crowned Gnateater, the recently described Tatama Tapaculo, and the fancy Orange-breasted Fruiteater. Here mixed-species flocks can include Black-chinned Mountain-tanager, Golden-collared Honeycreeper, Flame-faced and Silver-throated Tanagers, and the stunning Chestnut-breasted and Yellow-collared Chlorophonias. Nights at Montezuma Ecolodge.

Day 5: After some morning birding along the lowest part of the Montezuma Road, looking for species we may have missed during our previous days here, we’ll set off for the Cauca Valley and the city of Buga for a one-night stay. If we have time, we'll surely make a few birding stops along the way. Night in Buga.

Day 6: We’ll have a full morning at Sonso Lagoon, where we’ll scan for waterbirds as well as open-country birds, possibly including a few Horned Screamers (there’s a very isolated population here) as well as Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, Snail Kite, Limpkin, Wattled Jacana, Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, Striped and Little Cuckoos, Jet Antbird, Bar-crested Antshrike, Pale-breasted Spinetail, Pied Water-Tyrant, the Colombian endemic Apical Flycatcher, and the tiny and cute Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher. After lunch, we’ll continue onward to the very comfortable and birdy Araucana Lodge, our home for the next four nights. Upon arrival, we’ll spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the feeders in the lodge gardens. Night at Araucana lodge.

Days 7–9: Three full days are needed to explore the Western Cordillera near Cali, as new birding trails and feeder stations open almost every year around here! We’ll use the best birding lodge in Colombia as our base for exploring the area, visiting different locations each day.

We’ll spend a full morning at the famous Doña Dora Garden on the famous Anchicaya road. No less than 300 species have been seen along this upper part of the road, so expect a wonderful morning! We’ll be looking for White-whiskered Hermit, Green Thorntail and Purple-bibbed Whitetip amongst the many hummingbirds visiting the feeders. The Toucan Barbet is a superstar here, and rarely leaves the garden! Ornate Flycatcher, Slaty-capped Shrike-Vireo, Bay Wren, Black-headed Brushfinch, Choco Brushfinch, Black-chinned Mountain-Tanager, Rufous-throated Tanager and Black-winged Saltator are just a few of the many species we hope to encounter during our time here.

We’ll also have a full day at much lower elevation, around 100m (350 feet). To reach San Cipriano Natural Reserve, we’ll need to leave our lodge early and then take a memorable half-hour ride on ‘brujitas’ (an artisanal ‘train’ pulled by a motorbike!). But we’ll rewarded by plenty of new birds which are mostly found at these lower elevations: Berlepsch’s Tinamou, Dusky Pigeon, Pallid Dove, Blue-chested Hummingbird and with luck the unique Tooth-billed Hummingbird, Black-breasted Puffbird, Five-colored Barbet, Choco Toucan and Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Chestnut-backed, Stub-tailed and Zeledon’s Antbirds, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant, Tawny-crested, Blue-whiskered and Scarlet-browed Tanagers, and Scarlet-thighed Dacnis are all possible here.

We’ll be sure to visit at least one of the famous feeder stations near Km 18, starring the well-named Multicolored Tanager coming to the fruits! But all tanagers are beautiful, and we should also see Golden-naped, Black-capped, Scrub, Saffron-crowned, Flame-rumped and Golden Tanagers at the feeders, as well as fantastic hummingbirds including Tawny-bellied Hermit, Speckled Hummingbird, Long-tailed Sylph, Greenish Puffleg, White-booted Racket-tail and Western Emerald. We can relax at our lodge, enjoying the garden feeders, but as you will see, time flies when birding the Western cordillera! Nights at Araucana Lodge.

Day 10: We’ll have a final morning to bird around the lovely Araucana Lodge, looking for a few more species we may have missed, or better looks or photos of others. We’ll be back at the lodge by mid-morning to pack up, and after lunch we’ll transfer to the Cali airport where the tour concludes.

2025 Narrative

What a fabulous time we had on this first trip to Western Colombia! Meeting in Pereira, we first spent two full days along the scenic Montezuma Road, then did some birding in the Cauca Valley visiting the very birdy Laguna de Sonso, and then stayed four days at the beautiful and very comfortable Araucana Lodge from which we visited different bird feeding stations, as well as the upper Anchicaya road and the lowlands near the little village of San Cipriano.

It’s hard to pick the best birds of the trip amongst 310 wonderful species contacted in only eight days in the field, but here are some of the best sightings of the tour: the prolonged view of a very cooperative Crested Quetzal staying at eye-level along the Montezuma road, the beautiful pair of Toucan Barbets feeding their young in the Doña Dora garden, the repeated sightings of Chestnut Wood-Quails coming to feeders, the fantastic Horned Screamers at Laguna de Sonso in the Cauca valley, the stunning and well-named Multicolored Tanager offering fantastic photographic opportunities at La Florida and San Vicente, and the vibrant male Barred Becard landing just a few meters from us on the very last day!

Besides these very memorable sightings, we also had fantastic views of both Gold-ringed and Black-and-gold Tanagers, Munchique Wood-Wren, Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia, Choco Vireo, Orange-breasted Fruiteater, Purplish-mantled Tanager, Fulvous-dotted Treerunner, Tanager Finch and so many more! We also visited several hummingbird feeding stations and saw no less than 32 species of these fascinating birds! 

Obviously, besides the incredible diversity of birds, we were amazed by the incredible diversity of flowers, orchids, butterflies, etc. Colombia is definitely THE biodiversity country!

The tour started in the town of Pereira, where we all met for our introductory meeting and dinner together. Next morning, we left the busy city for the quiet and isolated Montezuma lodge. At first the road descended into the Cauca valley, crossing some extensive pasture for cattle farming and sugarcane plantations, then we crossed the large Cauca River, and started the drive up into the Western cordillera and its coffee plantations.

Just before reaching the village of Pueblo Rico, we made a stop in a mix of coffee plantation and secondary growth forest. The bird activity was great, and we quickly found Scrub Tanager, Chivi Vireo, a pair of Bar-crested Antshrikes, Southern Rough-winged Swallow, Yellow-bellied Seedeater and Yellow-faced Grassquit, while 100+ White-collared Swifts were flying overhead. The flycatcher lovers even enjoyed close looks at Sooty-headed and Golden-faced Tyrannulets, and a Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet even showed its yellow crest!

Once in Pueblo Rico, we switched vehicles, leaving our Sprinter and jumping into Land Rovers more suited to the dirt road leading to Montezuma Lodge. After an hour’s drive through the last pastures and plantations, we arrived at the lodge, nicely located at the edge of Tatama National Park, just in time for lunch. 

It was actually hard to properly enjoy our meal, tasty as it was, with the dining tables positioned just in front of amazing feeders attracting dozens of hummingbirds and tanagers! So, after checking in to our comfortable rooms where we’d stay three nights, we couldn’t resist spending the afternoon birding the garden and the surrounding forest. We didn’t have to walk far to find plenty of birds, including Choco Brush-Finch, a superb Lanceolated Monklet, Wedge-billed and Montane Woodcreepers, a Golden-olive Woodpecker and an elusive Zeledon’s Antbird, Plumbeous Pigeon, a Lemon-browed Flycatcher and Golden-hooded Tanager. We even found a Wattled Guan, a species more often heard than seen, foraging at the edge of the lodge garden!

The feeders at the lodge are absolutely amazing and during our stay we saw a total of 21 species of hummingbirds from the lodge feeders: Andean Emerald, Purple-throated Woodstar, White-necked Jacobin, Green Thorntail, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Rufous-gaped Hillstar, White-booted Racket-tail and Empress Brilliant were numerous, and among them we  spotted a few Tawny-bellied and White-whiskered Hermits, Brown Violetear, Crowned Woodnymph and Western Emerald.

The fruit feeders were very productive too, attracting Flame-rumped Tanagers, Thick-billed Euphonia, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Hepatic Tanager, Silver-throated Tanager, Buff-throated Saltator and Central American Agouti. A pair of Blackish Rails was also showing well in the open!

Established in 1987, the Tatama National Park protects 128,000 acres (52,000 ha) of primary tropical and temperate forest and páramo. Most of this park is inaccessible, but a dirt road leading up to a military camp and communication antenna, allowed us to bird different elevations of this beautiful forest. We had two days to explore this amazing place, birding along the road, and enjoying the amazing landscape covered by pristine forest and dominated by the Tatama peak reaching an elevation of 13,500 ft (4,100 m).

As the road is in pretty bad shape, it takes some time to drive the few kilometers to its end, at some communication antennas at 9,000 feet (2,750 meters). By having our field breakfast up there, we could enjoy close views of the rare and endemic Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer, as well as Tourmaline Sunangel, Collared Inca and Buff-tailed Coronet, all coming to the feeders. Walking part of the way back down the road, we found many wonderful bird specialties like Gold-ringed Tanager, Munchique Wood-Wren (a very recently described species), Tanager Finch, Black Solitaire, Bicolored Antvireo, Purplish-mantled Tanager, Orange-breasted Fruiteater, Black-and-Gold Tanager, Yellow-vented Woodpecker, Barred Hawk and Toucan Barbet. 

In the few flocks we encountered along the road, we found Golden-fronted Redstart, Indigo Flowerpiercer, Handsome Flycatcher, Three-striped Warbler, Uniform Treehunter, Red-faced Spinetail, Slaty Antwren, Pacific Tuftedcheek, Choco Vireo (another very recently described species), Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia, Black-chinned Mountain-Tanager, Dusky Chlorospingus, Fulvous-dotted Treerunner, Glistening-green Tanager, Sharpe’s Wren and so many more. We also had amazing and prolonged looks at a Crested Quetzal, staying just on the roadside at eye-level for a while! And a Tatama Tapaculo, little blackish skulker, also gave an impressive show, singing so long from its perch that we could actually all enjoy a scope view!

The Montezuma lodge staff has also placed hummingbird feeders along the road, attracting species not found a lower elevation such as Greenish Puffleg, Velvet-purple Coronet and Brown Inca. Birding Montezuma is always a wonderful experience, and we could stay two weeks and still be adding new species. Definitely a place we always want to come back to; if not for the birds, then for the delicious food provided by the lodge. After our last breakfast at Montezuma lodge, we took a short walk in and around the garden, finding Dusky-faced Tanager, Yellow-collared Chlorophonia, the endemic Grayish Piculet, a pair of Rufous-naped Greenlets and two Bronze-winged Parrots flew overhead. 

All too soon it was time to leave that wonderful place, and after an hour’s drive to reach the village of Pueblo Rico, we transferred to our Sprinter bus and continued on our way with our excellent driver John. We stopped at the ‘dacnis bend’, and got brief glimpse of a female Turquoise Dacnis, and better views of Yellow-backed Oriole, Scrub Tanager, our first Spectacled Parrotlet, a bold male Yellow-bellied Siskin and a beautiful Blue-necked Tanager. Making our way towards Buga, we stopped at pond visible from the roadside, where we found a few waterbirds including Black-bellied Whistling-duck, Black-necked Stilt, a Green Kingfisher, Striated Heron, a Little Blue Heron and a pair of Yellow-headed Caracaras.

We had lunch in the little town of La Union, and then stopped at Parque La Uva, a spot known to attract Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird in their Aloe plantation. We didn’t have to wait long to find a beautiful male and a duller female, feeding in the yellow flowers, and often attacked by the numerous and aggressive Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds. After repeated views of this sparkling hummingbird, we took a short walk in a patch of secondary growth dry forest. There we found a pair of Jet Antbirds, two Streaked Flycatchers (Northern), two Streak-headeds and a Cocoa Woodcreeper and a cute Yellow-olive Flatbill. With the help of the park administrator, we even found a roosting Common Potoo! 

We ended our travel day at our comfortable hotel in Buga arriving just in time to ‘enjoy’ a loud fashion show… that fortunately didn’t last too long.

We spent the following morning birding Laguna Sonso with the help of our excellent local guide Jonathan. As soon as we jumped out of the bus, we found a pair of Collared Plovers, an elegant Lineated Woodpecker, numerous Blue-headed Parrots, a pair of Spot-breasted Woodpeckers, and Jonathan even knew a tree where three Tropical Screech-Owls were roosting side-by-side! On a nearby pond, we had prolonged scope views of a beautiful Little Cuckoo, as well as close looks at a pair of Horned Screamers (of the very local population of the Cauca valley). A pair of Great Antshrikes came to the tape, and we noted numerous Snowy and Great Egret, Neotropical Cormorant, Bare-faced and Glossy Ibis, an Anhinga, and a few Cocoi Herons in the sky. 

In a patch of dry forest, we also found Red-crowned Woodpecker, Jet Antbird, Yellow-olive Flatbill, a pair of White-tipped Dove walking ahead of us, a roosting Common Potoo, a pair of Thick-billed Euphonias building a nest, Tropical Parula and Streaked Flycatcher. And on a nearby oxbow lake, we saw Snail Kites, Limpkins, Green, Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers, Greater Ani and Pied Water-Tyrant.

We ended the morning walk at a viewing platform above an extensive marsh, where we found numerous Common and a few Purple Gallinules, some Yellow-hooded Blackbirds, a group of Smooth-billed Anis, a few Pied-billed Grebes, a bright Yellow Oriole and an Oriole Blackbird, a pair of Yellow-bellied Elaenias and even two splendid Fork-tailed Flycatchers! The roof of the platform also offered plenty of breeding cavities for the super cute Spectacled Parrotlet and we had amazing close-up views of these beauties! Now, the bird that gave us more work was the elusive Pinnated Bittern, but we finally saw at least three different birds, and all had great scope views!

After our fantastic time birding at laguna de Sonso, we returned to the hotel for lunch and check out and began our drive towards Araucana lodge where we would spend four nights. Arriving mid-afternoon, we had time to bird the lodge garden and feeders after checking in to our beautiful rooms.  What a luxury to comfortably sit on a chair in front of feeders attracting Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Red-headed Barbet, Black-winged Saltator, Golden Tanager, Colombian Chachalaca, White-lined and Scrub Tanagers, Black-billed Thrush, Green Honeycreeper amongst a multitude of Blue-gray and Palm Tanagers. In the garden, we also had nice looks at Bar-crested Antshrike, Black-billed Peppershrike, Montane Woodcreeper, Tropical Parula and Streaked Saltator.

What better way to end a very birdy day than with a great ‘pizza party’ baked in the lodge pizza oven!

After our first night at Araucana, we spent almost the whole next day at Finca San Felipe, which has several feeding stations, all attracting beautiful species and offering amazing photographic opportunities. Our first stop was a hide in the forest, where a family of the usually very secretive Chestnut Wood-Quail was waiting for us. We had repeated and prolonged views of that beautiful forest species, what a start! A pair of Chestnut-capped Brushfinches also came to the grain, as well as a few Sickle-winged Guans, Flame-rumped Tanagers, a pair of the beautiful Black-winged Saltator plus Central American Agouti and Andean Squirrel. A shy Gray-headed Dove also came briefly to the feeder, when suddenly a Tayra, a large neotropical mustelid, appeared and offered a great show. He literally emptied the feeding station, devouring all the bananas he could find! (This was the first time a Tayra was seen like this here at this feeding station, and we clearly all enjoyed the show.) We then moved to another hide where we could see and photograph closely Red-headed Barbet, Golden-naped and Black-capped Tanager, White-naped Brushfinch, Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager, a pair of Acorn Woodpeckers, a splendid Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Orange-bellied Euphonia, Saffron-crowned and Golden Tanagers, Saffron Finch and Ruddy Ground-Dove! Sergio, our local guide, even organized a show with an Andean Motmot coming to catch a worm and offering amazing flight shots!

After a break for a nice lunch and a mid-day break at the hotel, we went back to San Felipe, this time to stand in a hide in front of a reservoir, where it was possible to enjoy and photograph some superb birds and their reflection in the water! Most of the species were the same as in the morning, but we added a family of the well-named Multicolored Tanager, and a Golden-bellied Flycatcher coming in for a bath. And we will never get tired of admiring Green Honeycreeper, Red-headed Barbet and all the colorful tanagers!

We wrapped up the day with a visit to Finca La Alejandria, the ‘hummingbird paradise’ where the owner Raoul maintains 30+ hummingbird feeders, attracting hundreds of these splendid birds. Most common were White-necked Jacobin, Brown Violetear, White-booted Racquet-tail, Steely-vented Hummingbird, Andean Emerald and Crowned Woodnymph, amongst which we found a few Speckled Hummingbirds, Long-tailed Sylph and Fawn-breasted Brilliant!

We had to leave very early the next morning to visit the lowlands near the isolated village of San Cipriano. To get there we first had to drive all the way down the west slope of the Western Cordillera to the hamlet of Cordoba. From there, the only way to reach San Cipriano is to use a little artisanal wagon called a ‘brujita’, pushed by a motorcycle on an abandoned railway! After a 20-minute ride, definitely a unique experience, we arrived in San Cipriano and started birding and quickly found a Hook-billed Kite, then a Semiplumbeous Hawk, Golden-headed and Plain-colored Tanager and Gray-breasted Martin while we were still in the village!

Once in the forest, we found several species typical of this elevation (below 300 feet) such as Chestnut-backed and Stub-tailed Antbird, White-tailed Trogon, Black-breasted Puffbird, White-ringed Flycatcher, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, the rare Pacific Flatbill, Checker-throated Stipplethroat, Rufous and Broad-billed Motmots, Collared Aracari, Velvety Manakin and numerous Tawny-crested Tanagers! After a succulent lunch of fried Red Snapper, some light rain indicated it was time for us to head back towards the railway, take a ‘brujita’ back to Cordoba and drive back to our wonderful Lodge.

We also spent almost a full day at Doña Dora restaurant (where we had breakfast and lunch) and along the upper Anchicaya road. This is a lovely place attracting lots of tanagers and hummingbirds to feeders and even boasts an active nest of Toucan Barbets in the garden! What a treat to admire the pair of this colorful species coming to feed their large chick! Other great birds seen at the feeders included Choco Brushfinch, Glistening-green and Silver-throated Tanagers, White-lined Tanager, Empress Brilliant, White-whiskered Hermit and Orange-bellied Euphonia.

Along the road we also had great views of Masked Trogon, Black-billed Peppershrike, Barred Hawk, Ornate Flycatcher, Long-tailed Tyrant and Buff-rumped Warbler. We even had a decent view, for a tapaculo, of Choco Tapaculo. And on our way out, we stopped for a Laughing Falcon perched for a while on the roadside, offering excellent photographic opportunities. 

For our last morning, we visited La Florida, another feeding station attracting dozens of tanagers and hummingbirds, allowing amazing views and photographic opportunities! We enjoyed seeing again beautiful birds such as Red-headed Barbet, a pair of Multicolored Tanagers, Golden Tanager, Acorn Woodpecker, Sickle-winged Guans and more.  

The hummingbird feeders were particularly active and we could even feed by hand the sparkling White-booted Racket-tails, Greenish Pufflegs, Long-tailed Sylphs, Bronzy Incas, Fawn-breasted Brilliants and Purple-throated Woodstars! A pair of Chestnut Wood-Quail gave a great show, coming for some grain and posing very well for photos! And just as we were preparing to leave, a male Barred Becard landed in a hedge just a few meters from us. We ended the tour with another wonderful lunch at Araucana Lodge, definitely one of the most beautiful and friendly lodges in Colombia, and one last session at their amazing feeders attracting great numbers of tanagers and hummingbirds, and even a striking Golden-olive Woodpecker!

 -       Fabrice Schmitt