Colombia Birding Trip 2018

Birding Colombia has been on our minds for quite some time. After all, the country boasts the biggest avian population in the world! And we could not think of a better place to start our new much-anticipated adventure than the fabled mountain peaks of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the mythical land packed with fairy-tale endemics. Santa Marta mountains had been the last stronghold for the violent paramilitary groups but since they voluntarily disarmed as part of a peace negotiation in 2006, the area was transformed into a thriving ecotourism capital. As if that wasn't enough to convince us, it's less than five hours by plane from New York City. We certainly couldn't think of a place better suited for us!

NOVEMBER 16, 2018 calm before the storm

It snowed a bit a day before in New York but luckily, there was no delay to our direct flight to Cartagena, Colombia. Sleepy eyed, we arrived at John F. Kennedy airport a little before 5am anxiously waiting for our new adventure to begin.

Noel waiting at JFK John F Kennedy International Airport

Two on-flight movies and a breakfast later, we arrived at sunny sizzling Cartagena around 12:30pm.

Rafael Núñez International Airport

Surprisingly, there was a long line at the immigration but we passed through with no issues. Our first order of business was to get cash in Colombian Pesos. We booked all our hotels, transportation and guiding services online prior to our trip but almost none of them took credit card so unfortunately, we had to carry cash. Based on my pre-trip research, the best way to get cash in Colombia was to withdraw from ATM using a debit card. You still pay $10 or so service fee per transaction but you get the most current exchange rate so it is still far better than using those foreign currency exchange kiosks where exchange rates are usually horrible. We then went to AVIS to pick up our rental car and were off to the city of Barranquilla about two and a half hours away. Roads to Barranquilla were well-paved, well-maintained, well-marked, uncongested and somewhat expensive (paid three tolls totaling about $10 USD). We got to our first hotel, Hampton Inn by Hilton, in Barranquilla around 5pm. Tonight is the first and the last night to stay at comfortable American style hotel. With all the amenities and wonderful breakfast, we could not believe this hotel costed us mere $40 a night. Exhausted from all the traveling, we were sound asleep by 9pm.

Day 1 total species counter: 7

Black Vulture, Brown Pelican, Groove-billed Ani, Rock Pigeon, Snowy Egret, Turkey Vulture, Yellow-headed Caracara

NOVEMBER 17, 2018 baked in the sun, car accident, running out of gas. help!!!

Birding trip is no ordinary vacation. We got up at 4:30am to leave the hotel by 5am in order to get to a meeting spot (a gas station) by 6am with our first bird guide. All guide services along the coast for the first three days were arranged through Angel Ortiz of Tayrona Birding for about $65 per day. For navigation, we used Sygic GPS, a free app with offline navigation capability. Always a well-prepared traveler I am, I had saved GPS coordinates of all the places we had planned to visit so driving was pretty straightforward. However, as good as the navigation app was, it sometimes got a little confused around towns so we wasted a bit of time just driving in circles in Barranquilla but managed to get to the meeting spot by 6:10am. As soon as we arrived, our guide, Omar Gutierrez, greeted us with a big smile. He was really pleasant, professional and extremely knowledgeable of the area birds as he grew up in this area. He spoke almost no English but knew all the bird names in English and that was all we needed. We head straight to the famous KM 4 Road to kick start our twelve days of non-stop birding. Km 4 Road runs through a vast shrubby wet farm land and this rather ordinary farm road is well-known because it is the only location to reliably spot a Northern Screamer. Habitat for Northern Screamers is confined to the lowlands of northern Colombia and extreme northwestern Venezuela. Originally, we planned to visit Isla de Salamanca National Park nearby afterwards to look for the endemic Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird once we spot a Screamer at the Km 4 Road. We walked for miles for five straight hours in this endless flat land with virtually no protection from the scorching sun searching for a Screamer. Without knowing the condition, we didn't bring enough fluids to keep us hydrated. Well, us birders are crazy and stupid when it comes to seeing a bird. We didn't want to waste our precious birding time getting back to a car to grab a drink so made a choice to continue on with our suffering. Later, we found out the temperature on the day was 90 degrees with 75% humidity which made the real feel temperature to be 109 degrees, pretty darn hot. We knew that poor Omar tried really hard to find us a screamer but today just wasn't our day. Despite missing the Screamer, we saw a plethora of exciting birds there and were all smiles at the end.

Omar & Noel Km 4 Road Km 4 Road Turkey Vulture Tropical Kingbird Ruddy Ground-Dove Common Ground-Dove Great Egret Ringed Kingfisher Stripe-backed Wren Rusty-margined Flycatcher Limpkin Russet-throated Puffbird Striated Heron Dwarf Cuckoo Southern Lapwing Wattled Jacana Wattled Jacana Juvenile Scaled Dove Cattle Egret Black Vultures Osprey Groove-billed Ani Large-billed Tern Common Nighthawk Common Gallinule Purple Gallinule Pied Water-Tyrant Snail Kite Juvenile Grey Kingbird Bare-faced Ibis Pearl Kite Crested Caracara Yellow-headed Caracara Cocoi Heron Cattle Tyrant Spot-breasted WP

We then had a long three-hour+ drive to get to our next hotel in the small village town of Camarones about two hours west of Venezuelan border. To stock up on our food/drink supply, we stopped at a roadside supermarket. While backing up to leave the market's parking lot, we noticed that our rental car started to make loud beeping noise. We figured it was to signal us of car going in reverse, then it hit something...big...someone's motorbike... Uh ah... The loud beeping noise was to warn us of an object behind the car! Now everyone was staring at us and from nowhere the owner of the bike showed up. He inspected the bike and found that the front plastic wind screen was broken. The owner told us that he wanted to go to a police station. Oh great... Two non-Spanish speaking tourists going to a police station wouldn't end well. Then another guy who witnessed the event somehow convinced the owner just to get the money to fix it. Surely that's a far better option than going to a police station but the bigger question was how much!? The owner then told us he wanted 30,000 pesos! Oh my god, 30,000 pesos!!! Wait a minute, that's like about $10 USD. Really? $10 would not pay for my bicycle bell in Brooklyn. We happily handed the guy $10 and drove off. I do want to say one thing though that who parks a motorcycle a few inches behind a parked car!
Anyways, we survived our first (and hopefully the last) car accident and continued on with our drive east. As we got closer to our destination, we noticed that hundreds of small roadside stores all selling bottles of varying sizes filled with mysterious yellow liquid. My silly initial reaction was 'pee bottles'??? But then what in the world would anyone sell pee in a bottle so I interpreted as some local drink, not knowing this assumption would cost us dearly later. Before getting to our final destination, we said we should get some gasoline as we realized we had not seen a gas station in a while. We finally saw one but it was closed. We drove some more and saw another that seemed to be open. Thank goodness, we pulled in and the attendant told us that they had no gas. That was not good at all. Our destination is a small village so highly unlikely to have a gas station. Luckily we had enough gas to make it to our hotel in Camarones. As soon as checking in, we asked the front desk staff where we could get gas. He told us to go to 'La Playa' (beach area). We then asked him where we could get dinner. He told us 'La Playa'. So we figured this 'La Playa' area must be the busy town center with many shops. We drove to 'La Playa' about 5 minutes away and saw one restaurant (if you could call that a restaurant).

Restaurant at La Playa Restaurant at La Playa

We asked around for a gas station but, of course, there was no gas station. We had our dinner at the beach then drove back to the hotel all stressed out. Sent from heaven, our bird guide, Juan Uriana, for tomorrow was waiting for us at the hotel. He explained to us that something happened to the gas supply line in Venezuela and gas stations won't have any gas until after the weekend. Oh great! However, he told us he could get us gas tomorrow morning. Good thinking that we stayed at a hotel where we were told to meet our guide so he could find us. The hotel was very basic but the room was clean and had working AC and hot shower. You wouldn't believe how much it was to stay at Hotel Jiisot in Camarones. $19! It was Saturday night and the whole town was celebrating a mayoral candidate winning the election. Even with our ear plugs, we could hear the music from the party well into the next morning. We sure would not vote for this mayor as he was such a party animal. Despite the noise, we did sleep pretty well, dreaming of more birds to see...

Town of Camarones Hotel Jiisot Hotel Jiisot Room

Day 2 total species counter: 69, lifer counter: 14

Amazon Kingfisher, Baltimore Oriole,Bare-faced Ibis, Barn Swallow, Bicolored Wren, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Black-necked Stilt, Blue-winged Teal, Brown-throated Parakeet, Buff-throated Saltator, Cattle Tyrant, Cocoi Heron, Common Gallinule, Common Ground-Dove, Common Nighthawk, Crested Caracara, Dwarf Cuckoo, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Gray Kingbird, Great Egret, Great Kiskadee, Great-tailed Grackle, Greater Yellowlegs, Green Heron, Green Kingfisher, House Wren, Large-billed Tern, Least Grebe, Limpkin, Little Blue Heron, Magnificent Frigatebird, Neotropic Cormorant, Osprey, Pearl Kite, Pied Water-Tyrant, Prothonotary Warbler, Purple Gallinule, Red-breasted Blackbird, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Ringed Kingfisher, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Russet-throated Puffbird, Rusty-margined Flycatcher, Scaled Dove, Shiny Cowbird, Snail Kite, Solitary Sandpiper, Southern Lapwing, Spot-breasted Woodpecker,Spotted Sandpiper, Striated Heron, Stripe-backed Wren, Tricolored Heron, Tropical Kingbird, Wattled Jacana, White-collared Swift, White-tipped Dove, Yellow Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-hooded Blackbird

NOVEMBER 18, 2018 contraband gas and most dangerous parking ever

Juan met us at the lobby at 6am. For once, our first order of business was to get gas rather than to bird. Juan asked me to drive and we noticed he was kinda looking around. Hmmm? He then carefully inspected one particular house and said no gas. Totally confused and frustrated, we asked Juan what he meant. Then we saw some men come out of the house with two large gas tanks. We finally understood what was happening. This is how people buy gas in this part of Colombia. I had to move the car to angle so the gas can be poured without a pump. Surprisingly, the gas ended up being slightly less expensive than getting it from a gas station. Then the light bulb lit up in our slow heads: they were not selling 'pee' bottles, idiot, they were all selling contraband gasoline from Venezuela! We drove through many military/police checkpoints although we never got stopped. Juan told us they were not checking people but contraband including gas, liquor, and cigarettes coming from Venezuela.

Our Gas Station? Pumping Gas Colombian Style

Finally, we got the gas business taken care of, we were eager to bird. Our first stop was the renowned Tocuyo Sparrow Road. As the name suggests, this road used to be a hot spot to catch a sight of hard-to-see regional endemic sparrow, Tocuyo Sparrow. They are only seen in very restricted areas in north eastern Colombia and north western Venezuela. Although we did not see the sparrow here but saw other stunningly beautiful regional endemic species such as Vermilion Cardinals, Glaucous Tanagers, Slender-billed Inezia, and Chestnut Piculets.

Glaucous Tanager Grey Kingbird Greyish Saltator Rufous-vented Chachalaca Pearly-vented Pygmy-Tyrant Vermilion Cardinal Vermilion Cardinal White-whiskered Spinetail Slender-billed Inezia Brown-throated Parakeet Chestnut Piculet

Satisfied with our regional endemic sightings at Tocuyo Sparrow Road, we were ready to move on. Juan asked us if we wanted to see Double-striped Thick-Knees. They are not hard to see like the endemics we saw earlier but we somehow managed to miss the sighting of this funny looking creature so we immediately jumped on the opportunity. We drove for about 10 minutes west on Route 90 and stopped at a farming field. Juan quickly spotted a pair of Thick-Knees about 100 yards away. They were quite a distance away but we were very excited to finally observe this long-sought species.

Double-striped Thick-Knee

Now it was time for the main attraction of the day. We drove west for good 20 minutes past Camarones and pulled into an unsuspecting side road. We didn't wait long before a gorgeous Tocuyo Sparrow flew into our view, perched on one of the branches for a few seconds then flew away. Oh wow. Not all sparrows are created equal and this one sure was a knockout.

Tocuyo Sparrow

Juan then took us to walk on a trail in Los Flamencos Preserve where we saw a delightful White-fringed Antwren. We also met Juan's father herding goats. Our amazing tour ended by the ocean watching a flock of Green-rumped Parrotlets. We thanked Juan for the amazing bird tour and especially for his help with the gas situation. He really went above and beyond to make sure our stay in Camarones was comfortable and fun.

Los Flamencos Los Flamencos Turkey Vulture Tropical Gnatcatcher Black-faced Grassquit White-fringed Antwren White-whiskered Spinetail Buffy Hummingbird Red-crowned Woodpecker Pearl Kite Scaled Dove Green-rumped Parrotlets Juan & Jun Noel & Juan

In the afternoon, we decided to bird the Tocuyo Sparrow Road again on our own. Despite our high expectations, we hardly saw any birds beside a lone always-entertaining Pearly-vented Pygmy-Tyrant.

Pearly-vented Pygmy-Tyrant Great-tailed Grackle

So we went to check out easier-to-spot shorebirds. We saw a Reddish Egret (White Morph) dancing in the distance so drove our car to get a closer look. Unfortunately, these two senseless birders didn't realize how muddy and slick the ground was. Now, our car got stuck in the mud and a group of young Colombians had to come help us push the car out of harm's way.

Scarlet Ibis Black-necked Stilts Brown Pelican Reddish Egret Los Flamencos beach where our car got stuck Our rental car

Our stay in Camarones was action packed, to say the least. It was time for us to say good-bye and head for our next destination, Tayrona National Park. After uneventful drive, our GPS indicated that we had arrived at the hotel, Tayrona's Angel Lodge. Well, we saw someone's house and that was it. We drove around the area back and forth for numerous times but didn't see our hotel. Finally we decided to ask at the information desk at the Tayrona National Park. No one there seemed to know the hotel either so they called the hotel for us and finally spoke to someone. They said that it was a very new hotel and the hotel was located on top of the hill. So we went back to the original location indicated by GPS and saw this incredibly steep, impossibly muddy rough road going up next to the house we saw. We were certain that our little rental car wouldn't be able to make it up to the top so really didn't know what to do. Shortly after, a caretaker of the hotel came out and told us to drive up the hill. Seriously? After 30 scary skidding and sliding minutes of "trying" to go up the hill, the car couldn't make it to the top. The caretaker then started to fix the road with big rocks and tree branches and we finally made it up. One thing we were sure was that we were definitely not doing this again. The staff was very nice and the hotel was nice enough but we would definitely not stay here again. We met the owner and he explained to us that someone was supposed to come tomorrow to fix the driveway. Also, he was planning to put up a sign (they have absolutely no sign anywhere) and also to fix WIFI (we had no WIFI though the booking site said they would). We understood the situation but we felt that he should have informed us of the condition prior to us coming here.

Unfixed Driveway Fixed Driveway Tayrona's Angel Lodge

Day 3 total species counter: 97, lifer counter: 28

Bare-eyed Pigeon, Black-crested Antshrike,Black-faced Grassquit, Buffy Hummingbird, Chestnut Piculet, Double-striped Thick-knee, Glaucous Tanager, Grayish Saltator, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Merlin, Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant, Red-billed Emerald, Reddish Egret, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Savanna Hawk, Scarlet Ibis, Shining-green Hummingbird, Slender-billed Tyrannulet, Tocuyo Sparrow, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Tropical Mockingbird, Vermilion Cardinal, Vermilion Flycatcher, White Ibis, White-bellied Antbird, White-fringed Antwren, White-whiskered Spinetail

NOVEMBER 19, 2018 our little dancing stars

We were fairly nervous about going down the hill in the dark but managed to do it in one try. At 6am at the entrance to the Tayrona National Park, we finally met 'the man' who arranged all guiding services for us up to this point. Angel was our first (and only) English-speaking guide of the trip. He was very responsible, helpful and organized and I highly recommend using his service if you are visiting the area. You can contact him at his company's website.

Noel, Angel, Jun Tayrona National Park Tayrona National Park Tayrona National Park

The main attraction of the park was Blue-billed Curassow but we knew we needed to be darn lucky to see this highly elusive bird. However, it didn't take us long to forget about the Curassow as we were soon overwhelmed seeing the flood of unusual jungle creatures. The coolest part of the day came when Angel took us to a Lance-tailed Manakin lek. A lek is where courtship display takes place and we finally got to observe the infamous Lance-tailed Manakin courtship dance!!! Their courtship dance involves two males, one leader who always mates with a female and another helper usually a younger male who never does. So why would the helper participate? Well, the helper is next in line should anything happen to the leader. Perhaps, the helper is always hoping some bad fortune would fall on his leader ending his life. we couldn't take a video as the lek was in thick understory but here is a you tube video you can check out.

Gray-necked Wood-Rail White-bearded Manakin Grey-headed Tanager Common Blackhawk Trinidad Euphonia Trinidad Euphonia Female White-tipped Dove Cotton-top Tamarin Rufous-tailed Jacamar Keel-billed Toucan Straight-billed Woodcreeper Blue-headed Parrot Crested Oropendora Crimson-created Woodpecker White-fronted Capuchin

Despite its high price tag (entrance fee is approx $19 USD per person), Tayrona Park is one of the most popular tourists' destinations so by midday the park was packed with people and that was our cue to split. We thanked Angel for all his help and he was kind enough to say to contact him should anything ever happens to us during our stay in Colombia. Angel told us that no one was able to visit the park up till about seven years ago as the park was used by Narcos to grow cocaine. Tayrona Park truly symbolizes the positive change this country had made in the past decade. We drove to AVIS in El Rodadero near Santa Marta to return our car. We had arranged with the next hotel to pick us up at AVIS. This is the beginning of our journey into Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the fabled high peaks, home to mythical Santa Marta endemics!!! Our taxi (for $30 USD) took us to absolutely lovely Hotel Minca La Casona. If you are ever to visit this adorable little town, Minca, you've got to stay at Hotel Minca with its lovely old colonial decor. It had amazing hummingbird feeders, great service, spanking clean rooms, wonderful breakfast, all of that for a mere $50 a night. This night, we experienced our first rain which didn't matter to us as we were being transported. Listening to raindrops, we spent the late afternoon watching beautiful hummingbirds at their feeders. We were in a mood for a typical Colombian plate for dinner. As strange as it sounds, we couldn't find a restaurant in Minca which served Colombian food. We actually walked into a restaurant, Restaurante Tagua Bar and asked for a local dish which wasn't on the menu and we hit the jackpot. The dish came with a soup, an entrée and a drink for $5 per person and it was sublime. We noticed that a local policeman next to us was eating the same dish as us while all the tourists were eating sandwiches and hamburgers from the menu. With full stomach, we could not wait for Minca birding adventure to begin.

Hotel Minca Hotel Minca Hummingbird Feeders Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Steely-vented Hummingbird White-necked Jacobin White-vented Plumeleteer Restaurant Tagua Bar

Day 4 total species counter: 125, lifer counter: 34

Blackpoll Warbler, Blue-gray Tanager,Blue-headed Parrot, Buff-breasted Wren, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Crested Oropendola, Crimson-backed Tanager, Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Gray-headed Tanager, Gray-necked Wood-Rail, Hook-billed Kite, Lance-tailed Manakin, Long-billed Gnatwren, Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern Waterthrush, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, Palm Tanager, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Squirrel Cuckoo, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Streaked Flycatcher, Thick-billed Euphonia, Trinidad Euphonia, Western Slaty-Antshrike, White-bearded Manakin, White-chinned Sapphire, White-necked Puffbird

NOVEMBER 20, 2018 meeting Cristian

Minca is a charming small village with the population of about 800 people. The village is nestled at the base of great Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, sitting at the elevation of about 2,000 feet. At about 70 degrees, Minca provided us much needed relief from the sweltering heat of northern coast we had been experiencing. At 6am at Hotel Minca parking lot, we met our new bird guide, Cristian Manrique-Pinzon. Like Angel, Cristian was referred by someone from Fundación ProAves. ProAves is a leading environmental conservation group in Colombia and had established a few reserves around Colombia to protect habitat critical to many endangered species, one of which we were visiting later on this trip. Although Cristian spoke only a little bit of English, we felt instance connection to him, perhaps it was his mellow easy-going personality, perhaps it was his genuine love for birds, we didn't know but we both took an instant liking to him. Like all other guides, Cristian was an incredible birder with sharp eyes and great ears. We walked up the Cienega-Minca road packed with birds all the way up to Pozo Azúl (Waterfall), a popular tourist destination. Then Cristian and us looked at each other and said 'Nah'. We both knew the trail to waterfall would be overflowing with people but empty with birds. On our way down, Cristian told us to stop and wait while he run into the bush and disappeared? A bathroom break? He came out in a minute and gestured us to follow him. At the end of a dead tree trunk was a wonderful Common Potoo sleeping peacefully (well, this bird is nocturnal so he sleeps through the day, hunt at night). Cristian told us that this was *his* Potoo and we keep the location hush, hush. Our lips are sealed!

Panama Flycatcher Boat-billed Flycatcher Carib Grackle Buff-throated Saltator Great Kiskadee Olivaceous Flatbill Orchard Oriole Whopping Motmot Coopmans' Tyrannulet Keel-billed Toucan Golden-winged Sparrow Plain-tailed Wren Tropical Kingbird Social Flycatcher Bicolored Wren Masked Tityra Red-billed Parrot Scaled Piculet Gray-lined Hawk Juv Common Potoo Orange-chinned Parakeet Black-and-white Owl Red-crowned Woodpecker

On our way back to the hotel for midday break, we grabbed a few Papas Rellenas (fried potato balls filled with chicken, egg or beef) from a street food stand. Oh my god, they were so good and it costs only 2,000 pesos each (about 70 cent). Usually, bird activity is very slow between the hours of 11am and 3pm so we spent time watching hummingbirds at the feeders. Noel even found time to get a haircut at a local barber for $4. Critian later told Noel that he usually paid $3 for his haircut at the same barber so Noel got the *gringo* price.

White-necked Jacobin Jun, Cristian & Noel Minca Noel getting haircut One of many stray dogs

We met with Crisitian again at 3pm. This time, we went birding away from the town of Minca and saw a whole different set of birds. The highlight of late afternoon birding was seeing a sparrow-sized Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. By the time we got back to our hotel, we were starving and guess where we ate? The same restaurant we went last night and guess who else had the same idea? The policeman we saw a night before. We were absolutely loving our time in Minca!

Rufous-capped Warbler Clay-colored Thrush Pale-breasted Thrush Oropendora Nests Crimson-backed Tanager Blue-headed Parrot Blue-gray Tanager Long-billed Starthroat Yellow-bellied Elaenia Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Day 5 total species counter: 175, lifer counter: 45

American Redstart, Band-rumped Swift,Bay-headed Tanager, Black Phoebe, Black-and-white Owl, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-chested Jay, Black-headed Tanager, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Bright-rumped Attila, Carib Grackle, Cinereous Becard, Clay-colored Thrush, Common Potoo, Coopmans's Tyrannulet, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Golden-winged Sparrow, Gray-lined Hawk, Keel-billed Toucan, Long-billed Starthroat, Masked Tityra, Olivaceous Flatbill, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Orange-crowned Oriole, Pale-breasted Thrush, Pale-eyed Thrush, Panama Flycatcher, Plain Xenops, Plain-brown Woodcreeper, Plain-tailed Wren, Red-billed Parrot, Red-eyed Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Rufous-and-white Wren, Rufous-capped Warbler, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Scaled Piculet, Social Flycatcher, Steely-vented Hummingbird, Streaked Saltator, Streak-headed Woodcreeper, Summer Tanager, Tropical Parula, Tropical Pewee, White-lined Tanager, White-necked Jacobin, White-vented Plumeleteer, Whooping Motmot, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Yellow-bellied Seedeater

NOVEMBER 21, 2018 ‎the road to El Dorado

Today was our first day to possibly catch a sight of Santa Marta endemics. Thousands of birders from all over the world flock to this region because the area holds 23 bird species seen nowhere else in the world (Santa Marta endemics). We could hardly contain our excitement thinking about our endemic-packed adventure ahead! We would be spending next four nights at legendary El Dorado Lodge operated by ProAves. Like all other lodges run by conservation groups, it is not inexpensive to stay here ($250 per night including all meals for two), but it is money well spent, knowing that the proceeds would be used to save the birds in the area. At 6,400 feet above sea level, the lodge can only be reached by a high clearance 4WD vehicle so we hired a driver and a car for the next two days for 200,000 pesos ($65 USD) a day. We were told it takes over two and half hours to drive there from Minca. Cristian's game plan was to bird while driving up to catch endemics at different elevations. We met our driver and Cristian at 6am at Hotel Minca then our journey to El Dorado began. Our first endemic was an adorable little wood wren fittingly called, Santa Marta Wood Wren. Shortly after, we saw another charming yet very elusive endemic, Santa Marta Antbird. It took us over 20 minutes to get a glimpse of this bird. However, without a doubt, the hardest one was Santa Marta Tapaculo. First time we heard it, we searched and searched but didn't see it. We heard it again at different spot then we finally saw it for a second or two. Another very special endemic we saw was Santa Marta Woodstar about quarter mile away on top of a very tall tree. Mind you this hummingbird is about 3 inches tall! We did see a lovely Santa Marta Foliage-Gleaner a few times but it too never let us look at it for more than a second at a time. Well no one said endemics birding was easy but we all can agree on one thing: they are worth it!

White-lined Tanager Rosy Thrush-Tanager Collared Aracari Yellow-bellied Seedeater Female Cinerous Becard Gartered Trogon Squirrel Cuckoo Santa Marta Wood Wren Rusty-breasted Antpitta Barred Antshrike Santa Marta Antbird

We finally reached the lodge around noon and once for all, we met an endemic bird that was easy to see. Meet Santa Marta Brush-Finch. They were everywhere we looked. After a delicious lunch at the lodge, we birded around the lodge for the rest of the afternoon when it wasn't foggy. The time had come for us to say good-bye to Cristian and we were sad that we wouldn't see him again. Then he told us the good news that he would be back at the lodge guiding a group of British birders in three days. We had an early start tomorrow to climb to the fabled San Lorenzo ridge so we were fast asleep by 8pm.

Santa Marta Brush Finch Black-chested Jay El Dorado Lodge El Dorado Lodge El Dorado Lodge El Dorado Lodge El Dorado Lodge Buff-throated Saltator Blue-naped Chlorophonia Slate-throated Redstart Blackburnian Warbler Black-capped Tanager Band-tailed Guan

Day 6 total species counter: 207, lifer counter: 61, Santa Marta endemics counter: 8

Band-tailed Guan, Bangs' Wood-Wren, Barred Antshrike, Black-capped Tanager, Blackburnian Warbler, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, Broad-winged Hawk, Brown Violetear, Collared Aracari, Coppery Emerald, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Gartered Trogon, Crowned Woodnymph, Lauline Sabrewing, Lesser Violetear, Lined Quail-Dove, Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Rufous-breasted Hermit, Rufous-breasted Wren, Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Santa Marta Antbird, Santa Marta Brushfinch, Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner, Santa Marta Tapaculo, Santa Marta Woodstar, Sierra Nevada Brushfinch, Slate-throated Redstart, Sparkling Violetear, Swallow Tanager, Tennessee Warbler, Tyrian Metaltail, White-lored Warbler

NOVEMBER 22, 2018 found nirvana in San Lorenzo...

Our alarm went off at 4am this morning and it was time to get up and get ready. We were meeting our new bird guide, Eudes, and our driver at 4:30am to drive to the summit at over 9,000 feet. There are quite a few endemics that only inhabit the high elevation zone and today was the day to finally meet them. Eudes works at El Dorado Lodge alongside his lovely wife, Alexandra. Eudes is aspiring/studying to be a bird guide. We were allowed to use his service compliment to our stay at the lodge. After a good one and a half hours of seriously rough ride, we finally reached the top. As soon as we got off the car, we were bombarded by all the endemics we had been dreaming of seeing. I mean they were just all around us in immense numbers. There were a group of flamboyant Santa Marta Mountain-Tanagers casually foraging on a tree next to us while fidgety Yellow-crowned Whitestarts flitted into a bush nearby. While all that was going on, a Brown-rumped Tapaculo was singing his heart out right at our feet... Oh wait, were those Streak-capped Spinetails on that branch? Oh yeah, with some Rusty-headed Spinetails. It's official that we came to birders' nirvana! Everything happened then up to 9am all went by in a blur.

Yellow-crowned Whitestart Santa Marta Mountain-Tanager Santa Marta Warbler White-tailed Starthroat Female Santa Marta Brush Finch Streak-capped Spinetail Great Thrush

By 9am, bird activity seemed to have slowed down a little so we chowed down on breakfast prepared by the wonderful chefs of El Dorado Lodge and as quickly as we could, we jumped right back on the trail for more birds.

Breakfast time Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Eudes then took us to the fenced area belonging to the lodge with an observation tower. From the tower, we got good views of a Scaly-naped Parrot, a Scarlet-fronted Parakeet as well as a perhaps migrating Merlin eating his meal.

El Dorado Reserve Observation Tower Scaly-naped Parrot Scarlet-fronted Parakeet Merlin Paramo Seedeater

We spent another few hours around the San Lorenzo ridge. We were like two kids in a candy shop. We just couldn't be happier surrounded by all the Santa Marta endemics. So you could imagine our disappointment when Eudes told us that we needed to head back to the lodge... He sweetened the deal saying that we would be making many birding stops as we descends.

Great Thrush chick Montane Woodcreeper Plushcap Black-throated Tody-Tyrant

We got back to the lodge around 2pm and had late lunch. After lunch, Alexandra (who is in charge of guest relations) asked us if we would like to go to the summit again tomorrow in which case, we needed to ask our driver to stay for additional day for $65. It was a quick 'Yes' for us. Another day with our favorite endemics, woo hoo! We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out birds around the lodge. Around 4pm, we went out to look for a White-tipped Quetzal and guess who helped us find it? Our driver who really speaks no English. He said that he had been driving birders in this area for over ten years and learned where all the birds were. After a bit of searching, we saw a beautiful male perched on a branch 100 feet up in the air.

Green Violetear White-lored Warbler Crowned Woodnymph Black-capped Tanager Blackburnian Warbler

The lodge is also known for a very special nocturnal endemic, Santa Marta Screech-Owl. After dinner, Eudes took us for owling. As a bonus, he first showed us a Kinkajou up in a tree, funny little creature it was. We walked for about 10 minutes, played back the sound and waited. After 20 minutes or so, the owl came really close to us but it wasn't yet close enough to see it so we had to call it a night.

Kinkajou

Day 7 total species counter: 230, lifer counter: 74, Santa Marta endemics counter: 14

Band-tailed Pigeon, Black Flowerpiercer, Black-cheeked Mountain-Tanager, Black-throated Tody-Tyrant, Blue-and-white Swallow, Blue-capped Tanager, Golden Grosbeak, Great Thrush, Masked Trogon, Merlin, Montane Woodcreeper, Mountain Velvetbreast, Paramo Seedeater, Plushcap, Rusty-headed Spinetail, Santa Marta Warbler, Scaly-naped Parrot, Scarlet-fronted Parakeet, Streak-capped Spinetail, White-tailed Starfrontlet, White-throated Tyrannulet, White-tipped Quetzal, Yellow-crowned Redstart

NOVEMBER 23, 2018 another chance at San Lorenzo

Our alarm woke us up at 3:50am and we were on our way to the summit, but this time, at 4:20am. Yesterday, we were so overwhelmed that we didn't know our left from right so hopefully, we could stay calm and collected and be more strategic today with our search for the endemics. Specifically, our focus today was to get good looks at Santa Marta Parakeets, Brown-rumped Tapaculo and Santa Marta Bush Tyrant. It started out exactly like yesterday. The place was overflowing with endemics when we got there. We enjoyed their company for a while then switch our focus to seeing the Parakeets.

Eudes on Observation Tower Sunrise at the San Lorenzo ridge

We saw the parakeets flying multiple times yesterday but never had a good look. Eudes heard parakeets nearby and told us to stand by a short tree and wait. Oh wow, there they came, noisy parakeets a few feet away from us. Moving onto our main tormentor, a Brown-rumped Tapaculo. Tapaculos love to sing and they definitely have an amazing voice but they hate to be seen. This miniature sized creature likes to stay on the forest floor under very thick vegetation, rarely (if ever) shows itself in any sort of clearing. We finally got a somewhat decent look at this little phantom singer when it flew from one side of the road to the other. Now the last endemic standing is Santa Marta Bush Tyrant. We spent the rest of the time at the ridge looking for this bird. Eudes took us to all the spots where a Bush Tyrant had been seen in the past but no cigar.

Santa Marta Parakeet Scarlet-fronted Parakeet Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant Brown-rumped Tapaculo Santa Marta Mountain-Tanager White-throated Tyrannulet Santa Marta Wood Wren Streak-capped Spinetail

Being at the San Lorenzo ridge was quite a surreal experience. We had a fortune of good weather but the place could be covered in fog in a second. We took a short video to show you how that happened. Check it out...

On our way down, we spotted another handsome endemic unexpectedly, Santa Marta Toucanet, which made us feel a little better about missing the Bush-Tyrant.

Santa Marta Toucanet Jun, Eudes, Noel Jun, our driver, Noel

As usual, we got back to the lodge around 2pm for lunch and spent afternoon exploring around the lodge.

White-tipped Dove White-lored Warbler Bangs Wood Wren Black-throated Tody-Tyrant Sierra Nevada Brush Finch Black-chested Jay Black-hooded Thrush

After dinner, we had to try for the owl again. This time, we even had two owls pretty close to us but failed to spot either one.

Day 8 total species counter: 243, lifer counter: 83, Santa Marta endemics counter: 19

Band-winged Nightjar ,Black-backed Thornbill, Black-hooded Thrush, Black-throated Green Warbler, Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Mourning Warbler, Rufous-collared Sparrow, Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Toucanet, Santa Marta Wood-Wren, Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant, Yellow-billed Cacique

our NOVEMBER 24, 2018 seeing eye to eye with Santa Marta Antpitta

Today we had conceivably the most important appointment of the trip. We were going up to the San Lorenzo Research Center run by ProAves to possibly meet a Santa Marta Antpitta. Any opportunity to see an antpitta, a holy grail of South American birding, is a real treat for any birder but this was an endemic antpitta! That was just excitement overload. First time since getting here, we had a sit-down breakfast at the lodge while enjoying the beautiful visitors at the feeders.

Golden-crowned Flycatcher Santa Marta Brush Finch White-sided Flowerpiecer Bay-headed Tanager Black-capped Tanager Blue-naped Chlorophpnia

Eudes had to take care of some business at the lodge today so we were going to visit the pitta by ourselves. A caretaker at the research center feeds the pitta worms daily at 9am. The research center is about an hour and a half by foot. We arrived at the research station well before pitta's feeding time. We introduced ourselves to the caretaker and he took us to the viewing spot. After about five minutes of him calling the pitta, it hopped up to grab those juicy worms. I got to tell you seeing pittas always makes my knees weak. We stood there in complete silence immensely enjoying the view while the pitta finished its meal and disappeared into its own world.

San Lorenzo Research Station Santa Marta Antpitta

Today's agenda besides seeing a pitta was to hike up to the San Lorenzo ridge as far as the time allowed, mainly to look for Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant but also to enjoy amazing endemics one last time. We had run into some great mixed flocks along the way and surprisingly, we got fairly close to the top of the ridge but after three days of tireless searching, still no Bush-Tyrant.

Santa Marta Brush-Finch Birder on a mission White-throated Tyrannulet Rusty-headed Spinetail Band-tailed Pigeon Montane Foliage-Gleaner

We now had to hurry back if we wanted to get lunch. We got back to the lodge after 2:30pm. Alexandra half-jokingly said that she was going to send out a search and rescue team for us. After all, we had been out birding for over eight straight hours, walking over eight miles. There was a nice surprise waiting for us at the lodge. Cristian was back with his British clients! Just between us, he even told us that he would come owling with us tonight. After dinner, three of us went out to look for the owl. A minute later, Critian came running after us with a mischievous smile on his face. He said good-night to his group then snuck out to come owling with us. We tried calling the owl at three different locations but it was a no-show again. Although we didn't see the owl, we had a great time running around in the dark jungle. Cristian did find us a few snakes though.

Snake

Day 9 total species counter: 252, lifer counter: 87, Santa Marta endemics counter: 20

Brown-capped Vireo, Common Tody-Flycatcher,Connecticut Warbler, Golden-crowned Flycatcher, Montane Foliage-gleaner, Paramo Seedeater, Santa Marta Antpitta, Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, White-sided Flowerpiercer

NOVEMBER 25, 2018 big bird banquet at El Dorado

Sadly, today was our last day at El Dorado. We were getting picked up to go to the next hotel located between El Dorado and Minca at 2pm. Our initial plan was to walk up the road to the San Lorenzo ridge again. Obviously we didn't have enough time to climb up too far but should be able to get to the elevation where we could see high altitude endemics. We ate our breakfast at 5:30am and I was waiting for Noel to get ready at the main building. Then I saw a male Masked Trogon sitting on a branch right next to the second floor balcony of the main lodge building. So I ran down to the room to get Noel. When we came back, the Trogon was gone. Then in the same tree, we saw a gorgeous Santa Marta Toucanet sitting idly. Toucanets are always difficult birds to see as they like to forage high up in the tree canopy so this was quite a big deal. While enjoying this spectacular view of the Toucanet almost at eye level from the second floor balcony, Eudes joined us. Then he said that he heard Quetzal. Hmmm, the near-endemic highly elusive Quetzal this close to the lodge? Sure... So we looked around and not only one but two were sitting on a tree right across from us. What surprised us most was that they were flycatching. Yep, you heard me. Two Quetzals were catching insects on the fly and eating them. Since they were so preoccupied with their hunt, they paid no attention to us whatsoever. We were just dumbfounded. Never seen anything like this. After half an hour or so of fly-catching, they flew back into the forest. We all just looked at each other and laughed (laughter of joy, of course). We needed some time to collect ourselves so we decided to rest by the feeder for a little bit. Now Eudes told us he heard Trogon... An endemic Toucanet, a near-endemic Quetzal, now a Trogon!? It is not just a Masked Trogon. The one in Santa Marta is a subspecies of Masked Trogon and only found in this region. What the heck is going on at the lodge today? We must have missed the party invitation. So we followed the sound and there they were, a male and a female sitting on a branch again at eye level. Guess what they were doing? Yep, you got that right, eating insects. Just like the Quetzals, they didn't mind us at all. In fact, the female in particular was so accommodating we could have touched her if we wanted to.

Santa Marta Toucanet White-tipped Quetzal White-tipped Quetzal Masked Trogon eating a bug Masked Trogon Male Masked Trogon Female

We only had a few hours left so we walked on the road by the lodge for a short while. Luck would have it, we bumped into one really nice mixed flock and saw a few stunning Golden-breasted Fruiteaters. Why must the Fruiteaters always pick the highest tree to forage though!? We had our final lunch at the lodge and said good-bye to everyone. Our stay at El Dorado was four nights five days but the time had gone by in a flash. Really wished we had more time...

El Dorado Golden-crowned Flycatcher Blackburnian Warbler White-sided Flowerpiecer Santa Marta Brush Finch White-collared Swift Black=throated Tody-Tyrant Cocoa Woodcreeper Montane Woodcreeper Montane Foliage-Gleaner Red Howler Jun, Eudes & Noel

Meet Fidel. He was a driver sent by the next hotel to transport us for $55 and was the first bombastic Colombian we met. His truck already came loaded with two and a half passengers (a lovely indigenous couple and a newborn baby) which we didn't dare question. As soon as we got in a car, he told us that he was a tour operator / bird guide / driver and told us that he would find us some birds. We appreciated his offer; however, he was driving down treacherous mountain roads (at twice the speed of our previous driver) with his head hanging out the window looking for birds. He then abruptly stopped his car at a roadside grocery store, spoke to the store owner, told us to sit at a table by the flowering bush and we waited for the Santa Marta Woodstar. We were more than excited at the prospect of seeing a Woodstar up close. Only time we saw this little guy (literally), he looked like a tiny dot in the sky as it was so far away from us. Fidel told us that it should come in five to ten minutes. So we waited. Fifteen minutes had past, no woodstar... Thirty minutes had passed, no woodstar... Finally, Fidel came to talk to us probably to tell us that perhaps today wasn't the day. So we all took our eyes off from the bush and immediately, a glittering male Santa Marta Woodstar flew in. Oh he sure took all our breaths away, all right. Besides his stunning good-looks, what was very special about him was that he flew silently. I know that sounds bizarre as all hummingbirds usually make buzzing noises (like bees) when they fly. Well, not this one: this bird flew completely in tiny stealth mode. Things didn't exactly go as told by Fidel but we got to see the Woodstar and really glad that we waited for our only close encounter with this little jewel of Santa Marta.

Santa Marta Woodstar

Fidel dropped us at our hotel, Miradores Del Oso Perezoso, in El Campano. We picked this hotel for one reason: location. The hotel is located in between El Dorado and Minca and sits at the elevation of about 4,000 feet (6,500 at El Dorado, 2,000 at Minca), ideal location to look for species who prefer middle elevation. In fact, Cristian took us to this area when we were driving up to El Dorado to see our first endemic not inhabited at El Dorado and higher. The hotel was brand new and had interesting tree-house like rooms. The view from the room was spectacular and we saw many beautiful birds at arm's reach right on our roomy balcony but that's where all positives ended. The idea of a tree house was nice but wasn't exactly practical. At dusk, a swarm of mosquitoes infiltrated our room through the cracks and attacked us mercilessly. It got so bad that we had to stay under the sheets the whole time until it got cooler and then they disappeared. We were supposed to get a room with a private bathroom but got a shared bathroom instead. On the bright side, no one else was staying there so it was a private bathroom after all. Due to the elevation, it got chilly in the evening so having to take a cold shower was a real challenge. We had a dinner at the hotel for $6 per person and it was definitely below par. Service here was non-existent (well, no one was here except at meal time). One important lesson we had learned from this trip was to make every effort to stay at hotels that had been around for a while. Two newly opened hotels we stayed had some hidden surprises and the quality really lacked while the well-established ones offered exactly what was advertised. Tomorrow is our last full day of birding so we better make it count!

Miradores Del Oso Perezoso View from the room Swallow Tanager Female Tropical Kingbird

Day 10 total species counter: 253, lifer counter: 87, Santa Marta endemics counter: 20

Strong-billed Woodcreeper

NOVEMBER 26, 2018 singing cockroach serenade

We were supposed to bird with Cristian today but he was still with the British group but he referred us his trusted friend from Minca, Elkin. We met him at 6am at our hotel and set out for our final adventure. Elkin was a little more upbeat than the rest of the guides we had and always had a big smile on his face. He told us that he was a motor taxi driver in Minca though he also worked as a bird guide when needed. So far, everyone we met was a bird guide in disguise. We walked up Cerro Kenedy road and visited the area we had gone with Cristian. Back when we went with Cristian, we didn't have much time so we basically bagged three endemics (Santa Marta Antbird, Bangs Wood-Wren and Santa Marta Tapaculo) then ran off. Today was different as we had a full day to explorer this amazing area. Most of the area in El Campano was covered with coffee plants. The area we birded was a part of large La Victoria Coffee Farm. Happy to report, the place was hopping with birds and Elkin was hard at work pointing bird after bird for us. We then heard this heavenly song. We knew it was a wren song but didn't know which. Elkin told us that a Rufous-and-white Wren was singing. Rufous-and-white Wren is a pretty bird with one of the most beautiful songs we've ever heard. Elkin said that this wren's Spanish name is Cucurachero Cantor a.k.a. Singing Cockroach. Spanish names for all wrens start with Cucurachero (cockroach) because they eat cockroaches and other creepy insects. We would never have thought such a pretty bird with angelic voice would be called a singing cockroach. We were hoping for another look at ever so shy Santa Marta Tapaculo but he was MIA this morning so we would try again later today.

Sign at El Campano Crimson-backed Tanager Black-headed Tanager Black-hooded Thrush Yellow-bellied Seedeater Yellow-bellied Seedeater Female Rufous-and-white Wren Keel-billed Toucan Summer Tanager Female Yellow-backed Oriole Tennessee Warbler Pale-breasted Thrush Boat-billed Flycatcher White-lined Tanager Female Crimson-crested Woodpecker Scarlet Tanager Female

As usual, we went back to the hotel for middday break. Elkin would be back around 3pm. We wanted to get our favorite Papas Rellenos so we walked to the only stand about 10 minutes away from the hotel but they didn't have any. So we walked up to the only restaurant in El Campano but the chef told us that she did not have a fryer but instead offered us Sancocho soup. It was a little warm for soup but it was either that or some meat dish so we said 'si, dos, por favor'. The soup was huge and out-of-world delicious! It even came with a side of rice and pasta. We asked for a check and it was 12,000 pesos total ($4 USD). All that yummy food for $2 per person? Now that was the deal of the trip.

Restaurant Sancocho Soup

It was about noon so instead of resting, we decided to bird the same road we were just on with Elkin on our own before meeting him this afternoon. Not expecting much as we knew that it would be slow this time of the day, the area was as active with birds as this morning. At one point, we saw not just one, but six Stripe-capped Spinetails (Santa Marta endemic, of course) foraging in a shrub. I even got to lock eyes with difficult-to-see Santa Marta Antbird.

Buff-throated Saltator Slate-throated Redstart Streak-capped Spinetail Bay-headed Tanager Juvenile Rufous-capped Warbler Santa Marta Brush Finch

It was soon time to meet Elkin so we hurried back to the hotel. Elkin was already there so we immediately went back on road. Elkin heard a Santa Marta Tapaculo on his way so we went to the spot and waited for this little guy again. We stood silently for about 15 minutes there and nothing. No call-back, no movement, nothing, nada. Defeated, we started to walk away from the area and then we heard his loud shriek. Oh great, we dragged ourselves back and waited. Dead silence. I bet this little rascal was watching us from somewhere, laughing at us. Glad that at least someone was having fun. So we gave up on tapaculo and shifted our focus to, say a little more accommodating, species... Bird activity was low. Birding never really is exact science. Today, it was busy at midday and quiet in the late afternoon? Very odd indeed. We did find an elegant White-necked Thrush, while looking for a tapaculo. When we got back to the hotel, it was way past 6pm (and was getting dark). We were beyond exhausted. On our way back, we saw that the Sancocho restaurant was closed which unfortunately meant we were eating dinner at the hotel. The dinner was quite disappointing but a bag of my favorite plantain chips saved the day.

Jun, Elkin & Noel White-necked Thrush Boat-billed Flycatcher Yellow-backed Oriole Cinerous Becard

Day 11 total species counter: 259, lifer counter: 89, Santa Marta endemics counter: 20

Olive-striped Flycatcher, Scaled Pigeon, Scarlet Tanager, Thick-billed Seed-Finch, White-necked Thrush, Yellow-backed Oriole

NOVEMBER 27, 2018 farewell Colombia, we will meet again.

It was another splendid day at El Campano but our hearts were heavy. Today was our last day in Colombia. We had a little more than four hours to bird before getting picked up by Fidel to drive to Minca where we take a shuttle to the airport in Cartagena. We went out to our favorite location and enjoyed every bird we saw. We sincerely hope that they would all be here when we come back.

Swallow Tanager Tropical Kingbird Pale-breasted Thrush Keel-billed Toucan Black-hooded Thrush Golden-olive Woodpecker Southern House Wren Rufous-and-white Wren Rufous-capped Warbler White-lored Warbler Pale-breasted Spinetail Dusky-capped Flycatcher Scaled Pigeon

As always, Fidel came with a passenger (a driver who would take us from Minca to Santa Marta). He then took us to see *Critian's* Potoo. Amazing how quickly words spread in a small town like Minca. Cristian must have told a few people then everyone in town knew about *his* Potoo. We switched cars in Minca from a 4WD to a regular taxi. We booked our airport shuttle to Rafael Núñez International Airport online through a travel company called Juan Ballena. You can buy tickets at the location for less but I highly recommend making a reservation online to ensure a spot as our bus was fully booked. Taking the shuttle definitely was the way to go. Transportation in Colombia was quite expensive and taking a taxi to the airport would have costed us easily over $200 but instead the shuttle costed us $50 for two. It was a long (four+ hours) but comfortable and uneventful drive to Cartagena. Around 7pm in Cartagena, it started to pour. Looking back, we couldn't have been luckier with the weather on this trip. Basically, we were blessed with good weather throughout our stay. Perhaps birds put in a few good words for us with their weather gods....

We were so glad that we came to Colombia. We completely fell in love with this beautiful country with amazing people and, of course, the birds. We couldn't believe we waited this long. To everyone who helped to make our trip so fun, if you are reading this blog, muchas gracias and see you again.

Day 12 total species counter: 261, lifer counter: 89, Santa Marta endemics counter: 20

Golden-olive Woodpecker, Pale-breasted Spinetail