Colombia Photography Tour: Andean Birding and Multicoloured Tanager

A flight from Bogota Airport lands at Pereira Airport, followed by breakfast before morning birding at Kaukita Dry Forest Reserve, where scrub, grassland and pond edges on the city's western edge offer chances for Colombia's first endemics and dry-country specialities. After lunch, transfer to the guest house beside Otún Quimbaya, a reserve protecting the Otún river basin across well-preserved forest. The afternoon session at Otún Quimbaya follows quiet forest roads and shaded trails, with mixed flocks, woodcreepers and tanagers, adapting the route to recent sightings and changing light.

After breakfast, explore Otún Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary with a local guide, walking forest trails and quiet roads for Cauca Guan, Red-ruffed Fruitcrow and mixed flocks. Drive north to Cameguadua Marsh, working wetland edges for herons, rails, parrotlets and kingfishers. Continue to Recinto del Pensamiento, a lodge at 1,950 m with forest-fringed grounds and very humid premontane forest. In afternoon and evening light, wander the grounds, where the on-site list reaches 192 species, offering a gentle way to find quiet forest birds before dinner.

After breakfast, a short transfer from Manizales reaches Río Blanco Reserve, run with FUNDEGAR. Morning centers on antpitta feeding stations, targeting Bicolored, Chestnut-crowned, Slate-crowned and Brown-banded Antpittas, with mixed flocks nearby. Forest trails bring woodcreepers, foliage-gleaners, barbtails, treerunners, tanagers and hemispingus. Afternoon slows around hummingbird and fruit feeders for Long-tailed Sylph, Collared Inca, Bronzy Inca and Tourmaline Sunangel, then cloud forest trails for Masked Saltator, Rusty-faced Parrot and Andean Motmot. Bamboo patches above the guest house offer Plushcap and Yellow-billed Cacique. Dinner precedes the return to Estelar Recinto del Pensamiento.

Breakfast precedes a transfer to Hacienda El Bosque, where the Equatorial Antpitta may appear at a managed feeding station, with Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan and tanagers nearby. The hummingbird garden draws Sword-billed Hummingbird, Tourmaline Sunangel and visiting flowerpiercers. After lunch, continue to Hotel Termales del Ruiz. Explore Los Nevados National Park's páramo for Buffy Helmetcrest, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill and Rufous-fronted Parakeet, then walk elfin forest trails seeking Tawny Antpitta. Feeders host Great Sapphirewing, Shining Sunbeam and Golden-breasted Puffleg. Thermal hot springs offer relaxation before dinner at the lodge.

An included breakfast precedes the long drive west past Manizales toward Pueblo Rico, a crossing of just under 100 miles taking four to five hours with birding stops and leg-stretches into the Chocó-Pacific country. A transfer continues to Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge Reserve. After a picnic lunch, high-elevation forest exploration in the upper cloud forest follows, with the route adapted to recent sightings while searching for elusive species and mixed flocks in Tatamá, a premier birding destination.

A pre-dawn 4WD climb up the Montezuma Summit Road leads to an army base and communications centre, where clear skies can reveal Cerro Tatamá. After a packed breakfast with hot coffee, birding unfolds in the high cloud forests of Tatamá National Park, targeting Gold-ringed Tanager, Black-and-gold Tanager, tapaculos, flowerpiercers and mountain tanagers. A packed lunch keeps the search going before descending to warmer Chocó forests for Club-winged Manakin, Beautiful Jay, Chocó Vireo, tanagers, woodcreepers and flycatchers. The day returns to Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge Reserve near Manizales.

Explore the mid-elevation cloud forests of Tatamá National Park along the Montezuma Road, where shifting habitats draw remarkable Chocó and Andean birdlife. Walking at a relaxed pace, watch for mixed flocks in the canopy and regional specialties including Toucan Barbet, Black-chinned Mountain Tanager and Orange-breasted Fruiteater. A packed lunch keeps you in the field through the day's bird activity. Breakfast is included, with generic lunch and dinner available. Return to the Montezuma Rainforest Ecolodge Reserve near Manizales, a lush cloud forest setting with wildlife and Andean views.

A long transfer of roughly 180 miles runs through the Cauca Valley toward Cali, filling most of the day with lunch, birding stops and leg-stretches. At Laguna de Sonso, Colombia's largest remaining natural wetland, a local guide leads trails and observation points through lagoons, reedbeds and gallery forest, with the Ruby-topaz Hummingbird a standout among herons, jacanas, kingfishers, ibises and raptors. Afternoon and early evening unfold in the Araucana Lodge gardens, feeders and bird tables, where Southern Lapwing, Eared Dove, Ruddy Ground-dove, Squirrel Cuckoo, Andean Motmot, Red-headed Barbet and Acorn Woodpecker appear while hummingbirds work the flowers.

An early drive reaches Queremal, gateway to the old Buenaventura road, a heavily forested route once famed among birders and now quiet and traffic-free. The day is spent working this Chocó-Pacific circuit, passing open farmland and hilly pasture before descending gradually to lower elevations and pausing at promising spots. Expect a long list: parrots, hermits, barbets, flycatchers, antbirds, tanagers and the Toucan Barbet, with excellent Tangara tanager viewing. Breakfast is included, lunch and dinner are separate. A late-afternoon transfer returns to Araucana Lodge.

A pre-dawn start at La Florida's feeders brings hummingbirds, tanagers and flowerpiercers, with a chance of the resident Chestnut Wood-Quail. Birding around the El 18 farmstead and Bosque de las Aves targets the endemic Multicoloured Tanager alongside Tangara tanagers. In the afternoon, watch for the elusive Little Tinamou, then photograph forest hummingbirds at flowering plants, perhaps with woodcreepers, foliage-gleaners or antpittas. A transfer to Cali Airport follows for the flight to Bogotá and the overnight connection home.