January 25 - Arrival in Barranquilla

Upon arrival at the Barranquilla international airport, your driver will pick you up and will take you to the BH Barranquilla hotel for dinner, a presentation on the tour, Q&A and to get some rest for your first day of exploring & birding.

Night at BH Barranquilla Hotel.

Janurary 26 - Universidad del Norte, Km 4 via Palomino and Salamanca

Early in the morning, we will visit the campus of Universidad del Norte right in the city center for a chance to see 3 important targets for the tour: endemic (E) Chestnut-winged Chachalaca, endemic and hard to see Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird and Sapphire-throated Hummingbird.

After this quick stop, we will start traveling northeast making several promising stops along the Coast. One required stop is at Km 4 via Palomino, an extensive marsh where migrants from North America are abundant and mix with the exotic Northern Screamer, Brown-throated Parakeet, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, and Yellow-chinned Spinetail. The noisy Stripe-backed Wren is usually common, while the Red-crowned Woodpecker peeks from its holes in the palm trees.

Driving 35mins from Barranquilla, we will visit Salamanca Island Nature Reserve where birding is great, especially as a place to look for the critically endangered, range-restricted, and endemic Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird. This group of small islands includes almost 140,000 acres of mangrove forests and freshwater vegetation. The other main specialties here are (E) Turquoise-winged Parrotlet and (E) Chestnut-winged Chachalaca.

Other highlights for the day include​ Golden-green Woodpecker, Bicolored Conebill, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Near Endemic (NE) Chestnut Piculet, Crane Hawk, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Bare-throated and Fasciated Tiger Herons, Black-collared Hawk, Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Bicolored Wren, Rufous-necked Wood-rail, Pied Puffbird, and Great Black-hawk.

In the late morning, we will drive to the hip town of Minca in the foothills of the Santa Marta mountains where we will spend the afternoon out birding, and spend some time exploring Minca as well.

Night at Los Colores de la Sierra Hotel.

January 27 - Birding Minca

Minca is a town surrounded by coffee-shaded plantations, waterfalls, and well-kept trails where we will search for some sought-after birds such as Swallow Tanager, Crested Oropendola, Black-and-White Owl, Gartered Trogon, Scaled Piculet, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush, and Golden-winged Sparrow. There are a few gardens in town with good settings for bird photography as well.

Night at Colores de la Sierra Hotel.

January 28 - Birding Minca towards Mountain House Lodge

At 5:30am we will board a 4WD vehicle that will take us birding up the dirt road connecting Minca to Mountain House in the Santa Marta mountains, making several stops along the way searching for a number of Santa Marta specialties such as (E) Santa Marta Tapaculo, (E) Santa Marta Woodstar, (E) Santa Marta Blossomcrown, (E) Santa Marta Antbird, (E) Santa Marta Screech-owl, (E) Santa Marta Foliage Gleaner, (E) White-lored Warbler, (NE) Black-fronted Wood-quail, (NE) Coppery Emerald, (NE) White-tipped Quetzal, and (NE) Streak-capped Spinetail.

Mountain House is a beautiful and comfortable lodge perched in Cloud forest with a sweeping view of the tropical lowlands and Caribbean Sea far below. This area preserves the habitats of the highest concentration of continental range-restricted bird species on earth. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta remains remarkably little known, with at least three new bird species discovered in the last 10 years, including the Santa Marta Screech-Owl and the recent rediscovery of the Santa Marta Sabrewing, and a new (as of yet unnamed) species of Antpitta!

Night at Mountain House.

January 29 - San Lorenzo Ridge in the morning and around the Lodge

We will start the day very early at 4:30am driving in a 4WD vehicle all the way up to the highest part of the El Dorado Reserve - The San Lorenzo Ridge. We will have the opportunity to see most Santa Marta endemics at high altitudes (7,700 feet above sea level/ fasl). Among the endemics we can expect to find are (E) Santa Marta Warbler, (E) Santa Marta Parakeet, (E) Rusty-headed Spinetail, (E) Santa Marta Bush-tyrant, (E) Sierra Nevada Brushfinch, (E) Santa Marta Brushfinch, (E) Brown-rumped Tapaculo, (E) Bang’s Wood-Wren, (E) Santa Marta Wood-Wren, (E) Yellow-crowned Whitestart, (E) Santa Marta Mountain-Tanager, and (E) Black-backed Thornbill.

We will continue birding on the way back down making promising stops until we get to the lodge right at lunchtime. In the late afternoon, we will explore some of the excellent trails around the lodge, getting awe-inspired views of the Sierra, the valley, and the ocean. Some of the most iconic birds to see around the lodge include (E) White-tailed Starfrontlet and White-tipped Quetzal.

Night at Mountain House.

January 30 - Mountain House to Tayrona

On day 6, we will drive back to Minca, birding along the way to complete our list of Santa Marta specialties. From here it’s just a 40min drive to Tayrona National Park. Tayrona is more visited for its stunning beaches and superb hikes than for birding but with over 280 species recorded is definitely a hotspot to consider in any birding tour to Colombia’s Caribbean Coast.

This National park protects a range of habitats from dry scrub to humid tropical forest, important for Neotropical migrants, and a range of exciting resident species including the critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow. Two Manakins of particular interest to try and find here are the stunning Lance-tailed Manakin and the hard-to-see White-bearded Manakin. Other birds of particular interest include Crane Hawk and Boat-billed Heron, Greater Ani, White-necked Puffbird, Rufous-tailed Jacamars, Blue-headed Parrot, and Lineated Woodpeckers.

While birding here it is common to see the Cotton-top Tamarin, a gorgeous little monkey dwarfed by the less common White-fronted Capuchin.

Night at Hotel Senda Koguiwa.

January 31 - Tayrona-Gaviotas-Palomino

In the morning after revisiting Tayrona, we will drive for about two hours up the coast to some lowland forest near the village of Gaviotas. We’ll spend the late morning and afternoon looking for a few neat birds like Lance-tailed Manakin, White-bellied Antbird, Buff-breasted Wren, Barred Antshrike, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Cocoa Woodcreeper, and Crimson-crested Woodpecker. We’ll spend the night at a hotel by the beach.

Night at the Hotel Hukumeizi.

February 1 - Los Flamencos Flora & Fauna Sanctuary: Camarones

Early drive for 40min to Los Flamencos Sanctuary, an important coastal wetland dry forest reserve created to protect a large population of American Flamingos. This 17,000+ acre reserve comprises marshes, lagoons, and dry forest, which is also a habitat for 275 other bird species (80% are migrants).

Retreating to the forest, the unique xerophytic scrub vegetation of the area is very productive for all of the Guajira specialties restricted to NE Colombia and NW Venezuela, including Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Buffy Hummingbird, Red-crown Woodpecker, Russet-throated Puffbird, (NE) Chestnut Piculet, (NE) White-whiskered Spinetail, (NE) Slender-billed Inezia, (NE) Orinocan Saltator, Pileated Finch, (NE) Red-billed Emerald, (NE) Tocuyo Sparrow (rare) and the splendid Vermilion Cardinal (NE).

Nothing prepares you, even if you have backyard Northern Cardinals, for the striking red, the wild crest, and the very different look of this sole South American offshoot of what is really a North American group. The Vermilion Cardinal is called "El Rey de la Guajira" ("King of the Guajira") by locals.

Other day highlights​ include Blue-crowned Parakeet, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Black-crested Antshrike, Northern Scrub-flycatcher, Pale-eyed Pygmy-Tyrant, Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant, Glaucous Tanager, Double-striped Thick-knee, White-fringed Antwren, Reddish Egret, Scarlet Ibis, White-tipped Inezia, and Pale-legged Hornero.

We will continue birding until early afternoon when we will drive back to your hotel on the beach to relax and swim in the warm waters of the Caribbean.

Night at Hotel Hukumeizi.

February 2 - Palomino - Las Gaviotas - Barranquilla

Very close to our hotel, we find a coastal lowland vegetation trail connecting to the Caribbean sea. This hotspot is arguably the best site on our tour to find the lovely Lance-tailed Manakin, and the good-looking White-bellied Antbird. Other birds of interest include Buff-breasted Wren, Barred Antshrike, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Cocoa Woodcreeper, and Crimson-crested Woodpecker.

We will spend the day birding and driving along the coast back towards the city of Barranquilla making it to the airport with plenty of time for your connecting flight back home.

Please note that this itinerary is subject to change without prior notice due to weather, alterations in habitat, safety concerns, or other conditions.