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Santa Marta area, Colombia (8 Days) (1 Viewer)

Bokmakierie99

Well-known member
I thought I'd write up a trip report for my recent trip to the Santa Marta Mountains of northern Colombia, from April 17-24.
We visited Los Flamencos reserve, El Dorado lodge, and hiked to the Lost City (4 days), seeing a grand total of 199 bird species.

To get there, we flew Newark to Houston, then to Bogota overnight and a morning flight to the city of Santa Marta, where we arrived about 9 and met our guide, Sebastian Ballesteros, who can be contacted on Viator here. He guided and drove us on the first 1.5 days of our trip, out to the Los Flamencos reserve and back.

Our first stop was at the Via Tayrona, the road that leads to Tayrona National Park (Google Map here. This road breaks off to the left from the main highway, across the road from a gas station. Sebastian did not recommend visiting the park itself because it's expensive and apparently they force you to spend 30 minutes watching some video before you can do anything. Birding in the habitat along this road we saw a male Black-backed Antshrike and several Russet-throated Puffbirds.
From there we drove east until lunch time, when we stopped at the Restaurant Acacias, which is located along the main highway at the main entrance to the national park (Cañaveral). The restaurant has an incredible setting along a river, and we saw a number of neat birds from it, such as Crimson-backed Tanagers, Bananaquits, and Buff-throated Saltators.
We stopped once more on the way to Camarones, which takes about 2 and a half hours driving continuously from Santa Marta. This stop was at another small road leading toward the ocean, called the Gaviotas road ("tern"), after some cabins at the road's end. Along this stretch we saw Lance-tailed Manakins, White-bellied Antbird, Cinnamon Becard, and many more.
Approaching Camarones, we took the old road into town, skirting the edge of the reserve, visible on Google Maps here. This was a quite productive stretch in late afternoon; we stopped at a couple points where the road crosses little rivers and saw two species of Night-Heron, as well as Rufous-vented Chachalaca, Crested Bobwhite, and a pair of White-fringed Antwrens.
We spent the night at Remanso el Sanctuario, a rustic place right in the reserve, and on the beach. As night fell a large number of Lesser Nighthawks came flying overhead, and there were several Ruddy Turnstones on the beach.
 
Day 2 (April 18):

We start out early (5:45 or so) and drive a little way from the hotel to a patch of dry forest where we walk around until 8:00 or so. We take a loop around a little pond, where a group of White Ibis have come in to drink. We get more views of Crested Bobwhite as well.
Our main targets here are the dry forest specialties, and we begin to see them almost immediately. Slender-billed Inezia and Northern Scrub-Flycatcher are in a tree right near the pool, and a White-whiskered Spinetail is in the bushes nearby. We first see a female, and then a male Vermilion Cardinal, both singing. Orinocan Saltator is also present. We walk around the pond and into the scrub forest on the other side, and do some creeping through the shrubbery, seeing a Rufous-tailed Jacamar and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a migrant from North America.
We loop back to the car, unsuccessfully searching for Chestnut Piculets, but get more views of the cardinal and spinetail. We also see a singing Black-crested Antshrike, and when we reach the car there are two Green-rumped Parrotlets in a nearby cactus. Because we're still missing the piculet and another scrub specialty, the Tocuyo Sparrow, we drive off to another site Sebastian knows is good for those.
We drive back through Camarones town and onto the main highway for a bit, before turning left (away from the ocean) and heading down a dirt road until we reach a little pull-off. We go through a fence on the right and walk for a little ways in the scrub. By this time it's already quite hot, and at first we're discouraged to only see Common and Ruddy Ground-Doves. However, at the end of the trail we do come across a beautiful pair of Chestnut Piculet, which are quite responsive to playback and give great views. We miss the sparrow, however.
We return to the hotel at about 9 o'clock and have breakfast. Scaled Doves and a Cattle Tyrant are right on the grounds. There's also a feeder filled with birdseed, and we're surprised to see a Yellow-headed Caracara eating it.
After resting for about an hour we head out to Boca de Camarones, right near the hotel, where the lagoon that makes up most of the reserve meets the ocean. There are a couple of Semipalmated Plovers and Reddish Egrets around, and in the distance on the lagoon we see two - exactly two - American Flamingos. Apparently all the rest had already migrated off to the Caribbean islands.
After seeing the flamingos we leave for Minca, where we arrive at about 2 PM. The road up to the town of Minca has recently been paved, which makes the drive much easier. We are supposed to meet our transportation up to the El Dorado lodge here, but they're a bit late, so we wait a while in the Minca Hotel, where we sit on the balcony, have some drinks, and watch the hummingbirds. White-necked Jacobins, White-vented Plumeleteers, and Steely-vented Hummingbirds are present.
When the transport to El Dorado arrives we say goodbye to Sebastian and begin the 2-3 hour drive up the very rough road to Minca. We see a few birds on the early part of the drive, such as a Swallow Tanager and a Scaled Pigeon, but we see much more in the second part, when the truck is stopped by a fallen tree and we get out to walk a bit and bird while help is sent from the lodge above.
Cinnamon Flycatcher, Emerald Toucanet, and Montane Foliage-Gleaner are the highlights here.
RNA El Dorado is a reserve run by ProAves, a conservation group that helped produce the most recent Colombia bird guide and which runs a whole system of private reserves around the country.
We arrived pretty much as dark fell, but did note a few Brown Violetears and Crowned Woodnymphs at the feeders.
 
"We stopped once more on the way to Camarones, which takes about 2 and a half hours driving continuously from Santa Marta. This stop was at another small road leading toward the ocean, called the Gaviotas road ("tern"), after some cabins at the road's end. Along this stretch we saw Lance-tailed Manakins, White-bellied Antbird, Cinnamon Becard, and many more."

5 years ago, I asked my driver-for-the-day to stop somewhere along the entrance road to the Parque Tayrona, exactly for those species (manakin and antbird). The driver however told me about a good place further down the road to Santa Marta (coming from Camarones), but once we were there, it was nothing more than a roadside restaurant and no real acces to any road into the reserve / good forest. So we decided to move on and continue our way to Minca. So I would be curious to know where this place is (more or less), for when I ever return to the region. I realize both birds can be had in e.g. Panama, but it still bothers me a bit that I missed those!
 
Unfortunately, I can't find any mention of the Las Gaviotas Cabins online, and I wasn't paying good enough attention to where we were at the time.
The site was somewhere beyond the town of Palomino, possibly in this area, though I'm not really sure. I can't find a road on google earth that really seems to match the one we were on.
Sorry I can't locate it better; I should have taken better notice at the time.
 
Day 3:

We get up before 4 o'clock this morning, and leave at 4:30 on the 2+ hour drive up to San Lorenzo Ridge. With us are two other birders and Roger, the bird guide at El Dorado. It rains on us as we leave, but the weather clears by the time we start birding, and remains good until midday.
As dawn breaks we arrive at the "Laguna", a little pool on the ridge where we park and begin walking. Unfortunately, about 100 acres of the San Lorenzo ridge was burned recently, in what the lodge management suspects may have been a case of arson. However, there's still a lot of good habitat, and many of the large trees have survived the blaze.
We start seeing birds almost immediately. 3 Scarlet-fronted Parakeets are perched in a tree right above us, and a pair of Santa Marta Warblers are in the bushes right where we park. We also see Santa Marta Mountain-Tanager and Tennessee Warbler right near the Laguna.
We walk slowly uphill from the cars, looking for more endemics, in particular the Santa Marta Parakeet. We hear and almost see a Santa Marta Antpitta, but it disappears into the undergrowth. We do get good looks at a Rusty-headed Spinetail and a Yellow-crowned Redstart, both endemics. We walk through a bit of the burned forest, seeing Scaly-naped Parrot and Golden-olive Woodpeckers, before turning back to the car. Things are a bit quieter than expected.
We eat breakfast at the cars and then drive a bit lower to walk again. We have good luck in finding a mixed flock of Slate-throated and Yellow-crowned Redstarts, White-throated Tyrannulets, and the endemic Streak-capped Spinetail. Walking uphill again, we add more species: Sickle-winged Guan, Cinnamon Flycatcher, and Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager.
However, the birders who are with us are quite unhappy that we haven't seen the Parakeet. One of the two in particular is quite obnoxious; when the guide isn't around she complains to us about how she thinks he doesn't know what he's doing; and as we're watching the tanagers she says she "doesn't care" about little birds. Eventually, Roger takes her in one of the trucks to a spot where he thinks they might find the birds, and we are left with the other driver at our disposal. We're bummed to lose our bird guide, but we still see some neat stuff on the drive down to the lodge: a Plushcap, an Acadian Flycatcher, White-sided Flowerpiercers, and a Black-throated Tody-Tyrant are the highlights.
We get back to the lodge in time for lunch, and right as it begins to rain. The pattern at El Dorado seemed to be that it would rain heavily for a short period of time (at most an hour) in the afternoon, but other than that the weather would be fine, at least for birding.
In the middle of the afternoon Roger takes us out for a little walk along the road. We get great looks at two Masked Trogons and two White-tipped Quetzals. We also see the third endemic warbler species, the White-lored.
For the rest of the afternoon we relax and watch the feeders, which are teeming with Crowned Woodnymphs and three species of Violetear. There are also a male and female White-tailed Starfrontlet, another endemic.
After dark, Roger leads a group of us on a little night walk in search of the endemic (and still not fully described to science) Screech-Owl. He plays a recording of it and we hear it respond several times, but unfortunately it never comes into view.
 
Day 4:

We get up in time for a 6:30 bird walk with Roger. We head up the road a bit and then into the woods to the El Dorado lodge's most recent construction project, a set of cabins built in the style of the local people, the Kogis. These cabins have an incredible view over the neighboring valley and the mountains of the Sierra Nevada; it's clear enough this morning to see Pico Cristobal Colon, the highest peak in Colombia.
On the way out to the Kogihabs we see a foraging Gray-throated Leaftosser right by the trail. From the cabins we can see a flock of Scaly-naped Parrots flying around below us, and some Scarlet-fronted Parakeets. We head downhill for a ways and then back across to the main part of the lodge; the trail pops us out of the forest right below the cabin we'd been staying at. In this area we encounter a female Slaty Antwren and then a pair of Bangs' Wood-Wrens, one of the most recently-split Santa Marta endemics. This species was split both from the Gray-breasted Wood-Wren and from the Santa Marta Wood-Wren, which looks virtually the same but is found at higher elevations. We get good views of the pair and even a couple crappy photos; they respond well to playback.
Back at the lodge, there's a pair of Blue-naped Chlorophonias building a nest. We watch them bring little bits of moss and grass for a little bit and then have breakfast.
After breakfast we spend most of the rest of our time at the lodge relaxing and watching the hummingbird feeders. We don't have to leave until 3 in the afternoon. I spend a lot of time making sure I have photos of every hummingbird species that's regular at the feeders, male and female: Crowned Woodnymph, Brown Violetear, Green Violetear, Sparkling Violetear, White-tailed Starfrontlet, and Tyrian Metaltail. We also watch the two seed feeders that are set on the ground near the buildings. These attract Black-fronted Wood-Quail (a near-endemic), White-tipped Dove, and Lined Quail-Dove.
At about 11 o'clock we take one more little walk down the road a little bit, on our own this time. We don't see a lot, but we do find a mixed flock with a female Golden-breasted Fruiteater as the highlight.
At 3 o'clock or so we finally have to leave on the ~2 hour drive back to Minca and then Santa Marta. We stop twice on the way down: once for a little walk, where we see a Mourning Warbler, two Rufous-capped Warblers, and a Streaked Saltator; and the second time at a grove of bamboo where Roger knows a Black-and-White Owl commonly roosts. We see the bird well, though it's almost dark at that point.
We have a bit of an adventure getting to our hotel, which it turns out is actually in the town of Taganga, not in Santa Marta as we had thought. We get things figured out, however, and arrange to be picked up for our trek the next morning.
 
Lost City Tour (Days 5 through 8):

We are picked up on the morning of day five by a driver from Magic Tour Colombia, and taken to their office in Santa Marta to drop a couple bags and make final preparations for the Lost City tour.
At about 10 we leave the city, back along the same highway we took to go to Camarones on the first day.
We drive for about an hour, past Tayrona National Park, to the small town of Guachaca, which is where we turn off of the main road. During a quick stop here I spot Bicolored Wrens, Orange-chinned Parakeets, and a Common Tody-Flycatcher.
From Guachaca it's about an hour's drive to Machete Pelao, where we have lunch and the trek begins. Day one is the shortest; just seven kilometers to the first camp. It's extremely hot this first day, and isn't much cooler on the other three days; we sweat a ton, but fortunately there are refreshing showers at every camp.
The first day is mostly spent passing by farms and little villages. We do see some nice forest however, and birds include Plain Xenops, Yellow-bellied Seedeater, Tropical Parula, and two Manakin species: White-bearded and Golden-headed. Southern Rough-winged Swallows are abundant.

The second day of the trek takes us 16 kilometers, and up to a height of 800 meters. This camp, Camp 3, is just 1 kilometer from the lost city itself (we spend night 2 at camp 3 and night 3 at camp 2). Birding is slower the second day despite seeing some nicer habitat. The highlights are a singing Rufous-and-White Wren, several Keel-billed Toucans, and three Torrent Tyrannulets along the faster stretches of river. I look for dippers, but don't see any.

The third day takes us up to the Lost City at 1200 meters, which requires going from the river near the camp up 1,200 ancient stone steps to the first terraces of the city. We have clear skies this morning, and get beautiful views of the city and surrounding mountainsides covered in dense forest. We see a male Crimson-crested Woodpecker, Blue-capped, Palm, and Crimson-backed Tanagers, White-lored Warblers, and a flock of White-collared Swifts at the ruins. On the ~10 kilometer hike back to camp 2, we see one new bird, the near-endemic Golden-winged Sparrow.

Day four of the trek is also our last in the country. We hike back out to Machete Pelao, arriving just as a giant thunderstorm approaches. Because of this we are delayed in getting back to Santa Marta, but not by too much.
Common Black-Hawk, Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, and Dusky-capped Flycatcher on the hike. At Machete Pelao there's a large roost of Black Vultures, as well as a group of Ruddy and Common Ground-Doves.
That night we fly back to Bogota, and to Newark the next morning.
 
Some great birds

Day 4:

female Golden-breasted Fruiteater as the highlight.
At 3 o'clock or so we finally have to leave on the ~2 hour drive back to Minca and then Santa Marta. We stop twice on the way down: once for a little walk, where we see a Mourning Warbler, two Rufous-capped Warblers, and a Streaked Saltator; and the second time at a grove of bamboo where Roger knows a Black-and-White Owl commonly roosts. We see the bird well, though it's almost dark at that point.
We have a bit of an adventure getting to our hotel, which it turns out is actually in the town of Taganga, not in Santa Marta as we had thought. We get things figured out, however, and arrange to be picked up for our trek the next morning.

Some great birds and nice report that is really making us look forward to our trip to Colombia including Santa Marta in November.
Thanks for posting.
 

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