Antbird Tours

0

Skip to Content

Home

About

Upcoming Tours

Terms

Contact Us

Home

About

Upcoming Tours

Terms

Contact Us

Recently, Antbird Tours completed a trip to Vaupés, Colombia. This underexplored department of Colombia straddles the Guiana Shield and lowland Amazon Rainforest and hosts a number of endemic bird species. Over the course of 7-days, we detected 197 total bird species in myriad unique habitat types and interacted with numerous local indigenous community members. Overall, the tour was a huge success, both from a birding and a conservation perspective.

The tour began with our arrival into Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. This heavily populated city sits perched at 8,660 ft in the Andes Mountains. Despite sitting at 4-degrees North Latitude, the climate in Bogotá is cool and comfortable and the birds are amazing and unique in their own right. Upon landing in Bogotá, we headed to a city park to search for Yellow-backed Oriole, Striated Heron, Bare-faced Ibis, Lesser Violetear, Rufous-browed Conebill and others. The cool, high-elevation walk was a great way to stretch our travel weary legs.

The next day, we headed to Cerro Monserrate, a mountain perched on the southeastern edge of the city and rising to an elevation of 10,341 ft. Reaching the top of the mountain necessitates the use of a cable car and, once we arrived to the top of the mountain, we walked downslope to a bird-feeding area filled with bird baths and hummingbird feeders. Here, we saw Black-tailed Trainbearer, Tyrian Metaltail, Blue-throated Starfrontlet, White-bellied Woodstar, White-throated Tyrannulet, Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant, Great Thrush and Pale-naped Brushfinch. After the morning of birding, we headed back to our hotel to grab our bags and make our way to the airport for our flight to Mitú, the capital of Colombia’s Vaupés department. After a short one-hour flight, we arrived in our destination – as we approached the runway, the Amazon Rainforest could be seen stretching to the edge of the horizon in all directions. Upon stepping off the plane, we were met with the extreme heat and humidity that typifies the region and the contrast between the cool, high elevation habitats of Bogotá and the immense and lush tropical vegetation of the lowland rainforest was dramatic.

Our transportation for the next 6 days would be small three-person tuk tuks and our own two feet. We piled into our tuk tuks and headed to our hotel, a small simple lodge in the center of town with everything we needed for our stay – clean and comfortable beds, air conditioning, three meals a day, an unbelievably charismatic and sweet “house dog” and warm and inviting hosts.

There are over 500 bird species documented in and around the town of Mitú. In order to access them, one must arrange their visit with the surrounding local indigenous communities. The best way to do this is to hire an indigenous community member as a guide. Aside from offering a glimpse into the lives of those who live in the places we bird, the guide’s knowledge of the local trail system and wildlife enhances the overall experience of spending time in this overwhelmingly biodiverse location. Our guide was a local community member by the name of Agripino (of the Kubeo indigenous community) and, with his accompaniment, we spent 6 days meticulously exploring the limitless birding opportunities in this remote region of the Amazon. Our mornings were early and our days were long, but as we explored the indigenous communities of Ceima Cachivera, Mitú Cachivera, Pueblo Nuevo and the areas of Cruce Bocatoma, Linea Bocatoma and Puente Lata, our species list grew rapidly.

We were treated to looks at species such as Speckled Chachalaca, Spix’s Guan, Red-throated and Black Caracara, Blackish Nightjar, Rufous-throated Sapphire, Fork-tailed Palm Swift, White-banded Swallow, Black-bellied Cuckoo, Orange-cheeked, Black-headed and Red-fan Parrot, Scarlet Macaw, Green-backed Trogon, Brown-banded, Spotted and Swallow-winged Puffbird, Paradise and Bronzy Jacamar, Gilded Barbet, Lettered and Ivory-billed Aracari and much, much more.

Each habitat we visited hosted its own unique avifauna and each day’s bird list was unique and interesting. In the evening, our discussion at the dinner table revolved around the numerous amazing species that we saw – including the massive and bizarre Amazonian Umbrellabird, the incredibly range-restricted and difficult-to-find Orinoco Piculet, the beautiful and abundant Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, flocks of Azure-naped Jays and the many incredible tanagers of the region, including the Paradise Tanager, a species that puts the Crayola Crayon color palette to shame.

But, the real stars of the tour were the namesakes of my company – the antbirds!! It is here, in the hot and humid forests of the Amazon that antbirds hit their peak diversity. The range of antbird species was simply incredible and were by far the most often detected species during our walks. Species such as Plain-winged, Mouse-colored, Blackish-gray, Amazonian, Dusky-throated and Cinereous Antshrike could be found alongside Pygmy, Moustached, Gray and Spot-backed Antwren and Imeri Warbling, Yellow-browed, Gray, Black-faced, Spot-winged, Black-throated and Gray-bellied Antbirds. On a personal note, the two highlights of the tour for me were the Chestnut-crested Antbird – a range restricted antbird that is as impressive as it is rare and EXCELLENT views of a pair of Reddish-winged Bare-eye that absolutely stunned the group and led to a boisterous period of hoots, hollers and high-fives in the middle of the rainforest!

Aside from the birds, the tour accomplished its other primary goal of infusing local communities with funds that help highlight the benefit of conservation. Our tuk tuk drivers (who were phenomenal humans), our local indigenous guide (who was kind and hard-working), the local indigenous communities (which were warm and inviting) and our lodge owner (who was incredibly attentive to our needs) all benefitted immensely from our trip. With an average annual income estimated at roughly $6,000 in Colombia, our tour made a real difference in the lives of those who interacted with our group and hopefully drew a strong connection between birding and economic gain.

After our visit to Mitú, we headed back to Bogotá for one more afternoon of birding – where we happened to find a new species which became the two-thousandth bird species on one of my clients’ life list! The species, a Bogota Rail, is one of the most range-restricted birds in the country – not a bad species to get for your 2,000 species milestone!

All in all, the tour was incredibly successful. Amazing birds, good food, comfortable lodging and excellent people. I hope to continue offering tours such as this as they bring me so much joy and I sincerely hope that you consider joining for one – they are each unique, but they are all unified in the impact that they have on local communities and on your sense of place in this world.

antbirdtours@gmail.com