High Andes

Sorry if we have been quiet the last few days we have just been experiencing the most intense period of birding of the trip so far. From low coffee plantations (1,400m) to high paramo (4,138m - highest of trip so far). We have pretty much been birding dawn to dusk. Exhausting but amazing.

Colombia is an amazing country. Gritty and difficult in some ways but wonderful in all that count. We teamed up with a couple who have started a local guiding business called Pablo (driver and logistics) and Luz (bird guide).

We saw over 140 new birds of which 18 were endemics (found nowhere else). The hummingbirds were special as we say the hummingbird with longest tail another with the longest bill, one of the largest and the smallest, also the hummingbird with the coolest name “Shining Sunbeam”. Seeing about 30 hummers attack a 1.4m Parrot Snake was cool too.

There will be much more in my blog when I finish editing over 4000 photos! Trip total now 876 birds. The main bird logging tool for birders globally is eBird and of the 820,000 users we are now ranked 160th for most worldwide sightings in 2024!

Now we are in Medellin and about to start another week of Spanish SchoolRead more