For an informative overview of all our Colombia birding tours, see Colombia: Field Guides Tours.

If you swing for the fences, you probably strike out some. This birding tour seeks some endangered species that are not easy even when they are common, like a curassow and a bushbird. And they are not common: they are Endangered. We will look for these and other tough ones, see some and miss some, and in the process also enjoy a number of endemics and regional specialties that are far easier while accumulating a very sizable triplist for a two-week period. This itinerary features four small ProAves reserves (three with lodges) that make seeing these specialties possible.

Starting in Bogota, we will have a day-and-a-half to visit the marshes of the Sabana de Bogota (Bogota Rail, Apolinar's Marsh-Wren) and mountain forests in nearby parks (Rufous-browed Conebill, Brown-breasted Parakeet, Coppery-bellied Puffleg). Moving to the foothills of the Central Andes above the Rio Magdalena, we'll seek Tolima Dove, Apical Flycatcher, Yellow-headed Brush-Finch, and Velvet-fronted Euphonia. Heading up the Magdalena Valley, we will try to cross paths with Blue-billed Curassow in a peaceful reserve that is also home to White-mantled Barbet, Beautiful Woodpecker, and the lovely Sooty Ant-Tanager; Northern Screamers are possible en route.

Hummingbird fans! See our Hummer Slideshow plus a listing of all our best itineraries for 30, 40, even 50 or more hummingbirds on a tour.

Our next reserve, reached by horseback, offers many possibilities, with Indigo-capped Hummingbird, Black Inca, Bar-crested Antshrike, Upper Magdalena Tapaculo, and Turquoise Dacnis among the seemingly more feasible endemics, and Gorgeted Wood-Quail and Mountain Grackle not out of the question. We'll continue north to the foothills of the Sierra de Perija, where a small reserve holds multiple pairs of the skulking Recurve-billed Bushbird and Gray-throated Warbler.

The trip ends with six nights in the Santa Marta region, starting at the edge of the arid Guajira Peninsula for regional specialties such as the lovely White-whiskered Spinetail and Vermilion Cardinal. All but four of the Santa Marta endemics are regularly seen on an outlying ridge that is accessible and now has a comfortable lodge in a private reserve. With several days we should encounter almost all of these in a lovely setting that also features many wonderful birds that are not endemic, from Band-tailed Guan to White-tipped Quetzal.

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