[Tweeters] Colombia birding recommendation

[Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser]

Tweets.  Whitney and I are just back from a great birding experience in the
Colombian Andes.  We stayed a few days at the Montezuma Rainforest EcoLodge
<https://montezumarainforest.com/> in the western Andes, which was
fantastic.  The owner/host family is friendly and organized and the on-site
guide Yesennia knows every bird there.  Plus, she’s an indigenous woman!
Her knowledge of every song and call, and her ability to spot exactly where
they were in the understory or the canopy, wowed me.  And they accommodated
our veggie diet smoothly. It takes some getting to, in a pretty remote
spot, but we managed by local buses except for the last stretch of road
which require 4x4.

On the lodge’s extensive lands, we found a mix of endemics and charismatic
birds, including beautiful jay, mustached puffbird, gold ringed tanager,
Zeledon’s antbird, choco tapaculo, black-and-white and ornate hawk-eagles,
and violet tailed sylph.  Their feeders are visited by russet-backed
oropendolas, Andean motmot, velvet purple coronet, green thorntail, purple
throated woodstar, silver-throated tanager, black-headed brushfinch, and
more.  The lodge is at about 6000 ft so it’s not miserably hot & muggy.

We also contracted with her for a few days in the Manizales area in the central
Andes, also great.  We found exciting local specialties including buffy
helmetcrest, shining sunbeam, torrent duck, as well as countless tanagers,
etc.  Plus Andean condor, of course.  Enthusiastically recommended!  Montezuma
has a webpage plus facebook and Instagram, and they speak English.  I used
whatsapp to communicate ahead of time for planning locations, booking
dates, etc, and while in Colombia for arranging a pickup from the bus, as
well as chatting with our guide.  All very convenient.  If you’re thinking
of going, Whitney and I would be happy to share more specifics if that
feels useful. (I’m not on their payroll, just sharing.)

Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser
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