Arrive Bogotá Transfer to the Hotel Caviar. Your guide will meet you at the Hotel.

Horse ride to higher altitude part of the El Mirador Fuertes’s Parrot reserve. Target birds include Indigo-winged (Fuertes’s) Parrot, Rufous-fronted Parakeet, Golden-plumed Parakeet, Bicolored Antpitta, Masked Mountain-Tanager, Chestnut-bellied Cotinga, Brown-banded Antpitta Masked Saltator, Gray-breasted and Black-billed Mountain-Toucans and Crescent-faced Antpitta, Bronze-winged Parrot B:L:D

If day 3 is successful we will then bird at lower elevations for Brown-banded Antpitta and Masked Saltator plus others. If not try again higher altitudes. Depart reserve by 3pm and walk down birding (horses for bags) arriving at around 8:00pm in Ibague. Night at a comfortable hotel in Ibague. B:L:D

Drive to fragmented, remnant forest above Ibague for looking for endemics and others, which include Crested Ant –Tanager (endemic), Olive-headed Brush-Finch (endemic),, Blossomcrown (endemic),, Tolima Dove(endemic), , Red-billed Emerald(endemic), Violet-crowned Woodnymph, Andean Emerald. Bronzy Inca, Highland Motmot, Olivaceous Piculet, Apical Flycatcher(endemic),, Mountain Elaenia, Slate-headed Tody-tyrant, Whiskered Wren, Yellow-throated Brush Finch, Black-winged Saltator, Rufous-naped and Scrub Greenlets, Rufous-capped Warbler, Oleaginous Hemispingus, Scrub Tanager, Streak-capped Treehunter, Bar-crested Antshrike, (endemic), Immaculate Antbird, and maybe Yellow-headed Manakin. After lunch we’ll drive six hours drive to the El Paujil reserve. On the access road to this reserve we’ll look for Northern Screamer and Bare-faced Ibis. B:L:D

El Paujil Reserve. We’ll spend 2 days at this reserve which has a well developed trail system and a lovely stretch of little traveled road on the outside of the reserve. The reserve was created to protect the critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow, a species thought to be nearly extinct until a ProAves expedition located a viable population here in 2003 and has a pleasant rainforest feel to it with en suite rooms. Blue-billed Currasow is anmain target here, (we saw a stunning pair in June 2007). Other birds we’ll look for over the next 2 days include White-mantled Barbet (endemic),, Black Antshrike(endemic),, Beautifull Woodpecker (endemic),, Dull-mantled Antbird, Black-billed Flycatcher (endemic),, Colombian Chachalaca (endemic),, Red-lored and Saffron-headed Parrot, Pale-bellied and Stipe-throated Hermit, Northern Violaceoaus and Western White-tailed Trogons, Barred Puffbird, Black-mandibled Toucan, Citron-Throated Toucan, Cinnamon Woodpecker, Pale-breasted Spinetail, Black-striped and Cocoa Woodcreeper, Antioquia Bristle-Tyrant, Western Slaty Antshrike, Jet Antbird, Bare-crowned Antbird, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Western Striped Manakin, Sooty-headed Tyrannulet, Southern Bentbill, Cinnamon Becard, Black-bellied Wren, Sooty Ant Tanager(endemic),, Plain-colored Tanager and more. B:L:D

A travel day. Early birding at El Paujil reserve and then we’ll leave around 9:00am for a 7 hour drive with a lunch stop to the town of San Vicente and the Reinita Cielo Azul (Cerulean Warbler) Reserve. We’ll make quick stop to look for the endemic Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird. Transferring to jeeps we’ll complete the drive in to the reserve accommodations – spacious rooms with a large roomy balcony from which endemic Flame-rumped Tanager and Indigo-capped hummingbirds are common and the very rare Turquoise Dacnis can be seen. Recurve-billed Bushbird has recently been recorded here. B:L:D

Morning walk down through coffee plantations, which should be packed with boreal migrants depending on the time of year. Here we can see Large-billed Seed-Finch, Bar-crested Antshrike and more. A quick look for Chestnut bellied Hummer, if we have not already seen it, and onto Ocaña a 5 hour drive and stay in town at Plaza Real Hotel. B: Lunch on route. B:L:D

Full day at the Hormiguero de Torcoroma reserve (Recurve-billed Bushbird). We’ll be in the bamboo and walking the trails at dawn through to lunch. Our target is of course the Bushbird, which we saw well in June. Other interesting species include the endemic Gray-throated Warbler, Moustached Brush-Finch, Lined Quail Dove, Lazuline Sabrewing, Red-billed Emerald, Andean Toucanet, Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Long-tailed Antbird, Yellow-legged Thrush, Speckled Tanager, Black-headed Tanager, and Black-fronted Wood-Quail. Night in Ocaña. B:L:D

A long travel day with some stops. Field breakfast and a few stops stops on route we may look for Chestnut-vented Chachalaca, Blue-crowned Parakeet, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Black-faced Grassquit Drive to Santa Marta and stay in hotel there. B:L:D

Field Breakfast. Morning around Salamanca for Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird and Chestnut-winged Chachalaca. Other birds include Bare-eyed Pigeon, Russet-throated Puffbird and Chestnut Piculet, Bicolored Conebill and Panama Flycatcher. Lots of Herons, Shorebirds/Waders ands coastal species here. and As the day heats up we’ll head for the cooler Santa Marta Mountains and lunch in Minca. Bird lower elevations near Minca in the afternoon looking for Red and White Wren, Venezuelan Tyrannulet, Black-backed Antbird, Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Santa Marta Tapaculo (endemic), Blossomcrown, Rufous-capped Warblers, Swallow Tanagers, Coppery Emerald Royal Flycatcher, Golden-winged Sparrow and more. We’ll arrive at the El Dorado Lodge at dusk. This new lodge is extremely comfortable with a very birdy garden with many encdemis visible from the balcony.B:L:D

Two full days on the San Lorenzo Ridge birding different elevations for different species. One day we’ll take our 4 wheel drive jeeps to the higher elevations of the San Lorenzo ridge. Endemic targets include Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant, Santa Marta Seedeater, Santa Marta Warbler, Santa Marta Mountain Tanager, Santa Marta Brush Finch, White-lored Warbler, Yellow-crowned Whitestart, Rusty-headed Spinetail, Streak-capped Spinetail, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Santa Marta Antpitta, Santa Marta Warbler, Black-backed Thorntail (rare) and Santa Marta Woodstar. Others include White-tipped Quetzal, White-rumped Haw, Black-fronted Wood-Quail, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Grey-throated Warbler and Lined Quail-Dove. An un-described species of Megascops Owl is to be seen here too! Nights at the El Dorado Lodge. B:L:D

After an early breakfast we’ll drive to Santa Marta Airport for the 9:20 flight ( arriving at 10:45am) to Bogota and international connections home o r join the below extention. B: