Your gateway to antpitta heaven! 

  • By Robin Smith
  • •
  • 14 Sep, 2018
  • •
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta Image: Rob Smith

Welcome to Rio Blanco reserve

If you love bird watching then you should certainly consider heading to Colombia as there are many world-class birding sites here that offer the kind of experience that one dreams about when flicking through a field guide in anticipation of your next birding tour. So, if I were to tell you about a reserve that offered such avian delights as Masked Saltator, White-capped Tanager, Powerful Woodpecker, Stygian Owl, Golden-plumed Parakeet, Rusty-faced Parrot, Chestnut Wood-quail, Ocellated Tapaculo, Buff-breasted Mountain-tanager and Black-billed Mountain Toucan, you might think sightings of these much-sought-after species would be the highlight of your visit. However, the reserve in question – Rio Blanco – is special, for not only does it present excellent opportunities to see the aforementioned species, it also provides the very real chance for visitors to witness a collection of furtive antpittas!
Beautiful species like this Buff-breasted Mountain Tananger are possible at Rio Blanco Image; Rob Smith

What is it with antpittas?

Whether it is thanks to their skulking and shy habits, varied subtle but beautiful plumes, their undoubted yet intangible presence or most likely the combined effect of these factors, antpittas hold a special place in the heart of many visiting birders to the neotropics and in Colombia Rio Blanco is the antpitta capital! This pristine cloud forest reserve lies just outside the scenic Andean town of Manizales in Colombia’s central Andean mountain range. Thanks to a series of earthworm feeding stations, a single morning’s birding can result in no less than 5 species of this skulking family, including the endemic Brown-banded, the near-endemic Bicoloured, the striking Chestnut-crowned, and the diminutive Slate-crowned.

 

Brown-banded Antpitta is a Colombian endemic that is possible in Rio Blanco Image: Rob Smith
A typical day...

A day here often starts with a visit to one of these ‘stations’, before gently walking up a forested track while taking in myriad species of other birds until reaching the next antpitta hot spot. Photographic opportunities are excellent throughout the day, and lunch is taken at the reserve’s small guesthouse, where several hummingbird feeders attract jaw- droppers such as Long-tailed Sylph, Tourmaline Sunangel, Andean Emerald and Sparkling Violetear. In the afternoon our attentions often turn to the higher slopes where a differing suite of birds are possible and after nightfall, we can try for various nocturnal species such as White-throated Screech-owl.
Slate-crowned Antpitta Image: Rob Smith
How can I visit Rio Blanco?

We visit Rio Blanco on our extensive Golden Birding Trail tour, which offers our guests access to an incredible suite of Colombian endemic and near-endemic species throughout the eastern, central and western Andes, as well as the Magdalena Valley endemics and a host of fabled Chocó specials! Some of the many highlights of this Colombia birding tour include Bogota Rail, Buffy Helmetcrest, Beautiful Woodpecker, White-mantled Barbet, a visit to an Oil Bird cave and an incredibly active Andean Cock-of-the-rock lek, Yellow-eared Parrot, Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer, Toucan Barbet, Gold-ringed Tanager, Black-chinned Mountain-tanager and over 50 species of Hummingbird. And, of course, a select band of antpittas at Rio Blanco which often steal the show from some of the most colorful and dazzling birds on the planet!

We think our 16-day Golden Birding Trail itinerary is one of the most comprehensive Colombian birding itineraries possible and is perfect for any discerning birders first or second time visit to the country – it will be led by an experienced Wild About Colombia professional bilingual guide and if there are 5 or more guests, a second guide with join the party. However, we limit our groups to 8 guests. If you would like to learn more, please do get in touch with the Wild About Colombia team (contact details below), or visit the tour page where you can download the full itinerary and tour details. Here is the link:

www.wildaboutcolombia.com/the-golden-birding-trail

A 16-day tour is too long for me. Do you have a shorter tour?

Not to worry! We also offer an 8-day Colombia birding tour that visits the world famous Santa Marta range with its incredible suite of endemic birds that can be found nowhere else on earth! A few of the key targets includeSanta Marta Sabrewing, Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner, Santa Marta Screech-owl and Black-backed Thornbill!And whilst this tour doesn't visit Rio Blanco, you'll still get the chance to see antpittas, including the endemic Santa Marta Antpitta! Check out the link below:

https://www.wildaboutcolombia.com/birding-in-paradise

I want to do both tours. Is that possible? 

Absolutely! Because we know you might only visit Colombia once (there are after all some other good places to bird around the world ;) we have specially designed the above two tours so that you can do them back-to-back. Full dates and prices can be found on the respective tour pages on the links above. 

Gold-ringed Tananger is one of the many mega targets on our Golden Birding Trail Tour Image: Tim Smith
We also visit an incredibly active Andean Cock-of-the-rock lek - perhaps the most impressive lek in South America! Image Rob Smith
We're likely to see over 50 species of hummingbird on the tour, including the Colombian endemic Buffy Helmetcrest! Image Rob Smith
Out on a Wild About Colombia birding tour

How to reach the Wild About Colombia team

Should you have any questions on this post, or our Colombia birding tours in general, please don’t hesitate to get in touch info@wildaboutcolombia.com

We are in the process of developing an email distribution so that new blog posts can be delivered to your inbox. But, in the meantime, if you enjoyed this post, please do visit and like our facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/wildaboutcolombia/ as we will inform you of new posts through this social media channel – as well as posting loads of amazing birds and other wildlife from our adventures in Colombia.

Did someone say something about Colombia mammal watching tours!?

If the likes of Spectacled Bear, Mountain Tapir, Cotton-top Tamarin, Ornate Titi and Giant Anteater get you going, please contact us on the above email address! We also arrange mammal watching holidays in search of Colombia’s rare and endemic species!
Cotton-top Tamarin Image: Rob Smith

From all of us, thank you for reading this post, and happy birding and wildlife watching wherever you are in the world!

Best wishes,

The Wild About Colombia team

Why you should seriously consider a Santa Marta birding tour!

By Robin Smith • September 27, 2018
This post descibes the wonderful birding location of Santa Marta and why a Santa Marta Colombia birding tour it too good to miss!

Welcome to the Wild About Colombia blog

By Robin Smith • August 26, 2018
We wanted to kick off the Wild About Colombia blog with a feature on one of the myriad special species of bird (over 1,900 species have been recorded here – the most of any country in the world!) that can be experienced on a Colombia birding tour. The magnificent Buffy Helmetcrest (a member of the genus oxypogon) is confined to montane habitats within a highly restricted distribution range of páramo (high-altitude tropical moorland), sub-páramo and elfin forests of Colombia’s central Andean range within the Los Nevados National Park. Here, amongst this starkly beautiful mosaic of habitats, Buffy Helmetcrest has a particular reliance and association with Espeletia, or locally ‘frailejones’ – a genus of plants in the subtribe Espeletiinae which the helmetcrests can often be seen clinging to, in order to conserve energy, while extracting nectar and especially picking off micro insects. Other flowering plants are also important to the species throughout the year, but it is the Espeletia which it is most reliant upon. They employ a feeding habit known as ‘trap-lining’ whereby an individual will forage a specific set of flowers on a continual loop – in a way harvesting the limited resources in this rarefied habitat. It is perhaps for this reason that, like many other hummingbird species, helmetcrests are highly territorial and will act aggressively towards others of its own kind that encroach upon its’ feeding grounds. Seeing these beautiful birds is always a special privilege and often proves to be a highlight of a Wild About Colombia birding tour!