birding never sleeps: COLOMBIA 2026 part 5: Minca, El Dorado and San Lorenzo Ridge (10-14 March 2026)

COLOMBIA 2026 part 5: Minca, El Dorado and San Lorenzo Ridge (10-14 March 2026)

10 March 2026. We left our hotel in Santa Marta at 05:20 in the three 4WDs that had met us at the airport the previous evening and drove a short distance to El Valle, a back road through an area of dry scrub near the coast for dawn. Not being sure if we were allowed to be here added a bit of anxiety to the situation but we soon saw the hoped for Chestnut-winged Chachalacas perched on overhead wires. Also seen in the Valle area were Whooping Motmot, Brown-throated Parakeet, Ochre-lored Flatbill, Mouse-coloured Tyrannulet, Grey Kingbird, Black-crested Antshrike, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Buff-breasted Wren and Olive-grey Saltator. At 07:00 with the temperature rising we headed up into the Santa Marta foothills where a stop on the lower slopes produced a flyover Grey-headed Kite, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Black-backed Antshrike, Pale-eyed Pygmy Tyrant, Golden-fronted Greenlet, Rufous-and-white Wren and Crested Oropendola. The coffee zone added Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Scaled Piculet, a brief Rosy-thrush Tanager, Rufous-breasted Wren, Chestnut-capped Warbler and Dull-coloured Grassquit while I was too slow to get onto a couple of very brief Coppery Emerald sightings. Climbing further into the subtropical zone our first stop found both Santa Marta Antbird and Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner. A trail deeper into the forest seeing Sierra Nevada Brushfinch and White-lored Warbler. Lunch at Mountain House allowed close study of their feeders hosting Brown Violetear, Santa Marta Blossomcrown. Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-legged Thrush, Tennessee Warbler and Black-headed Tanager. We drove up to the entrance of El Dorado from where it was a good 20 minute uphill walk to the lodge. Fortunately they have electric golfcarts and while we were waiting for them to be loaded loaded to take us and our gear up to the lodge we had superb views of a pair of White-tipped Quetzals. Surprisingly, as we spent time in the parking area at least twice a day, we never saw the quetzals again. Some birding around the grounds produced Band-tailed Guan, Lined Quail-Dove, Groove-billed Toucanet, Streak-capped Spinetail and Santa Marta Brushfinch.

Chestnut-winged Chachalaca at El Valle

Common Ground Dove at el Valle

Black-billed Thrush at el Valle

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl at El Valle

Swallow Tanager at El Valle

Black-crested Antshrike at El Valle

Rufous-tailed Jacamar at Minca

Scaled Piculet at Minca

Santa Marta from Minca

White-lored Warbler at Minca

Brown Violetear at Mountain House

female Black-headed Tanager at Mountain House

male Black-headed Tanager at Mountain House

Black-capped Tanager at Mountain House

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird at Mountain House

Crowned Woodnymph at Mountain House

Tennessee Warbler at Mountain House

Yellow-backed Oriole at Mountain House

Rusty Flowerpiercer at Mountain House

juvenile Rusty Flowerpiercer at Mountain House

White-tipped Dove at Mountain House

female White-tipped Quetzal at El Dorado

male and female White-tipped Quetzals at El Dorado

male White-tipped Quetzal at El Dorado

views from El Dorado

Streak-capped Spinetail at El Dorado

Band-tailed Guan at El Dorado

sunset from El Dorado

11 March 2026. We left El Dorado lodge at 04:10 and climbed high to the San Lorenzo ridge on a pretty rough road. On the way up a Santa Marta Screech-Owl flew across in front of us and it or more likely another was eventually tracked down and gave reasonable but brief views. We spent all day along the ridge starting at a rather basic reserve centre/hut where a Santa Marta Antpitta was being fed worms while we had breakfast looking on. I’d had very poor views on my previous visit so this was a big relief. Nearby we saw Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Rusty-headed Spinetail, Hermit Wood-Wren and Yellow-crowned Whitestart although other endemics took longer to find. Perseverance produced Santa Marta Warbler and Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant. At lunch we saw Santa Marta Mountain Tanager and White-tailed Starfrontlet at feeders and later along the ridge White-rumped Hawk, the Santa Marta race of Emerald Toucanet, Scarlet-fronted Parakeet, Scaly-naped Amazon and eventually Santa Marta Parakeet. We were back at the lodge at 19:00, a long but very successful day.

Santa Marta Brushfinch on San Lorenzo Ridge

Santa Marta Antpitta on San Lorenzo ridge

Santa Marta Antpitta on San Lorenzo ridge (photo: Paul Chapman)

views from San Lorenzo Ridge

Hermit Wood-Wren on San Lorenzo Ridge

Scarlet-fronted Parakeet on San Lorenzo Ridge

Yellow-crowned Whitestart on San Lorenzo Ridge

the Santa Marta Antpitta was a bit shyer for the lunchtime feed

Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant on the San Lorenzo Ridge

female White-tailed Starfrontlet on the San Lorenzo Ridge

male White-tailed Starfrontlet on the San Lorenzo Ridge

Great Thrush on the San Lorenzo Ridge

Santa Marta Mountain Tanager on the San Lorenzo Ridge

Band-tailed Pigeon on the San Lorenzo Ridge

Crab-eating Fox on the San Lorenzo ridge

Santa Marta Parakeet on the San Lorenzo Ridge

12 March 2026. With a few targets still to see we left EL Dorado Lodge at 04:50 and drove up the mountain as far as the Research Station, arriving as it was starting to get light. It was an excellent call from Trevor as a pair of the erratic Black-backed Thornbill appeared almost immediately presumably having roosted nearby. We drove further up stopping briefly to look for Carricker’s Mountain Tanager but only seeing silhouettes. We continued to the reserve centre for another Santa Marta Antpitta breakfast session and walked sections back down concentrating on Carriker’s Mountain Tanager which teased us for a while and Sierra Nevada Antpitta. The first we heard gave poor views but a second was more obliging. Lower down we saw Golden Grosbeak before another lunch and feeder session at Mountain House which produced similar species to the previous day. The afternoon was spent at lower elevations looking for Santa Marta Woodstar, the last realistic Santa Marta endemic, but to no avail, although Scaled Pigeon, Plumbeous Kite and Collared Aracari were some compensation. Back at El Dorado as the light was going I had a better view of Black-breasted Thrush.

another Santa Marta Antpitta breakfast

badly focused Sierra Nevada Antpitta on the San Lorenzo Ridge

I was hoping for something more like this - Sierra Nevada Antpitta on the San Lorenzo Ridge (photo: Paul Chapman)

Sierra Nevada Antpitta on the San Lorenzo Ridge (photo: Paul Chapman)

Cinnamon Flycatcher on the San Lorenzo Ridge

Brown Violetear at Mountain House

White-tipped Dove at Mountain House

Tarantula Hawk Wasp near Mountain House

Collared Aracari at El Dorado

Scaled Pigeon at El Dorado

Black-breasted Thrush at El Dorado

13 March 2026. We were still missing Santa Marta Woodstar, one of the trickier of the gettable endemics, but local information suggested our best bet was the area we’d tried the previous evening. We left El Dorado with all our gear at 05:15, a superb place to stay with fantastic views although we’d rarely been there in daylight to appreciate them. We soon found a male Santa Marta Woodstar sat on a branch at the top of a dead looking tree we’d been checking the previous day although it was fairly distant and the morning light wasn’t great. We walked down the road a bit further seeing Coopmans’s and Spectacled Tyrannulets and Crimson-crested Woodpecker before trying a trail a bit higher up where we saw Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Slaty Antwren, Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Grey-throated Leaftosser, Streaked Xenops and Montane Foliage-gleaner. We descended further and dodged a heavy rain shower while having lunch before checking into Colores de la Sierra, a lower elevation lodge in Minca. Birding in the garden produced Golden-winged Sparrow, Plain-brown Woodcreeper and White-lined Tanager. We finished the day on the lower slopes of a nearby ridge seeing Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift and two small fairly distant high-flying flocks of Military Macaws on their way to roost.

Santa Marta Woodstar in Minca

Crimson-crested Woodpecker at Minca

Spectacled Tyrannulet at Minca

Rusty-breasted Antpitta at Minca (photo: Paul Chapman)

Blue-naped Chlorophonia at Minca

Santa Marta Brushfinch at Minca

Red-billed Parrot at Minca

Santa Marta Blossomcrown

Groove-billed Toucanet at Minca

Montane Foliage-gleaner at Minca

Cinnamon Flycatcher at Minca

raining hard at lunchtime

rather wet Yellow-throated Vireo

Tennessee Warbler at Minca

Golden-winged Sparrow at Minca

Thick-billed Euphonia at Minca

Cinnamon Becard at Minca

Plain-brown Woodcreeper hiding at Minca

Chestnut-capped Warbler at Minca

14 March 2026. We left the lodge at 05:30 and, acting on information Trevor had received, drove back into the foothills to Tagua arriving at 06:25. Here we were led to a feeding station where we saw Rufous-necked Wood Rail and Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush. A small noisy covey of Black-fronted Wood Quail came close but I only heard them. We left at 08:15 and returned to the lodge in Minca for breakfast, pick up our bags and transfer into a bus. No more mountain roads for us. We descended to the Caribbean coast and out to the Guajira peninsula.