El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

Our first full day we went with the forest ranger up the mountain at 4:30am. It was really foggy and at that elevation was quite chilly so I am glad we dressed for the weather. It was difficult to see birds at first with the fog and poor lighting. We drove up and then walked down with a short stop at the lookout point. It was foggy the entire time we were there but apparently you should be able to see the peak of the Sierra Navada mountains on a clear day.

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

The birds we saw were:
Santa Marta Warbler
Santa Marta Brush Finch
Sierra Navada Brush Finch
Broad-winged Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon

Band-tailed Pigeon

Brown-rumped Tapacula (only heard but so very close to us in the brush)
Rusty-headed Spinetail
Streak-capped Spinetail
Mountain Elaenia
White-throated Tyranulet
Montane Woodcreeper
Santa Marta Bush-tyrant
Yellow-bellied Bush-tyrant
Black Flowerpiercer

Black Flowerpiercer

Paramo Seedeater
Yellow-crowned Redstart
Santa Marta Parakeet
Scarlet-fronted Parakeet
Scaly-naped Parrot

Scaly-naped Parrot

Red-billed Parrow
Sparkling Violetear

Black-backed Thornbill

Tyrian Metaltail


White-tailed Starfrontlet
Mountain Velvetbreast
Red-billed Emerald
Santa Marta Wood Wren
Great Thrush
Santa Marta Mountain Tanager
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Tennessee Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

 White-lored Warbler

I also had the chance to find a small scorpion up the mountain.

Along the road on the way down we passed this large rock formation with packed dirt at the entrance and there were large cat prints.  The 'cat cave' appeared to go pretty deep and had multiple entrances.

After lunch I saw Black-chested Jays and Emerald Toucanets eating in the trees around the lodge property while the guan and aguti rained the compost heap and the hummingbirds fought over territory.

Emerald Toucanet

We walked down the road to look for Quetzals again and got lucky enough to find a mixed flock coming across the road. We also had a great view of woodpeckers, trogon and the female quetzal. Some of the new things for the day that we didn't see up at the top of the mountain were:

Black and White Warbler
Crimson Crested Woodpecker

Crimson Crested Woodpecker

Blackburnian Warbler
Bay-headed Tanager
Black-striped Sparrow
White-tipped Dove

White-tipped Dove

Black-hooded Thrush
Crested Orupendula
White-tipped Quetzal

White-tipped Quetzal

Strong-billed Woodcreeper
Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner
Masked Trogon
Yellow Warbler
Slate-throated Redstart

We walked the quetzal loop trail up to above the cabins where we sat and watched the sunset over the mountains. Now it was finally clear enough to see the peaks of the mountains beyond and we could see the ocean at Barranquilla. The clouds came in as we watched the sunset and encompassed the mountains below in this odd poisonous green coloured mist. It was quite lovely and peaceful to watch as the scenery changed colour before us.

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

El Dorado Eco Lodge and the Sierra Navada Mountains, Colombia

Walking back we didn't see any more herps by the creeks than the few brown frogs that were around during the day and some Pristimantis. Even those few frogs were silent. The amazing rock face with 3 snake skins had no live snakes. The bats however got incredibly active and two different sizes, one massive and one much smaller were flying up and down the trail around us.

That night after dinner two species of monkeys, Kinkaju and Night Monkeys came to be fed. The night walk had a lot less even though there were only three of us on it. It was just so dry and we only saw the endemic frog Pristimantis santamartae and the endemic tarantula Kankuamo marquezi. The little salamander was even further tucked into its bromeliad as much of the water had evaporated.

El Dorado EcoLodge, Colombia

We left Hotel Minca around 10am with a company called Silvana Travels that drives up the dirt road to El Dorado EcoLodge. I wouldn't reccomend driving yourself unless you have 4-wheel drive and a lot of patience for slow driving and letting oncoming traffic pass on a road that is about 1-1.5X a car width. The EcoLodge is up high on the mountain and you take the winding dirt road up for about 2-3 hours to get there.  It's not that far for distance but just the road conditions make it quite slow.

El Dorado EcoLodge, Colombia

El Dorado EcoLodge, Colombia

The ecolodge is very secure with a door that you actually can't open so you have to knock to get let in and basically that means not going out at night at all because there is nobody at the desk past 10pm.

El Dorado EcoLodge, Colombia

But anyways the first impression of the lodge was wonderful. You walk into the wood building and they offer you tea or coffee and since we arrived at lunch we got to sit and eat lunch while we waited a little bit for our room. The view through large windows is a lush green garden and the cabins just before the sloping forest beyond. The garden is full of hummingbird feeders, fruit feeders and seed feeders. This is definitely a place for birds because the garden in swarming with them.

Crowned Woodnymph

Santa Marta Brush-finch

Blue-napped Chlorophonia

Crowned Woodnymph and a bromeliad flower

Brown Violetear

Our first hike was the Quetzal Trail up to the cabins. It is a really nice trail through forest and crossing a few streams. I found a large rock surface with 3 snake skins and some very tiny brown frogs around the streams.

Where the trail opens up into a more scrubby area near the cabins a long thing brown snake with a lighter brown stripe pretty much jumped off in front of me and slithered away before I  could even turn on my camera. Imagine a snake coming straight off that ledge you see to the left of the photo like a bat outta hell. Well I bet it was curled up and enjoying the sunshine before we scared the wits outta it.

El Dorado EcoLodge, Colombia

El Dorado EcoLodge, Colombia

Arriving in Minca, Colombia

We arrived in the Santa Marta airport and were met by a taxi driver arranged through the Hotel Minca. This took us along the highways and to the winding roads up to the small mountain town. Along the road there was natural cactus scrubland with many vultures circling in the sky above.  It was a scene straight out of an old west movie.

The scenery drastically changed as we went up the winding roads of the Santa Marta Mountains. The city shrunk into the distance but you could still see it over the steep drop over the side of the road. The trees were tall and old and the houses we passed were literally hanging right off the the side of the mountain.

Hotel Minca

When we arrived at Hotel Minca it was the prefect time for some late afternoon birding. We didn't even have to go anywhere though. The hotel itself was a hotspot for birds. We saw over 20 species very quickly and a fair number of them were ones I had never seen before.

Hotel Minca

The gardens around the hotel were lush and birds were abundant in the trees and gardens. A few were even going for a quick dip in the pool. The hummingbird feeders were bustling. The most common were White-vented Plumeleteers, Steely-vented Hummingbird and Rufous-tailed Hummingbird but there was also the odd Brown Violetear and White-necked Jacobin.

Hotel Minca

The total list of what we saw:
White-tipped Dove
Eared Dove
Squirrel Cuckoo

Squirrel Cuckoo

White-necked Jacobin
White-vented Plumeleteer

White-vented Plumeleteer

White-vented Plumeleteer

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Steely-vented Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Black Vulture
Red-crowned Woodpecker
Orange-chinned Parakeets

Orange-chinned Parakeet

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Great Kiskadee
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Social Flycatcher

Social Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird
Bicolored Wren

Bicolored Wren

Bicolored Wren

Pale-breasted Thrush
Grayish Saltator

Grayish Saltator

Grayish Saltator

After a few hours of relaxing we walked around the town but the birding hardly compared to the area around the hotel. Despite the small size Minca is quite busy with people. There are motor taxis everywhere and even the small dirt roads on the outskirts are full of people coming back from swimming in the waterfall or river.

Iglesia Minka

By night you can see the light reflect off the eyes of spiders and noctural mammals. I saw a large rabbit that looked more like an escaped pet and a long skittish mammal that reminded me of a large ferret. There were lots of the typical house geckos running along the walls of the hotel (much less insect diversity than I would have expected and only a few moths were around the lights) and I did manage to find one large gecko and an anole in the shrubs around the hotel.

Turnip-tailed Gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda)

Turnip-tailed Gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda)

Turnip-tailed Gecko (Thecadactylus rapicauda)

Neotropical Green Anole (Anolis biporcatus)