Bird Sketching Colombia Tour 2027

Group meets in Pereira (elevation ~1,200m / 3,900ft) for a welcome lunch, then check-in at Kumanday Eco Lodge. Birding around the lodge or rural town of La Florida. Dinner and sketching at the lodge.

Overnight: Kumanday Eco Lodge

Note: Birding & Drawing Opportunities:

The agricultural landscape of Colombia is a great introduction to the country’s biodiversity. After getting to know each other at our lunch spot, we’ll bird the surrounding area for species such as Bay-headed Tanager, Blue-headed Parrot, Andean Motmot, Bare-faced Ibis, or overwintering warblers. After dinner, we’ll do an introductory drawing lesson on bird anatomy and field sketching techniques.

We head out early by 4×4 up the mountain to Otún Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, where we’ll gradually bird by foot down the road, passing rushing streams and rich mossy forests teeming with orchids and bromeliads.

Overnight: Kumanday Ecolodge

Note: Birding & Drawing Opportunities:

Birding along an unpaved road, nearly enclosed in cloud forest, we’ll stop for photos and sketches of birds that may include Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, rare Cauca Guan, or Golden-plumed Parakeet. We may encounter a mixed flock with dazzling Tanagers, hoping for the endemic Multicolored Tanager. Once we return to the lodge, we can choose to relax and/or spend time live sketching at feeders. After dinner we can have an open art making session to refine any of the day’s drawings with more details or watercolor washes, or create new works based off of reference photos we may have snapped during the day.

A second morning at Otún Quimbaya allows time to visit new locations within the sanctuary for observation and sketching of birds in the field. Departing Pereira for Manizales, we’ll make stops around the countryside for a few new birds.

Overnight: QUO Hotel, Manizales

Note: Birding & Drawing Opportunities:

While overlooking the Otún River, we may be able to sketch White-capped Dippers or Torrent Ducks bobbing in the rapids. Nearby forests may reveal a Moustached Antpitta (NE), an endemic Crested Ant-Tanager, or a family of Colombian Red Howler Monkeys. While driving, we may stop to check out Bare-faced Ibis or Red-breasted Meadowlark in the farm fields outside of town. Optional drawing and painting in the evening at your leisure.

Set out pre-dawn for Hacienda El Bosque (~9,100m / 12,700ft), a premiere cloud forest reserve on the eastern slope of the Central Andes. This private property protects mixed elfin and bamboo forest with feeding stations for highland specialties. After a dedicated birding morning and hot lunch, we’ll descend through coffee country and continue to Tinamú Nature Reserve.

Overnight: Tinamú Birding & Nature Lodge

Note: Birding & Drawing Opportunities:

At Hacienda El Bosque, feeding stations will give us a chance to capture photos or quick gesture drawings of Grey-browed Brushfinches, Yellow-bellied Chat-Tyrant, or an energetic Equatorial Antpitta. Afterward, we’ll spend a prolonged session viewing and drawing the charismatic Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan coming to feeders, plus Sickle-winged Guan, Blue-headed Tanager, and Masked Flowerpiercer. Zooming hummingbirds like Sword-billed and Tourmaline Sunangel may help us practice our speed drawing.

Later at Tinamú, we’ll enjoy close views of an array of birds in the lodge garden, from Scrub and Blue-necked Tanagers to White-necked Jacobin and Black-throated Mango hummingbirds. Art-making time after dinner.

Enjoy an immersive day around the renowned Tinamú Lodge, surrounded by regenerating tropical forest and cultivated edges that attract a high diversity of birds. The mix of dense understory, flowering trees, and fruit feeders provides ideal conditions for observation and field sketching throughout the day around the lodge, on the trails, or from blinds.

Overnight: Tinamú Birding Nature Reserve

Note: Birding & Drawing Opportunities:

We’ll have great opportunities to observe and field sketch semi-habituated birds that visit feeding stations set up around the forest trails. Species may include Great Antshrikes, Blue-lored and Jet Antbirds, and the endemic Bar-crested Antshrike. A roadside mealworm feeder is a reliable place for Moustached Puffbirds that often pose patiently and cooperatively for their portraits. In the afternoon, we’ll visit a trailside lek for an incredible opportunity to observe Golden-collared Manakins practicing their displays, providing extended observation, photography, and drawing time. We’ll do a drawing or painting session after dinner, if we’re not interrupted by a visit from a Common Pauraque or Spectacled Owl.

Final morning at Tinamu, then depart for the coffee-growing town of Jardín, nestled in a valley within the western slope of Colombia’s Central Andes at approximately 1,750m / 5,740ft. Surrounded by cloud forest-cloaked mountains, waterfalls, and traditional coffee farms, Jardín is celebrated for its rich biodiversity and vibrant rural culture. After checking into the hotel where we’ll be spending the next three nights, we’ll visit Reserva Natural Jardín de Rocas, close to the center of town.

Overnight: Valdivia Plaza Hotel, Jardín

Note: Birding & Field Drawing Opportunities:

Participants can choose how to spend their final relaxing morning at Tinamu, watching lodge feeders for hummers and tanagers for new sketches or roaming the gardens to make notes and drawings of tropical vegetation. We may get a visit from a curious Agouti, or we may check to see if the local Lemurine Night Monkeys are bedding down for the day.

In Jardín, we’ll spend time watching, photographing, sketching, or painting the afternoon display dances of the iconic Andean Cock-of-the-Rock at Reserva Natural Jardín de Rocas. We may even work live with watercolor, brightening up our sketchbooks with blazing red-orange to take advantage of one of the most reliable and easily accessible display leks in the country. 

Spend the day exploring birding sites surrounding Jardín. Our first destination is Los Guácharos Reserve, a privately protected reserve preserving mature Andean cloud forest on the slopes above town. In the afternoon, we may visit another nearby feeder site, or take a birding walk on a local trail for views of the countryside surrounding Jardín.

Overnight: Valdivia Plaza Hotel, Jardín

Note: Birding & Drawing Opportunities:

Los Guácharos Reserve is a birding site where the enigmatic oilbird can be seen and sketched. Locally known as guácharos, these strange fruit-eating nocturnal birds use echolocation to “see” in near total darkness. Also on the property is a great feeder setup, where we can draw endemic Red-bellied Grackles, among other more common, but brilliant species such as Red-headed Barbet, Southern Emerald Toucanet, Black-chested Jays, or Black-capped and Bay-headed Tanagers.

Early ascent by 4×4 higher into the Central Andes (~2,700 m / 8,860 ft) for a day trip to a fantastic family operated birding site called Mirador El Roble, known for its hospitality and unique Andean birds. In the afternoon, we’ll journey back to Jardin along the renowned Ventanas Road, one of Colombia’s premier birding routes to check out the action along the roadside. Both of these mountain locations offer spectacular views across the dramatic mountain ranges of Antioquia.

Overnight: Valdivia Plaza Hotel, Jardín

Note: Birding & Drawing Opportunities:

At Mirador El Roble, feeding stations will offer close views and experiences with the reserve’s energetic antpittas, including Chestnut-naped or endemic Chami. Other species for photography or drawing while they feed include Long-tailed Sylph and Black Inca hummingbirds and possible endemic Chestnut Wood-Quails. If we’re lucky, there may be a visit from a small spotted wildcat which sometimes visits the property, the Oncilla. 

Along Ventanas Road, we’ll search for the endemic Yellow-eared Parrot, perched against picturesque hillside wax palms. We’ll also keep an eye out for highland specialties such as Masked Trogon, White-capped Tanager, Black-billed Mountain-Toucan, or the hulking Hooded Mountain-Tanager. In the evening, we may be eager to touch up some final drawings or paintings in our sketchbooks.

Final coffee and a sketchbook share-out before driving to the airport in Medellín for our departures. We’ll take our final looks at the Colombian Andes, as we reflect on the birds, landscapes, and artistic and cultural experiences encountered throughout our tour.