Sunrise Birding LLC - Birding & Wildlife Tours - Brazil's Amazing PANTANAL! June 2026

COLOMBIA!
Choco Specialties at Araucana Lodge
March 11 - 18, 2026

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Colombia is the birdiest country on earth, with nearly 2000 species and new species still being discovered regularly. The variety of habitats supports this diversity of species - Colombia is tropical yet it also has ample elevation changes due to the Andes; furthermore it has both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

Our new one-center tour celebrates the opening of Colombia’s newest birding lodge, offering very comfortable accommodations near some of the best birding sites in Colombia. Araucana Lodge is designed specifically for birders and nature lovers, with spacious rooms and all the comforts that ensure a good night’s rest. For those who enjoy bird photography, Araucana Lodge and the reserves nearby have excellent feeder set-ups that provide some of the best photographic opportunities in Colombia.

Aracauna Lodge entrance Lodge Room

Purple-throated Woodstar Our itinerary begins in Cali, Colombia in the western Andes at Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport (CLO) just one hour from Araucana Lodge. Birding starts at the lodge and then around KM 18 and San Antonio Cloud Forest, which offers an excellent introduction to birding in the Colombian Andes. The birding in the area is amazing, with mixed-species flocks of Multicolored, Purplish-mantled, Scrub and Golden-naped Tanagers foraging alongside Scaled Fruiteater, Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonias and Golden-headed and Crested Quetzal.

We also visit an active Andean Cock-of-the-rock lek, and bird the humid forests of the Pacific lowlands in the San Cipriano Reserve, where the habitat and the species differ dramatically from those in the Andean Cloud forests. The Upper Anchicaya Valley is on our agenda, in one of the most biodiverse national parks in the planet: Farallones National Park. In the park, the Old Buenaventura Road descends from the western Andes to the Pacific Ocean and is one of Colombia’s newest destinations to open up to birding. The road provides a mind-boggling diversity of birds resulting in a well rounded list encompassing a variety of habitats.

Join us to experience the spectacular birding that Colombia offers while staying in one lovely lodge -
the new Araucana Lodge.

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ITINERARY

DAY 1: ARRIVE IN CALI AND TRANSFER TO ARAUCANA LODGE
Plan on flying into Cali, Colombia in the western Andes to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport (CLO). Airlines serving CLO include American Airlines (from Miami), Latam, Avianca (via Bogota or Medellin), Copa (via Panama City) and Spirit (via Fort Lauderdale). There will be a group transfer in the afternoon to the lovely Araucana Lodge just an hour away. Settle in to your lovely room for the rest of the tour and enjoy the lodge grounds and surroundings. The group will meet in the evening for dinner (D).

DAY 2: BIRDING KM 18
Purplish-mantled Tanager

Today we spend the morning around the famous KM 18, located on an 1800-meter (5,900-foot) pass 18 kilometers (11 miles) northwest of Cali along the road that connects Cali with the port city of Buenaventura. Birding can be very productive here, and we will look for four endemics – Chestnut Wood-Quail, Colombian Chachalaca, Grayish Piculet and the spectacular Multicolored Tanager. This area is a tanager paradise, where we have a good chance to see Purplish-mantled, Summer, Beryl-spangled, Flame-rumped, Golden, Metallic-green, Saffron-crowned, and Golden-naped Tanagers as well as Ashy-throated Bush-Tanager and Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager.

We hope to be dazzled by an impressive show of hummingbirds at a private house along the same road, including the beautifully ornate Long-tailed Sylph, Booted Rackettail, Blue-headed Sapphire, Lesser Violetear, Fawn-breasted Brilliant, Speckled Hummingbird, White-necked Jacobin, Brown Violetear and Tawny-bellied Hermit. Birding the forest can also produce many near-endemics such as Scrub Tanager, Purple-throated Woodstar, and Nariño Tapaculo. (B, L, D)

DAY 3: SONSO LAGOON
We will start early to take a 2-hour drive to Sonso Lagoon, a wetland gem. It is one of the only remaining wetlands in the Cauca Valley and is teeming with birds, making it one of Colombia’s best wetland birding locations. Here, we will search the marshes and lagoons that line the Cauca River for Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling-ducks, Roseate Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis, Anhinga, Little Blue, Cocoi, and Striated Herons, Snowy Egret, Black-necked Stilt and Snail Kite. We are likely to find Wattled Jacana, which have a polyandry mating system, where females mate with many males within a breeding season. Polyandry is a fascinating adaptation that occurs in less than 1% of birds, and is most common in shorebirds. (B, L, D)

Other interesting species we might spot include the endemics Apical Flycatcher and Grayish Piculet, Jet Antbird, Blackish Rail, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, and Horned Screamer. Along riparian areas we may find Greater Ani, Ringed Kingfisher, Crested and Yellow-headed Caracara, Red-crowned and Spot-breasted Woodpeckers, and Golden-headed Quetzal

Cocoa Woodcreeper. Greater Anis are fascinating because two to four unrelated pairs form a nesting group that build a single nest in which all the females lay their eggs and raise the young communally. (B, L, D)

DAY 4: ARAUCANA LODGE
The day will be spent at the Araucana Lodge in search of some of the targets at the lodge that include species such as Parker’s Antbird, Grayish Piculet, Apical Flycatcher, Smoky-brown Woodpecker, Bar-crested Antshrike, Spectacled Parrotlet, Scaled Antpitta, Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Colombian Chachalaca and Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant.

We will also have a chance to explore the trails that wind through the pre-montane forest that is protected by the owners of the lodge and a stroll around the organic vegetable gardens is also a treat! (B, L, D)

DAY 5: SAN CIPRIANO
Today starts with a 1.5 hour drive to Zaragosa, our entry point into the humid forests of the San Cipriano Reserve. There are no roads into the reserve, so access is via a pleasant ride on “brujitas,” which are motorcycle-powered wooden carts on rails that have been ingenuously engineered by the locals.

In the heart of the Choco Bioregion, the area is known for being one of the most biodiverse on the planet, but also the wettest. Some of the birds that are possible include Choco Toucan, Stripe-billed Aracari, Black-tipped Cotinga (NE), Rose-faced (NE) and Blue-headed Parrots, Spot-crowned and Five-colored Barbet (NE), Broad-billed Motmot and Purple-throated Fruitcrow and Tawny-crested Tanager. Ornate Hawk-eagle is a possibility here as well.

The area is teeming with Antbirds, with chances to see Ocellated, Jet, Stub-tailed and Bicolored Antbirds. With the high humidity and heat, it is best to have bagged species such as Pacific and Checker-throated Antwrens, Pacific Flatbill, Cinnamon Becard, Thicket Antpitta, Black-chested Puffbird, White-ringed Flycatcher, Blue-black Grosbeak, and Blue-crowned and Golden-collared Manakin before lunch. We'll work our way back to the lodge later in the day to cool down and relax. (B, L, D)

Perhaps Colombia’s most famous birding location, the Anchicaya watershed is located in the Farallones National Park, one of the most diverse parks on the planet. The birding begins just 30 minutes from the lodge via a paved road that can offer many of the Choco endemics that this mega diverse locality has to offer. The day will be spent birding along the upper portion of the road.

We will devote some time to the El Descanso area, where Rufous-throated, Glistening-green and Silver-throated Tanagers are known to occur. Some birding Andean Cock-of-the-rock

at Doña Dora’s place and along the upper portion of the road will surely yield many highly prized species including the endemic Crested Ant-tanager, Golden-collared Honeycreeper, White-whiskered Puffbird, Uniform Treehunter, Sooty-headed Wren, Green Thorntail and Empress Brilliant.

One of the main targets is Toucan Barbet, sporting 5 different colors elegantly while still having a tough demeanor. We will search the skies for Barred Hawk, Ornate Hawk-eagle and Swallow-tailed Kites, while keeping an eye out for the attractive Ornate Flycatcher feeding on low branches. Another mega target is the recently described Tatama Tapaculo. After lunch the group takes a 2-hour drive to an Andean Cock-of-the-rock Lek to observe these unique birds performing. (B, L, D)

On this morning we’ll visit the village of Atuncela, about 40 minutes form the lodge, where a very interesting habitat exists due to a very localized rain shadow. A dry forest with several endemic species of cactus harbors entertaining species such as Bar-crested Antshrike and Striped Cuckoo. Other targets of this area include Pale-breasted Spinetail, Golden-rumped Euphonia and the endemic Apical flycatcher and Cocoa Woodcreeper. (B, L, D)

Today, we say goodbye to this gem of a lodge and the fine staff and guides who have taken excellent care of us. Departures are from the airport at Cali (CLO).