Colombia - CALI & SAPAYOA

I've been lucky to have birded in Colombia a few times over recent years. This trip wasn't about racking up tonnes of species (which is very easy to do in this amazing country), but more about targeting a few specific birds and regional endemics. I met with excellent local guide and good friend Giancarlo for the section around Cali and had a great time. Birding in Colombia is just so awesome.

The main target of the trip was finding the monotypic Sapayoa family. It was a fun trip getting to the area, but well worth it to get into some amazing forest habitat. On our first morning in the forest we took an exciting walk along a trail where in a mixed flock we found our target Sapayoa (an adult with a young bird - see pics below) along with numerous other birds. Check out my ebird list for the day here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S57354726

Sapayoa adult

Sapayoa juvenile bird

A couple of the other big targets included Black-tipped Cotinga and Saffron-headed Parrot. 

Black-tipped Cotinga - a very distant record shot

Saffron-headed Parrot - one of a small flock we found

Some of the other birds I managed photos of included:

Black-breasted Puffbird

White-whiskered Puffbird

Black-chested Jay

Choco Trogon

Lemon-spectacled Tanager

Purple-throated Fruitcrow

Rufous-tailed Jacamar 

Scarlet-rumped Cacique

Scarlet-rumped Cacique

Tawny-crested Tanager

White-tailed Trogon

White-tailed Trogon

Yellow-throated Toucan

After the excellent birding around the Cali area with Giancarlo I jumped on a plane and headed north to Medellin.... more awesome birds were around the corner...