Birding 'The Birders' - The Colombian Andes
Bird from home! Our storytelling agency has prepared a comprehensive birding checklist to accompany our documentary "The Birders: A family's nest in the Colombian Andes." You can identify more than 30 of the most spectacular birds found in the Western Andes of Colombia from the comfort of your armchair, sofa, or hammock. No binoculars or 'scope required!
With the annual Global Big Day happening this weekend, all of the birders at our storytelling agency are stuck at home, wishing we could be out in the field helping Colombia claim a fourth straight GBD winner's medal. We'll have to content ourselves with some balcony birding instead. And for every frustrated birder stuck at home right now, we've also come up with a fun new way of birding Colombia from home.
We have created birding checklists for all five of our Colombia birding documentaries, including the feature-length film 'The Birders.' Simply watch the videos and see how many species you can tick off the list. It's a fun and interactive way to enjoy birding without being able to travel.
Let's bird the Colombian Andes!
You can download the comprehensive birding checklist here. This list features all of the avian stars of "The Birders: A family's nest in the Colombian Andes" that can be "ticked" as you identify them throughout the film. You can download the Merlin app from our partners at eBird to help you ID any tricky species, or explore eBird lists for clues. We filmed the video at Montezuma Lodge in Colombia's Tatamá National Park. It's one of the No. 1 hotspots in Colombia on eBird, with well over 500 species reported, so you can use these lists to study up!
The Andean region of Colombia is extensive. In South America's northernmost country, the Andes split into three ranges, the Western, Central, and Eastern Andes. This geological divide and the inter-Andean valleys between the ranges, has given the Colombian Andes a high level of endemism.
Montezuma Lodge is a family-owned ecolodge located on the edge of Tatamá National Park, where the Western Andes meets the Chocó rainforest of the Pacific coast. It is smack-bang in the middle of one of the most biodiverse regions on Planet Earth. The Tapasco family, who run the lodge, are a multi-generational family of birders and guides whose passion for their little slice of paradise is one of the main themes of the documentary. Star species at Montezuma include the endemic Gold-ringed Tanager, Chestnut-breasted Flowerpiercer, and Munchique Wood-Wren. They all feature in the film and on the checklist, so keep your eyes peeled!