WHOEVER SAID a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush hasn’t been to the cloud forests of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains.
As the 7 a.m. light breaks through the canopy near the town of Minca, I spy a keel-billed toucan croaking from a mossy pine tree.
A flowerpecker darts around a giant fern, and a pair of military macaws fly in formation overhead.
About a dozen species of amethyst, emerald and sapphire hummingbirds hover like bejeweled drones over a marmalade bush.
In just 30 minutes, we’ve already seen more than 20 species, most of them “lifers” to me—i.e., birds spotted for the first time.
Persons:
Cristian, we’ve
Locations:
Colombia’s Sierra Nevada, Santa Marta, Minca