Birds of Bodhi Mente: 39 species recorded near Tayrona
We record every bird we see or hear on our land in Mendihuaca, Magdalena, Colombia, near Tayrona National Park, using the Merlin Bird ID app. Each species below includes a fact from a trusted source and the months it is most likely to be seen here.
Species list
Rusty-margined Flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis)
First recorded: 2026-07-11 · When to see it: All year
Rusty wings, lazy call. Look for the obvious rusty colour in its wings and listen for a lazy, burry “wheeer.” It is often found near water.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Lance-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia lanceolata)
First recorded: 2026-07-11 · When to see it: All year
The wingman strategy. Males court as a team. A junior “beta” male helps the “alpha” dance for females, but only the alpha mates. The payoff comes later: betas are more likely to become alphas themselves.
Source: DuVal (2007), study on PubMed
Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda)
First recorded: 2026-07-11 · When to see it: All year
Snap and pound. Jacamars catch butterflies and dragonflies in mid-air with an audible snap of the bill, then pound them on the perch before eating.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
First recorded: 2026-07-10 · When to see it: All year
No voice box. Black Vultures have no voice box, so all they can do is hiss and grunt. They are the most numerous vulture in the Western Hemisphere.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Yellow-headed Caracara (Daptrius chimachima)
First recorded: 2026-07-10 · When to see it: All year
Tick removal service. It is a habitual tick cleaner of large mammals, including capybaras and tapirs. In one Costa Rica study it removed ticks in 91% of its visits to tapirs.
Striped Cuckoo (Tapera naevia)
First recorded: 2026-04-24 · When to see it: All year
The four-winged cuckoo. Its oversized dark alula feathers, near the bend of the wing, earned it the nickname “four-winged cuckoo.”
White-necked Puffbird (Notharchus hyperrhynchus)
First recorded: 2026-04-24 · When to see it: All year
Where the name comes from. Puffbirds are named for their habit of perching tamely out in the open with their feathers fluffed up.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum)
First recorded: 2026-03-20 · When to see it: All year
True to its name. It is usually found around palm trees, in noisy pairs or small flocks that give sputtering squeaks.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Boat-billed Flycatcher (Megarynchus pitangua)
First recorded: 2026-03-20 · When to see it: All year
The kiskadee's big cousin. It looks a lot like the Great Kiskadee, but with a much stouter, arched bill and a duller olive back. The two sound quite different.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Streaked Saltator (Saltator striatipectus)
First recorded: 2026-03-20 · When to see it: All year
Dusk singer. It usually sings from cover a few metres up, but sometimes, especially at dusk, it sings in flight.
Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus)
First recorded: 2026-03-20 · When to see it: All year
Mixed marriages. In Costa Rica it hybridizes extensively with Hoffmann's Woodpecker. The hybrids are easy to spot: they have an orange nape and belly.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
First recorded: 2026-03-10 · When to see it: All year
The sugar thief. One of its Dutch names translates as “sugar thief.” Bold Bananaquits steal sugar right off restaurant tables.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)
First recorded: 2026-03-10 · When to see it: Oct–Apr · migrant, most seen in Oct and Mar
A river of raptors. Satellite-tracked hawks flew about 7,000 km to northern South America, roughly 110 km a day. Their migrating flocks are so big they're called a “river of raptors.”
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Pale-breasted Thrush (Turdus leucomelas)
First recorded: 2026-01-04 · When to see it: All year
Easy to spot. One of the most common thrushes in lowland South America, often seen hopping in the open or feasting in a fruiting tree.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Scrub Greenlet (Hylophilus flavipes)
First recorded: 2026-01-04 · When to see it: All year
Pink bill, pale eye. Look for its pointy pink bill and pale eye. Oddly, the birds on the island of Tobago have dark eyes.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus)
First recorded: 2026-01-03 · When to see it: All year
Bird specialist. It hunts almost only birds, often diving on them from great heights. It comes in a dark form and a light form.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
First recorded: 2025-12-20 · When to see it: All year
It remembers faces. Great-tailed Grackles learn to recognize individual researchers, and females may sound the alarm when they spot one, even away from the nest.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer)
First recorded: 2025-12-20 · When to see it: All year
Maybe more than one species. It has up to 13 subspecies, and some have very different calls, a hint that it may actually be more than one species.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
First recorded: 2025-12-20 · When to see it: All year · more birds pass through in migration
Nature's cleanup crew. Its stomach is so acidic it can eat carcasses carrying anthrax, tuberculosis or rabies, which helps stop those diseases from spreading.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus)
First recorded: 2025-12-20 · When to see it: All year
The only nest-building falcon. It looks like a long-legged hawk but is a falcon, and the only falcon that collects material to build its own nest.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis)
First recorded: 2025-12-15 · When to see it: All year
Lives up to its name. Noisy and social, it usually travels in pairs or small groups, and some of its calls sound like parakeets.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet (Tyrannulus elatus)
First recorded: 2025-12-13 · When to see it: All year
The hidden crown. Its namesake yellow crown is only sometimes visible. The best clue is its whistled “dee-DEER!”
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus)
First recorded: 2025-12-13 · When to see it: All year
Two looks. On this side of the Andes it's plain powder blue-gray, but populations east of the Andes have broad white wing bars and look very different.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
White-tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi)
First recorded: 2025-12-11 · When to see it: All year
A tidy dove. Unlike other doves and pigeons, it keeps its nest extremely clean.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis)
First recorded: 2025-12-05 · When to see it: All year
Many versions. It has more than 20 subspecies. Some populations migrate with the seasons, while others stay put all year.
Barred Antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus)
First recorded: 2025-12-05 · When to see it: All year
Convict and wren. The male wears black-and-white “convict stripes,” while the female looks like a wren with a hooked bill. Both raise a spiky crest.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Ochre-lored Flatbill (Tolmomyias flaviventris)
First recorded: 2025-12-05 · When to see it: All year
Wasp bodyguards. It builds a hanging, flask-shaped nest with the entrance at the bottom. In one study, 76% of nests were built next to wasp nests.
Southern House Wren (Troglodytes musculus)
First recorded: 2025-11-02 · When to see it: All year
A brand-new species. Until 2024 it was part of the House Wren, which ranged from Canada to the tip of South America. Scientists then split it into Northern and Southern House Wrens, plus five Caribbean species.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis)
First recorded: 2025-11-02 · When to see it: All year
Blink and you miss it. Its namesake orange chin is very hard to see. Look instead for its bounding flight, unlike the straight flight of larger parakeets.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus)
First recorded: 2025-11-02 · When to see it: All year
Built-in eye black. Its black mask works like an athlete's eye black, cutting glare so it can hunt in bright sun or over water.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl)
First recorded: 2025-11-02 · When to see it: All year
A huge appetite. It may need to drink several times its own body weight in nectar in a single day.
Yellow-bellied Elaenia (Elaenia flavogaster)
First recorded: 2025-11-02 · When to see it: All year
Hard to tell apart. Where several elaenias live together, they often can't be told apart. This one gives itself away with a spiky crest that shows a white base.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris)
First recorded: 2025-11-02 · When to see it: All year
The “dirty bird”. Its genus name, Rupornis, comes from the Greek for “dirty bird.” It is the only species in its genus.
Source: Cornell Lab · All About Birds
Common Tody-Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum)
First recorded: 2025-11-02 · When to see it: All year
Tiny bird, big bill. For such a small bird it has a long, broad bill. Pairs flit actively with their tails cocked up.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Buff-breasted Wren (Cantorchilus leucotis)
First recorded: 2025-10-27 · When to see it: All year
Faithful duet partners. Pairs sing duets together, and they are remarkably faithful: one study found only about 3% of broods had chicks from outside the pair.
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush (Catharus aurantiirostris)
First recorded: 2025-10-27 · When to see it: All year
Sings all year. Unlike most thrushes, it sings year-round, usually from a well-hidden perch.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Common Squirrel-Cuckoo (Piaya cayana)
First recorded: 2025-10-27 · When to see it: All year
The wow bird. It forages so stealthily it can be hard to see, but it is often spotted swooping across roads, drawing a “wow” from anyone watching.
Source: Cornell Lab · eBird
Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina)
First recorded: 2025-10-27 · When to see it: All year
Jump for love. Males perform repeated vertical leaps from a perch while giving a short call, mostly early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao)
First recorded: 2026-10-21 · When to see it: All year
A screeching pair. Scarlet macaws usually fly between fruiting trees in loud pairs or family groups, and they can live 40 to 50 years in the wild.
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Good to know
- What birds can you see at Bodhi Mente?
- We have recorded 39 bird species on our land in Mendihuaca, near Tayrona National Park, including hummingbirds, parakeets, flycatchers, tanagers, woodpeckers, hawks, caracaras and a pair of Scarlet Macaws.
- Are there macaws near Tayrona?
- Yes. We've seen a pair of Scarlet Macaws (guacamaya macao, also called guacamaya bandera) on our land, near the Quebrada Seca, the dry creek. They usually travel in loud pairs or family groups.
- When is the best time to see birds here?
- Almost all of our species can be seen all year. The Broad-winged Hawk is a migrant, most likely here from October to April. As anywhere, birds are most active early in the morning.
- How do you identify the birds?
- We record what we see and hear with the Merlin Bird ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and check each species against trusted sources.