I had a chance to make a brief visit to Medellin, Colombia in early October of this year, with a dual purpose of visiting my son and his girl friend, and to sneak in a few days of birding in the country with more species (almost 2000) of any country in the world. I jumped at the chance, and previous guest Diego Calderón from Episode #106 was gracious enough to refer me to a terrific local guide, Iván Lau.
Iván was not only a terrific guide, talented, personable and really fun to bird with, but has agreed to be the guest on this episode.
We birded for 3 days in the outskirts of Medellin. Medellin is a large city, the second biggest in Colombia behind Bogata, with about 5 million people living there.
You can read more about the birding on my blog post about the trip on the Ed’s Birding Notes post.
You can reach Iván on Instagram @ivanlaulovera or by email. ivanlaulovera@gmail.com
I have found that it can be easy, affordable and a great option to larger group tours to find and use a local guide on international birding trips where I feel a guide will really allow me to find and ID lots more birds and to do so safely and efficiently.
Thanks for listening and reading.
Good birding and good day!