The Río Blanco Reserve is located just outside the city of Manizales and located within the central range of the Andes. It is maintained by the water department of the city. To understate, it is an incredible birding property.
If you want to visit the reserve on your own and without using an outside birding company, it will require EXTREME perseverance. I wrote countless emails and texts and was ready to give up several times. Finally, I was able to make and pay for a reservation, lock in meals while staying at the reserve and hire a birding guide who initially worked directly for the reserve and now guides on her own.
Getting to the reserve is fairly easy, except most taxi drivers do not know the location and most taxis cannot handle the road. It is best to hire a driver through the reserve.
I spent three nights there in April 2022 with two full days of birding in addition to the afternoon on arrival and morning of departure. I saw ten new life birds at the reserve and 29 new birds for Colombia. For me it was worth the effort.
Spread over this and the next post, I will include photos of some of the more interesting species in no particular order.
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
Lesser Violetear (Andean)
Blue-winged Mountain Tanager
Bronzy Inca
Bay-headed Tanager
Great Thrush
Tourmaline Sunangel
Grass-green Tanager
Masked Saltator
View of Manizales from the reserve.
Wow! Incredible birds!