¡Hola! I’m Eduardo the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. You may have seen me around. I spend summers in the eastern United States. In the fall, I head south to spend the winter in places where it’s warm and there are plenty of insects, fruits, and seeds to eat. is one of my favorite winter destinations. Why don’t you come with me and I’ll show you around? Colombia is a Spanish speaking country located in South America.

North It has the second Washington, DC largest population America of any country on Colombia the continent.

South America

Colombian flag Caribbean Sea Colombia is bordered by five countries, the Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific PANAMA VENEZUELA Ocean.

Pacific Bogotá Ocean

COLOMBIA Bogotá, Colombia Bogotá, the capital and largest city, is ECUADOR located in the Andes BRAZIL Mountains. PERU I am not the only kind of bird that spends summers in the eastern United States and winters in Colombia. There are at least a dozen other species, including…….

Black-and-white Summer Tanager Warbler Bogota, Colombia is about 2,300 miles away from Washington, D.C. An airplane flight from D.C. to Bogota takes about 5 hours.

Birds have to stop to rest and eat along the way, so it usually takes us a few weeks to cover that distance. While we’re in Colombia, you’ll want to exchange your dollars for Colombian pesos. One U.S. dollar is equal to about 2,900 pesos. If you look up, you might see an Andean Condor, the national bird of Colombia!

These condors can have a wingspan of up to 10 feet!

Photo by Colegota We’ll probably also see a lot of people playing fútbol (what you call soccer). It’s the most popular sport in Colombia.

Photo by Mark Freeman Baseball, basketball, car racing, and cycling are also popular sports.

Photo by JD Villalobos

Photo by Gsl 2.0

Photo by Virtual3 A lot of different kinds of fruit grow in Colombia. Get ready to try some you may never have heard of!

Another popular food is the “arepa”, a thick cornmeal pancake.

Photo by Steven Depolo Lunch (almuerzo) is usually the largest meal of the day. These are some common things you might eat:

Bandeja paisa - includes red beans, minced beef, sausage, rice, plantains, avocado, and an arepa.

Photo by Matt Lemmon

Carne asada- grilled meat usually served with rice, and chips or plantains Hormigas culonas or “big butt ants” are fried, salted, and eaten with cheese or honey. Only the enlarged abdomen (the “big butt”) of the ant is eaten – some say it tastes like peanuts!

Photo by Maxid Colombia exports , gold, emeralds, cut flowers, coal, and oil. Tourism is also an important industry. People come from all over the world to enjoy Colombia’s beautiful environments, diverse cultures, and great variety of birds and other wildlife.

Photo by Doug Janson

Photo by Doug Janson

Photo by Doug Janson

Photo by Diego Andrés Alvarez Marín Photo by Shaun McRae Colombia has many different kinds of landscapes, including: rain forests mountains cloud forests dry tropical forest grasslands coastlines farmland Because it has so many different landscapes, Colombia also has many different kinds of plants… …and animals. In fact, Colombia has the second highest number of animal and plant species in the world! Photo by Doug Janson Photo by Doug Janson Photo by Weimar

Colombia has 1,900 species of birds. That’s more than any other country!

Photo by Doug Janson Photo by Doug Janson Colombia’s important ecosystems and wildlife are threatened by many things, including:

Deforestation for logging, mining, and farming

Illegal animal trade

Pollution from cities, oil spills, mining, and pesticides Lucky for us wildlife, Colombia has 58 national parks that cover 10% of the country.

Photo by Ben Bowes

Photo by Martin Roca Photo by Philipp Weigell Coffee is a very important source of income for many farmers in Colombia.

Colombia is the third largest producer of coffee beans in the world. Did you know that coffee comes from seeds that grow inside a small fruit? The seeds (called coffee beans) are dried. Then they can be roasted, ground, and brewed to make a cup of coffee. The way coffee is grown can either help or harm birds. A farm like this one helps birds. It looks like a forest because the coffee shrubs are planted beneath tall trees. Many birds can live here because the trees provide shelter and food (insects, fruits and nectar). Coffee grown this way is called “shade grown”.

Coffee plants

Photo by Lukas Another way to grow coffee is to cut down the tall trees and plant rows of coffee shrubs. This is bad news for birds because without the trees most cannot live there. This kind of coffee is called “sun grown.”

Coffee plants

Coffee plants

Photo by Lukas Do us birds a favor and tell all the coffee drinkers you know to buy only Bird Friendly, shade-grown coffee! If you see this symbol on a bag of coffee you know for sure it’s shade grown and free of pesticides. To learn more about birds and coffee in Colombia, watch this video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/in-colombia-shade-grown-coffee-sustains- songbirds-and-people-alike/ If you are able to understand Spanish, watch this video to learn about what life is like on a coffee farm in Colombia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiqOK9IgNfs Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Your partner class is at a Caribbean Sea school in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a mountainous area in the northern part of Colombia. I know this region well since I, and many other birds, stop here after migrating across the Caribbean Sea. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region is a very special place for lots of reasons. Here are just a few:

It has many kinds of ecosystems, from beaches and mangroves close to the coast, to tropical rain forests, to snow-capped mountains. Over 600 species of birds live here, including 20 species found no where else on earth. Close to 50 species of migratory birds that nest in the US or Canada come here for the winter, or stop here while migrating to somewhere else.

Not only are there many kinds of birds. There are over 3,000 species of plants, many kinds of reptiles and amphibians, and a wide variety of mammals, including jaguars, tapirs, and giant anteaters. The region is home to about 70,000 indigenous people belonging to 4 different groups: the Kogi, , Kankuamo and Wiwa. They are descendants of the ancient Tayrona civilization and consider the area sacred. They have proudly held on to traditional beliefs and ways of life, and have a deep respect for nature. I hope you will learn more about this fascinating part of the world from your partner class! Thanks for visiting my winter home with me! I’ll look for you when I’m back in the U.S. for the summer!