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Hello and welcome to the American Birding Podcast from the American Birding Association.

I'm your host, Nate Swick.

You might remember a couple months ago I had the opportunity to get out of the ABA area, travel to Colombia,

that spectacular, unbelievably biodiverse, really hot burning destination in northern South America.

Today I am going to take you there with me

in the medium of podcast, which I really admit is a less than satisfactory way to experience

Colombia with all its gorgeous birds and orchids and butterflies and Indian vistas. But it is the

medium of which I have the most control. And at the very least,

it is sort of a unique way to explore the country. Before we get going on all that, I would like

to thank the groups who made that trip possible pro-Columbia, which does an amazing job

promoting tourism, including bird and nature tourism in Colombia. The nation

clearly sees its biodiversity as an asset. And it is that sort of focus that not only helps

protect a lot of the places with a lot of the birds that we want to see, but also provides a

sustainable industry and jobs, ideally, for the people in those places. We are a big fan of

nature tourism at the ABA, and I've always

found a willing partner in pro-Columbia. And second, thank you to Swarovsky Optik, whose most

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