Colombia Uncovered – Southern Andes, Amazonian Foothills and Llanos

We are proud to introduce to you our fantastic Colombia birdwatching trip, Colombia Uncovered: Southern Andes, Amazonian Foothills and Llanos. This exciting Colombia birding tour is one of several trips we offer to this amazing country, the planet’s richest country for birds, with almost 2,000 species recorded. If you have enjoyed our classic The Very Best of Colombia: Santa Marta, Andes and Chocó birding tour (which immediately precedes this tour) and/or our Andean Endemics and Spectacled Bear birding tour (which takes place in October), then this third tour is a great choice for another fantastic birding adventure with Birding Ecotours.

This trip provides the opportunity to travel across Colombia along a completely different route compared to our classic itinerary above. We will start the trip in the city of Cali, and after visiting a new private reserve, where we should get excellent views of two Colombian endemics, Chestnut Wood Quail and Multicolored Tanager, as they regularly visit bird feeders here, we will then travel south to Nariño and Putumayo states to enjoy further unique birding experiences.

We will look for a family of Chestnut Wood Quails in Reserva La Florida (photo Gilberto Collazos).

One of the highlights of the tour will be visiting the Páramo de Bordoncillo on a quest to find the poorly known and localized Chestnut-bellied Cotinga. This species was only recently rediscovered, and the area we visit for it is one of the few spots on Earth to see this awesome bird. Together with the Peruvian endemics, White-cheeked Cotinga and Bay-vented Cotinga, this species is considered a “Holy Grail bird” among cotinga fans and South American bird lovers; honestly, it is one you should just not miss! Other interesting species here include Golden-plumed Parakeet, Black-headed Hemispingus, Carunculated Caracara and the majestic Andean Condor, which is relatively easy to photograph near its roosting cliffs. Another highlight of this tour is visiting the Llanos, now inaccessible in Venezuela but within reach in Colombia (not everyone knows this!), but more about this below!

Heading south, we will reach the humid montane forest of a fascinating geographical part of the continent: the point where the Andes mountain chain, that runs south to north, splits into three different cordilleras. This unique geography is perhaps the most important reason why Colombia is one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet. Indeed, Colombia has more bird species than any other country, only seven less than the magical 2,000!

We will drive along the infamous Trampolin Road, which will take us from the cloudforest to the upper tropical Amazon lowlands. In the mountains, we will look for the near-endemic and sought-after White-rimmed Brushfinch, another huge target of this trip. While looking for this sought-after bird, we should also be rewarded with massive mixed-species feeding flocks which hold species such as Blue-browed Tanager, Golden Tanager, Bronze-green Euphonia, Orange-eared Tanager and Golden-collared Honeycreeper. Other species in these lush mountains include classics such as Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Black-billed Mountain Toucan, Dusky Piha, Red-ruffed Fruitcrow and the beautiful White-capped Tanager.

The upper tropical forest where the Andes meets the Amazon will provide a feast of birds such as Coppery-chested Jacamar and other avian jewels including White-eared Jacamar, Brown Jacamar, White-chinned Jacamar, Scarlet-crowned Barbet, Amazonian Umbrellabird, White-chested Puffbird, Western Striolated Puffbird, Black-streaked Puffbird, Scaled Fruiteater, Vermilion Tanager and Golden-collared Toucanet.

The Amazonian foothills provide for another new set of birds (photo Oswaldo Cortez).

The lowlands will provide birds like Horned Screamer, Plum-throated Cotinga, Cream-colored Woodpecker, White-throated Toucan, White-eared Jacamar, Long-billed Woodcreeper and the most-wanted Rufous-headed Woodpecker. With luck, we may see Amazon (Pink) River Dolphins in the Putumayo River. After several days exploring the Mocoa and Putumayo lowlands, we will take a domestic flight to Bogotá (Colombia’s capital) where we will stay overnight, followed by a full morning to explore La Florida Park looking for more Colombian endemics such as Bogota Rail, Apolinar’s Wren and Silvery-throated Spinetail. In the afternoon, we will fly to Yopal, the gateway of the Colombian Llanos.

Los Llanos are vast tropical grassland plains nourished by the waters of the Orinoco River. This habitat represents an amazing bird and wildlife refuge in northwestern South America. It is reminiscent of the Pantanal in Brazil, due to its high density of aquatic bird species. It was a popular destination among birdwatchers and nature lovers visiting Venezuela in previous decades, but due to the current political and social situation in the country, Venezuela is less popular to visit. The good news, however, is that you can still visit Los Llanos and not miss this incredible habitat, shared by only Colombia and Venezuela.

We will find large congregations of waterbirds while in Los Llanos (photo Alejandro Grajales).