Latin America is the world’s great birding continent.
A third of all bird species reside here; Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador all rank in the top 5 most species-rich countries on Earth, and the Amazon alone contains around 15% of the world’s birdlife.
For serious birders, the appeal is obvious: endemics, difficult target species and the chance to build a formidable list. But birding also suits people who would never describe themselves as birders: a morning watching hummingbirds flit around a garden in Peru’s cloud forest or spotting macaws along an Amazon river provides a wonderful reason to slow down and look more closely.
Whether birding is the main event or just one part of a wider journey, these are the places we most often recommend to experience Latin America’s extraordinary birdlife, paired with naturalist guides who know where to look, what to listen for and how to bring each landscape to life.
Birding in Colombia: Santa Marta, Los Llanos and the Coffee Triangle
Colombia has recorded more bird species than any other country, and holds an extraordinary diversity of ecosystems. Caribbean forest, Andean cloud forest, open savannah and tropical wetland can all be combined in one journey, with the birdlife changing dramatically between them.
Begin in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which rises almost directly from the Caribbean to 5,710 metres, passing through tropical forest, cloud forest and high-altitude páramo over a relatively short distance. That compression of habitats, combined with long isolation, has produced more than 20 endemic bird species. For a committed birder, this is one of the most important places in the Americas. The Santa Marta Parakeet and White-tailed Starfrontlet are among the major targets, and with the right guide, it’s realistic to see 15 or more endemics over a few days. Remote mountain lodge Casa Oropendola is our preferred base from which to explore.
From there, it’s a short hop east to Los Llanos for savannah, wetlands and slow-moving rivers – Colombia’s easiest introduction to birding, as so much is visible in open country. Jabirus, Scarlet Ibises and Orinoco Geese feed in the shallow waters, and Hoatzins, with their spiky crests and blue faces, can often be spotted in riverside vegetation; their chicks are among the few modern birds to retain small claws on their wings. Capybaras, caiman and giant anteaters share the same landscape. Stay at Savanna Orinoquia Lodge and pair birding with time exploring the river by bongo canoe, riding alongside llanero cowboys, hiking across the grasslands and listening to traditional songs around a bonfire beneath the stars.
The haciendas of the Coffee Region offer a gentler introduction to Colombian birding. Stay at Hacienda Bambusa, where more than 160 species have been recorded around its gardens, plantations and woodland, with hummingbirds and tanagers often visible from the breakfast table. The surrounding cloud forest is home to sought-after species such as Crescent-faced Antpitta, Cauca Guan and Golden-plumed Parakeet, and the dazzling Multicolored Tanager. Allow time for at least one full morning with a specialist guide, setting out for the dawn chorus, when bird activity is at its peak. Birding can be combined with walks through the Cocora Valley, riding, coffee farms and visits to the colourful towns of the Coffee Triangle.
For serious birders, we work with Diego Calderón-Franco, one of Colombia’s most respected ornithologists. A trained biologist, he has spent more than two decades studying the country’s birds, and can identify birds by sight and sound and places each sighting within the wider story of Colombia’s landscapes, conservation and recent history.
Peru: Birding in the Amazon and the Andes
Few places reward binoculars quite so generously as Peru, with more than 1,800 recorded bird species, including over 100 found nowhere else. The country also contains 84 recognised life zones; a single journey might encompass Amazon rainforest, Andean cloud forest, high mountains and the Pacific coast.
Begin in the Southern Amazon, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, where pristine lowland rainforest, bamboo thickets and oxbow lakes are protected within the Tambopata National Reserve. Its signature spectacle is the clay lick, or collpa, as it’s known in the Amazon: riverside cliffs where Scarlet and Red-and-Green macaws, parrots and parakeets gather in their hundreds to consume the mineral-rich soil. In the forest canopy, the powerful Harpy Eagle rules, and the prehistoric-looking Hoatzin can be spotted hopping around below. Hardcore birders should head to Tambopata Research Center, one of the most remote lodges in South America, which has a long history of macaw research and conservation. For a more polished eco-lodge experience, there’s Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, with a canopy walkway around 30 metres above the forest floor.
To the west, in the Cusco cloud forest, the Andes descend toward the Amazon, creating a belt of humid montane forest that makes for an incredibly rich bird habitat. The Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Peru’s magnificent national bird, makes the greatest – and noisiest – impression, as males assemble at traditional leks (gathering sites), calling raucously to passing females in competitive courtship displays. Stay at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo to spot them in the gardens, or set off for an early start along the famous Manu Road for the full experience, where the displays feel far more dramatic in the wild.
For something far from the usual Peru circuit, head to Northern Peru, to Chachapoyas, Gocta and Leymebamba, where cloud forest covers steep hillsides broken by waterfalls, farmland and archaeological sites. This is the only place to look for the Marvelous Spatuletail, the most coveted hummingbird in the Americas. Gocta Natura is our favourite stay; six cabins on a rewilded private reserve facing the 771-meter Gocta waterfall.
Brazil: Birding in the Pantanal, the Amazon and the Cerrado
Brazil’s sheer size makes it impossible to do justice in a single journey; usually focus on three very different ecosystems: the Pantanal, the southern Amazon and the Cerrado.
We would begin in the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland which heaves with birdlife. Caiman is the place to stay, home to some of Brazil’s most respected conservation projects, including their hugely successful programme to breed Blue Hyacinth Macaws – the world’s largest flying parrot – and another to protect endangered blue-fronted parrots; the lodge can arrange specialist birdwatching tours with their ornithologists, who have been studying these species for over 30 years. Alongside birdwatching, guests can head out on 4×4 safaris canoe trips and photo tours, with excellent chances of spotting jaguars, giant anteaters, tapirs and ocelots.
From there, head north to the Cristalino region of the southern Amazon. Cristalino Lodge sits beside one of the richest stretches of rainforest in Brazil and is one of the country’s finest birding lodges. More than 600 species have been recorded on the reserve. We’d recommend spending at least one dawn on one of the lodge’s two 50-metre canopy towers, watching flocks of macaws, toucans and aracaris emerge above the rainforest canopy as the forest wakes, and joining a canoe excursion along the Cristalino River.
Our final stop would be the Cerrado, South America’s largest savanna, and one of the continent’s most threatened ecosystems. Although often overshadowed by the Amazon and Pantanal, it supports an extraordinary concentration of endemic wildlife – around five per cent of the planet’s species – and some of Brazil’s most sought-after grassland birds.
Our preferred base is Pousada Trijunção, a small, high-end safari-style lodge where more than 270 bird species have been recorded. Early mornings with the resident biologists offer opportunities to look for specialties such as Collared Crescentchest and Sharp-tailed Tyrant, as well as macaws, woodpeckers and the unmistakable Toco Toucan – the world’s largest. The surrounding reserve is also one of Brazil’s most important strongholds for the Maned Wolf and Giant Anteater. The lodge is remote – around five and a half hours by road from Brasília, or 50 minutes by private charter to its own airstrip – but the isolation is part of the magic.
Birding in Ecuador: from the Andes to the Galapagos Islands
Ecuador has recorded more than 1,600 bird species in a country roughly the size of the UK. Its compact size makes it easy to combine multiple habitats in one trip: cloud forest, Andes, Amazon and the Galapagos.
Begin northwest of Quito in Mashpi Reserve, in the Chocó cloud forest. This 5,000 hectare reserve of cloud and rainforest is perpetually damp due to its 20ft of rainfall per year – its name means ‘friend of water’. Home to nearly 400 species, the birdlife changes quickly with elevation, from lower forest to cooler, wetter slopes; a highlight is the black, crow-sized Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, with a wattle that dangles like a feathered boa. From Mashpi Lodge, travellers can set out on guided walks along its trails, take an aerial gondola through the forest canopy, and watch hundreds of colourful hummingbirds flitting around the feeders in the Hummingbird Garden.
To experience the Ecuadorian Amazon, we’d head for Yasuní National Park. Our preferred base is the ultra-remote Napo Wildlife Center, reached by a combination of flight and canoe, on the shores of Añangucocha Lake; here, you can explore canopy, terra firme forest, flooded forest, oxbow lakes and nearby clay licks, each supporting a different bird community, and the guiding is excellent. Climb the canopy towers to see flocks of oropendolas, aracaris, tanagers, and euphonias roaming the canopy in search of fruit. Set out along forest trails and on canoe trips through the flooded forest, spotting wood creepers, Hoatzins and, with luck, the elusive Zigzag Heron. Owned and operated by the Kichwa Añangu community, the lodge reinvests its profits into local education, healthcare and conservation, making it one of the best examples of community-led ecotourism in the Amazon.
The Galápagos Islands are Ecuador’s crowning jewel when it comes to wildlife; a place where birds invariably become the highlight of a trip, even for people who would never describe themselves as birders. Unlike rainforest birding, where patience and a good ear are essential, here travellers can observe bird behaviour at close quarters, often for prolonged periods of time. Having evolved without threat from natural predators, the islands’ birds show remarkably little fear of people, and the open landscape and type of vegetation make them far easier to spot than in dense forest.
Most of the birds found here can’t be seen anywhere else on Earth. Highlights include Darwin’s thirteen species of finches, the Flightless Cormorant, Waved Albatross, Galápagos Penguin, frigatebirds and flamingos; visitors are often able to see all five species of booby, particularly the unmistakable Blue-footed Booby. Different islands support different species, and often only at certain times of year. Española, for example, is almost the only place in the world where the Waved Albatross nests, with birds present between late April and early December.
For wildlife enthusiasts, we usually recommend travelling aboard Integrity, a small, comfortable, expedition-focused vessel; its naturalist guides are among the very best you’ll find on the archipelago, and their knowledge transforms the experience, bringing the islands’ wildlife, geology and evolutionary history to life.
Planning a journey
Whether you’re planning a dedicated birding expedition or simply want to add a morning in the field to a wider itinerary, we can tailor the experience to you. Over the past two decades we’ve built relationships with many of Latin America’s finest birding lodges and specialist guides.
For more complex, bird-focused journeys, we can bring expert ornithologists into the planning process, designing an itinerary around particular species, habitats and seasons. On other trips, we might simply bring in an exceptional naturalist guide for a morning forest walk, bringing the landscape and wildlife alive in a way that’s difficult to achieve alone. However you travel, we’ll match you with the people who know those landscapes best.
If you’d like to explore Latin America’s remarkable birdlife, we’d be delighted to help you plan a bespoke trip.
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