Home to a third of the Earth’s total bird species, South America is indisputably the world’s great birding continent.
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 you don’t need to be an expert to enjoy it: a morning with a guide watching hummingbirds flit around a garden in Peru’s cloud forest or spotting macaws along an Amazon river is a wonderful way to slow down and engage fully with the natural world.
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 is home to 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; the remote Casa Oropendola makes a comfortable base from which to explore.
From Santa Marta, head east to Los Llanos. Open savannah and wetlands make it easy to spot abundant birdlife: Jabirus, Scarlet Ibises and Orinoco Geese feed in the shallows, and Hoatzins, with their spiky crests and blue faces, are often spotted in riverside vegetation (their chicks are among the few modern birds to retain small claws on their wings). There’s plenty besides birds, too, including capybaras, caiman and giant anteaters.
Stay at Savanna Orinoquia Lodge and mix birding with trips along the river by bongo canoe, riding alongside llanero cowboys and hiking in the grasslands, ending each night around a campfire listening to traditional songs beneath the stars.
The haciendas of the Coffee Region offer a gentler introduction to Colombian birding. The cloud forest is home to sought-after species such as Crescent-faced Antpitta, Cauca Guan and Golden-plumed Parakeet, and the dazzling Multicolored Tanager. Stay at Hacienda Bambusa, where more than 160 species have been recorded, and hummingbirds and tanagers often flit around the breakfast table. Allow at least one 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 birding trips, we work with Diego Calderón-Franco, one of Colombia’s most respected ornithologists who has spent more than two decades studying the country’s birds. He can identify birds by sight and sound, and place each sighting within the wider story of Colombia’s history and conservation efforts.
Peru: Birding in the Amazon and the Andes
Peru has more than 1,800 recorded bird species, including over 100 found nowhere else. It also contains 84 recognised life zones; a single journey might encompass Amazon rainforest, Andean cloud forest, high mountains and the Pacific coast, with very different birds along the way.
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. The best-known sight here is the clay lick, or collpa, as it’s known in the Amazon: exposed riverbanks where Scarlet and Red-and-Green macaws, parrots and parakeets gather, sometimes in their hundreds, to eat the mineral-rich clay. In the forest canopy, the powerful Harpy Eagle rules, and the prehistoric-looking Hoatzin can be spotted hopping around below.
Hardcore birders might head to Tambopata Research Center: one of South America’s remotest lodges, with a long history of macaw research and conservation; Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica provides a more polished eco-lodge experience, 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 hummingbirds, look to Northern Peru. Around Chachapoyas, Gocta and Leymebamba, cloud forest covers steep hillsides broken by waterfalls, farmland and archaeological sites. This is the only region in which to look for the Marvelous Spatuletail, one of the Americas’ most sought-after hummingbirds. Check into a private cabin at Gocta Natura, a rewilded private reserve overlooking 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; we usually focus on three very different ecosystems: the Pantanal, the southern Amazon and the Cerrado.
Start in the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, which heaves with birdlife. Caiman Ecological Refuge is home to some of Brazil’s most respected conservation projects, including a hugely successful programme to breed Blue Hyacinth Macaws – the world’s largest flying parrot – and another to protect endangered blue-fronted parrots, and specialist birdwatching tours can be organised with their resident ornithologists. Guests can also head out on 4×4 safaris, canoe trips and photo tours, with good chances of seeing jaguars, giant anteaters, tapirs and ocelots.
For the Amazon, head to Cristalino Lodge – one of the country’s finest birding lodges, beside one of the richest stretches of rainforest in Brazil. More than 600 species have been recorded on the reserve, and a highlight is sunrise atop one of their 50-metre canopy towers, watching flocks of macaws, toucans and aracaris emerge up high as the forest wakes up.
Our final stop is 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. Resident biologists offer early-morning outings to look for species including the Collared Crescentchest, Sharp-tailed Tyrant, and the Toco Toucan. The reserve is also an important area for Maned Wolves and Giant Anteaters. 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 packs more than 1,600 recorded bird species in a country roughly the size of the UK. Its compact size makes it easy to combine several habitats: the cloud forest, Andes, Amazon and the Galapagos can all form part of one trip.
Northwest of Quito, Mashpi Reserve protects 5,000 hectares of Chocó cloud forest. It 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.
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, head for the ultra-remote Napo Wildlife Center in Yasuní National Park. Reached by a combination of flight and canoe, on the shores of Añangucocha Lake, you can explore canopy, terra firme forest, flooded forest, oxbow lakes and nearby clay licks, each supporting a different bird community. 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, keeping your eyes peeled for wood creepers, Hoatzins and, with luck, the elusive Zigzag Heron. Owned and operated by the Kichwa Añangu community, the guiding is excellent, and the lodge reinvests its profits into local education, healthcare and conservation.
The Galápagos Islands are the jewel in Ecuador’s crown. Unlike rainforest birding, where patience and a good ear are essential, here there’s far less searching involved. The islands’ birds have evolved without natural predators so are remarkably fearless of people, and the open terrain makes them far easier to watch than in the forest.
Most of the birds found here can be seen nowhere 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.
Staying aboard an expedition boat is the only way to reach the Galapagos’ farthest reaches; for a wildlife-focused trip, our pick is the small but mighty Integrity.Its small passenger numbers size mean more time onshore, and its naturalist guides are among the very best you’ll find on the archipelago, with a deep knowledge of the islands’ wildlife, geology and evolutionary history.
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If you’re thinking about South America, we’d be delighted to help you plan a trip. We can build an expedition around particular species, habitats and seasons, working with specialist ornithologists where needed, or simply include a morning or two with an excellent naturalist guide as part of a a wider journey.
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