The Central Andes Birding Trail of Colombia: Coffee and Birds!

The Central Andes Birding Trail of Colombia is probably one of the most wonderful and complete birdwatching tourism routes in Colombia since it gathers a great diversity of environments and all the richness of the Colombian coffee cultural landscape, the heritage of Colombia, and humanity. The Central Andes are basically composed of the proximity between the 3 mountain ranges of Colombia, which occurs precisely in the departments of Caldas, Quindio, and Risaralda. Watch our video below and know more about these beautiful departments of Colombia.

In this region, you have contact with the inter-Andean valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers, and you can go from zero to 5000 meters above sea level. These characteristics make this region concentrate a high variety of ecosystems and unique environments ranging from the transition dry forests of the inter-Andean valleys through the Andean cloud forests, to the paramos and the perpetual snows. The most relevant birding hotspots of this route are the Magdalena Valley Endemic Bird Area, the Choco Forest, and the paramos. In particular, in the western Andes, the Chocó ecoregion has a unique avifauna. Also, the páramo, an ecosystem above 3000 m, is full of range-restricted endemics and area specialists. Paraphrasing Audubon, this is a land of endemic hummingbirds, colorful tanagers, singing antpittas and gorgeous parrots!

The Central Andes Birding Trail

Once again, the National Audubon Society of the United States was involved in the design of this route along with Colombian institutions and Government, training about 60 service providers linked to the birding offer in the region, including guides, lodging and nature reserve owners, local travel agencies and community-based tourism associations:

“The Central Andes Birding Trail was developed in partnership with Audubon’s Birdlife International partner Asociación Calidris, with support from the Ministry of Commerce and Tourism and FONTUR, Colombia’s Tourism Fund. The trail is network of Audubon-trained professional birding guides and operators, sites such as national parks and private reserves, and small businesses and support services. Bird-focused tourism benefits local communities and organizations such as the Yarumo Blanco Community Association, which works directly on local conservation issues and community development in and around the Otún Quimbaya Sanctuary.” Audubon.org

Among the places to be visited are included national parks, civil society nature reserves, private reserves, farms, and sanctuaries. And why not? you can also include some coffee farms that, although not officially part of the itinerary of the Central Andes Birding Trail, we highly recommend you to visit.

Small Area – Huge Diversity

This is a region of approximately 13880 square kilometers, an area similar to the area of Puerto Rico or the state of Connecticut, or even the Death Valley National Park in California and Nevada in the United States. And it is surprising that in this relatively small area there is so much diversity. For this reason, on this trip you will be able to combine a great variety of destinations where each place has its own specialties; do not think that because it is such a small area you will not find a great diversity. You are in Colombia! It is precisely this richness of landscape and birdlife, together with the cultural richness and the hospitality of the people of the Colombian coffee region, which gives this birding route in Colombia a very special character.

Birding Spots of The Central Andes Birding Trail

You should know that in this region there is a wide range of destinations for bird watching tourism, however not all of them are included in the itinerary designed for this trail. The reason for this is most likely due to the difficulty of access or lack of hotel infrastructure or roads that prevent these places have minimum standards for high standard tourism, or the basics for the birdwatchers. This does not mean that these places cannot be visited, but you will have to be prepared for difficult terrain or to have to travel long distances the same day or stay in rural houses or farms of medium to low infrastructure. In our blogs about each department, you can find the complete offer of birding destinations in each of them. I recommend you to visit our entries 9.5% of the Birds of the World: Main Spots for Birdwatching in Caldas and Top 7 Unmissable Birding Spots in Risaralda in the Coffee Triangle.

Highlight Species of The Central Andes Birding Trail

Among the almost a thousand birds you can find in this route, the most highlighted are Northern Screamer, Cauca Guan, Colombian Chachalaca, Chestnut Wood-Quail, Buffy Helmetcrest, Dusky Starfrontlet, Spot-crowned Barbet, White-mantled Barbet, Toucan Barbet, Black-billed Mountain-Toucan, Grayish Piculet, Beautiful Woodpecker, Rufous-fronted Parakeet, Rusty-faced Parrot, Indigo-winged (Fuerte’s) Parrot, Yellow-eared Parrot, Parker’s Antbird, Moustached Antpitta, Bicolored Antpitta, Brown-banded Antpitta, Hooded Antpitta, Crescent-faced Antpitta, Tatama Tapaculo, Stiles’s Tapaculo, Paramillo Tapaculo, Buffy Tuftedcheek, Antioquia Bristle-Tyrant, Apical Flycatcher, Orange-breasted Fruiteater, Yellow-headed Manakin, Club-winged Manakin, Munchique Wood-Wren, Black-and-gold Tanager, Gold-ringed Tanager, Multicolored Tanager, Turquoise Dacnis, Scarlet-and-white Tanager, Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer, Black-backed Bush Tanager, Tanager Finch, Yellow-headed Brushfinch, Sooty Ant-Tanager, Crested Ant-Tanager, Baudo Oropendola, Red-bellied Grackle, Velvet-fronted Euphonia.

Itinerary

Caldas

• La Romelia, a.k.a. Finca Romelia Colors of Life.
• Tinamú, a.k.a. Tinamu Birding & Nature Reserve.
• Cameguadua, this is a reservoir.
• Los Alcázares, is an ecopark in the heart of the city of Manizales.
• Rio Blanco, a private Nature Reserve.
• Rio Claro, a Private Nature Reserve in the coffee-growing area of Villamaría.
• Recinto del Pensamiento, a very nice hotel on the outskirts of Manizales. The annual Avitourism Congress is held there.
• Los Nevados National Park.
• Bellavista Reserve, a transition area of tropical dry forest near the town of Victoria.
• Guarinocito, oxbow lake also near to the town of Victoria and La Dorada.

Risaralda

• Mistrato, a little town in Risaralda.
• Santa Cecilia, found in the Choco region.
• Montezuma Road and Tatama National Park.
• Apia
• Botanical Garden of the Technologic University of Pereira
• Cortaderal
• Otun Quimbaya

Quindio

• Salento-Area
• Quindio Botanical Garden
• Rancho California
• Pijao

2026 update: Central Andes Birding Trail Colombia — Manizales anchor circuit + Caldas 594 species Global Big Day record

The 2026 anchor for the Central Andes Birding Trail. The Manizales-based circuit is Colombia’s most productive compact birding zone. The four core sites: Reserva Ecológica Río Blanco (managed by Aguas de Manizales) — the world’s most productive site for reliable multi-antpitta morning encounters, delivering up to 5 antpitta species in a single morning at earthworm-feeding stations (endemic Brown-banded, near-endemic Bicoloured, Chestnut-crowned, Slate-crowned; 500+ total species); Ecoparque Recinto del Pensamiento — hummingbird viewpoint + orchid forest + butterfly garden + 860 m cable car in a compact ~2.5-hour tour ~15 minutes from Manizales; Tinamu Birding Nature Reserve — specialist private reserve in the tropical Andean foothills near Manizales; and SFF Otún Quimbaya — Parques Nacionales sanctuary in Risaralda (~15 km from Pereira) with 90-person lodging, mandatory induction talk, REPS-registered guides, and reliable Cauca Guan (Penelope perspicax) endemic + Andean Cock-of-the-Rock lek.

The 2026 record-signal and access. On Global Big Day 9 May 2026, Caldas department set an internal Colombian record with 594 bird species in a single day — the highest departmental score during Colombia’s 5th consecutive year as the world’s #1 country on Global Big Day (1,569 species nationally, ahead of Peru’s 1,448). That record is not a fluke: the Manizales anchor circuit concentrates one of Latin America’s most productive bird-species density profiles within a compact radius. For high-altitude expansion, PNN Los Nevados via the Brisas sector extends the trail into páramo bird communities — check Sula’s Los Nevados guide for 2026 Yellow Alert conditions and access rules. Access via Aeropuerto La Nubia (MZL) Manizales or Matecaña (PEI) Pereira; best months are the December-February dry window with July-August secondary window.