The north of Colombia borders the Caribbean Sea and has a continental area of almost 133,000 square km. Try not to get excited with this fantastic video about the northern birding route in the Colombian Caribbean: Northern Caribbean Birding Trail of Colombia!
Colombia’s Caribbean coast is home to some incredibly special birding hotspots. One of them is the highest coastal mountain range on the planet, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, with a wide elevation gradient, offering all thermal floors and a great biodiversity, it concentrates a large number of endemic species.
In front of it, the Serranía de Perijá, another mountain range that also has a very different avifauna and is very rich in endemisms.
Between these mountains are the threatened dry forests of Cesar and La Guajira, which also harbor very special birds and ecosystems.
Fianlly, also located there, between the Caribbean Sea and the dry forest of La Guajira, is the Los Flamencos flora and fauna sanctuary, an area of coastal lagoons watered by streams. This is an important feeding area for the birds that give it its name: flamingos.
Thus, in the Northern Caribbean of Colombia you can find most of the ecosystems of the tropical fringe of the planet: Tropical dry forest, Tropical humid forests, Low dense forests, Mountain forests, Páramos, Grasslands, Savannas, Wetlands, Mangroves and Coral reefs in the Caribbean islands.
The Northern Caribbean Birding Trail
The National Audubon Society the largest bird conservation organization, along with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Colombian bird study and conservation association, Asociación Calidris developed a sustainable bird watching itinerary in Colombia in order to achieve economic development and nature conservation: the Northern Caribbean Birding Trail.
Clink in the following link to see the suggested itinerary proposed by them: http://www.northerncolombiabirdingtrail.com/
Birding Spots of The Northern Caribbean Birding Trail
The birding spots included in the Northern Caribbean Birding Trail are:
- Los Besotes Ecopark,
- Serranía del Perijá,
- Los Flamencos Flora and Fauna Sanctuary,
- Tayrona National Natural Park and
- Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
In Serranía del Perijá, Los Flamencos and Sierra Nevada, birdwatchers and bird photographers will be delighted with the avian diversity and will be able to shoot unique and gorgeous species.
Trail Highlights
The Northern Caribbean birding trail connects two of Colombia’s most important endemic bird areas — the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta with its 24 endemic species, and the Caribbean lowlands with critically endangered dry forest specialists. This combination makes the trail essential for birders targeting Colombia’s most range-restricted species.
The Sierra Nevada sector covers an elevational gradient from Caribbean coast to 5,775 meters, passing through distinct bird communities at each level. The Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Sabrewing, Santa Marta Bush-tyrant, and Santa Marta Screech-owl are among the endemics reliably found between 1,800 and 3,000 meters on the mountain’s northern slopes.
The Caribbean lowland sector includes the remnant dry forests around the Los Colorados Bird Sanctuary, where the critically endangered Recurve-billed Bushbird and the spectacular Blue-billed Curassow survive in one of the last fragments of their original habitat. The flamingo lagoons of the Guajira add waterbird diversity to the trail.
Planning the Trail
A comprehensive Northern Caribbean birding trip requires 5-7 days: 2-3 days in the Sierra Nevada highlands, 1-2 days in the lowland dry forests, and optional extensions to the Guajira flamingo lagoons and Ciénaga Grande wetlands. Santa Marta and Valledupar serve as gateway cities with domestic flight connections. The dry season (December-April) offers the most comfortable conditions, though Sierra Nevada birding remains productive year-round.
Local guides are essential for the Sierra Nevada sector — both for navigating the mountain trails and for obtaining permission to enter indigenous territories. Dedicated birding lodges at various elevations provide comfortable bases for multi-day exploration.
2026 update: Northern Caribbean Birding Trail Colombia — Sierra Nevada + PNN Tayrona 2026 closures + endemic anchors
The 2026 anchor for the Northern Caribbean Birding Trail. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta concentrates the trail’s productivity: it hosts 635 bird species — approximately 35% of Colombia’s total avifauna in just 1.48% of the country’s territory, with at least 24 bird species endemic to the Sierra Nevada plus dozens of endemic subspecies. Traditional citations of “~70 endemic bird taxa” overreach the sourced data — the defensible framing is “at least 24 endemic species.” The trail’s flagship destination is ProAves’ El Dorado Reserve on Cuchilla de San Lorenzo above Minca (created 31 March 2006, lodge at 1,950 m, protecting 337 recorded bird species including 22 endemics — Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant, Santa Marta Sabrewing and the cluster of highland endemics). PNN Tayrona 2026 indigenous-ritual closures: 1-15 February (Kugkui Shikasa), 1-15 June (Saka Juso), 19 October-2 November (Nabbatashi) — plan trail visits outside these three windows.
The 2026 trail’s dry-forest + Guajira extensions. Southeast of the Sierra Nevada, Los Colorados Bird Sanctuary near San Juan Nepomuceno (Bolívar) is the primary in-situ site for the endemic Cotton-top Tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) — IUCN Critically Endangered — and a key stop on the Caribbean dry-forest section of the trail (Colombia’s Bosque Seco Tropical retains only ~8% of its original ~9 million hectares). Further east, SFF Los Flamencos (La Guajira) is Colombia’s most accessible site for Caribbean flamingo populations (Ramsar wetland + dry-forest mosaic). And at the trail’s easternmost extension, the Wayúu-community-managed Cabo de la Vela / Punta Gallinas corridor (northernmost point of South American mainland at 12°27’N) closes the northern trail with a distinctive desert + Guajira coastline arrival. Access via Santa Marta SMR + Riohacha RCH. 2026 best months: December-March dry season; SFF Iguaque reopened Sept 2024 for Villa de Leyva combining trip.
Sara Colmenares holds a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Ecology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a Master’s degree in Botany from the same institution. Her doctoral research focused on palm ecology in the Atlantic Forest, supported by the Rufford Foundation conservation grant.
A published researcher in the Brazilian Journal of Plant Physiology and a member of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC), Sara has presented her work at international conferences across Latin America and beyond. She was awarded the COLCIENCIAS “Virginia Gutiérrez de Pineda” fellowship, one of Colombia’s most competitive academic distinctions for young researchers.
Sara founded the Sula nature tourism brand in 2018, applying her scientific expertise to develop birding and wildlife experiences across Colombia’s six natural regions. Her fieldwork took her from the cloud forests of the Andes to the Amazon basin, the Pacific coast, and the plains of the Orinoquía. She combined deep ecological knowledge with firsthand experience to create content that is both scientifically accurate and practically useful for nature travelers.
She holds a B.Sc. in Biology from the National University of Colombia, where she also taught plant ecophysiology. She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, and English.