Four departments in Colombia for birdwatching

The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development indicates that there are more than 1,932 species of birds in Colombia, which places the country in the territory with the greatest diversity of birds in the world, followed by Peru and Brazil.

Colombia has become one of the most popular destinations for birdwatching in Latin America. The largest number of species is found at medium altitudes in the mountain ranges (800-2400 m a.s.l.), with the highest number in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the Pacific platform and the Eastern mountain range. The near-endemic ones are mainly shared with Ecuador and Panama on the Pacific side.

Tolima

One of the departments where you can enjoy this activity is the department of Tolima, which has a variety of ecosystems conserved by individuals and public entities, which not only provide important environmental services to citizens, but also thanks to the Green Business and Biocommerce strategy now offers to locals and strangers a space for recreation, especially in the practice of bird watching.

Since 2018, work has been done in Ibagué and Tolima to define routes for bird watching, finding 52 Green Business ideas, of which 40% correspond to nature tourism. In joint work with the Chambers of Commerce and the Tolimense Association of Ornithology and Cortolima, a total of 33 routes were prioritized in Tolima, 13 of them in the municipality of Ibagué and the Rio Viejo wetland in San Luis. This indicates that the capital of Tolima becomes the favorite destination for bird lovers, both domestic and foreign.

Valle del Cauca

In Valle del Cauca, those interested in this practice can do so in the Laguna de Sonso Nature Reserve, located 10 kilometers southwest of Buga, migratory birds arrive that during the winter travel from northern America to shelter from the cold. The spectacled parakeet, the apical flytrap, the common widow, the swamp vulture, the crested duck, or the swamp cardinal are some of the 300 species known from this area.

In that area of the country, there is also the Uramba Bahía Málaga National Natural Park, in the Valley you can see about 107 species, in Malaga Bay you can find herons, pelicans, the tiger heron, the fregata earwig, the monkey, the butterfish, the kingfisher, the collareja, the seagull and the crow duck.

Cundinamarca

Cundinamarca is another ideal destination for birdwatching, with 480 species of birds. It is possible to observe endemic birds and migratory birds, about 150 species migrate from the United States and Canada.

The Pionono Ecological Park is at an altitude of 2,800 meters above sea level and its maximum peak is 3,250 meters above sea level called the hill of the eagles. The hill has three viewpoints called: Cacique Sopó, Alto de las Aguilas and Valle de Sopó.

Antioquia

In which, during 2021, according to the Mayor's Office of Medellín, reports of new categories of fauna seen in protected areas of Medellín increased by 30%, thanks to the processes of care and conservation of ecosystems. Among the new species observed are 16 mammals, 267 birds and 190 butterflies.

It is noteworthy that after 170 years, in the San Pedro Reserve, in the district of Santa Elena, he reported the rediscovery of a thorn insect of the Bubalopa furcata species, endemic to Colombia.

There has also been an increase in the presence of migratory birds in the city's forest reserves. One of the cases that became known, in 2021, was that of the northern tealight, a migratory bird from North America that was sighted, for the first time, in the Alto de San Miguel Regional Forest Reserve.

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