San Cipriano Birding Tour: Chocó Rainforest Birds, Antbirds and the Elusive Sapayoa

If you only have time for one lowland day on a birding trip to Cali, Colombia, make it San Cipriano. A short drive from the Andean feeders of the Western Andes, the forest changes completely: humid, dark, loud with antbird calls, and full of Chocó species you will not find anywhere else along the Buenaventura road. It is the most different day of our whole circuit.

This is how a San Cipriano birding tour works in practice, which birds we look for, and why a local guide who reads this forest all year changes the list.

Why San Cipriano belongs on your Valle del Cauca birding itinerary

San Cipriano sits in the Chocó biogeographic region, one of the wettest and most biodiverse lowland forests on Earth. Our other hotspots (Finca La Florida, Doña Dora, Río Bravo) are Andean cloud forest and foothill. San Cipriano is the Pacific lowlands: a different bird community, different sounds, different light. Adding it to a birding Valle del Cauca trip is what turns a good cloud-forest list into a real Chocó-to-Andes list.

And because Yotoco Lodge is the birding basecamp for the whole circuit, you do it as a day trip: up at 4:30, back for dinner and your own bed, no repacking and no extra hotel.

The brujita ride: the only way into San Cipriano

From Córdoba, the road ends and the railway begins. You board the brujita, a wooden cart propelled by a motorcycle that runs along the tracks. It is the only way to reach San Cipriano. The ride takes about fifteen minutes through the rainforest, and it is already birding: we go with eyes up, looking for toucans crossing the line and large raptors such as the Ornate Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus ornatus), my favourite bird.

It is also simply fun. Guests who arrive tired from a 4:30 am start wake up fast.

Never: the local guide who makes the difference

I have known Never for eight to ten years and I have watched his whole process as a guide. Today he is one of the most important people in our network and an excellent local guide of San Cipriano. What he adds is knowledge no list or app can give you:

•      He knows how the mixed flocks move and at what hours they pass each trail, so we are standing in the right place when the flock arrives instead of chasing it.

•      He knows the owl nests and the hummingbird nests, including the nest of the Tooth-billed Hummingbird (Androdon aequatorialis), one of the most distinctive hummingbirds of the Chocó.

•      He is always out looking for the places where the Sapayoa is staying, which is what makes it possible to target this bird at all.

The birds of San Cipriano

An antbird paradise

San Cipriano is one of the best places near Cali for antbirds and their relatives. On a good day we work through Black-crowned Antshrike, Checker-throated Antwren, Pacific Antwren, Dot-winged Antwren, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Stub-tailed Antbird, Bicolored Antbird, Zeledon's Antbird and, with luck, the rare and hard-to-find Ocellated Antbird (Phaenostictus mcleannani). The Ocellated Antbird is the bird serious lowland birders dream of, and the main reason listers join this day.

Chocó specialities

Collared Aracari, Purple-crowned Fairy, Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Black-breasted Puffbird, Pied Puffbird, White-tailed Trogon and Blue-tailed Trogon are regular targets.

Also on the list

Scarlet-browed Tanager, Golden-hooded Tanager, Blue-whiskered Tanager, Rufous-winged Tanager, Tawny-crested Tanager, Dusky-faced Tanager, Orange-bellied Euphonia, Plumbeous Pigeon, Dusky Pigeon, Tiny Hawk, Rufous Motmot, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Cinnamon Woodpecker, Ringed Kingfisher, Thicket Antpitta, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Golden-collared Manakin, Black-tipped Cotinga, Bay Wren, Buff-rumped Warbler, Scaly-breasted Wren, Masked Tityra, Cinnamon Becard and Black-chested Jay.

The Sapayoa: San Cipriano's mythical bird

The Sapayoa (Sapayoa aenigma) is one of the most sought-after birds of the Chocó. It is elusive, uncommon and very hard to find. We always try for it, and that effort rests largely on Never, who keeps checking the places where it stays, so on the day we are not searching blind. I cannot promise a Sapayoa, and nobody honest can, but with a guide who follows it week after week your chances are far better than on an unguided visit.

A typical San Cipriano birding day

Bird photography at San Cipriano

This is a trail day, not a feeder day. The forest is dark, so bring a fast lens and be ready to raise your ISO. The reward is behaviour: antbirds, manakins, trogons and, with Never's help, the Tooth-billed Hummingbird at its nest. If feeders and controlled light are your priority, pair San Cipriano with Doña Dora and our lodge feeding stations on the rest of your itinerary.

How to visit: stay at Yotoco Lodge

San Cipriano is part of our 5-day and 8-day itineraries and easy to add to a shorter stay. You leave from our door and return to hot water and a home-cooked dinner, then combine it with the rest of the circuit: La Florida, Doña Dora, Atuncela, Río Bravo, SUEE and Laguna de Sonso. See our sample 3, 5 and 8-day birding itineraries to choose how many days you want.

Related reading

•      Sample Birding Itineraries from Yotoco Lodge: 3, 5 and 8 Days

•      Chocó Endemics Near Cali

•      Doña Dora: Iconic Birds of the Upper Anchicayá

•      Birding the Cali–Buenaventura Road

•      Where to Stay for Birding Near Cali, Colombia

•      Río Bravo Birding