The Multicolored Tanager:
Colombia's Most Important Endemic Bird — and Why Yotoco Lodge
is the Perfect Place to stay to See It
Km 18 Birding · Finca La Florida · Alas de los Andes · Western Andes, Colombia
🎨🐦🌿
Introduction
If you ask experienced birders which Colombian endemic they want to see most, the answer is rarely a single species. But if you narrow the question to birds that combine conservation urgency, endemism, visual impact, and genuine field accessibility — the Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima) stands in a category of its own.
This article explains why the Multicolored Tanager matters so deeply — as a species, as a conservation symbol, and as a birding target — and why Yotoco Lodge, at Km 26 on the Cali–Buenaventura road, is the best place to stay near Cali, Colombia for anyone who has this bird on their list. The two primary sites for seeing it — Finca La Florida and Alas de los Andes — are both located along the Km 18 corridor, just 20 minutes from the lodge.
Why the Multicolored Tanager Is One of Colombia's Most Important Birds
1. It is a Colombian endemic — found nowhere else on Earth
The Multicolored Tanager exists only in Colombia. Its range is confined to the Western and Central Andes, at elevations between roughly 1,200 and 2,100 metres above sea level — a narrow altitudinal band in a country that, while extraordinarily biodiverse, still faces severe pressure on its forest habitats. There is nowhere else in the world you can go to see this bird. Colombia is its only home.
For international birders, that endemism is a powerful draw. A species that exists only within the borders of a single country carries a different kind of weight — seeing it means you have gone to the one place on Earth where it lives. The Multicolored Tanager is that species for Colombia's Western Andes.
2. Its conservation status demands attention
The Multicolored Tanager is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List — a status that reflects the ongoing loss of mid-elevation forest in the Colombian Andes. As cloud forest is cleared for agriculture and human settlement, the bird's habitat shrinks. The species is not yet Endangered, but the trajectory is clear, and the window for seeing it in healthy numbers in intact forest is not unlimited.
🔴 Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN)
The Multicolored Tanager is listed as Vulnerable due to ongoing habitat loss across its range in the Colombian Western and Central Andes. Every visit to sites like Finca La Florida and Alas de los Andes — where the species is protected and managed — directly supports the local conservation economy that keeps these forests standing.
3. It is visually extraordinary
The name says it all — but no description fully prepares you for the reality of this bird in the field. The male Multicolored Tanager carries green, blue, black, yellow, white, and chestnut in a pattern so precisely arranged it looks almost hand-painted. In good light, the colours shift and intensify as the bird moves. It is one of the most photogenic species in all of South America — and at the feeding stations along the Km 18 corridor, it presents itself in exactly the kind of perched, well-lit positions that photographers dream about.
4. It can be seen in the wild AND at feeders
Most globally significant endemics are difficult birds — secretive, rare, or confined to inaccessible habitats. The Multicolored Tanager is exceptional in that it can be observed in two very different contexts: in natural forest along the cloud forest trails of the Km 18 area, and at managed feeding stations where banana feeders with well-positioned natural perches bring the bird reliably into view. The combination of wild forest encounters and feeder sightings makes it uniquely accessible without sacrificing the authenticity of the experience.
Finca La Florida — The Premier Site for the Multicolored Tanager
Of all the sites along the Km 18 road, Finca La Florida has the strongest reputation for reliable Multicolored Tanager sightings — and it has earned that reputation through careful, consistent management over many years.
The key figure at the finca is Andrés, the dedicated bird caretaker who maintains the feeding stations with daily precision. The banana feeders he manages are not simply food sources — they are carefully positioned to offer natural perches, clean backgrounds, and good light angles that make the Multicolored Tanager not just visible, but eminently photographable. The difference between a record shot and a portfolio image is often the quality of the perch, and Andrés understands this.
Finca La Florida has recorded over 340 bird species, including 24 species of hummingbird and up to 30 species of tanager. The Multicolored Tanager visits the banana feeders with enough regularity that, on a well-timed morning session, a sighting is a realistic expectation rather than a hope.
🍌 Why Andrés's banana feeders matter for photography
The positioning of a feeder determines the quality of every image taken at it. Andrés places the banana platforms adjacent to natural branches of the right diameter, at heights that place the bird at eye level with a seated observer, and away from cluttered backgrounds. When the Multicolored Tanager lands on one of these perches — which it does regularly — the photographic conditions are as good as they get anywhere for this species.
Alas de los Andes — A Second Reliable Option
Located on the same Km 18 corridor and equally accessible from Yotoco Lodge, Alas de los Andes is a newer and smaller site that has established itself as a genuine alternative for the Multicolored Tanager. Its facilities are more modest than Finca La Florida, but its bird list is impressive — and its feeders produce reliable sightings of the species.
Beyond the Multicolored Tanager, Alas de los Andes is notable for the Chestnut Woodquail — one of the most sought-after and secretive birds of the Colombian cloud forest — and the beautiful Bay-headed Tanager, a colourful resident of the forest edge that appears regularly at the feeding stations. For birders working the Km 18 area across multiple days, combining both sites gives the best coverage and the highest probability of excellent Multicolored Tanager views.
💡 Finca La Florida vs Alas de los Andes — which to visit?
Both sites are excellent for the Multicolored Tanager and both are within 20 minutes of Yotoco Lodge. Finca La Florida has more established facilities, a longer track record, and a wider supporting cast of feeder species. Alas de los Andes is newer and smaller but offers the Chestnut Woodquail alongside the Multicolored Tanager — a combination that makes it a strong complement rather than an alternative. On a multi-day stay at Yotoco Lodge, visit both.
A Bird Years in the Making
In fifteen years of guiding in the Western Andes, I have watched many clients encounter the Multicolored Tanager for the first time. Each reaction is different. But one stays with me more than the others.
📖 Personal story — The client who had waited years
A few seasons ago, I was guiding a client at Finca La Florida. Before we even left Yotoco Lodge that morning, he told me quietly that the Multicolored Tanager was the bird he most wanted to see in Colombia. Not just on this trip — ever. He had been planning this journey for years, had read everything he could find about the species, and had built his entire itinerary around the possibility of seeing it. I told him the odds were genuinely good. That Finca La Florida was one of the most reliable sites for the species in the country. That Andrés kept the feeders active and well-positioned. He listened carefully — but I could tell he did not quite allow himself to believe it. The years of wanting something had made him cautious about expecting it. When the Multicolored Tanager appeared at the banana feeder — unhurried, in full morning light, every colour exactly as described in every field guide he had ever read — he went completely still. He did not raise his camera immediately. He just looked. When he finally turned to me, his eyes were wet. "I have been dreaming about this bird for years," he said. That is what the Multicolored Tanager does to people. And Finca La Florida, 20 minutes from Yotoco Lodge, is where it happens.
The Km 18 Corridor — More Than One Bird
The Multicolored Tanager may be the headline target along the Km 18 road, but it is far from the only reason to spend time here. Declared an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) by BirdLife International in 2004, the Km 18 area at around 1,950 metres above sea level has recorded over 340 species — including 24 hummingbirds and 30 tanagers — and hosts one of the highest concentrations of cloud forest endemics accessible from any city in Colombia.
Alongside the Multicolored Tanager, a well-structured day at Km 18 can produce:
• Chestnut Woodquail — one of the most secretive Colombian endemics, seen reliably at the feeders of both Finca La Florida and Alas de los Andes.
• Golden-headed Quetzal — regularly encountered along the road edge between sites, often perched in the open on bare branches in the early morning.
• Collared Trogon — a frequent roadside presence along the Km 18 corridor, elegant and approachable.
• Blue-naped Chlorophonia — a spectacular tiny bird of the forest canopy, regularly seen at fruiting trees along the road.
• Little Tinamou — another ultra-secretive species made accessible at Finca La Florida's feeding stations through Andrés's consistent management.
• Crimson-rumped Toucanet — a regular visitor to the banana feeders, bold and colourful and entirely cooperative for photography.
• Green-and-black Fruiteater — one of the most sought-after cotingas of the Chocó, seen regularly at the road edge and forest canopy.
Photographing the Multicolored Tanager
The Multicolored Tanager at the feeders of Finca La Florida and Alas de los Andes offers some of the most rewarding bird photography in the entire Western Andes. A few notes on making the most of the opportunity:
• Arrive early: The feeders are most active in the first two hours after dawn. The Multicolored Tanager tends to visit in pulses — it may be absent for twenty minutes, then appear several times in quick succession. Patience in the first session is almost always rewarded.
• Use the natural perches: Andrés positions branches near the banana platforms specifically for photography. When the bird hops onto one of these perches before or after feeding, the combination of natural wood, clean background, and good light produces images that are difficult to achieve anywhere else for this species.
• Watch for forest encounters: The Multicolored Tanager also moves through the forest edge and can be encountered in mixed flocks along the Km 18 road between sites. These wild encounters — bird in natural vegetation, no feeder in sight — produce a different kind of image and are worth pursuing alongside the feeder sessions.
• Settings: In the open clearing light of the feeder area, a shutter speed of 1/800–1/1250 s is generally sufficient for a perched bird. If the bird is active and moving between branches, push to 1/1600 s or faster. The colours of this species reward accurate exposure — do not let the highlights on the yellow or white areas blow out.
Why Yotoco Lodge is the Best Base for the Multicolored Tanager
The Km 18 corridor — including Finca La Florida and Alas de los Andes — is just 20 minutes from Yotoco Lodge. That proximity is not a minor logistical detail: it is the difference between arriving at the feeders at first light, rested and ready, and spending an hour transferring from Cali city in the dark before the most productive window of the day has already passed.
As the Western Andes birding basecamp at Km 26, Yotoco Lodge is purpose-built for exactly this kind of targeted species visit. The lodge provides early morning departures, guide coordination with Andrés and the teams at both sites, and the accumulated field knowledge to know which feeder is most active on any given morning and which road sections are currently producing Multicolored Tanager in the wild.
For international birders on a Colombia birding holiday package with the Multicolored Tanager as a priority target, Yotoco Lodge offers something no Cali city hotel can match: you wake up inside the bird's habitat. The forest begins at the lodge boundary. The Km 18 corridor is twenty minutes away. The feeders are active, the perches are set, and Andrés will be there when you arrive.
📦 Book your Multicolored Tanager birdwatching tour from Cali
The Multicolored Tanager features in all our Western Andes birding packages as a primary target species. Whether you are booking a focused 3-day visit to the Km 18 corridor or a full Colombia birding holiday package covering the entire Valle del Cauca region, Yotoco Lodge puts you in the best possible position to see this extraordinary bird. Contact us at yotocolodge.com or via WhatsApp to plan your dates.
Final Thoughts
The Multicolored Tanager is not simply a beautiful bird — though it is that, undeniably. It is a Colombian endemic found nowhere else on Earth, a Vulnerable species whose future depends on the health of mid-elevation Andean forest, and one of the most visually extraordinary tanagers on a continent that does not lack for extraordinary tanagers.
Seeing it well — at the feeders of Finca La Florida, perched on one of Andrés's carefully positioned natural branches, in full morning light — is one of those experiences that stays with a birder for years. Sometimes for a lifetime.
Yotoco Lodge at Km 26 puts you 20 minutes from that experience. The feeders are ready. The bird is there. The only question is when you are coming.
Good birds and good light! 🐦🎨🌿
— Yotoco Lodge · yotocolodge.com
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