Birding around Santiago is comprehensive birding and nature journey aiming to discover the surprising diversity of scenery and birdlife in the Mediterranean region of Chile. This trip focuses in finding a variety of endemic species and other Chile’s specialties and is suitable for both keen birders as well as more relaxed bird enthusiasts. Join us on this in-depth birding trip to mountain habitats, broad-leaf forests, Matorral scrub and rocky coastal areas of the Pacific Ocean. Explore a fascinating and contrasting region of Chile holding most of the endemic bird species of the country. In the Andes we’ll look for Diademed Sandpiper-Plover and Andean Condor while in the coast we will concentrate in the many specialties of the Humboldt Current such as Inca Tern and Humboldt Penguin. In the scrub gullies vegetated by cacti, Puya bromeliads plus other xeric vegetation, we will look for Chilean Tinamou, Chilean Mockingbird and the skulking White-throated and Dusky tapaculos, Moustached Turca and Crag Chilia. The first two days of this trip we focus on the highlands of the Andes above Santiago, where we will look for several high-altitude specialists. The Coastal Range, between the Andes and the Pacific, holds most of Chilean terrestrial endemics, including three tapaculos. Finally, we’ll reach the Pacific coast, where we’ll look for the country endemic Seaside Cinclodes and several Humboldt Current endemics like Humboldt Penguin, Inca Tern, Peruvian Booby, Guanay Cormorant and Grey Gull, plus shorebirds and waterfowl in the productive coastal wetlands. Birding around Santiago.
Birding Around Santiago
From the Heights of the Andes to the Pacific Coast
Next departure: January 10 - 16, 2025
Itinerary in Brief
Day 1 • Lampa/Batuco marshes – Farellones – Santiago (2 nights)
Day 2 • Full day exploring the Andes: El Yeso Valley
Day 3 • Drive to the Pacific coast: Maipo Estuary – Laguna El Peral Nature Reserve – Viña del Mar (2 nights)
Day 4 • Pelagic trip off Valparaiso – Cachagua (Humboldt Penguin breeding colony)
Day 5 • La Campana National Park (Ocoa sector) – Drive to Vilches – Colbun Lake – Alto Vilches (2 nights)
Day 6 • Altos de Lircay – Lake Colbun
Day 7 • Drive to Santiago – End of the trip
Trip Highlights
• The magnificent Condor against the imposing Andes of Central Chile.
• Exploration to El Yeso Valley to try to find the stunning Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, one of the world’s most peculiar and beautiful shorebirds.
• A large variety of habitats including mountains, forests, scrub slopes, wetlands and rocky coasts.
• Up to seven Chilean endemics including Crag Chilia, Seaside Cinclodes, Moustached Turca and White-throated Tapaculo.
• A wide array of endemic wildflowers growing from the coast to the mountaintops. Birding around Santiago.
Trip Map
Detailed Itinerary and Activities
Note: This trip starts from Santiago, Chile. We recommend you arrive the day before the trip starts. Our Operations Department would be delighted to assist you and help with your flight arrangements as well as to arrange your stay in Chile’s vibrant Capital.
Our adventure birding around Santiago de Chile starts today! Please make arrangements to arrive into Chile the prior day, in order to have an early start this morning. Your guide will be gathering trip participants at each individual hotel; right after we will drive a short distance north of Chile’s capital to explore some marshes around the localities of Lampa and Batuco. Wetlands are under a lot of urban pressure in central Chile and sadly Lampa and Batuco are examples of this threat. However, they hold a well represented sample of waterfowl, including Yellow-billed Pintail, Yellow-billed Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Chiloe Wigeon and Red Shoveler. Other targets here will be Cocoi Heron, Rosy-billed Pochard, White-cheeked Pintail and hopefully South American Painted Snipe. Correndera Pipit might be well singing high in the air in their characteristic courtship display! During the afternoon we will bird in the spectacular setting of Farellones. There are several Andean specialties here including Mountain Caracara, White-sided Hillstar, Rufous-banded and Creamy-rumped Miners, Cinereous, Black-fronted, White-browed and Rufous-naped Ground-tyrants plus Greater Yellow-Finch, Grey-hooded and Band-tailed Sierra-Finch. We will also look for the endemic Chilean Tinamou and Chilean Mockingbird and we might have the chance of seeing Red-backed (Variable) Hawk and Aplomado Falcon.
Overnight Santiago (Lunch, Dinner)(Guide).
We will have a full day to explore the surroundings of El Yeso reservoir in the Andean foothills, where will hopefully be rewarded with sightings of the endemic Crag Chilia plus our first Andean Condors, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, and several other Andean specialities such as Black-winged Ground Dove, Grey-flanked Cinclodes, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant and Yellow-rumped Siskin. Careful scanning of grasslands and streams may produce the stunning Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, our main target species for the day. El Yeso valley is a lovely mountain spot where we will also have good chances for Mountain Parakeet flocks. During the afternoon we will visit another valley, Baños Morales. This location offers great chances for several other specialties including Mountain Caracara, White-sided Hillstar, Rufous-banded and Creamy-rumped Miners, Cinereous, Black-fronted, White-browed and Rufous-naped Ground Tyrants plus Greater Yellow Finch and Grey-hooded and Band-tailed Sierra Finches.
Overnight Santiago (Breakfast, Picnic lunch, Dinner)(Guide).
The Coastal Range separates Chile’s central valley from the Pacific coast and we will drive across to explore the productive Maipo river mouth and surrounding coastal wetlands, including El Peral Reserve. Our target birds here will be the cryptic-colored Stripe-backed Bittern, the brood-parasitic Black-headed Duck and the striking Many-colored Rush Tyrant; we will also have a chance to find the scarce and local Ticking Doradito.
Overnight Viña del Mar (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)(Guide).
Today we will make an unforgettable visit to the cold and productive waters of the Humboldt Current, considered one of the world’s finest pelagic birding destinations. Here, we should see a great variety of tubenoses including up to six albatross species: Black-browed, Salvin’s, Buller’s, Chatham, Wandering (Antipodean) and both Northern and Southern Royal albatrosses. We also hope to find Southern and Northern Giant Petrels, Pintado, Masatierra, White-chinned and Westland Petrels, Pink-footed, Buller’s and Sooty Shearwaters, Wilson’s Storm Petrel, and Peruvian Diving Petrel. Other seabirds we may encounter include Red Phalarope, Sabine’s Gull and Chilean Skua. There are good chances of seeing cetaceans although they are always difficult to predict; on recent trips we have recorded Dusky Dolphin, Southern Right Whale Dolphin, and Orca! In the afternoon, we will head to the productive rocky coast north of Valparaiso. We have planned a visit to a protected breeding colony of the endangered Humboldt Penguin; the endemic Seaside Cinclodes and the delightful Marine Otter are both possible here as well. Before ending the day, will stop in a coastal marsh to see a variety of waterfowl including Red Shoveler, Yellow-billed Pintail, Speckled Teal and Chiloe Wigeon, all three lowland coot species (Red-gartered, White-winged and Red-fronted), Spot-flanked Gallinule and Plumbeous Rail, which is surprisingly quite easy to spot as it often walks in the open.
Overnight Viña del Mar (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)(Guide).
During the morning we will bird at La Campana National Park, where we will be looking for an interesting array of passerines, all endemic to Chile: Dusky-tailed Canastero, Moustached Turca, Dusky Tapaculo and White-throated Tapaculo. We are also likely to encounter the remarkable Giant Hummingbird, Striped Woodpecker, Austral Pygmy Owl and Chilean Pigeon. The highest peak around, Mount La Campana (The Bell), dominates the entire scene; this area receives enough moisture from the ocean to sustain broad-leaf forests and a xeric shrub community named matorral (Chile’s equivalent to California’s chaparral). We will drive back to Santiago where the trip ends. If you are interested to explore further south into the Nothofagus woodlands of Vilches, please take a look to the short 2-day extension.
(Breakfast, Lunch)(Guide). Birding around Santiago.
We will continue birding around Santiago and will drive south along the central valley and the Panamerican Highway in direction to Talca (35°S). The forested rural locality of Vilches will be our base for two nights. Rufous-legged Owl usually roosts in the woodlands behind the lodge, a very good reason for a short owling night excursion.
Overnight Vilches (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)(Guide).
At dawn, we will visit the temperate southern beech forests of Altos de Lircay Nature Reserve to seek for several Patagonian woodland specialties. The Nothofagus forests are the home for an interesting array of species, including the rare Rufous-tailed and White-throated Hawks, Austral Parakeet, Thorn-tailed Rayadito and White-throated Treerunner. We will keep searching in the undergrowth bamboo thickets for the quasi-endemic Chestnut-throated Huet-huet and Magellanic Tapaculo, our main target birds here. Along the road we might see the largest of the tyrant flycatchers, the Great Shrike-Tyrant, which usually perches on wires looking for large insects and even small birds and rodents! We will head to the mountains once more to briefly visit Lake Colbún where our search will focus on the threatened local race of Burrowing Parakeet, which usually congregates in noisy flocks.
Overnight Vilches (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)(Guide).
After some dawn birding at Vilches we will drive back to Santiago where the trip ends. (Breakfast)(Guide). Birding around Santiago.
Dates & Rates
Scheduled Departures
Trip Code | CHL04 |
|
Trip Length | 7 days, 6 nights | |
Dates | 2025 | January 10 - 16, 2025 |
Price per person (USD) | $3,998 (2023) | |
Single Supplement (USD) | TBA | |
The above price is per person in US Dollars, based in double occupancy. All payments are in US Dollars.
Single supplement will be added if single accommodations are requested.
Private Departures
You choose the date. Available from September through May. Departures from Santiago de Chile, Chile.
What the trip includes/excludes
The trip price includes: All accommodations, meals and guide services as stated in the itinerary, private ground transportation during the tour, and park entrance fees.
The trip price excludes: Tipping, travel insurance, entrance tax to Chile, excess baggage charges, private excursions, à la carte dishes, snacks, drinks, laundry, telephone calls and anything else of a purely personal nature. Birding around Santiago.
Tour Registration
To book this tour, please complete our online registration form. We will process your booking form and will send you (within 24 hours) a note with space confirmation and a deposit invoice with payment instructions. The deposit amount is US$ 500 per person. Full payment of the tour fee is due 90 days prior to tour departure.
NOTE: Inquires received on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays will be replied during the following working day.
Cancellation Policy
Notice of cancellation can only be accepted IN WRITING from the person who signed the booking form and takes effect on the day such noticed is received by us.
Refunds are made according to the following schedule:
• If cancellation is made 120 days or more before departure date, the deposit less US$ 200 is refundable.
• If cancellation is made between 120 and 60 days before departure, the deposit is not refundable, but any payments covering the balance of the fee will be refunded.
• If cancellation is made fewer than 60 days before departure date, no refund is available.
This policy and fee schedule also applies to pre-trip and post trip extensions, as well as any transfers from one tour to another. We strongly recommend the purchase of trip cancellation insurance to protect yourself.
