The road to Los Nevados National Park begins from the town of Manizales. We will bird along the lightly traveled road that winds up the mountain through patches of forest that give way to open Paramo where the scenery is dotted with Frailejones (Espeletia sp.) a slow-growing high elevation plant . We will climb slowly stopping at various stations to elevations upwards of 13,000 feet. At one mandatory stop (to prevent elevation sickness) we will be able to sip coca tea and bird around the pastures. As we reach the park's entrance, we will seek out high elevation specialists that include: Bearded Helmetcrest, Rainbow-bearded Thornbill, Viridian Metaltail, Stout-billed Cinclodes, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant, Golden-crowned Tanager, Black-backed Bush-Tanager, Glossy Flowerpiercer, and the endemic and very hard to find Rufous-fronted Parakeet. We will search for this endemic along a 2 km. stretch of the road that passes through krumholz forest. At the Park's entrance, we will likely be spied upon by Tawny Antpitta, which are very tame in this area. We will also visit Laguna Negra, a glacial lagoon where Many-striped Canastero, White-tailed Hawk, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Andean Tit-Spinetail, White-chinned Thistletail, Andean Duck, Andean Teal, Grass Wren, and Pale-naped Brush-Finch can be seen. During our ascent, we'll also keep our eyes open for high elevation seedeaters, including the Plumbeous Sierra-Finch and Paramo and Plain-colored Seedeaters, as well as the majestic Andean Condor.
Los Nevados bird list (Download PDF)