In Colombia, birders find their version of Eden
Cali, Colombia: Despite his small stature, 10- year- old Juan David Camacho has big dreams: pacing through Colombia’s jungle with binoculars in tow, he aims to spot all the bird species his country offers. It’s a mighty goal: Colombia boasts the greatest number of bird types on the planet — 1,920, or 19 percent of those on the planet — a veritable paradise for birders. “We leave very early with our cameras, binoculars and tripods and we watch the birds until around noon, in silence,” says the young boy — continuing to scan the area to make sure he doesn’t miss a rare specimen perched on a branch in the forests near Cali.
Since his father first took him birdwatching three years ago, his love of searching for feathered friends has come to rival even his passion for football, a favored pastime in Colombia.
Once a month he journeys through the tropical forests surrounding Cali, the country’s third largest city with some 2.5 million residents. Nestled in the heart of the southwest’s massive green expanse, the Valle del Cauca, and the Andes Mountains, the area counts 562 species of birds,
“much more than anywhere in Europe”, according to expert Carlos Wagner.
Camacho has already seen 491, capturing 200 of them in photos, the boy said. In February he delivered a lecture — “Three years of passion for birds” — at the International Bird Festival, which brings some 15,000 people to Cali.
Too short to reach the lectern on the stage, he grabbed the microphone to discuss the expeditions he has made with his parents, a computer scientist and a lawyer. Huge swaths of Colombia’s territory remain to be explored: for decades they have been deemed too dangerous to travel because of the country’s drawn- out armed conflict. An ongoing peace process with former FARC guerillas has birders like Wagner hoping access will someday be improved.
The 40- year- old expert, who heads the bird festival in Cali, says the variety of ecosystems in the area — ranging from mountainous to tropical — allowed a great diversity of species to evolve. Wagner grew up in the surrounding countryside near the San Antonio forest, site of the first large- scale ornithological expedition in the area, which New York’s Natural History Museum carried out in 1910.