Anchicaya & Dona Dora:

Choco-Slope Birding Near Cali

QUICK FACTS

Location	The Anchicaya watershed on the Pacific slope, ~1.5-2 hrs west of Cali
Habitat	Choco cloud forest - one of the wettest, most endemic-rich regions on Earth
Star site	Dona Dora - arguably the world's best place to photograph the Toucan Barbet
Density	30-60 species reported in a single morning within ~150 square metres of feeders
Area total	Over 500 species recorded across the wider Anchicaya area
Best for	Choco endemics, feeder photography, and a huge single-day list
On our tours	A highlight of the Essential & Comprehensive Bird Photography tours; also a day trip from Cali

Anchicaya & Dona Dora: Choco-Slope Birding Near Cali

Drive west from Cali, over the Western Andes and down toward the Pacific, and the forest changes character entirely. You leave the drier interior and enter the Choco — one of the wettest and most endemic-rich bioregions on the planet. The Anchicaya watershed, and the celebrated feeders of Dona Dora, are the most accessible window into that world from Cali, and among the finest birding sites in all of Colombia. For Choco-slope birding near Cali, this is where you go.

Why the Choco slope is so special

The Pacific slope of the Western Andes catches the full force of moisture coming off the ocean, which makes it extraordinarily wet — and extraordinarily diverse. Isolation and rainfall have produced a long list of Choco endemics and specialties found in this narrow band and almost nowhere else. Over 500 species have been recorded across the wider Anchicaya area, and a single well-planned day here can produce a species list that is hard to believe.

Dona Dora: the Toucan Barbet capital

If the Choco slope has one legendary spot, it is Dona Dora. What started as a modest roadside kitchen serving food to passing birders grew, over years, into a model of community-run conservation — a multi-level feeder station, including a terrace that lifts you to canopy height, maintained by the family whose name it carries.

 

 — there is a strong argument that this is the single best place on Earth to see and photograph the species. It is the bird most people come for, and it rarely disappoints.

A remarkable statistic captures the place: visitors regularly record 30 to 60 species in a single morning within an area no larger than 150 square metres. That density is what makes it so rewarding for photographers as well as listers — the birds come to you, again and again, in good light.

What you will see

At the feeders	Hummingbirds	In the forest
Toucan Barbet	Velvet-purple Coronet	Choco Trogon
Crimson-rumped Toucanet	Empress Brilliant	Chestnut-breasted Wren
Rufous-throated Tanager	Purple-bibbed Whitetip	Uniform Antshrike
Silver-throated Tanager	Green Thorntail	Bicolored Antvireo
Golden-collared Honeycreeper	Rufous-gaped Hillstar	Ornate Flycatcher

The list shifts with the seasons and the fruiting of the trees. When the ficus beside the feeders is in fruit, it can pull in rarities like Black Solitaire and Yellow-collared Chlorophonia, turning an already excellent morning into a memorable one.

A field note: the barbet on the rail

There is a particular moment guests remember. You arrive in the cool of the morning, the mist still lying in the valley, and settle in with a coffee and a plate of Dona Dora's food. The feeders are already busy — tanagers flickering through, a Crimson-rumped Toucanet working the bananas — and then a Toucan Barbet drops onto the rail a few metres away, glowing red, blue and gold in the soft light, and simply sits there. After years of hearing about this bird, seeing it point-blank over breakfast is the kind of thing people fly across the world for.

Birding the Anchicaya road

Dona Dora is the anchor, but the Anchicaya road itself is a birding destination. Working its length through Choco forest, you move through the territories of understorey specialists and mixed canopy flocks — antbirds, woodcreepers, foliage-gleaners and more tanagers — that never come to a feeder. This is where a guide who knows the calls earns their keep, because much of what is here is heard long before it is seen. Between the feeders and the forest, the two halves of the day complement each other perfectly.

For photographers

Dona Dora is as much a photography destination as a birding one. The feeders bring subjects to reliable perches in the soft, overcast Choco light, and the canopy-height terrace offers eye-level angles you rarely get on wild birds. On our Comprehensive Bird Photography Tour we work the setup with natural perches and our continuous LED lighting, so images read as wild forest rather than feeder snapshots. For the Toucan Barbet alone it is worth the trip; the supporting cast makes it unforgettable.

How to visit

Anchicaya and Dona Dora sit around 1.5 to 2 hours west of Cali, which makes them a superb long day trip from the city as well as a key leg of a longer tour. The road is rough in places and the reserves require arrangements, so it is a site best done with local logistics handled for you. On our tours we build it into the western itinerary; as a standalone, it is one of the most rewarding days of birding the Cali area offers. Come prepared for rain — this is the Choco, and the wet is exactly why the birds are here.