Mistrato - Colombia

21 January 2020 – 22 January 2020

Juanita Olano Marín, Narly Johana Aldana Mejía and Cristian Bueno Mejía

Participants: Katherine Ramírez Brand, Andrés Felipe Castaño Moreno, Jairo Espinal Clavijo

This (too) short trip was part of an exploration of local birding routes for KINGI, Narly's tourist company based in Cartago. Narly arranged everything with Cristian, our local guide and owner of the superb Sutu Mistrato Reserve. Not only the birding, but the whole trip were so great, that we ended up staying longer than planned and are looking forward to continuing exploring this amazing place!

Visited Sites

General Travelling Information

We traveled from Cartago by public transport. Narly arranged with the local bus company of Mistrato to pick us up directly in Cerritos, so that we could avoid a time-costly detour to Pereira. We stayed at a small hotel in Mistrato, and from there hired a 4x4 car to go to the birding places. In the near future it will be possible to stay directly at the Sutu Mistrato Reserve, where Cristian is currently building a lodge with all the facilities for birdwatchers.

Recommended Literature

Audubon's Risaralda birding map

Sutú (Mistrató)

Mistrato is a small town in the coffee region in the western Andes of Colombia, gateway to one of the most exciting and biodiverse areas in the world: the Choco forest. Among the specialities that can be found here are Black-and-gold and Multicolored tanagers (among many other beautiful tanagers), Scaled Fruiteater, Yellow-eared Parrot, Toucan Barbet, Choco Daggerbill, Purple-bibbed Whitetip, Lanceolated Monklet, and Tatama Tapaculo, just to mention a few. It is also a great place for raptor-watching, with observations of Ornate Hawk-eagle not uncommon. Until now, this has been a rather underexplored area, but with the more stable social situation, the creation of new birdwatching reserves and lodges (like the superb Sutu Mistrato Reserve we visited), and the knowledge and enthusiasm of local guides (like Cristian), it has the potential to become one of Colombia's birdwatching havens.

How to get there

Mistrato can be reached in around two hours by car from Pereira's international airport. Public transport options are relatively easy to arrange from Pereira or Cartago. To visit the birding sites around Mistrato, a 4x4 car is needed. You can either rent one of the public jeeps serving the small towns around Mistrato just for yourself, or travel in the (relatively scarce) public routes.

Facilities & accommodation

Mistrato has a few hotels offering simple accomodation. The lodge at the Sutu Mistrato Reserve is being built at the moment and will be the choice for staying in a beautiful place directly at a great birding spot.

Local guides

Cristian Bueno Mejía is a very friendly and knowledgeable bird guide native from Mistrato. You can reach him through Facebook, reservasutumistrato@gmail.com or +57 320 469 8131.

Species List

Order: systematic | alphabetic | highlights first
Published: 19 June 2020
Last updated: 19 June 2020
Mistrato - Colombia - Orniverse