List of birds of Colombia

The Andean condor is the national bird of Colombia.

This is a list of the bird species recorded in Colombia. According to the South American Classification Committee (SACC) of the American Ornithological Society (AOS), the avifauna of Colombia has 1906 confirmed species. Of them, 84 are endemic, four have been introduced by humans, and 77 are rare or vagrants. One of the endemic species is believed to be extinct. An additional 39 species are hypothetical (see below).[1][2]

The Colombian department of San Andrés and Providencia is much closer to Nicaragua than to the South American mainland, so the SACC does not address records there. A 2015 publication adds 16 species whose only Colombian records are from that province and also five species to the mainland list. It also does not include one species that the SACC recognizes. Three of the 16 are also considered hypothetical.[3] A 2020 publication adds two more species (one offshore vagrant and a vagrant to the mainland).[4] (The SACC does not address records from more than 200 miles offshore.)

Unless noted otherwise, the list's taxonomic treatment (designation and sequence of orders, families, and species) and nomenclature (common and scientific names) are those of the SACC unless noted otherwise. Capitalization within English names follows Wikipedia practice, i.e. only the first word of a name is capitalized unless a place name such as São Paulo is used.[5]

The total number of species presented here is 2023. Of them, 87 are endemic, 134 are vagrants, and 1 species is of uncertain origin. Included are 52 species listed in a 1959 publication; none of them have been confirmed by the SACC since then.[6][5] Three species listed from GBIF are included.

The following tags have been used to highlight several categories of occurrence.

  • (V) Vagrant - a species that rarely or accidentally occurs in Colombia
  • (E) Endemic - a species endemic to Colombia
  • (I) Introduced - a species introduced to Colombia as a consequence, direct or indirect, of human actions
  • (H) Hypothetical - a species recorded but with "no tangible evidence" according to the SACC
  • (SA) San Andrés - a species whose only Colombian records are from the department of San Andrés and Providencia

Population status symbols are those of the Red List published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).[7] The symbols apply to the species' worldwide status, not their status solely in Colombia. The symbols and their meanings, in increasing order of peril, are:

Conservation status codes
LC = least concern NT = near threatened VU = vulnerable
EN = endangered CR = critically endangered EW = extinct in the wild
EX = extinct


  1. ^ Echeverry-Galvis, María Ángela; Acevedo-Charry, Orlando; Avendaño, Jorge E.; Gómez, Camila; Stiles, F. Gary; Estela, Felipe A.; Cuervo, Andrés M. (January 16, 2024). "Species lists of birds for South American countries and territories: Colombia". Comité Colombiano de Registros Ornitológicos and the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  2. ^ Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 28 September 2024. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved September 29, 2024
  3. ^ Donegan, Thomas, Juan Carlos Verhelst, Paul Salaman, Oswaldo Cortes, David Caro, and Alonso Quevedo. Checklist of the Birds of Colombia 2015 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308015655_Checklist_of_the_Birds_of_Colombia_2015_-_with_footnotes_to_all_differing_taxonomic_treatments_of_IOC_AOU-SACC_and_BirdLifeHBW2014_and_all_ProAves_papers_on_occurrencestatus_Listado_de_Aves_de_Colombia
  4. ^ Donegan, Thomas (2020). "Revision of the status of bird species occurring or reported in Colombia 2019 / Revisión del estatado de las especies de aves que han sido reportadas para Colombia 2019" (PDF). Conservacion Colombiana. 26: 4–26.
  5. ^ a b Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 28 September 2024. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved September 29, 2024
  6. ^ Meyer de Schauensee, Rodolphe (1959). "Additions to the "Birds of the Republic of Colombia"". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 111: 53–75. JSTOR 4064506.
  7. ^ IUCN 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-1. http://www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on July 30, 2020.