Birdwatching

Waking up to the sound of birdsong is a rare pleasure, but in Chile you’ll enjoy the tuneful dawn chorus of innumerable birds. In the forests, on the beaches and hilltops, from the Andean Altiplano right down to Patagonia, you can spot countless species of bird, many unique to Chile.

Chile is the ideal destination for bird-watching enthusiasts. In its 101 protected wilderness areas covering almost 20% of the entire country, you might come into close contact with even the shyest of species. Visit Lake Chungará in the Lauca National Park, where you’ll spot Andean seagulls and avocets, Eurasian coots and giant red-gartered coots, as well as plentiful colonies of flamingos making a bold splash of color on the landscape.

We guarantee you’ll swoon at the cuteness of baby penguins in the Humboldt Penguin National Reserve (you can also see them on Chiloé and in Punta Arenas), and be awestruck by the legendary Andean condor soaring gracefully through the skies over the Torres del Paine National Park, near the San Rafael glacier or in the Alerce Andino National Park.

For an adventurous bird-watching expedition, visit the Omora Ethnobotanical Park on the shores of the Beagle Channel. Its most emblematic inhabitant is the Magellanic woodpecker – listen out for its characteristic (and very loud!) knocking on wood.