Diego Calderon

Diego Calderón-Franco is a biologist from Colombia who has been birding and leading tours for nearly 20 years.

After finishing his undergrad studies on Neotropical manakins and the systematics of Galliformes and Anseriformes, he focused on natural history, understanding Colombian geography through its birds, and learning more about behavior, distribution, and breeding of Colombia’s rich avifauna. More than 10 years ago Diego founded COLOMBIA Birding, the first local bird watching company in his country offering birding trips in Colombia and beyond.

Diego has been on the champion birding team for eBird’s Global Big Day event in recent years. He is also one of the main characters in The Birders, a documentary about Colombia and its birds. In recent years, Diego has had the privilege of working on biological expeditions and bird-related projects with FARC demobilized guerrilla ex-combatants.