Daily report of birding trip
NW Venezuela 7-14 March 2005 |
John van der Woude - www.jvanderw.nl
See also the general info of this trip, and the photos. |
Sunday 6 March 2005
Arrived
at 19.30 h at La Chinita airport of Maracaibo. The driver from hotel
Aeropuerto was a bit late, but we were soon at the hotel, and we arranged
at the desk to have a taxi to the savanna area of Campo Boscan early
the following morning.
Venicio
the hotel taxi driver (not the same as yesterday) was well in time and
soon we were crossing the many dirt roads in the Campo Boscan area
west of Maracaibo. We could not exactly find Jurgen Beckers' birding
spot but found several other nice spots ourselves in this maze of dirt
roads between drier and wetter savanna. We were here from 07.15 till
12.30 h and got among others (most species in the section GPS220-213, see map): several herons/egrets, Savanna Hawk, Hook-billed
Kite in a tree, Pearl Kite, Scaled Dove, two macaws (probably
Red&Green), Brown-throated Parakeet, Green-rumped Parrotlet,
Striped Cuckoo (heard), Dwarf Cuckoo (twice), a few unidentified
hummers, Russet-throated Puffbird on a valve in an oil pipe, Green and
Ringed Kingfishers, several Red-crowned Woodpeckers, a Straight-billed
Woodcreeper at its nest, Yellow-chinned Spinetail at the edge of
standing water in a meadow, Caribbean Hornero (+nest), Northern
Scrub-Flycatcher (lifer, range-restricted species; seen at short
distance, at the last spot = GPS213), Common Tody-Flycatcher (on
Hilty's maps not yet in this region; on 14 March we saw it here again,
with a nest), Pied Water-Tyrant, Fork-tailed Flycatcher (twice a
group), White-naped Xenopsaris (on a low branch at GPS213; on Hilty's
maps not yet W of Maracaibo Lake, but was seen here by Jurgen Beckers
as well), Bicolored Wren, Glaucous Tanager, Trinidad Euphonia, Saffron
Finch, Yellow Oriole, Yellow-hooded Blackbird.
We
spent the hot afternoon mainly at the hotel pool, in order to be
prepared for more intensive birding the during rest of the week. If we
had had a rental car, we would probably have gone out for some extra
birding in the late afternoon. But Maracaibo is not an easy city to
drive around I think, especially not since they were building a metro
now.
At
06.00 h we left the hotel with Venicio's son Jendry, also a taxi
driver. First we went to Jurgen Beckers' birding site near Cabimas at
the other side of Lake Maracaibo (see map). Here we birded from 06.45
till 08.30 h along a dirt track amidst splendid dry scrub. We just
slowly walked the track up and down, and had among others: Crested
Bobwhite (several groups), Bare-faced Ibis (2 passing us, red
bill&face visible), Crane Hawk in treetop, Scaled Dove,
Brown-throated Parakeet, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Striped Cuckoo (seen,
with 5-syllable song!), Ferruginous Pygmy-owl (twice), Black-throated
Mango (female), Russet-throated Puffbird (see photo, the single-banded
type here), Red-crowned Woodpecker, Straight-billed Woodcreeper,
White-whiskered Spinetail (very close views of this beautiful lifer;
taped out once we had spotted it), Caribbean Hornero, Black-crested
Antshrike (male), Maracaibo Tody-Flycatcher (lifer, several very well
seen), Vermillion Flycatcher, Yellow Oriole. We dipped Chestnut
Piculet but there will be another chance for that in another year, at
Coro or so.
At
08.30 h it was already fairly hot here, and we drove on (still with
Jendry) towards Sanare. We could have changed taxis in a town halfway
but got a reasonable fare for going to Sanare with him all the way.
And
so we had a nice meal with him at the restaurant of El Encanto's lodge
in the early afternoon, with a wide view from the terrace. We were
brought to the lodge proper (4 km further on), and after having
admired the wonderful room with an even wider view across the valley,
we made a late afternoon stroll along the small roads above the lodge.
We found a nice small weedy plateau (GPS224) and saw from there a
roost (pre-roost?) of four Band-tailed Guans. Other species in these
hilly fields with some small woods and ponds were among others: Capped
Heron, Hook-billed Kite soaring together with a dark-phase
Short-tailed Hawk (the latter stooped down after a few minutes),
White-tailed Kite (several), Pied-billed Grebe, Pale-breasted
Spinetail (several in the weedy field at the plateau), Lesser Kiskadee,
Blue-and-white Swallow (a group), Bicolored Wren, Burnished-buff
Tanager (probably roosting in the tree at the dilapidated barn at the
plateau), and the uncommon Orange-crowned Oriole.
At
the beginning of dusk we were at our room's balcony and saw the
wonderful roost gathering of about 50 Lesser Goldfinch in a tree at
only 20 meter from us.
Later
in the evening, while having a drink at the terrace of the lodge, we
saw a Barn Owl flying past the terrace, and heard Tropical Screech-owl
in the side valley. Also did we hear there two nightjars calling
'chuck-will's wiDOW', which must be the Rufous Nightjar although Hilty
does not mention it for southern Lara. At the spot, we checked the
sound on the reference minidisc.
Wednesday
9 March
After
breakfast at the lodge, Manuel's assistant José Alberto drove us with
the lodge pickup into Yacambú NP, for the mid-elevation Andean
forest. At 07.40 h he dropped us off at GPS225, which is about 13 km
from Sanare, at a wide pull-off to the right, and about 0,5 -1 km
before the little blue shrine (GPS226)
which is lower down the slope on the left of the road. This is all
several km after the highest point in the quiet road through this
all-forested NP. To find the pull-off, it may be best to drive on to
the blue shrine and then drive back to the pull-off. During the ride
we had heard Black-faced Antthrush. We chose to start at this spot
(GPS225) because of the promising info Chris Sharpe had given for this
forest section above the blue shrine. And indeed we had a nice start,
with Blood-eared Parakeet (a group; Venezuelan endemic, rare outside
the coastal cordillera, but seen in this NP before), Long-tailed
Sylph, Booted Rackettail, Band-tailed Guan, Emerald Toucanet, Common
Bush-Tanager (small flock). This was all at the pull-off, and just
below it we heard a Northern Helmeted Curassow at maybe only 10 meter,
but we got no views of it. Then Merida Tapaculo (lifer) started
singing in the brush along the road (at the pull-off again), and when
we finally saw it, we noted color rings: red + blue on the left leg,
white + beige on the right leg.
At
the blue shrine we had a small flock of Blackburnian Warbler (a few
males and females), Barred Becard (a wish-list lifer; close view so
barring visible plus the yellow etc.), Variegated Bristle-Tyrant
(lifer, at only 6 m, so we saw the ochre-colored bold wing bars and
the orange lower mandible) and Russet-backed Oropendola.
A
bit further on we heard a few Golden-breasted Fruiteaters, Andean
Solitaire and Lined Quail-Dove (at the spot checked on the reference
minidisc), and we saw Black-capped and Golden Tanager. We slowly
walked on down the slope in perfect weather and we saw Plain-brown and
Montane Woodcreeper, a Variegated Bristle-Tyrant again (flicking its
wing upwards like described in Hilty), and we witnessed a fight of
Masked Trogons (2 males and 1 female). On we went for a male
White-sided Flowerpiercer, a Bronzy Inca nearby, Montane
Foliagegleaner, Golden-breasted Fruiteater (well seen now),
White-winged Tanager, Slaty-capped Flycatcher (spotted wing bar + wing
flicking + black bill), Beryl-spangled Tanager, and a mixed flock of
American Redstart, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler,
Bay-headed tanager and Fulvous-headed Tanager.
Around
noon we had descended as far as the wide entrance (on the left) to the
recreation area called El Blanquito (the 'small white blanket' because
of the frequent mist here). The closed gate will be opened for you
after calling (loud enough) the warden in the little house behind the
gate. In the early morning, our driver José Alberto had already
announced our [coming] to the gatekeeper.
We
ate our prepared lunch in the shade of one of the buildings in this
half-open recreation area, and then took the Cascada (waterfall) trail
up from the most left-hand track in this area. In this moist forest we
added Brown Tinamou, Southern Nightingale-Wren (at a level wooden
walkway halfway the trail), Three-striped Warbler, Slaty-backed
Nightingale-Thrush (now seen after many heard today; seen singing at 4
m height; Hilty says: difficult to observe), Chestnut-capped
Brush-Finch.
At
15.00 h we were picked up at this recreation area and half an hour
later we were having another delicious meal at the Encanto restaurant,
where Bicolored Wren came nearly at our terrace table. A flock of 100
White-collared Swifts flew straight past us, high in the air, possibly
migrating.
At
the lodge we saw the Lesser Goldfinches coming to roost again, and
Eastern Meadowlark was singing in the pasture below our cottage.
Thursday
10 March
At
06.45 h we were at the El Blanquito
recreation area again. First we birded the open spaces in the center,
and had Rufous-vented Chachalaca (small parties), Yellow-legged
Thrush, Golden-olive Woodpecker (two displaying), Green Jay,
Pale-breasted and Black-hooded Thrush and a pair of Swallow Tanager.
At
07.30 h we entered the Cascada trail again and had Booted Rackettail
(nearby), Long-tailed Sylph, Three-striped Warbler (singing, with
color rings, 1 blue), Howler Monkey (group heard), Slaty-capped
Tyrannulet, a xenops (probably Plain), Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush
(seen again!), Southern Nightingale-Wren (seen now! finally after so
many years of only hearing it; same spot as yesterday). We met with a
few entomologists from Barquisimeto university.
After
a rest, we descended the Cascada trail at 09.30 h. Again we heard more
birds than we saw them, but added nevertheless: Fawn-breasted and
Speckled Tanager (in a flock), Grey-breasted Wood-Wren (seen right
along the trail), Andean Solitaire (2 at eye level), Little Tinamou
(heard), Beryl-spangled Tanager (in a fruiting tree), and a
Band-tailed Guan a few m above our heads.
From
10.30 h we birded the open clearing of the recreation area again, and
saw among others Short-tailed Hawk (light phase now), Slate-throated
Whitestart, Yellow-backed Oriole, Blue-necked tanager, Smoke-colored
Pewee, Stripe-breasted Spinetail (heard only, despite a long search).
Then
we walked the main road further down a bit, and saw Red-headed Barbet,
and Hook-billed Kite (sitting on a branch above the road). At the Y
for the laguna (pond) to the right we had Rufous-browed Peppershrike,
Plain Antvireo and Bay-headed Tanager. At the laguna was a Pied-billed
Grebe, a pair of White-lined tanagers and inquisitive Oriole
Blackbirds at the picnic tables, a great bird when seen so nearby. Its
occurrence here, well above the normal altitudinal range, is indeed
mentioned by Hilty.
From
12.30 h we walked back, up the park road, till we would meet José
Alberto with his pickup car at about 15.00 h again (just anywhere he
would find us along this very quiet road). Despite the midday hours we
still had some nice birds: Fulvous-headed Tanager, Black-and-white
Becard, Black-capped Tyrannulet, Collared Trogon female),
Violet-fronted Brilliant (a pair at the side of the road).
Back
at the lodge we saw, while sitting again at the attractive terrace, a
Sooty-capped Hermit probing for insects along the walls etc. This is
the so-called limpiacasa (house cleaner) because it often enters
houses for catching spiders etc. and José Alberto told us they do so
here too.
Friday
11 March
It
was hard to leave the peaceful lodge and the wonderful national park
forest, but we had to move
on to the higher Andes of Bocono. Manuel (the lodge owner) had arranged
a reasonable fare for the taxi drive to Bocono, including some time
for stopping in a presumed birding site in dry habitat some 10 km
along the road down to the West. We stopped here indeed but saw
nothing worthwhile. So we better moved on to Bocono to have some
birding time in the afternoon. The drive itself was very pleasant, 3
hours of impressive Andean valleys in a very comfortable, large and
well-maintained Ford, with a cautious and nice driver (Pauxides
Seguero; phone 0416 255 1445).
After
checking in at hotel La Vega del Rio and having a meal at the hotel's
restaurant, we arranged a ride with José Gregorio the waiter here to
the Laguna de los Cedros recreation area, which is the start of the
birding road up through the Guaramacal NP but also a nice birding area
in itself. We birded here from 15.30 h and got, among others, Black
Phoebe, Little Grebe, the compra-pan antpitta (heard; this is the
nickname for Chestnut-crowned Antpitta; compra pan means buy bread and
this it can sing all day long), Beryl-spangled Tanager, White-capped
Dipper (at the tiny waterfall at the back of this recreation area),
and Torrent Tyrannulet (at the lake itself).
Then
we walked the mountain road up for about 600 m, till the mirador
(viewpoint, overlooking the lake). On this stretch we had
Orange-throated Sunangel (female), Glossy-black Thrush (2 males),
Venezuelan Tyrannulet (lifer and near-endemic, nearby drinking from
mossy stone hollow), Speckled Hummingbird, a few Mountain Elaenia, and
Long-tailed Sylph.
Saturday
12 March
This
was our day for the high-altitude Andean birding. Via the waiter of
the hotel's restaurant we had arranged a 4WD taxi for the rough ride
up the Guaramacal NP dirt road, but the driver didn't show up in the
early morning (06.00 h). After 10 minutes we didn't want to wait any
longer and with one of the guards we walked to a nearby weekly peasant
market (interesting in itself!), and after some 20 minutes we found a
4WD driver willing to drive us to the ' antenas' (top of the
Guaramacal road), for a reasonable fare. So at 08.10 h we stood at the
paramo at the pass (GPS227), where it was still cold (12 degrees C; we
had brought a jacket). In the beautiful, open paramo vegetation (see
photo) we soon had Grey-naped Antpitta (three, and yet heard only
alas, this lifer), Orange-throated Sunangel (male this time), Great
Thrush, Tyrian Metaltail. During the slow drive upwards we had seen a
Merida Flowerpiercer already in front of the car, and while walking
down now into the upper elfin forest we added Glossy and Moustached
Flowerpiercer. Here we also had the first of many Lacrimose
Mountain-Tanagers, and heard Merida Tapaculo. Another nice bird was
Slaty Brush-Finch.
Now
(at GPS228) we had walked less than 1 km, and were deeper down into
the bamboo-rich elfin forest. We heard two Ocellated Tapaculos (a bird
with a very local occurrence, possibly in small colonies acc. to Hilty),
and two Band-tailed Pigeons raced overhead. Here too we had a large
mixed-species flock, consisting of at least Specatacled Whitestart,
Black-capped Tyrannulet, White-throated Tyrannulet, Glossy
Flowerpiercer, Masked Flowerpiercer, Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager,
White-sided Flowerpiercer and Pearled Treerunner. Nearby were
Golden-tailed Starfrontlet (female; endemic and lifer), Blue-and-black
Tanager, and the star bird of our trip, Sword-billed Hummingbird! We
had quite prolonged views of this unbelievable bird, because from
where we stood we saw both the feeding bush as the perching bush.
Normal views (in dry season) of this highly sought-after species are
very short because you will not easily see both spots and the bird
flies frequently to and fro between both.
The
next species was also a good one, the endemic Rose-crowned Parakeet.
We saw it flying just below us, so we could notice and the white wing
patches, plus the red tail.
Then
a large group of Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager crossed the road, but from
now on(11.30 h) it was a bit quieter, mostly because the birds were
less vocal. Then a large flock is welcome: White-browed Spinetail,
Black-crowned Warbler, and the usual flowerpiercers, sunangel and
starfrontlet.
At
12.30 h we were really lower (and we should be!) and when we sensed
another large flock we used an Andean Pygmy-Owl tape to get them
nearer: all the species again, plus Merida Flowerpiercer.
Lower
again we had Golden-olive Woodpecker and Merida Tapaculo, and at 14.10
h we were at 2380 m altitude (GPS228) which we considered as halfway
down from the pass to the laguna. Here we heard the first of about 6
Green-and-Black Fruiteaters. We really entered the 'lower upper'
forest now, with Chestnut-capped Brush-Finch, Golden-crowned Warbler,
Slate-throated Whitestart, a male Green-and-Black Fruiteater (seen
now), Blue-capped Tanager, Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush. At GPS230
(only 3 satellites reception) we were in beautiful forest with less
bamboo. At this spot is a small trail (10 m or so) to a water drip
where we saw Variegated Bristle-Tyrant.
GPS231
was at the start (as seen from above) of the surfaced road, and this
would be a good spot to be dropped off by a normal (2WD) taxi, for
exploration of the lower forest. It was getting late now so we walked
on more quickly, also because the bird activity was really low here
and/or now.
Sunday
13 March
In
contrast to our preferred day rhythm, we skipped birding in the
morning and decided to use the morning for the travel back to
Maracaibo, because we were not too sure about the bus connections in
the afternoon. On hindsight, we could easily have had some early
morning birding at the end of that surfaced road of yesterday
afternoon. However, we felt the end of the trip nearing and we took it
a bit easier now. Back at the hotel Aeropuerto in Maracaibo, we took a
rest in the afternoon and enjoyed the swimming pool again.
This
was typically a day that would have been different if we had had a
rental car. We would have done not only that birding at the end of the
surfaced road, but even have included some birding at the dry scrub
area at Cabimas (see second day). Well, that would have been another
hectic day then, although the bus drive was also a bit hectic because
of the enormous noise from the sound boxes on the floor behind the
driver!
A
long morning (6.30 - 13.30 h) with hotel driver Venicio to the dry and
wet savanna (llanos) west of Maracaibo, the so-called Campo Boscan
area (see first day). We now went straight to GPS233, an S-bend in the
long N-S road which starts at 4 km west of Km 40. In the dry forest
here we had another lifer, the uncommon Grey Pileated-Finch,
Black-crested Antshrike again, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Russet-throated
Puffbird. Alas, no Vermillion Cardinal (also something for Coro in
another year).
We
then spent most of the time in the wetter savanna (llanos) S of the
gate at GPS216 (see map). The systematic list here was: Anhinga,
ibises, Little Grebe, Cocoi Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron
(whitish face), American Woodstork, Capped Heron, Turkey Vulture,
Black Vulture, King Vulture (very high in the air), Grey Hawk
(splendid close view), Harris Hawk (2 or 3), Savanna Hawk (a few,
nearby), Black-collared Hawk, American Kestrel (c. 6, a few with
prey), a large eagle-like raptor (blackish, with white upper part of
upper tail; like Great Black-Hawk but without white in underside of
tail), Southern Lapwing, Purple Gallinule, Wattled Jacana, Greater
Yellowlegs (1), Lesser Yellowlegs (2), Solitary Sandpiper (3+3), Least
Sandpiper (5), Scaled Dove, Brown-throated Parakeet, Green-rumped
Parrotlet, Striped Cuckoo, two tentatively identified hummer species
that should not occur here (Glittering-throated Emerald, the rather
unmistakable male!; Rufous-tailed Hummingbird), Ringed and Green
kingfisher (both 1), Red-crowned Woodpecker (2), Lineated Woodpecker
(1), Straight-billed Woodcreeper (3), Yellow-bellied Elaenia
(several), Common Tody-Flycatcher (twice; a hang nest with feeding
parents - not bad for a species that is not yet mentioned for this
part of Venezuela in Hilty 2003; see photo of nesting tree), several
kiskadee-type flycatcher (sorry, we don't watch them very carefully
anymore; one Great Kiskadee nest in pole along road in square bend at
GPS213), Fork-tailed Flycatcher (flock and also stray ones, often
skimming the water surface of standing water in pastures or small
permanent pools), Tropical Mockingbird, Cattle Tyrant,
Tropical Kingbird, Barn Swallow (2 migrating north),
White-winged Swallow (1), Bicolored Wren (common in the larger trees),
House Wren, Tropical Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray Tanager, Gray Seedeater,
Blue-black Grassquit (males and females), Saffron Finch, Yellow
Oriole, cowbirds, grackles. See also the list of 7 March when we had
some important other species. Today it was much hotter, with more mosquitoes.
Even
the late afternoon was too hot for an extra trip to e.g. the Cabimas
site (see second day). If we had had an extra morning we would
certainly have gone there.
Tuesday
15 March
One
last ride with Venicio, to the airport this time. Flights from
Maracaibo to Caracas (Maiquetia), and from this strongly overrated
Maiquetia airport (with one of the highest departure taxes in the world; and yet
the toilets were dirty and our departure gate changed 3 times without
clear warnings) to
Curacao, where we arrived at 13.30 h. |