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Venezuela 1995 part 2 John van der Woude - www.jvanderw.nl - See also part 1
(Continuation
of Sunday 5 March 1995)
Driving
the main road further down towards Villa Lola we still noted White-shouldered
Tanager*, several Swallow-tailed Kite, a group of 15 Painted
Parakeet, a dead Band-rumped Swift (picture taken). Afterwards,
in the more arid region we saw Yellow-rumped Cacique, Smooth-billed
Ani, Scarlet Macaw, Black Vulture, White-winged Swallow,
Crested Caracara, Great Egret. In this savanna area, at c. km 111
(counting from Ciudad Guyana here), we had a pleasant lunch stop at Bodega
Los Aceiticos (the last bodega of about 4). In the shade of a fruiting
tree we drank two Manzanitas each and ate our lunch from Henry, meanwhile
observing there in the tree Buff-throated Saltator, Great
Kiskadee, Blue-grey Tanager, Palm Tanager, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Brown-throated
Parakeet, Red-crowned Woodpecker.
At
14.30 h we left the main road at the 'Villa Lola' crossing and took the
yet quieter road to El Palmar. After 3 km and some Yellow Oriole,
the road went down to a large pond on the S side of the road: Anhinga,
Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Wattled Jacana, Vermillion
Flycatcher, Pied Water-Tyrant, White-necked Heron, American
Kestrel, Solitary Sandpiper, White-headed Marsh-Tyrant (a
pair), Social Flycatcher, White-winged Swallow, Green-backed Heron,
Blue-black Grassquit, Yellow-hooded Blackbird*, Neotropic
Cormorant, Grassland Sparrow* (indeed a sparrow in the grass
marsh), Southern Lapwing. So we feel as if back in the Llanos. A
short while further is another pond with some extra species: Black-bellied
Whistling Duck, White-faced Whistling Duck, Ruddy
Ground-Dove, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Red-breasted
Blackbird, White-tailed Hawk (2 in courtship
display), Green Ibis. After stopping the engine of the car,
we had some ignition problems again.
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Monday
6 March 1995
We
have one whole day for the Rio Grande area, without bothering to see the
Harpy. The area forms part of the Sierra Imataca Forest Reserve, and there
is a lot of forest left indeed, but not so much as we hoped, at least not
along the track we choose to bird. This is the track that goes to the
bridge over the Rio Grande, and quite some miles beyond. Had we had
another day, we would have birded the other, northern track, the one that
goes to the former Harpy site. But we wouldn't be surprised if there the
logging has reached an equally far stage.
To
reach the Rio Grande bridge site, you have to go West from El Palmar for
about 25 km on a rather bad, but managable road. Near the end, there are
two bifurcations, the first one you have to take left, the second one
right, as the Swedish tour leader had pointed out to us at Henry's. Along
the road we saw somewhere the two Caracara's that we had missed so far, Yellow-headed
Caracara and Black Caracara*, fighting over some
food, and we heard the Striped Cuckoo.
One
km or so after the tarmac ends is a Piha lek at a wide side track to the
right. Here we had several Screaming Piha indeed, but didn't manage
to see one. Meanwhile we did see Lineated Woodpecker and Crimson-crested
Woodpecker*. We identified the sound of Great Tinamou*.
Other species around were Blue-headed Parrot, Red-billed
Toucan, Black-necked Aracari, Streaked Flycatcher. We often heared Leptotila
doves here as well in other forests.
Before
crossing the bridge we further saw Green Aracari, Plumbeous Kite and
Black-tailed Tityra. There is a chain at the other side of the bridge,
but there happened to be a man from El Palmar, probably the one that can
show you the Harpy (we met him at the huge tree during our walk the
previous evening), and he let us through with our car. As the dust road
was quite good at the moment, we went on by car for short intervals. (If
there is nobody, you might ask at the loggers camp 500 m further on to
open the chain.) Most of the birds however we saw in fact at the small
clearing right after the bridge and some 300 m beyond: Violaceous
Euphonia, Laughing Falcon, Barn Swallow, Orange-winged Parrot, Greater
Yellow-headed Vulture*, Long-tailed Tyrant, Mealy Parrot, Turquoise
Tanager, Bay-headed Tanager, Red-rumped Cacique, Painted Parakeet,
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Green Oropendula*, Magpie Tanager.
At
a small pool to the N some 1.5 km from the bridge we added Red-fan
Parrot* (2 in a nest hole in a bare tree), a very agressive Crimson
Topaz, and a Lesser Seed-Finch. A bit further is a (partly
secondary?) forest trail to the S, starting at a white sign. We walked
this down for about 400 m, until a spot with many strangely curling plank
roots (varzea forest?). We had some singing ('Nicky the Greek') Tiny
Tyrant-Manakin*, a too fast tanager flock, a glimpse of a dark
'chicken' of c. 40 cm (probably Great Tinamou). We found a nesthole at 1 m
height, with eggs - on the way back we identified the bird as Olivaceous
Woodcreeper. We heard White-tailed Trogon, Chestnut-rumped
Woodcreeper, Buff-throated Woodcreeper, and saw Golden-spangled
Piculet* and an enormous dragonfly of 20 cm, completely blue.
At
11 h we were back at the car and went further East for maybe 10 km, hoping
to see more undisturbed forest. But the forest remains the same, and this
didn't produce so much, probably also because of the midday hours. Most
species did we see near the pools along the track: Red&Green Macaw
(2 courtship feeding at only 40 m from us), Gray-breasted Martin*,
Yellow-backed Tanager*, and a completely black flycatcher of
about 13 cm (most probably not a Black-Tyrant, but an immature Long-tailed
Tyrant). We saw a bird of tanager size, completely yellow below, yellow
rump too, blackish upper side, white fore-head, and a wingbar: were we
misled by a Tropical Parula? Further we had a pair of White-shouldered
Tanager, Tropical Parula, and a truly large Giant
Cowbird*. The mysterious Red-throated Caracara (6 together)
crossed our path again.
We
drove back to the river and there happened to be again somebody just
opening the chain for his own car, so we could pass the bridge directly.
We parked the car at the other side of the bridge, in sight of somebody
working at the generator house. We took the often mentioned trail W of the
narrow Rio 'Grande' going N, and soon saw two Sunbittern strolling
on the opposite sandy shore 20 m from us. Three Black-necked Aracari
crossed the river there. A sort of gekko stood erect on a trunk in the
river. Amazon Kingfisher closely followed the middle of the
river. Sitting on the shore somewhere (300 m from the bridge?) we observed
quite some birds on the opposite side: Northern Waterthrush,
White-necked Thrush, Long-tailed Hermit* and Black-eared
Fairy both diving repeatedly to the water surface (bathing?), and we
heard a trogon-like bird song of 20-25 times 'kuk' in 5 sec, the last two
notes a bit longer and descending (two birds in duet song; not found on
the trogons tape). There too appeared a flock with at least Wedge-billed
Woodcreeper, Chestnut-rumped Woodcreeper, and a Veniliornis
woodpecker with a light spot between bill and eye (Little Woodpecker?).
Driving
back towards El Palmar, we stopped for a while at c. 1 km from the bridge,
where there is a large clearing to the N, fenced off by high bushes: Crimson-crested
Woodpecker, Pied Puffbird* (2 together sitting on a branch for
a long time), Swallow-tailed Kite (3 together), Black-headed
Parrot* 3 crossing the road with the lowering sun on their
impudent faces, White-chested Emerald*, Yellow-bellied
Seedeater, and a hummer with a long straight bill, short tail, and
white on chin and throat: female Long-billed Starthroat?
During
the trip back to El Palmar, we saw several roosts of Brown-throated
Parakeet, and arrived at the parador at c. 18 h, well in time for some
cool beer.
Today
we had to change from the El Palmar region to the Rio Cauro valley, and
wanted to change the bad car at P. Ordaz airport in between. During the
breakfast at mr. Stofikm I noted a kingbird at the other side of the road,
and checked it - it seemed a new one, the White-throated Kingbird, but
back home from I learn from Ridgely & Tudor that Tropical's throat can
seem white as well. Along the - direct - road to Upata, again through
savanna-like scenery we noted many parrots (typical for the early
morning), especially Orange-winged Parrot. Many Crested Caracara
were active, as well as a Yellow-headed Caracara and a Savanna
Hawk. In a pond we saw a Least Grebe. We ended this
region with the same species as we began more South - Yellow Oriole.
Hornbuckle
mentions in his report a dust road 200 m N of the gas station N of Upata
(along the main road to C. Guyana). We went there too, and parked the car
at the gate of the old orchard c. 150 m from the main road. From there we
walked just 100 m into the orchard area, along the same dust road. The
surroundings are wooded savanna, and this orchard is turning into that
again, but with several interesting trees for birds of course. We saw Burnished-buff
Tanager (a group of 8), an unidentified Furnariid (long tail, grayish
throat, light eye-stripe, redbrown on head and shoulders), Tropical
Gnatcatcher, Black-crested Antshrike*, Red-crowned
Woodpecker, Tropical Parula, Great Kiskadee, White-naped Xenopsaris*
(all details fitting, also the small spot behind the bill), White-lined
Tanager, Green-rumped Parrotlet.
Then
the inevitable dip of the trip began: trying to get another car. The
brakes are really too bad, and the starter doesn't work sometimes. Right
at the last alcabala before C. Guyana I put off the motor when the police
was asking some questions (this may have been related to the border
troubles with Colombia just then), and we had to push the car to get it
started again - with the policeman behind the wheel. Budget had no car
left at P. Ordaz airport, nor could find any other car for us at one of
the many other car rental agencies there. They even suggested that we
continue the trip by bus. We didn't give up, and in the end they could
persuade the Budget office in Ciudad Bolivar (after several calls) to give
us another car. Driving to C. Bolivar is no problem - a quiet four-lane
highway. The airport of C. Bolivar is inside the town and easy to find.
There we had to wait an hour till the new car would arrive at 15 h, with
the english speaking boss (Raquela). In the meantime, on the basis of our
experiences with the old car (the Fiat Premio), we had decided that we
would better not drive on to Caracas after Rio Caura, but instead return
to C. Bolivar and take the airplane from there to Caracas. So we bought a
ticket already for Friday night ('plenty of seats yet'). The new car was
much and much better, a Ford Festiva automat. But now it was rather late
already (16 h), so we wondered if we would make it till the lodge at the
end of the Caura valley road. The road is good, and we drove fast,
noticing a King Vulture yet.
At
dusk we entered the Caura valley road, which appears to be only asfalted
for certain stretches. Just before entering this road we saw a Lesser
Nighthawk with its low and unsteady flight. On the Caura valley
road we saw several bright orange-eyed Pauraque. Also, in
the near darkness we flushed a group of about five big birds, loudly
trumpeting, with a bustard-like profile, but with deep wing beats, so
probably not screamers.
At
20.15 h we arrived at the tiny village of Las Trincheras, and found the
lodge. The warden Juan had not expected us, and was a bit surprised by the
voucher; probably the business is run from Caracas. Nevertheless, he and
his wife were willing to make a dinner for us. So, after a beer, and a
shower in our cottage, we sat dining at a table beneath a tree. The food
was delicious, and we wondered what would be the scenery around.
The
first thing in the early morning we heard from our cottage were Howler
monkeys, soon followed by Little Chachalaca*. We got up at
6, and were surprised by the view from the cottage and from the terrace
where we had been dining the night before - a vast and splendid river
view. Looking down on the river we saw White-winged Swallow,
Blue-and-white Swallow, Anhinga, Amazon Kingfisher, and some ibises.
Breakfast would be at 8, so we had planned to walk a while back on the
broad dust road we had come yesterday. It leads through nice semi-open
woodland. The tiny village itself is half wooded as well, as are the
grounds of the lodge.
Soon
we saw many egrets and terns passing high overhead, apparently returning
from their roosts somewhere North. Dozens of Great Egret were
accompanied by smaller white herons, equally by dozens. We expected them
to be Snowy, but they had not the yellow feet nor the dark bill, so they
might all have been immature Little Blue, the bill being too long and
slender again for Cattle Egret. Only two adult Little Blue Heron
were amongst them.
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From
10.30 till 12.45 h we birded a few miles of the road N of the Puerto
Cabello junction - that is where the real primary forest reserve is (going
on to the N for another 10 km or so, up to the Rio Urbani). Here the
birding is less easy, but rewarding: Violaceous Jay, Green Oropendula,
Caica Parrot*, Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Greater
Yellow-headed Vulture (well lit - the wrists a bit darker), and we
heard Buff-throated Woodcreeper, White-tailed Trogon, Screaming Piha.
A secret antbird cost a lot of time - completely dark gray except for
white tips and band in the tail: Gray Antbird*. Then we saw
a small flock, too fast again: White-shouldered Tanager, and two
unidentified birds, both about 12 cm, one with erect tail, yellowish belly
and stout bill, the other grayish all over, with two lighter wing bars.
Further species were two Red&Green Macaw, Yellow-backed Tanager,
Black Nunbird, Streaked Flycatcher and Ruddy Pigeon.
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Before
dinner (late today for some reason) we dared to make a walk in the
dusk/dark back on the dust road for 1.5 km or so. Once outside the
village, there was a Pauraque calling nearly every 100 m. One came
very close, agitated by our easy imitation of its call. Its large orange
eye is clearly visible also without a torch or headlight. In the darkness,
we also heard a low sound that 'might' have been of a Jaguar… |
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This
morning we skipped breakfast, or tried to do so, in order to be earlier in
the forest reserve N of the P. Cabello junction. Juan and his wife were up
nevertheless and insisted on giving us a cup of tea, and gave some
take-away food (we had asked that the night before). About two km from the
village the semi-open woodland with clearings has some fine high tree
plots. Here we sighted the bird that we heard yesterday night already, the
sound appears to be of the wings ('prrrrrt'): Blue-throated
Piping-Guan*, high in the trees. At 7 we were again in the forest
reserve and went straight on to the northern half. Driving the smooth
asfalt road (photo) at very low speed (automat!) and with open windows, we
discovered several Screaming Piha leks. We managed to see a male White-tailed
Trogon and heard three more around: also a sort of lek? Other species
were Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Olive Oropendula* (4 together
in a nesting tree), an unidentified bird of about 30 cm with broad and
short dark wings, short tail, barred underparts and red at the head (juv.
Fruitcrow?), Black-necked Aracari, Black-eared Fairy, Black-tailed
Tityra, Painted Parakeet (a group of 10 feeding), Golden-headed
Manakin, White-shouldered Tanager, Green Honeycreeper, Purple
Honeycreeper. Most of these birds did we see in little flocks feeding
on low trees with fruits on top of long thin branches with elongated
leaves hanging down.
Then
we managed to see an antbird once again: White-browed Antbird*,
its large white eye-brow being very distinctive indeed. Further species
were Turquoise Tanager, Black-headed Parrot, several Black
Nunbird, Blue Dacnis (female feeding a young), Red-throated
Caracara (3 together), but the highlight here was Grey-winged
Trumpeter*, two walking slowly across the road at 40 m from where
we were standing to eat some of our take-away breakfast.
We
went on to the (open) savanna North and saw there a family of Crested
Bobwhite, a Savanna Hawk, a pair of White-tailed Hawk,
pairs of Eared Dove, a group of Burnished-buff Tanager, Fork-tailed
Palm-Swift*, Tropical Mockingbird, Southern Rough-winged Swallow.
We drove on to Maripe to fill the gas tank and to have a look at the
bridge over the Rio Caura. At the bridge we only saw Common
Gallinule, Pied Water-Tyrant, and some herons. Back at our
cottage, longing for a shower, we had to flush a Green-tailed
Jacamar* in order to enter.
After
the late lunch we took a short nap, and went out on foot at c. 16 h with a
local, Antonio, and his little brother or nephew, to visit a sort of
lagoon SE of the village. It is a pool with some interesting vegetation
and several trees standing in the water, the water being the remainder of
the wet period. Our guide was in fact guided himself by the little boy,
apparantly Antonio had not been there for a long time. This was the first
time of the whole trip that my shoes got muddy. We were rewarded with near
sightings of Hoatzin (25, agitated of course), Muscovy Duck,
Wattled Jacana, Black-collared Hawk, Solitary Sandpiper,
Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Great Egret, White-necked Heron, Black
Nunbird, Amazonian Kingfisher.
We
walked all around the pool (about 400 m circumference), Antonio using his
machete and warning for some trees that should better not be touched. He
pointed out a huge print of a cat foot, and identified it as puma. We
thought with some fear of the supposed mammal that we heard yesterday
night nearby, along the dust road. Via the local cemetery, a round
semi-open spot in the forest of about 20 m diameter, mostly with very
basic wooden crosses, we entered the dust road again. This is at c. 0.5 km
from the village, where the road has a sandy triangular spot on the East
side. Antonio led us by some huge boulders with trees on top of them. A Crimson-crested
Woodpecker concluded this slow-birding but pleasant walk at c. 17.45
h.
This
night we heard a Great Tinamou somewhere in the surroundings of the
lodge. Today we went on a pre-breakfast tour again, this time by car, in
order to bird a bit further from the village, esp. near the site where we
had seen the piping-guan yesterday. This is the last 0.5 km or so S of the
junction to Jabillal, with more wood than closer to the village. A Long-tailed
Hermit was hovering at the base of a long flower (do they sip from the
outside?). Little Chachalaca did we see now too. After a Long-tailed
Tyrant we heard the strange wing rattling of the Blue-throated
Piping-Guan again. They appear to do this with wings stretched (in
flight), so probably with the primaries against each other. We saw them
flying to and fro like this several times.
Further
species at this site were Black-spotted Barbet, 1 Green-tailed
Jacamar near 3 Brown Jacamar*, Black Nunbird
again, Coraya Wren heard and a glimpse seen, a Capuchin monkey, Yellow-headed
Parrot talking like children, Violaceous Jay, Blue-headed Parrot, 7
Red&Green Macaws crossing the road very nearby, Painted
Parakeet, Black-necked Aracari, Red-billed Toucan, a group of 8 Purple-throated
Fruitcrow quietly hopping around in a tree, Channel-billed Toucan,
and at c. 60 m from the junction to Jabillal, leks of Golden-headed
Manakin and Screaming Piha.
After
the last breakfast at the lodge, we said goodbye, and got the take-away
lunch we had asked for. At 9.50 h we were in the primary forest again.
After a White-crowned Manakin and two King Vulture we got a
flat tyre, but were astonished ourselves how quickly we had changed it.
Nevertheless, we should have the spare tyre repaired before returning all
the way to Ciudad Bolivar. But first we met the two birders indeed. We saw
a flock containing at least Flame-crested Tanager*, Golden-spangled
Piculet, and a Veniliornis woodpecker. Where the forest ends, at the
Rio Urbani, N shore, we searched some time for a last new manakin for us,
and found them also: White-bearded Manakin*. Manakins are
hard to disturb, they will easily come back to their lek, so you can see
them from very near.
We
set off towards C. Bolivar again. On the outward journey we had seen a
nice elongated Moriche palm forest along an old brook, and found it again
after some 10 km on the main road. Here flew several Fork-tailed
Palm-Swift around, and we discovered in the shimmering midday heat a Russet-throated
Puffbird* in one of the small trees of the very open orchard
besides the palms. A large parakeet-like bird flew across our heads, with
a sound different from the ordinary parakeets (Brown-throated), and with a
rather rolling flight. This might have been Red-shouldered Macaw, typical
for these palms.
At
a village some 10 km further East we had the tyre repaired, and took a
lemonita at the stall named after the tyre workshop. We gave the two tyre
man pepsi's as well, also because we had asked them if they could help us
straight away. We didn't have so much spare time, but couldn't take the
risk of another flat tyre without having a spare tyre.
At
17 h we arrived at the airport of C. Bolivar. It now appeared that after
buying the flight ticket we should have made a real reservation too. This
notwithstanding the fact that on our tickets the date and time of the
flight had already been filled in, even with the mark 'OK'. Now we were on
the long waiting list, because the plane was fully booked (Friday night
frenzy). In the end, all was really OK because only after the arrival of
the plane they knew precisely how many seats were still left (the plane
came from P. Ordaz).
At
Caracas national airport (with half an hour delay) there appeared to be
still an ALM flight to Curacao later that night. So we changed our tickets
to that flight, in stead of Saturday morning. Thus we had a sudden end of
a marvellous trip.
Back
to the top_of_the_report of this part. Or
to part 1: verp95p1.html.
Species
list
(Names
as in the field guide of Venezuela. Ordering too, following the colour
plates generally.) ED = El Dorado lowlands (forests) up to km
92 Great Tinamou IF, RC Least Grebe UP Capped Heron RC Black-bellied Whistling-Duck UP Osprey RC Lesser Nighthawk SC Grey-winged Trumpeter CF Pied Lapwing RC Large-billed Tern UPRC Pale-vented Pigeon ED Scarlet Macaw UP Striped Cuckoo UP White-collared Swift ES Brown Violet-ear ES White-tailed Trogon ED, IF, CF Blue-crowned Motmot RC Amazon Kingfisher IF, RC Pied Puffbird IF Black-necked Aracari ED, IF, RC, CF Golden-olive Woodpecker ES Olivaceous Woodcreeper ED, IF, CF Pale-breasted Spinetail ES Black-crested Antshrike UP Red-banded Fruiteater ES Golden-headed Manakin ED, RC, CF Tropical Kingbird ED, GS Gray-breasted Martin IF Violaceous Jay RC, CF Coraya Wren ES, RC Tropical Mockingbird GS, UP, SC Black-hooded Thrush ES Long-billed Gnatwren RC Green Honeycreeper ED, ES, CF Paradise Tanager ES Green Oropendula IF, CF Slate-coloured Grosbeak ED
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Thursday
9 March 1995