Summer Eastern Venezuela Jun 19—28, 2006
Posted by David Ascanio
David Ascanio
David Ascanio, a Venezuelan birder and naturalist, has spent the last 25 years guiding birding tours throughout his native country, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Guyana,&n...Related Trips
The tabletop mountains of the Guayanan Shield in southern Venezuela, northern Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname are a large number of precambric hills associated geographically with vertical walls, amazing waterfalls, and hosts of high endemism, both in flora and fauna. These mountains were given the name "tepui" based on the Pemón Amerindian language, referring to hills. The first tepui ever to be scientifically explored was Roraima, almost 165 years ago, by the Schomburgk brothers. They brought back so many interesting specimens that the perception of this area as one of the greatest places on earth remains unchanged.
Just name any of the famed ornithologists of the Neotropics and, undoubtedly, his or her name will be associated somehow with the study of the avifauna of the tepuis: Chapman, Whitelyi, McConnell, Quelch, Tate, Phelps, Parker, Hilty, Islers. These magical geological wonders have been inspiration for both Venezuelans and foreigners, and the number of published accounts is endless.
Although their role as an inspiration to ornithologists is clear, most birders are unaware that the most important stage of Venezuelan ornithology is associated with these tepuis. This began in 1937 when the staff of the American Museum of Natural History sailed to Caracas to explore the top of a mountain not even known to exist on a map. This mountain was Auyan-tepui, and the key persons involved were William H. Phelps from Caracas, and Frank Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History. The Auyan-tepui expedition inspired, among many other expeditions, the birth of the Colección Ornitológica Phelps, and furthermore, in 1967, publication of a manuscript entitled The Origin of the Bird Fauna of the South Venezuelan Highlands. In this work, Mayrn and Phelps summarized the avifauna of several tabletop mountains and analyzed the origin of many endemic species.
Many years have passed since the inspiration of that study. At that time it was hoped that these studies would resolve many pending taxonomical problems. How wrong we were! A new era of exploration of the tepuis is giving light to pending matters. A few years ago, members of the Smithsonian Institute and other organizations reached the wall of Roraima, producing a good number of documents and describing a cryptic species, the Roraiman Antbird. Also, Steve Hilty and I have been working to clear out some pending taxonomical aspects of the avifauna of Sierra de Lema, and will be submitting soon a description of a sibling species. In the same orientation, Professor Jorge Perez of the Universidad Central de Venezuela, has already explored Guaiquinima-tepui, producing an incredible manuscript, while I have been making a series of expeditions to Roraima-tepui obtaining new information about the tepui endemic species (also named Pantepui endemics).
The above may explain why we spent so much time in Sierra de Lema. It wasn't only the fact that we had incredible views of Red-banded Fruiteater, Flutist Wren, Rose-collared Piha, Roraiman Barbtail, and Black-fronted Tyrannulet among the 24 Tepui endemic species, but it was also the enjoyment of the mystery that surrounds each of these species, from the DNA studies showing their closer counterparts in Bolivia, to recent taxonomical splits that have been suggested.
But a trip to this region of Venezuela could not focus only on Sierra de Lema. As if the tepui endemic species weren't enough, we also explored the watershed of the Cuyuni River, a major tributary of the Essequibo (another large river of South America), the extensive tropical humid forest of Rio Grande, and the recently rediscovered Orinoco Delta, where the forest, marsh, and savanna are an amazing mosaic of habitats.
In the lowlands we admired the Capuchinbird, the White-crested Spadebill, the Musician Wren, two Harpy Eagles (adult male and chick), and the Crimson Topaz. In the Orinoco, it was time for the Black-chested Tyrant, White-throated Spadebill, and a Softtail not yet described. Although numbers don't tell the whole story, they do speak to the richness. Some families were particularly numerous on this tour, including 19 species of Psittacidae (macaws, parrots, parakeets, and parrotlets), 51 species of Tyrant Flycatchers, 17 species of hummingbirds, 9 species of Cotingidae, and more than 20 species of tanagers.
On our last morning we took a boat ride into the Orinoco Delta. I was a little concerned about the weather and although I warned everyone to bring enough rain protection, the clouds turned out to be just right—overcast for most of the time and sunny sometimes, with mild rains here and there. Once we arrived at that little magic corner of the delta we birded nonstop for almost three hours. Then we moved into a marsh to end our birding tour with open country birding.
I want to thank you all for joining me on my favorite Venezuela tour. I also want to thank Carlos (our driver for the first half of the tour) for delivering an excellent job and assisting with the picnic meals. César and David were also helpful, while Javier was very kind to accompany us in Rio Grande.
As we took off from Puerto Ordaz, I looked down from the plane and there again was the majestic Orinoco, with islands still unexplored, with patches of intact forest, and probably a new bird still to be found. I hope to see you back in the Neotropics!