Grand Venezuela Part I Mar 02—10, 2009
Posted by Steve Hilty
Steve Hilty
Steve Hilty is the senior author of A Guide to the Birds of Colombia, and the recently published Birds of Venezuela, both by Princeton University Press. Other credits inclu...Related Trips
Foggy and rainy weather, as well as some spectacular birding days between (or in spite of) the weather, marked this short introduction to northern Venezuela. Our Grand Venezuela trip, now separated into two parts, visits a wide spectrum of habitats in northern and western Venezuela. Part I, the shorter of the two, visits the endemic-rich northern cordillera, coastal dry forests, mangroves, tidal lagoons, some ranchland, and the desert near Barquisimeto. This year it has been rainy across most of western South America, and Venezuela was no exception, with dense fog and some rain on the day we were to visit the Biological Station at Rancho Grande. Instead, we opted to move to lower elevations where we enjoyed a splendid day of birding in the coastal cordillera foothills and lowland cocoa plantations, areas both warmer and drier, and ones that proved extremely productive with such attractive species as Fasciated Tiger-Heron, White-necked Puffbird, White-tipped Quetzal, Lance-tailed and Wire-tailed manikins, and many thrushes and tanagers.
Intermittent rain followed us to the "dry forests" of Chichirivichi, but did not prevent us from logging Black-backed Antshrike, White-bellied Antbird, Glaucous Tanager, and other characteristic birds of the "drier" coastal forests. With clearing weather we enjoyed a spectacular morning of birding at Cerro Misión, an area of ranchland and hill forest. In addition to a record 15 species of raptors, we saw 6 species of psittacines that morning, as well as enormous Horned Screamers and tiny White-eared Conebills. Our final morning in the desert near Barquisimeto provided an opportunity to see numerous desert specialties including the Stripe-backed Wren, a large lek of Buffy Hummingbirds, and Pale-headed Jacamar.
Our trip concluded with a visit to the desert, but everyone remained for Part II, and we were pleased to have an additional member join us for our continuing travels in the Andes and the Cedral Ranch. We encountered more fog in the Andes, but still ended our trip with a combined total of more than 500 species.