Venezuelan Llanos New Year Dec 27, 2010—Jan 04, 2011
Posted by Jeri Langham
Jeri Langham
Jeri M. Langham has a Ph.D. in plant ecology from Washington State University, and after 38 years as a professor of biological sciences at California State University ...Related Trips
I was leading my Australia tour in mid-November when I received a shocking email from David Ascanio, my Hato Piñero New Year tour co-leader, who said that Hato Piñero would not be available to us in December! For the past 23 years I had led a tour to that 200,000-acre ranch, which was a world-class example of how cattle ranching and conservation can go hand in hand. No hunting had been permitted for over 65 years; thus, there were lots of animals to see on night drives, and some of the larger birds like Yellow-knobbed Curassows, that make good eating, were easily seen. It was one of my favorite tours. With a little over a month to spare, we had to find a new location and hope the 11 participants signed up would stay with us.
David worked hard trying to find someplace for us during a time of year when most Venezuelans are on holiday, and finding a nice place with enough rooms for all of us would be very difficult. But David is a miracle-worker. Having never been to Hato Araguaney (an hour SE out of Barinas) and its Posada Doña Bárbara, he was able to book us in for the same days we would have been at Hato Piñero. A friend had told him that the meals and accommodations were very good, there was some decent forest to bird in this "high" Llanos grasslands cattle ranch, and they even had safari trucks we could use for birding the dirt roads. To be safe, David also made sure we would have an air-conditioned bus at all times in case we needed it. We did indeed use it for the one long day he arranged for us at Hato El Cedral in the "low" Llanos and where we took their morning boat trip into the wetlands and mangroves. All agreed it was well worth the driving time.
David and I learned that the three men who purchased Hato Araguaney about five years ago have since added four other ranches to what they now call Rancho Canagua. We spent most of our birding time on Hato Araguaney, but spent nearly two days birding Fundo Matapalos—which is only 7 miles farther down the main road, and a half-day on Fundo Santa Marta—which is only 2 miles up the main road toward Barinas. We were told about the other two ranches that are farther away, and David will scout the one that has more forest before we return in December 2011. David and I have decided to name our new tour, Venezuelan Llanos New Year. This report is designed to let you learn about the great adventure you will have if you join us December 27, 2011–January 4, 2012.
On every tour I lead, I write a daily journal describing each day and mail it to the participants after the tour is over. Here are a few passages from that journal to help whet your whistle for this exciting new tour.
"It was difficult to keep ourselves from stopping for birds we had not yet seen, but we did stop for the best bird of the day: scope views of Pearl Kite and also two views of Aplomado Falcon. As we continued on to Hato Araguaney, you had your first looks at very old saman trees (Samanea saman), a mushroom-shaped species that is representative of the Venezuelan Llanos and has spread to other Neotropical areas.
We took our first ride in the safari truck this afternoon. Before leaving, we saw some birds in the big flowering saman tree in the courtyard, with the best being Bicolored Wren, the largest wren in Venezuela. The truck moved slower than any I have been on in my 23 previous Llanos tours because we kept finding one new bird after the other. Several of these I have not seen at Hato Piñero in over a decade; Oriole Blackbird was one of them, but we also hit it big with Plain-breasted Ground-Dove (always a tough one) and Spot-breasted Woodpecker, Masked Cardinal, and Pale-breasted and Yellow-chinned spinetails. You had great looks at capybaras (the largest rodent in the world) with a few young ones smaller than rabbits, a "tame" tapir that kept following us, dozens of spectacled caimans, and a number of great raptors like Savanna, Black-collared, and Crane hawks. We had good luck with shorebirds, seeing Southern Lapwing (dozens), Solitary and Spotted sandpipers, and Lesser Yellowlegs. On the way back we tried spotlighting, seeing Nacunda Nighthawk and Double-striped Thick-Knees and hearing two distant Laughing Falcons.
Our first drive through the forest and marsh/swamp areas was fairly productive, giving us superb looks at perched and flying Plumbeous Kites, Hoatzins (the punk rocker of the bird world, or "flying cow"), Capped Heron, a duetting Black-capped Donacobius pair, a Russet-throated Puffbird, and some skulky birds like White-fringed Antwren.
The bird life began to increase dramatically after crossing the Apure River on our air-conditioned bus drive to Hato El Cedral, leaving behind the state of Barinas and entering the state of Apure and the lower Llanos. When this road was made, huge amounts of soil were removed from "borrow" pits on both sides of the road, and these are the last areas in the Llanos to dry up. Even now, some of them were magnets for huge concentrations of whistling-ducks, egrets, herons, etc.
As we got on the safari truck for the drive to the boat, several Orange-fronted Yellow-Finches arrived at the feeder, joining the striking Masked Cardinals. The boat we used was identical to the one I used at Hato Piñero and thus we all fit in it. As we cruised down the 7 kilometers to the "forest," we saw familiar birds and added a Gull-billed Tern and juvenile Purple Gallinule. For me, the two hours were magical, as we picked up five species of kingfishers, Sunbittern, THREE Agami Herons (something I thought we would miss), Lesser Kiskadee, Greater Ani, and my lifer Amazonian Black-Tyrant. Cindy had mentioned that on every bird tour she has taken the leader got a lifer…I was happy to continue her streak! It was magical the way Victor guided that boat up the little channel in the mangrove forest by pushing along with a long pole. The Wire-tailed Manakin answered, but did not come in close enough to be seen. I should also mention the "show" that Victor put on by throwing fresh meat into the air to have it plucked out of mid-air by a Great Black-Hawk.
On the drive back from Hato El Cedral, we had excellent views of Maguari Stork, Black-bellied and White-faced whistling-ducks, Pied Lapwing, a dark-phase White-tailed Hawk, and Yellow-billed and Large-billed terns, but only a few glimpsed the Scarlet Macaw.
At Fundo Matapalos we had excellent looks at Pale-tipped Tyrannulet, Aplomado Falcon, up to five King Vultures, and Black-crested and Barred antshrikes, but the prize has to be the Grassland Yellow-Finch flock that David taped and photographed.
Among the wonderful species we saw at the forest edge were Large-billed Seed-Finch (a species in deep trouble because it is trapped for its ability to sing beautifully), Little Cuckoo, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird, Jet Antbird, Black-headed Tityra, and others. On the way to Puerto Alegre on the Araguaney River we added Bicolored Hawk and Great Black-Hawk. At the river we enjoyed our fresh, mixed-fruit snack, watched some people catch piranhas, and saw both greater and lesser fishing-bats. As we started spotlighting back, a Spectacled Owl flew by and landed where we could all see it. Minutes later, we had a King Vulture perched high in a royal palm tree. We would end the night with five Great Potoos, and great views of a Black-and-white Owl and many Pauraques, but only heard the shy Tropical Screech-Owl. On the drive through the grasslands, a Burrowing Owl cooperated.
On our last full day of birding on Hato Araguaney, I had planned to try the disked firebreak that ran between the pastures and the forest, but while listening to the dawn chorus and waiting for the Gray-necked Wood-Rail to emerge again, we heard the distinctive sounds of toucans in the distance. David immediately identified them as White-throated Toucans (the Amazonian race) and he jumped off the truck to record the sounds since we could not see any of them on any of the treetops. We had been told that toucans lived here in this Llanos secondary forest, but were not sure until we heard them and later saw some fly across the road ahead of us. Continuing, we started picking up new birds right away with David being most excited about a race of Dusky Antbird that he thought might have been extirpated from this part of the Llanos. A little farther along, we were all able to see Red-billed Scythebill and two Bat Falcons, along with great views of many other species we had seen previously.
David Ascanio and I hope you will join us December 27, 2011–January 4, 2012 when we return to these two magical locations in the Venezuelan Llanos.