VENEZUELA APRIL 10-26th 2016
Another trip, another country and only my second time to South America , although I'm not sure I would conclude this was just another trip. It was always tricky trying to find a slot in the diary when I could get the time away from work and family. I needed to find a trip that was running with spaces and dates that worked, with a decent haul of good birds and that worked for Gary as well who I would be travelling with ...and here we found it, with the promise of Harpy Eagles, Parrots, Cotingas, Hummingbirds and a good range of endemic species it was too tempting to pass this by and Venezuela was a well regarded country in birding circles although more recently had become less popular as new South American destinations were booming. So did it live up to expectations ?? - Sorry, but you will have to read on to find out.
Saturday 9th April
The trip started with the unfortunate requirement of overnighting at Charles de Galle airport in Paris in order to connect to the Air France Venezuela flight , which was no problem, we arrived late, found a Pizza to eat in the airport hotel, a few hours sleep and having checked our bags all the way through to Caracas (with a few fingers crossed) it was easy .
Sunday 10th April
In the morning we had a 10am flight to Caracas and were early enough in the vast Paris airport with loads of time to spare. Confusing departure boards and poor logistics (meaning us running around hopelessly trying our best French accents to our shortened English at grumpy airport staff... "ooou essst le gate feefty cinq") resulting in extensive queues at border control, so a brisk walk was needed to get to our gate on time. We met Eustace, our leader, at the gate and 11 hours later had arrived at Caracas airport.
We had the best part of 5 hours wait before a further short internal flight to Puerto Ordaz. We met with Joan, Jean and Isabelle and had a bite to eat at the only place available - another Pizza, surely our last before nearly 3 weeks of sampling local cuisine ? - but we did experience the local economy and hyper-inflation where Eustace had 3x 6 inch piles of Bolivars to pay for the food and a couple of beers - astonishing. Finally connecting with Jonathan and our local guide, Oscar, our merry band was all assembled for this South American adventure. On arrival at Puerto Ordaz, our comfortable minibus with driver Leo, soon transported us to the oddly named and oddly shaped Eurobuilding Hotel in Peurto Ordaz - it was actually very comfortable and we were all buoyed that this may represent the fine standard of accommodation to come !!
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| Eustace with lunch money - 4 Pizzas, 6 Beers !!! |
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| This map shows the main areas of the trip, from north of Maturin on the Paria Peninsula to the Orinoco Delta, El Palmar and South to Las Claritas and the Sierra de Lema, |
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Monday 11th April - Puerto Ordaz to Irapa
A very needed nights' sleep, waking to a fine morning. Having left the UK around 4pm Saturday it was now 36 hours later and we were yet to see a bird ! So up at 5.30am before breakfast we wandered outside the Eurobuilding pyramid and had a quick look around the grassy scrub to get our list going, first seeing
Tropical Mockingbird, Southern Roughwing Swallow, Southern Lapwing and a
Great Kiskadee . Then a distant
Little Chachalaca, Common Tody ,
Saffron Finches and
Blue-Grey Tanagers before we boarded our minibus at 6.45am for the long drive north to Irapa on the Paria Peninsula.
As we found out driving times and distances were very approximate. A few roadside stops were planned on the way, our first stop being next to the Orinoco river in some dry and dusty scrubland , wow it was hot and so early in the day. A few
Orinoco Saltators were the best bird in this area along with
Yellow Orioles, Northern White-fringed Antwren,
Southern Beardless Tyrannulet, Fuscus Flycatcher, Social Flycatcher an
Ochre-lored flatbill and
Burnish-buff Tanagers with a few
Common Ground Doves,
Eared Doves and
Bananaquits - this rather common rat-nosed beaked bird became the 'oh no not another Bananquit' by the end of the tour.
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| Common Ground Dove |
We continued north arriving at an area called Hato San Andres near Maturin. It was fairly open Savannah countryside with the occasional ranch and a few scattered forest patches. the rather dried up ponds had a scattering of
Maguari Storks, Whistling Herons, Snowy and
Great Egrets and
Yellow-headed Vulture, Northern Crested Caracara and
White-tailed Hawks were seen hunting over the fields.
The intention was to have lunch at a farmstead with private forest reserve. However the 'Hato' turned out to be firmly shut. We had already climbed the padlock gate and walked down the driveway, which was productive as we picked up
Yellow-headed Caracara, Oriole Blackbird, Bi-coloured Wren and
Stripe-breasted Wren, Eastern Meadowlark and
Alpomado Falcons, but there would definitely be no lunch for us here, so we walked a little further on the road, which went through a small patch of forest and did well with
Black-throated Antshrike, White-throated Toucan, Double-Banded Puffbird, Rufous-tailed Jacamar and
Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher a very productive site, with a few
American Kestrels on the way back to the bus.
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| White-throated Toucan |
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| Black-crested Antshrike |
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| Rufous-tailed Jacamar |
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| Double-banded Puffbird |
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| Yellow-headed Caracara |
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| Bi-coloured Wren |
A final stop around some ponds before heading back onto the highway, was also good . Several
Least Grebes with chicks,
Anhinga and a
Green Kingfisher with a
Solitary Sandpiper on the margins.
White-winged Swallows hawked over the water and
Green-rumped Parrotlets streaked over, a very vocal
Yellow-throated Spinetail was in the roadside bushes.
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| Yellow-throated Spinetail |
Lunch ended up at an al-fresco roadside stop and yes with entirely local cuisine which was - Cachapas - Best described as a sort of very fat and large Frisbee-shaped corn pancake which you fold around a large slab of local cheese (a bit like a Mozarella) . It's quite doughy and salty and you can feel your arteries hardening as you try and digest it, so it is best done with a beer - 'Solera' seemed to be the available beer choice most places we went. - After lunch we waddled back to the bus for a long drive North on the windy bumpy road that took us into the Paria pensinsula and the small town of Irapa after 14 hours of driving, where we arrived well after dark at the small hotel Maryoli - it was basic - no lights or hot water !!!! - there was a place just around the corner that was open for dinner. It was more like a house with a front room with plastic tables and chairs, but it did have ..... a Pizza oven ! - however the other option we opted for Chicken and Rice !.
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| Arriving at the hotel in Irapa |
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| The streets of Irapa...... |
Tuesday 12th April - Paria National Park
The Parai peninsula is a narrow finger of land which sticks out into the Carribean Sea and is on a parallel to Trinidad and Tobago, which can be seen from its highest points. Within the peninsula the Paria National Park has forested peaks up to 1,100m which is where we were heading, leaving the hotel in the dark at 5am our minibus headed up steep windy roads to a high as it could get at about 600m at the park entrance and then followed the trails up until we reached the ridge.
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| Looking back towards Irapa and the Carribean Sea as we climbed up to the Park entrance |
We exited the bus, when it had a bit of an overheating problem, and walked up to the park entrance having a snack for breakfast. One of the first birding sights was the slightly unexpected view a large flock of the Pterodactyl-like
Magnificent Frigatebirds, seeing the ocean-bound giants over the forest was a bit odd. Around the park entrance were
Groove-billed Toucanets,
Red-billed Scythebill and
Golden-winged Parakeets and both
Rufous-breasted Wren and
Rufous and White Wrens. Hummingbirds were represented by
Sooty-capped Hermit and a
Black-throated Mango , whilst
Blackburnian Warbler, Tropical Parula,
Green Honeycreeper added to the early activity.
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| Magnificent Frigatebirds |
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| National Park entrance |
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| The park office (empty) location for breakfast and lunch ! |
We then made our way slowly up the trail through the forest.to the ridge and beyond to Cerro Humo. As we left the Park centre a
Brown Capped Vireo and
Greenish Elaenia gave close views.
Plain Xenops and a
Cinnamon Becard were seen before we encountered a
Sucre Antpitta, which was pretty elusive but we managed good views through the undergrowth. As we worked our way ever higher through the forest a male
Golden-headed Mannakin preceded one of the local endemics a
Paria Whitestart . A
Handsome Fruiteater was high in the canopy and
Paria Brushfinch was seen before another key target the
Scissor-tailed Hummingbird. Shortly after this at the furthest point before re-tracing our steps a wonderful
White-tipped Quetzal gave good views.
On the way back to the park entrance trail, we continued to encounter new species, a
White-throated Barbtail was another target bird which skulked around in the undergrowth, then a
Grey-throated Leaftosser and surprisingly a
Black-faced Antthrush, I also saw a
Tufted Coquette in flowering bushes back at the park entrance just after lunch and we picked up
Orange-crowned Oriole,
Black-tailed Tytyra, Turquoise Tanager and
Streak-headed Woodcreeper on the way down.
Our minbus had been taken back to town for repairs so we continued to walk down the road to about 400m altitude through some areas of burning scrub and thick smoke, before being picked up by a flatbed truck for a lift back to town. In a way its nice to come to a country that is relaxed about health and safety rules, standing on the back of this truck for an hour as it hurtled down the windy bumpy road with just a rusty handrail between me and the road I was feeling like a windscreen as I was spattered with bugs . As we reached town we had to duck to avoid the low slung electricity cables across the road to ensure we weren't garrotted but arrived in one piece only to be stopped at a military checkpoint where they wanted to search all our bags !! - It obviously wasn't for contraband as Eustace found himself negotiating to keep his own sunglasses from being commandeered by the senior officer who had taken a liking to them.
Arrived back at the hotel and drove to a different place to eat in our fixed bus - a change from Pizza !! - and a great day with a lot of effort and loads of special birds seen.
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| Greenish Elaenia |
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| Golden-headed Mannakin |
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| Stripe-breasted Spinetail |
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| Paria Whitestart |
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| Paria Whitestart |
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| White-tipped Quetzal |
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| White-throated Barbtail - behind a lot of foliage. |
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| Inside the forest as we ascended |
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| Cocoa Fruits |
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| The track down after we'd left the forest. |
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| Orependela nests -The peak in the far left distance is as high as we went and where we walked down from. |
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| Out of the back of the flatbed truck as we hurtled back to town. |
Wednesday 13th - Irapa to Caripe
Irapa was merely dust in our rear-view mirror shortly after 5am and by 6.30am we we birding dry woodland along roadside in the Cano Ajes area. This was a good stop, very quickly picking up the endemic
Black-dotted Piculet, with other species in this area
Plain Thornbirds, Laughing Falcon, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Cream-coloured Woodpecker, White-throated Emerald, White-eyed Parakeet, Black-necked Aracari a distant
Crane Hawk and a bit further along the road a
Great Antshrike and
Rufous-breasted Hermit and more
Rufous-tailed Jacamars.
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| Cream-coloured Woodpecker |
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| Rufous-tailed Jacamar |
The next stop was an uplanned boat trip from Cano Ajies. After Oscar and Eustace had negotiated our boat and fee, we lodged ourselves into a fibreglas boat and were set adrift from the quay. The comedy then begun as the boat driver couldn't start the outboard motor and we drifted aimlessly down the river in the wrong direction for 10 minutes before he managed to get us going. We then had a fairly productive 3 hours on Mangrove riverine channels. I like being on boats birding, you can cover a lot of ground and often see birds well. Slightly surprising on this trip were the lack of Kingfishers and Herons but we still manaed to see some watery birds with a number of
Scarlet Ibis, a decent flock of
Blue Winged Teal we kept flushing downstream, and
Spotted Sandpipers. Raptors were well represented with
Plumbeous Kite, Common Black Hawk, Black Collared Hawk and
Grey-headed Kite Also
Lesser Kiskadee, Green Throated Mango,
Velvet-fronted Grackles .
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| Quayside at Cano Ajies |
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| This was our boat and hapless driver |
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| drifting the wrong way before we got going. |
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| Scarlet Ibis |
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| Common Black Hawk |
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| Black-collared Hawk |
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| Sooty-headed Tyrannulet |
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| I think the boats were more used to transporting Pumpkins and Squashes than a bunch of birders. |
We moved on from the river towards Caripe eventually finding another roadside lunch venue. It was starting to become clear to us the economic problems in the country with many of the small shops and cafe's we saw had empty shelves we had a decent lunch but two attempts to find food had failed as the places did not have anything to sell. However, we did not go hungry and we carried on the journey towards Caripe stopping about an hour away along the road in another dry forested area for a short road walk with
Sooty-headed Tyrannulet, Red-billed Parrot, Eastern Wood Pewee, Chestnut Crowned Becard and a calling
Ornate Hawk Eagle which seemed impossibly hidden high up on a hillside somewhere but was eventually well seen in flight.
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| Ornate Hawk Eagle |
Caripe is a medium sized town in a valley around just under 1000m around which they grow quite a bit of Coffee (The coffee in Venezuela was actually very good - always in expresso shots). We arrived around 6pm and went straight to a Cave system called Cueva de los Guacharos near Sabana de la Piedra. Much of this part of the world was discovered to the west by the famous explorer Alexander Von Humbolt and that included this cave system. Cave systems around the world are known for dusk spectacles , typically bats or Swiftlets, but here however it is even more Scooby Doo-like as these caves are inhabited by Oilbirds. These cave-dwelling, fruit-eating birds are nearly the size of a Buzzard and make the most extraordinary noises. As we stood outside the cave entrance as dusk fell the grunts and groans and Donald Duck style chattering rose to a crescendo before the
Oilbirds started to fly out of the caves until there was a constant stream of birds for around 30 minutes as light faded - we have no idea how many but we must have seen more than 5,000.
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| The area around the caves |
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| The cave entrance |
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| Statue of the explorer Alexander von Humbolt. |
After the spectacle we made our way to the Hotel Saman in Caripe, the hotel was ok (by lowering standards we were getting used to ) and once Gary and I had flushed the Cockroaches out of the room it was ok and we actually had hot water for a shower - which others didn't. A walk up the street for another Pizza and then a few hours sleep.
Thursday 14th April - Chaos around Caripe
Todays plan revolved around spending a whole day climbing up to the peaks Cerro Turumiqueiere, it was crucial while we were in this area to try and see the very localised Grey headed Warbler and catch up with the Venezuelan Sylph and White-tailed Sabrewing, there were chances of other birds as well which would not have many opportunities for, but some of these birds only occurred at certain altitudes.
We left our hotel in the minibus and headed to a small hillside town of San Antonio. The plan being for Oscar and Eustace to commandeer a couple of 4x4's to transport us up the mountain, whilst we remained in the minibus and had some breakfast. After 45 minutes the conclusion was that the available 4x4's in town had a mixture of engine problems, tyre problems or lack of a driver. So instead we decided it might be possible for the minibus to take us far enough up the hillside to a point where either we can walk or we may find someone with a suitable vehicle... mmmm.
In another 30 minutes we had reached the last inhabitable village towards the mountain. We waited around the minibus and again Oscar and Eustace asked around for a suitable vehicle. We managed to add
Pearl Kite and
Buff-throated Saltator but the end result was still no available vehicle and it was clearly too far from the mountain ridge to attempt to walk. Having now lost a good part of the morning we decided that tomorrow would have to be a more concertated effort to mobilise our attempt to climb Cerro Turumiquiere.
Instead we headed back to the Oilbird Cave, as we got there our minibus expired !! The radiator exploded and it was clear that this would probably mean the end of this vehicle - which had been rather comfortable.
We left Oscar and Leo to worry about transport and went for our tour of the Caves before we entered we saw
Venezuelan Parakeets and
Red-fronted Parakeets on the cliff edges and a
Swallow Tanager in the cave entrance.
The smell in the cave system was less stifling than other caves I've encountered but it was still rather slippery underfoot, with our cave guide being particularly officious about the use of torches or trying to get sneaky pictures of perched Oilbirds, the further into the caves we went the noisier and more mobile the birds were - not that we could see much. The caves were great though and well worthwhile the experience.
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| Where we had breakfast - street in San Antonio |
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| near the cave entrance |
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| An Oilbird egg |
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| further in the caves |
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| The dark lump on the right is actually an Oilbird on a ledge |
We walked a small trail at the side of the cave as the previous evening we had heard a Scaled Antpitta there but no sign today, we did encounter a small number of birds and back in the car park we eyed a very clean and shiny old style Land Cruiser and after a conversation with driver it was somehow commandeered for our use, not only for the afternoon, but Rafael the driver, agreed to take us up Cerroo Turuniquiere tomorrow - what a result - but he definitely didn't know what he had let himself in for. We just about all squeezed in the car - 9 adults !
We drove up through coffee plantation slopes of Cerro Negro to about 1200m and then walked up through the forest. There had been little or no rain for several months in Venezuela and bird activity which is always quiet in the afternoons, was even more silent in the very dry forests.
We saw
Inca Jays, a small group of
Ochre-breasted Brush Finches, a
Canada Warbler, Golden-rumped Euphonia , Black headed Tanager and
Green Violeteer but it was very quiet all the way up to around 1,450m where in open country there were some
Blue and White Swallows, Rufous Collared Sparrows and a
Mountain Elaenia, the route however did not offer us the habitat we needed so we reversed our steps. Eventually we encountered a group of small birds including several
Venezualan Sylphs, White-tailed Sabrewing, Rufous shafted Woodstar, Green tailed Emerald and
White-winged Tanager, not only a relief that we'd seen some of our main targets but great views as they stayed in the area for quite a while. A few of us then tried to bash our way through the forest floor to find another route to the top but to no avail so we headed back down to our vehicle, where several
Venezualan Parakeets were in the trees and then back to our hotel where we hit a storm and a power cut !
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| Venezualan Sylph |
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| Rufous-shafted Woodstar |
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| Cerro Negro Forest |
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| The hotel Saman - rooms were on the left. |
Friday 15th April - Mountains to Rivers
So yesterday's logistical hassles resulted in a finely balanced plan for today, added to the complication we had been advised we needed to meet a boat to take us to the Orinoco Delta Lodges at 1pm, So the range of issues.
1. We had to get up to the top of Cerro Turumiqueiere and see the Grey headed Warbler, noting it took us all morning yesterday not to make it to the start of the path.
2. We had to ensure there was a new and working bus to meet us when assuming we could get up and back down the mountain.
3. It was approximately 250kms or a 4.5 hour drive to our boat meeting place - where Oscar had managed to negotiate a 3pm meet rather than 1pm for our transfer to the Orinoco Delta Lodge, which we had to get to before dark.
Nothing for it then - up at 3.30am bags packed - squash into vehicle d'Rafael by 4am for journey up - It took about an hour to get as far as we had yesterday then the track disintegrated into a very mud-rutted and steep track , despite protests and several of us bashing our heads on the roof of the vehicle, Rafael trundled along until we reached 1250m at the far edge of the coffee plantations at about 6am .
We then started our upward trek to the top.
Yellow-legged Thrushes and some more
Ochre-breasted Brush Finches were all that were on offer as the steep track continued upwards. The morning weather was kind and the scenery interesting but the birds were distinctly quiet. We headed on into a forest area just below the peak, which deteriorated into thick scrub that we pushed through to reach the antennae clearing at the very top at around 1600m when a mist unfortunately descended blocking out any views. We managed brief views of a
White-throated Barbtail and a
White-throated Tyrannulet, but birds were very quiet and thin on the ground as we started to descend, but before we emerged out of the thick forest, Eustace managed to track down a
Grey-headed Warbler, to huge relief as this endemic was our main target at this site. We were conscious of time and emerging from the forest area at around 1450m we lucked on a small bird party, with numbers of
Venezuelan Sylphs and
White-tailed Sabrewings but also
Venezuelan Flowerpiecer and
Rusty Flowerpiercer along with
Fulvous-headed Tanager. With these extra bonus birds we then increased our pace back down to the vehicle, a quick field breakfast and then around 10am squashed back into Rafael's car for the descent and to hopefully find Oscar with our new bus. Another hour later and in the pre-arranged meeting place Oscar was ready an waiting in the new and even bigger small bus - which was great.
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| Grey-headed Warbler |
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| White-tailed Sabrewing |
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| Leaving for our trek up having arrived at 1250m |
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| Thick Forest near the peak of cerro turrumiquiere |
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| The last bit of habitation |
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| Views around the peak |
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| Interesting vegetation |
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Rafael's car - fit for 9 adults !
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.. And we set off for the Delta - and just after 3pm, we had arrived at the small town that connected with the river where we were going to meet the boat.. or that's what we though until we found out this was the wrong town and the correct one was another 15kms in the other direction - No problem - we arrived at the correct town just before 4pm and the boats were still there waiting for us.
Two large fibreglass speedboats with twin 500cc outboard motors - one for us , one for the bags...they went pretty damn quick. Enough so that we had time for a couple of diversions - some birds were seen , such as
Red-bellied Macaws, Large-billed Terns, Greater Ani, Hoatzins and a roosting
Great Potoo, and some Venezuelan Red Howler Monkeys and a side diversion to see a Tarantula and be offered some local crafts.
But we arrived at the best accommodation of the trip, at the Orinoco Delta Lodge just before dusk, having ridden through some extensive areas of dense smoke on the river caused by the substantial amount of burning that occurs in the region , a real shame about the smoke devastation but what an amazing day - despite the odds we had successfully seen our target birds this morning and all the logistics worked exceptionally well in a country where we where becoming accustomed to things not working at all . We celebrated with a few rather good Caipirinhas !!
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| Red Howler Monkey |
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| Sunbittern - unfortunately this one was 'resident' at the lodge so avoided our list |
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| Gary enjoying the boat ride ! |
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| Yes well.... |
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| Tarantula |
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| Locals displaying their crafts |
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| The Delta Lodge on Arrival |
Saturday 16th April - Orinoco Delta.
So despite the cocktails the night before we were up at 4.30 am for our day out on the river - or rivers depending on what you define the Orinico Delta as. The Orinoco has probably suffered a confidence crisis for it's whole existence ,as by comparison, this is a mighty River system, but is completely overshadowed by the Amazon in neighboring Brazil. My only knowledge of the Orinico when I was much younger was probably because of the Womble called Orinoco. in the same way that Peru was known for Paddington Bear !.
But today was our day out on this huge river system, as ever, Eustace had to negotiate some itinerary changes as some areas we wanted to visit had become out of bounds to various developing security issues but I enjoy rivers and today was going to be fun.
We left the lodge pre-dawn with a lingering smokey mist over the river.
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| From the lodge at first light. |
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| Our boat - ready to go at dawn |
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| As we left (our cabins were on the left before the light) |
Hundreds of Parrots were seen heading out from their roost our only problem to start was birding through the lingering smoke - hence some of the pictures look a bit foggy.
Yellow Crowned and
Orange-winged Amazons were abundant,
Blue and Yellow Macaws were seen with both
Red-Shouldered Macaws and Red-bellied Macaws.
We had some target species for the delta which meant finding an appropriate piece of gallery forest to clamber out of the boat and wander around, which we did several times. The lack of rain had obviously had an impact on the bird activity as we failed to get much response from any of the target species but over the course of the day we still managed to pick up several good birds in the forest including
Yellow-crowned Elaenia, Crimson hooded Mannakins, Olive-breasted Flycatcher, Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird, Black-chinned and
Silvered Antbird, Grey-breasted Greenlet and
Black-necked Aracari.
Lunch was arranged on the move - we bought some fish from a fisherman who had just caught them, then our boat driver arranged with a local indigenous community to borrow their kitchen to cook the fish - we used Casabe as plates - we were told it's a local flatbread, but it is like solid cardboard. The fish was delicious, as a curteousy we bought some crafts from the locals who had let us use their homes and set off for more exploring,. The best bird of the day turned out to be a
Rufous Crab Hawk ,which was low enough in a riverside tree calling away allowing great prolonged views. We also saw
Green and Rufous, Ringed and
Amazon Kingfishers, Little Blue Heron, Bat Falcon, Sunbittern, Helmeted Pygmy Tyrant, Pied Water Tyrant and the rather large weird looking
Horned Screamer.
Aside from the birds we saw more Venezuelan Red Howler Monkeys, Cappuchin Monkeys and both Grey and Pink River Dolphins. A large flock of Scarlet Ibis flew over as we were looking for any signs of the Orinoco Spinetail (which we didn't see) along with more Large-billed Terns. We finished the afternoon in an area known for it's roosts of Parrots . We had several groups of Orange winged Amazons and a single Festive Amazon, but the number of Parrots were not as high as anticipated. We sped back to the lodge as it got dark for another evening reflecting on the great day and drinking more Caiprihinhas. Gary and I lingered outside the cabins well after dark watching Paraques hawking moths in the torchlight.
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| Hoatzin |
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| Red-bellied Macaws |
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| Black-necked Aracari |
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| Blue and Yellow Macaw |
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| Yellow-crowned Elaenia |
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| Ochre-bellied Flycatcher |
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| Vine Snake |
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Checking out places for lunch ?
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| Off the boat and into some forest. |
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| and some big trees. |
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| Maybe this is better for lunch ? |
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| This was the lunch menu |
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| This is where we had lunch - with the locals and their washing |
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| And buying some of their crafts |
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| A small channel in the mangroves |
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| Crimson Hooded Mannakin |
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| Horned Screamer |
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| Great Potoo |
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| Rufous Crab Hawk |
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| Rufous Crab Hawk |
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| Grey River Dolphin |
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| Sunbittern |
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| Another Mangrove Channel |
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| Ringed Kingfisher |
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| Blue and Yellow Macaws |
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| Capuchin Monkey |
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| Silvered Antbird |
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| The lodge cabins were fairly comfortable |
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| A sizeable bar area was good for drinking in the evening !! |
Sunday 17th April - Orinoco to El Palmar
Up early again for a couple of hours out on the river before breakfast and then to depart.
We dedicated this river time to inside the gallery forests, although ultimately the results were the same as yesterday with the birds being very quiet. The drought has been a result of El Nino which has hit the area quite hard and this must have an effect on the wildlife (despite being next to a vast river system.)
It was still great being out on the river , we did see a Rufescent Tiger Heron, Moriche Oriole , Little Hermit, Dark-billed Cuckoo. A Red-capped Cardinal was seen back at the lodge before our final speedboat trip at full throttle back to the bus.
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| A smoky early morning over the river. |
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| Ready to head out .. after a quick cuppa |
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| The area has stunning scenery and no tourists. |
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| Anhinga |
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| Rufescant Tiger Heron |
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| ..and a bit closer |
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| Little Hermit |
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| Red capped Cardinal |
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| Coconut as an early morning snack |
We then continued our journey to El Palmar. A stop had been scheduled at Parque Cachamay, but as we become accustomed by now, planned events would normally require another plan. Parque Cachamay was a managed public parkland just outside Puerto Ordaz, but it had a large river with natural set of cascading rapids which amongst other things hosted a small number of Black-collared Swallows. The bus pulled off the road towards the gate of this public park only to find it padlocked. However there was a security guard the other side of the gate, so we sat in the bus and watched Oscar and Eustace negotiate with the Security guard through the gates , we could sort of tell the conversation was not swinging in our favour and the guard was not rushing to unlock the gate and was pointing and shaking his head a lot. So the anticipated answer was 'No - we could not go in the park' but the reason was unexpected as apparently a Puma had escaped from a local zoo and was waiting somewhere behind a tree to devour tourists, so they had shut the park.
We drove a mile or so down the road until we saw a large hole in the park's chain link fence, pulled over the bus, and we all piled through the fence and walked a short distance to overlook the river , and yes we managed to see Black-collared Swallows along with Cocoi Herons, Capped Herons, Snowy and Great White Egrets , Neotropical Cormorants and Anhingas. We then briskly went back through the same hole (no doubt the same one as the Puma had used) and were back on our way eventually arriving in El Palmar and our accommodation at the Parador Taguapire - a small hostel , with home cooked food, basic rooms with cold shower, but importantly cold beer.
Tomorrow was an important day in the itinerary, and our guides for tomorrow joined us in the evening arriving in the 4x4's we would swap to for the next couple of days.
Monday 18th April - El Palmar ' Harpy Day'
One of the main attractions for me of the whole Venezuela trip was the possibility of seeing a Harpy Eagle. An iconic bird, that as a child was encountered in pictures through books of birds of the world and occasionally sensationalised as the Monkey-eating Eagle in TV documentaries, but nonetheless a bird that, despite its' size and reputation as the most powerful eagle in the world, it is known to be elusive and difficult to find.
An early departure, we divided ourselves between the 2 vehicles - we had 2 local drivers plus Javier, AKA 'Harpy Man'. Javier was obviously a very reliable and a pleasant man.
Our route out of town then went through local farmland and cattle ranches switching from tarmac to sandy tracks , as the light was rising. Gary, Isabelle and I were in the front vehicle and it became too much of a temptation to stop the convoy when we saw an interesting bird, this became conspicuous with the Burrowing Owls that were very visible, very cute and, what we didn't realise at first, quite abundant . We also flushed several Crested Bobwhites, and saw Green Aracari's. the sandy tracks progressed and the farmland gradually changed to areas with more trees, before the vehicles eventually stopped arriving in an area of scattered forest.
We had just about sorted ourselves for what was assumed to be a long trek before Javier pointed to a large bird about 400m away -- A Harpy Eagle !!!
After setting up scopes and soaking in this bird it then flew towards us. We spent at least the next hour having amazing views of this incredible bird, with it occasionally moving tree allowing for ever improving views. Javier, rightly has his reputation as Harpy Man, as he has worked for years trying to encourage the local landowners and even logging corporations to preserve areas favoured by the eagles and also local Macaws and Parrots, which in Venezuela is a challenging role.
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| Burrowing Owl at dawn |
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| Burrowing Owl - yes they are cute ! |
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| Harpy Eagle |
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| Glad I'm not a Monkey |
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| Very top of the food chain - Harpy Eagle |
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| Logistics Team (L-R) - Oscar, Driver 1, Javier (Harpy Man), Driver 2 |
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| The Harpy Eagle is actually in the tree behind Gary and I. |
So what an excellent start to the day . The plan from here was to drive all the way into the Rio Grande area to explore the Dry 'Guiyanan' rainforest .
We headed in this direction, crossed a small river and went through a gate where there was an abandoned logging concession and entered the track through the main forested area only to find that the landscaped had changed - literally.
The area is thousands of hectares of Primary Rainforest, there were obviously agreed concessions given by the government to logging companies, which doesn't sound great but at least had some control with careful management for a number of years. With the recent upheaval in the country the logging companies had abandoned the area and instead the whole area had been very recently claimed by illegal miners. the result was that about 4kms into our journey our drivers and Javier decided that this was too dangerous for us to continue after we had driven through several hectares of newly burnt and razed to the ground tracts of forest, these miners burn vast areas, strip the topsoil then mine for gold, are usually armed and will not ask questions if strangers turn up near their claimed plot. So we had to completely abandon our attempt to bird this vast area.
We retreated to a picnic area next to the small river we had crossed, well outside the forested reserve, had some lunch and tried to gather our thoughts on what we were starting to feel about the problems in Venezuela that were not only impacting the poor locals but were significantly making us vary our plans on a regular basis.
We loitered around the river and had decided to go for a walk when the call of a Rufous-winged Ground Cuckoo came from the other side of the river - a rare and special bird . All thoughts suddenly became focused and we trekked across to the other side of the river and spent a couple of hours trying to locate this bird but ultimately without any luck with the whirring of chainsaws growing ever louder and without seeing much at all other than
Golden-sided Euphonia, Greyish Mourner and
Yellow-throated Flycatcher.
Eventually we drove back to the Harpy site for a late evening walk, The Harpy had gone and we managed to see a
Grey-headed Kite.
We returned to our hostelry amidst Thunder and lightening reflecting on a game of two halves - The elation of the Harpy experience followed by the slightly threatening and depressing evacuation from our target forest and a fairly bird-free afternoon.
Tuesday 19th April - El Palmar
Time to forget yesterday afternoon and focus on today's itinerary. With our 4x4's we headed to a preserved area known as Hacienda Rafael, so leaving the accommodation at 4.30am we arrived around 6am, a couple of farmland ponds had
Capped Herons and
Whistling Herons and a
Black Nunbird was in roadside bushes. The day was going to be dry and hot - but we had to wear wellies as a precaution against chiggers (burrowing mites that live in long grass). The trail was a wide track through partially cleared forest, about 4kms down the track was a small farmstead (Hacienda Rafael).
We spent the morning slowly making progress down this track , picking up lots of new species. We had started with
Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch then a fruiting tree with
Black-headed Parrotlet, Keika Parrot and a flock of very attractive
Lilac-tailed Parakeets,
Green and Red Macaws flew over and both
Swallow-tailed Kite and
Greater Yellow-headed Vultures swooped overhead. A
Guinean Puffbird seemed a bonus and entering a cleared area numbers of
Band-rumped, Grey Rumped and Short-tailed Swifts were swooping low over the clearing and
Crimson Crowned Woodpekcker, Red-Necked Woodpecker, Yellow Tufted Woodpecker, Red-throated Caracara, Paradise Jacamar. Blue headed parrot, Yellow-crowned Parrot, Red-fanned Parrot, were all added in this area. Further down the track
Double toothed Kite, Grey lined Kite and Crane Hawk were seen soaring.
We reached the small farmstead and headed into the forest around some trails, again a different type of forest which allowed for additional species, we soon encountered a bird flock which included
Cinereous and Dusky-throated Antshrikes along with
Grey, Long-winged and Brown-bellied Antwrens, Olivaceous Flatbill a
Black-throated Antshrike, Rufous bellied Antwrens and the stunning looking
Ferruginous-backed Antbird, and just on the forest edge a
Barred Antshrike. We had some lunch back at the Farmstead where we managed to find a
Rose-breasted Chat and a
Brown-Crested Flycatcher.
We then trailed into a different part of the forest with Javier, where a giant tree had hosted a Harpy Eagle nest. The Eagles were nowhere to be seen , but we found some
Purple-throated Fruitcrows whilst waiting. We departed the farmstead and made our way back on the track, firstly finding
Golden-spangled Piculet. A
Spangled Cotinga was well picked out on a distant tree and we added
Painted Parakeets and
Southern Mealy Amazon to the growing list of Parrots.
Our rather tired and hot feet were eventually extracted from the Wellies having covered around 12kms in 30c heat over 10hours. We drove back to our accommodation and helped Jean celebrate a birthday of a rather round number with a large home-made cake - and some beer !.
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| Capped Heron |
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| Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch |
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| One of our vehciles |
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| These tree fruits were edible and the coating of the seed pods quite tasty |
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| At Hacienda Rafael |
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| We were made fresh coffee in the kitchen |
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| Not a wild one... |
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| Greeted by the residents |
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| An emerging Cicada |
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| Purple-throated Fruitcrow |
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| Golden-spangled Piculet |
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| There had been a Harpy Eagle nest in this tree although the birds were not present |
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| We spent a lot of the day walking this track |
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| Swallow-tailed Kite |
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| Brown-crested Flycatcher |
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| Rose-breasted Chat |
Wednesday 20th April - El Palmar to Las Claritas
Another road trip as we headed South towards Las Claritas. We were a little restricted to the areas we could visit as several potentially good forest areas were now considered too dangerous as they were overrun with miners.
The first road was just known as 'the old south road' , it had less traffic and was in a bit of a state of disrepair but our first stop was worthwhile quickly finding a White-bellied Piculet, Scrub Greenlets, Northern White-fringed Antwrens and Versicoloured Emerald. We stopped a few more times and found Scaled Pigeon, Venezuelan Troupial, more Howler Monkeys and Venezuelan Flycatcher.
The anticipated roadside ponds had all but dried up so we were restricted to a distant look at a couple which had little other than Purple and Common Gallinules, Southern Lapwings, although the roadside bushes were far more productive with Pale-breasted Spinetail, Mouse-coloured Tyrannulet, Northern Scrub Flycatcher, Pale-eyed Pygmy Tyrant, Rusty-Margined Flycatcher, White-headed Marsh Tyrant and Chestnut-vented Conebill.
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| White-bellied Piculet |
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| Venezuelan Flycatcher |
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| Red Howler Monkey |
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| roadside pools had all but dried up. |
Around lunchtime we stopped at the Caroni River. Even though the temperature here was 40c we had a quick walk over the bridge, finding a group of Brown Jacamars. We continued on to Las Claristas arriving mid-afternoon, which was to be our base for the next 3 nights.
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| Brown Jacamars |
Las Claritas was like the Wild West. Rather oddly, unlike the rest of Venezuela, the shops were piled high with goods, the streets were packed with people, rubbish, very brown water and vehicles of every size and shape possible. There is obviously a high degree of lawlessness in the town as the inhabitants are left to do whatever they wish. The base here used to be a birder-friendly family run hotel which had bird feeders in the garden, this has since closed and we eventually arrived at the Hotel El-Pilonero, through the impossible town traffic, behind high walls and barbed wire. It looked run down, but the rooms were fine and we had hot water which was a bonus.
We had a late afternoon excursion up to the Escalera, which is where we would be spending much of the next few days. There was a military checkpoint at the top (or Alcabara) which became a landmark for our excursions either side of this. We were only there for the last hour of acceptable light and before it started raining and didn't see much but it gave us a headstart on the next morning knowing where to look . As with all the hotels, none of them provide any food, so we had to walk out of the premises and across the road to a café - the 'Cafetin Las 2 Princesas' . The locals were on the veranda playing poker and we were inside on the plastic tables. meat or Fish was served and the food was ok, washed down with a beer and bottle of Rum !. With all of this you have to laugh - and we did.
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| Las Claritas |
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| Traffic Jams through the town were a nightmare |
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| this was our hotel the El Pilonero |
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| This is where we had dinner and Rum each night ! |
Thursday 21st April - Las Escalera - Gran Sabana
We left the hotel at 5am, back up to the Alcabara. There was a misty drizzle so the early light was very poor.
Despite the mist we had soon found a number of
Tepui Brush Finches, Golden-tufted Mountain Grackles and Olive-backed Tanagers. A
Rose-collared Piha was a good sighting early on, unfortunately slightly shrouded in mist. We walked towards and through the checkpoint seeing
Tepui Whitestart Tepui Elaenia and
Fork-tailed Woodnymph and
Blue-chinned Saphire, After a fine breakfast we heard and saw the incredible far-reaching sound of the
White Bellbird and then worked our way further along the road seeing
Flutist Wren, Tepui Spinetail, Roraiman Antwren, Roraiman Antbird a Red-banded Fruiteater, McConnells Spinetail, Our lunch stop was also a good place for
Bearded Bellbirds who also had an incredible and mesmerising almost mechanical, electronic song that carried far. We saw a
Tepui Antpitta after a little patience with a
Roraiman Barbtail appearing as we were gazing toward the forest floor at the Antpitta. .
White-crowned, Orange bellied and Scarlet Horned Mannakins were found almost together in a Mannakin Lek. Later in the day we drove high onto the Gran Sabana as far as the Soldiers Monument at 1430m . Fantastic views over the Tepuis could be seen from this point stretching far into the distance.
It was quite late when we headed back towards Las Claritas, with one stop to try for an Owl and within minutes of leaving the bus we had a
Roraiman Screech Owl in the torchlight. Not often that happens. The heavens opened as we went back to the hotel before exposing ourselves to the grim streets of Las Claritas as we went out for our dinner / rum routine and the local cafetin.
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| Tepui Brush Finch |
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| Tepui Whitestart |
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| Spotted Tanager |
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| Bearded Bellbird,, |
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| Roraiman Antbird |
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| McConnels Spinetail |
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| Scarlet-horned Mannakin |
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| Gran Sabana and Tepui landscape |
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| Red-banded Fruiteater |
Friday 22nd - Las Claritas - Escalera
The next morning and a repeat of the routine of the previous day, up early to the Alcabara then a walk down the road. The weather since we had arrived in the area was a stark contrast to the first week, much cooler a lot of cloud, drizzle and exceptionally heavy downpours of rain, it didn't really change our itinerary and actually a bit of rain probably livened up the bird activity.
A calling Tepui Tinamou had been heard and Eustace had decided to try a locate this bird. Tinamou's are very shy Bantam sized birds of the forest understorey, sometimes heard , rarely seen and the
Tepui Tinamou is endemic to this area. We positioned ourselves inside the forest canopy overlooking a small vegetated gully. We managed some good views as eventually the Tinamou was curious enough to come within a few feet of where we were standing to investigate.
As we exited the forest onto the road a male
Guinean Cock-of-the Rock shot past like a fireball, but alas only a brief glimpse. A
Rufous-breasted Sabrewing, Velvet Fronted Brilliants and the extraordinary tongue-rattling sound of the
Greater Flowerpiercer, plus
Tepui Foliage-Gleaner, Tepui Spinetail, Roraiman Antwren . A
Streak-backed Antshrike was eventually lured into view and good views of a
Ruddy-Tody Flycatcher before breakfast, which again was exceptional for a roadside forest venue in strife-ridden Venezuela.
A further wander down the road in Bellbird country with better views of
Rose-collared Piha , but there was a bit of a lull in activity so we headed back to the Soldiers Monument, the hope being to try and find the Tepui Goldenthroat, no sign of that and we failed to lure into view a calling Russet Crowned Crake but did pick up a
Pearly-Vented Tody Tyrant and closer views of Tepui Swifts.. Lunch was taken by the roadside in an open vista old quarry where there were a pair of
Cliff Flycatchers and some flowering bushes with
Brown Violetears in attendence. A walk from lunch down the road produced no more than a glimpse of
Tepui Flycatcher, We then tried a waterfall area for Cock-of the Rock but nothing was present. We had added through the day
Tepui Vireo, Short-tailed Antthrush, Fiery Shouldered Parakeet, however the heavens opened earlier today around 4.30pm which stopped us trying any further so we headed back to Las Claritas, The torrential downpour stopped in the evening for us to once again complete the dinner and rum routine.
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| Tepui Tinamou |
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| Close but hidden |
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| Greater Flowerpiercer |
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| Velvedt-fronted Brilliant |
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| Rufous-breasted Sabrewing |
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| Ruddy Tody Flycatcher |
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| Rose-Collared Piha |
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| A caterpillar that looks like it could do some damage if touched |
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| A Spider Orchid - Orchids were everywhere |
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| Pearly-vented Tody Tyrant |
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| Roadside gathering |
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| Escalera Views |
Saturday April 23rd - Las Claritas - Escalera
A similar morning start to previous days, heading up to the lower slopes of the Escalera where we ended the previous day when the rain hit. The morning was successful when we encountered a substantial bird flock. Rainforest bird flocks iin the tropics can be exceptional encounters, but also massively frustrating experiences as there can be 40 + species of birds ranging from ground level to high canopy moving through an area very quickly so that seeing and identifying different species before they have vanished can be a challenge, however with the flock we encountered this morning we managed exceptionally well to get onto the birds and see them well enough ,the flock seem to linger in an area where we could get decent views which was also helpful.
There is normally a flock leader - a bird species that the other birds follow, in this instance it was probably the
Fulvous Shrike Tanager. Amongst the species we managed to see were
Roraiman Warbler, Golden-collared and Golden- Olive Woodpeckers, Wedge-billed, Chestnut-rumped and Buff-throated Woodcreepers, Grey, White-flanked, Roraiman and Ash-winged Antwrens, Plain Antvireo, Guinean Warbling Antbird, Sharpbill, Yellow-Olive Flatbill, Zimmers Flatbill, Eastern Woodhaunter, White-Wingerd Becard, Slaty-capped Shrike Vireo, Seppia-capped Flycatcher, Coraya Wren, many Tanagers, Honeycreepers, Tyrannulets and Greenlets.
This was a good haul, we probably missed some but a tremendous experience. We later encountered a good flowering tree and managed to see a
Peacock Coquette and
Grey-breated Sabrewing. Then after a spot of lunch we headed the other side of Las Claritas to try and find access to a protected lowland forest area that Eustace had vague directions for.
We eventually found a township called Araima, parked up our bus and wandered across some farmland and an electricity pylon clearing to access a forest, which was rather hot and dry. We only had a short time here in the afternoon but managed to add
Green-tailed Jacamar, Cayenne Jay, Blue-headed Parrot, Black-throated Antbird, Yellow-Tufted, Golden-collared, Crimson Crested and Linneated Woodpeckers.
A return to a final Las Claritas dinner and a last bottle of Rum.
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| Peacock Coquette |
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| Peacock Coquette |
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| Always fairly distant but the noise was far-reaching - White Bellbird |
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| Another roadside lunch |
Sunday 24th April - Araima, to Gran Sabana
We returned early to Araima, knowing we had to check out of Las Claritas around 11am. There were many potential species to find in this lowland forest and maybe a hope of the Capuchinbirds. We were in the forest shortly after sunrise and one of the first birds we saw was a
Black-faced Hawk. A
Tiny Tyrant Mannakin was seen close and
White-flanked and
Long-winged Antwrens and
Spot-backed and Scale-backed Antbirds . We had prolonged views of
Yellow-billed and
Great Jacamars and a
Guinean Trogon flew and perched very close before vanishing just as quickly.
Greyish Mourner and Guinean Schiffornis were seen well along with a pair of
Long-tailed Hermits. We had no sight or sound of potential Capuchinbirds and by the time we were heading out of the forest around 10am a silence had already descended,
We checked out of the hotel and headed up onto the Escelera stopping once more on the lower slopes. A
Spix's Guan was flushed from the roadside and when we stopped we encountered a
Guinean Cock-of-the-Rock lek with couple of fine males and a young bird present. After hearing a feint call we spent a considerable time trying to find a
Tepui Toucanet which eventually reveled itself and a close
Masked Trogon by the roadside.
In the afternoon we headed up onto the Gran Sabana for a change of scenery. In the rolling grasslands were boggy patches which were know to host Giant Snipe. Nothing for it but to enter the bog on foot to try and flush the snipe !!.
The bogs were deeper in places than you thought and were pretty difficult to wade through without losing a wellie boot. We managed to flush
2 South American Snipe from the first bog we tried but had very little else to show for our efforts.
Our last accommodation was unfortunately at the lower end of standards for the trip with uncomfortable small rooms and a dribble of cold water from a pipe for a shower and the dining area was more interesting for the array of flying insects than the food but Oscar still managed to find us a cold beer.
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| Yellow-billed Jacamars |
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| Great Jacamar |
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| Long-tailed Hermits |
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| Guinean Cock-of-the-Rock |
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| Adult male |
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| Masked Trogon |
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| Tepui Toucanet |
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| The forest near Araima |
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| inside the forest at Araima |
Monday 25th April - Gran Sabana
Eager to get out of our hotel, we opted for some more bog running first thing, results were frustratingly similar to yesterday although with no snipe at all and many more puri puri (biting black flies) We managed to see
Wedge-tailed Grass Finch and
Grassland Sparrow.
Familiar territory back at the Soldiers Monument we had a longer look for Tepui Goldenthroat and Copper-tailed Hummingbirds but in the area we only saw
Black-faced Tanager and a local variant of
Brown Jacamar . A walk onto the edge of the Escalera didn't add anything new, and in the afternoon we went further onto the Gran Sabana to a waterfall area where we added Tawny headed Swallows but otherwise just some interesting locust-like insects.
We tried some further grassland areas but to no avail and despite being a vast and interesting landscape the Gran Sabana held few birds.
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| Black-faced Tanager |
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| Plain-crested Elaenia |
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| Brown Jacamar |
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| This Opossum was injured , obviously been hit by a vehicle. |
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| The Black Vulture was eyeing up the Opossum |
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| Green Honeycreeper |
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| A big locust-style insect |
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| Views over the Gran Sabana |
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| Looking for Snipe in the bogs |
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| Near waterfall |
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| Just before the drop |
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| not Angel Falls but we were in the same area |
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| A final view over Gran Sabana |
Tuesday 26th April - Thursday 28th - Gran Sabana - Caracas - Home
We said goodbye to Jonthan and Eustace who were staying to climb Mount Roraima and we set off early for our long drive back to Puerto Ordaz and our flight to Caracas, staying overnight in a nearby hotel before heading on a triple-jointed flight via Panama and Paris back to Heathrow. Arriving late Thursday evening although it took another 4 days for Air France to deliver my bags.
Looking back on the trip there was much to celebrate and much to question.
The birds were wonderful and in parts exceeded expectations . Our small Group and leader were fantastic and we were lucky to have Oscar and Leo as our local guides who kept us safe and in the right place. The accommodation was generally on the poor side and food was edible but often no more than, but no one was in the slightest bit sick which can often be a challenge on these sort of trips.
So am I pleased I went on the trip ? - Absolutely. Would I recommend others to go - No way -well certainly not at the moment - The country is going through a real problematic change. Lack of basic goods, political turmoil, and in parts too many unsafe areas. We had to change our plans on a regular basis, which did not cause big problems just maybe a few missed opportunities for certain species. The country could be wonderful, but won't be again until they sort themselves out, and whilst this is happening is probably best avoided as a tourist.
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