2009 Tour Narrative
This year’s tour started with a flight to El Vigia, where we took the chance to do some birding at the base of the west side of the Andes, an area we don’t normally visit but one that produced a small colony of Pygmy Swifts nesting in palm trees. Confined to the Maracaibo Basin, this species was a lifer for everyone present, including both leaders.
Our lodge for the night was in the cloudforest at the top of the La Azulita road. The feeders here attracted in large numbers of hummingbirds, and over the course of two lunches and a breakfast we watched Buff-tailed Coronets, Orange-throated Sunangels, Collared Incas, and Speckled Hummers at point-blank range. The Lazuline Sabrewing was somewhat shyer, but everyone got a good look at it in the end. Walking down the La Azulita road, we found a male Crested Quetzal. Endemic Rose-crowned Parakeets were in the garden of our lodge, and the Black-mandibled Toucans appeared at the final moment.
Our visit to the Pico Humboldt trail started well, with two of South America’s fanciest hummingbirds putting on a good show: males of Long-tailed Sylph and Booted Racket-tail fed on flowers in the trees above our heads. Farther up the trail, Russet-crowned Warblers responded to playback, Black-banded and Montane Woodcreepers showed well, and Andean Guans sat in the open; the Chestnut-crowned and Slate-crowned Antpittas remained vocal but invisible.
The next day on the high tops started well, with very responsive Merida Wrens and Streak-backed Canasteros, showy Bar-winged Cinclodes and Andean Tit-Spinetails, and Black-chested Buzzard-Eagles overhead. But the rain found us again after lunch. We were forced to descend into the Santo Domingo Valley, where in our hotel garden Gorgeted Woodstar, the endemic Golden-tailed Starfrontlet, and Band-winged Nightjar offered compensation for a wet afternoon.
The next morning we returned to the high tops for a visit to Laguna Mucubaji, where Andean Teal were easy to see and a female Lesser Scaup was a surprise. By walking in the paramo we found a Plumbeous Sierra-Finch and Great Thrushes. We dropped back down again, this time to the San Isidero tunnel road, where banks of flowers acted as natural hummingbird feeders; while our picnic was being prepared for us, we were able to study many species including Green Violetear, Spangled Coquette, Golden-tailed Sapphire, White-chested Emerald, and Copper-rumped Hummingbird. After another splendid picnic, most of us walked the trail across the quarry and up the track to the only know Andean Cock-of-the-rock lek in Venezuela. En route we ran across a flock or two and added a few new species to our list, including Red-headed Barbet and White-winged Tanager. Getting to the lek requires a climb down a steep trail, but for those who could manage it, the reward was a dozen male cocks-of-the-rock calling and displaying in the trees around us. Quite an experience!
Our final morning in the Santo Domingo valley was spent walking down the main road in the upper part of the valley. We saw some nice flocks including Black-crested Warbler, Blue-backed Conebill, Superciliaried Hemispingus, Lacrimose Mountain-Tanager, Blue-and-black Tanager, Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia, Bluish and Masked Flowerpiercers, and Slaty Brush-Finch. A little lower down we spotted two Red-crested Cotingas, and then a pair of Torrent Ducks swam upriver close to our picnic spot . Lunchtime entertainment was provided by White-capped Dippers.
The next day found us in the lowlands of the llanos, a vast flat plain covered in cattle ranches and marshes. Most of the morning was spent driving, though we did stop at the Rio Apure to see Pink River Dolphins; an Amethyst Woodstar was a very unexpected bonus. The farther we went, the more birds we saw in the ponds beside the road, but we carried on, knowing that there were even more birds to be seen at Hato Cedral, our base for the next 48 hours.
Hato Cedral ranch is always the highlight of this tour, and it did not disappoint us this time, either. From the moment we entered the gate, there were Capybaras crossing the road, Spectacled Caimans filling the ditches, and more birds than we could possibly count. The highlights this year included 17 species of heron including a dozen or more Pinnated Bitterns, single Least and Stripe-backed Bitterns, a Zigzag Heron, and three Agamis; seven species of ibis; nesting Jabirus; Yellow-knobbed Curassows, two Yellow-breasted Crakes; three Azure Gallinules; Sunbitterns and Sungrebes; a Short-eared Owl; all five species of South American kingfisher; Cliff Swallow; Black-capped Donacobius; and many, many more. Add to this two Giant Anteaters, two Giant River Otters, two Orinocan Crocodiles, several Green Anacondas, and an Ocelot that just slipped away from us and you can see why the ranch is always so popular.
We then headed north to the coastal mountain range for our final four nights. En route we stopped in San Fernando for a night, and next morning’s picnic breakfast was complemented by three Horned Screamers, apparently rare in the llanos these days. From our base in Maracay, we explored different parts of Henri Pittier National Park each day. The many highlights included quite a few endemic or near-endemic species (some extend just across the border into Colombia). These included Band-tailed Guan, Blood-eared Parakeet, White-tipped Quetzal, Groove-billed Toucanet, Black-backed Antshrike, Scallop-breasted Antpitta, Handsome Fruiteater, Rufous-cheeked Tanager, White-eared Conebill, and Golden-winged Sparrow. But there were also many special birds with wider ranges, too. Particularly memorable were the two Fasciated Tiger-Herons, Common Black-Hawk on the nest, Pavonine Cuckoo, Red-billed Scythebill, and displaying Lance-tailed and Wire-tailed Manakins.
On our final day we visited a beautiful patch of higher-elevation rainforest just west of Colonia Tovar, where during a very pleasant downhill walk we all managed to see the endemic Caracas Tapaculo and a Slate-crowned Antpitta. Black-throated Spinetail was another endemic seen well, and when we had just about given up, a Guttulated Foliage-gleaner flew in and showed itself well, remaining curiously silent. A Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth completed our mammal list.
And so we came to the end of another splendid Venezuela tour, with well over 600 species recorded.
- David Fisher
Updated: April 2009