Venezuela
Specialities
Photographer Unknown
Photo copyright Russ
Jones
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Photo
copyright Ronald
Orenstein
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Photo
copyright Ronald
Orenstein
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Photo
copyright Ronald
Orenstein
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Photo copyright Cagan
Sekercioglu
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Photo copyright Trev
Feltham
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo copyright Peter
Jones
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Photo
copyright Ronald
Orenstein
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Photo copyright Harald
Kocksch
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Photo copyright Allen
Chartier
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Photo copyright James
Ownby
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Photo copyright Anke
Poggel
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Photo copyright Pepe
Clavijo
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Photo copyright Peter
Jones
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Photo copyright Didier
Godreau
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....Hato
Pinero and Hato
Cedral - Llanos, Venezuela -
these ranches, now open
to the public, provide some of the best birdwatching in South America.
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....Birding
Around the World - Venezuela
Hato Pinero -
Safari on the Savanna -
published in Birder’s Journal, Apr./93
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....Escalera
(Tepuis) -
no useable information available
on the WWW
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....Birding
Venezuela Part 2 - by Rob Thacker.
This trip report discusses
birding in the Henri
Pittier National Park, home to nearly 600 species of birds, and Rancho
Grande, a deserted half-built hotel with a rooftop balcony from which
visitors can sit and observe birds in the forest canopy overhead and at
feeders (bring your own fruit).
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....Venezuela
(Rancho Grande, Llanos, Andes),
28 Feb. to 11 March 1994
- another excellent birding trip report by John van der Woude. The general
outline of the trip was the following: first a few days at the Rancho
Grande biological station inHenri
Pittier National Park (in the northern coastal cordillera), then a
few days at Hato El Frio in the Llanos (the river plains between the coastal
cordillera and the Andes), then up through the Santo Domingo valley into
the Andes, up to Tachira.
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....Venezuela
(Junglaven Amazonas,
Henri Pittier, SE Falcon)
7-24 Jan. 1997 - Birding
trip report by John van der Woude
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....Birds
and Birding in Venezuela - by Chris Sharpe. (Internet Explorer
users
only). This is a non-commercial site being developed as a resource for
ornithologists, birders and curious ecologically-minded visitors alike.
The idea is to promote interest in Venezuela's birds, give publicity to
positive bird-related initiatives and conservation projects and raise awareness
of Venezuela as a destination for bird tourism. At present the site contains
just a few pages of basic information, with an introduction to Venezuela's
birds, a background to conservation, details of some ongoing conservation
projects and brief notes on birding in Venezuela, but soon there will be
much more.
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....Exploring
Venezuela - By Steve Hilty. Venezuela is increasingly
the
birding destination of choice. Just how good is Venezuela, and why are
so many people choosing it for not only a first, but a second or third
visit? It doesn't take long to see how good Venezuela really is. The variety
of habitats, from Amazonian rainforest to snow-capped Andean peaks, almost
1,400 species of birds, and among the best roads and facilities on the
continent, combine for an unbeatable combination. But for most birders
and naturalists, the best surprise of all may be that so many birds are
so easy to see.
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....Video
Birding in the Merida Andes, Veneuzuela - by Ronald
Orenstein. The
Andes of the state of Merida, Venezuela, are more than just a popular tourist
attraction. Separated from the rest of that vast mountain chain by
a lowland depression, the Táchira Gap, they form a landlocked island
- home, like many islands in the sea, to birds found nowhere else in the
world. Details on birding in Caracas, the Cloud Forest and Paramo are provided.
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....Birdwatching
in and around Mérida - by Jurgen Beckers. This site
describes
various birdwatching interesting areas in and around Mérida. This
includes details about what you can expect to see there, but more important:
the logistics, with information on where-to-find-what, transport, accomodation
and food, where to sleep and to eat.
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....La
Mucuy Bird Observatory - Located in the Mérida Mountains,
Sierra
Nevada National Park, Venezuela. Although Venezuela is not widely recognized
as an important place for Neotropical migrant birds, its importance appears
to be underestimated. The Mérida Mountains have been recognized
by the World Conservation Monitoring Center (1992) as an Endemic Bird Area
(EBA) with a high value of restricted range species, such as the Mérida
Sunangel, White fronted Whitestart, Rose-Headed Parakeet, Great Antpita,
and others.
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....Ornithology
in Venezuela - South America is
the bird continent. Its
great range of natural habitats support nearly a third of the world's birds
and nearly a fifth of the world's species are only found here. Within South
America, Venezuela offers one of the best introductions to neotropical
birdwatching, with a rich avifauna (1,360 recorded species) and an excellent
field guide. This commercial itinerary is fairly specific regarding locations
and species.
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....Canaima
National Park - The fauna is diverse,
though not very abundant,
with 550 birds being recorded. The avifauna is varied and contains over
thirty species endemic to Pantepui.
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....The
Llanos - Covering over 300,000 sq. km.,
the vast llanos (or plains)
of central Venezuela are a study in contrasts with wildlife stealing the
show.
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....Venezuela
- Directory of Wetlands of International Importance -
includes information on
Venezuela's Ramsar designated site:
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....Birdwatching
in Venezuela Nov.-Dec. 1995, by Erik Mølgaard,
Jesper Meedom & Stig
K. Rasmussen. (NOTE: this is a downloadable report from the Danish
Ornithological Society´s website). In November-December 1995,
the excursions committee of the Copenhagen department of the Danish Ornithological
Society (DOF) carried out its first tour to Venezuela. The tour was designed
to give the participants a good coverage of the most typical habitats and
of the biodiversity of the country. We concentrated on four main areas:
The northern coastal mountains, the Venezuelan Andes of the Merida mountains,
the Llanos and finally the rainforest in the eastern part of the country,
including the highlands of the Gucycaca shield. The number of bird species
recorded was satisfactory. The base tour ended at 487 species. With an
additional 142 on the extension trip, the grand total was 629 species.
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....1997
Western Venezuela Extension Trip Report - by David Beadle.
This (commercial) trip report
identifies some key birding locations and the birds to be found there.
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....John
van der Woude's Venezuela Trip Reports - this site includes four
excellent
trip reports, with photos and bird sounds.
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....Trip
Report - Venezuela - October 21-27, 1995 - by Bill Murray.
Venezuela
is a huge country. Even though we traveled extensively by maxi-taxi and
jet during our visit, our itinerary never took us beyond the northwestern
third of the country. There's plenty left to explore on subsequent visits.
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....Trip
Report: Lesser Antilles and Orinoco Jungle River Cruise -
January
5-13, 1996 - by Bill Murphy. In 1995 the American Birding Association
contacted me to offer me an opportunity to serve as their representative
on a Clipper Cruise Line voyage through the southern Caribbean in January
1996. The tour itinerary included the Netherlands Antilles islands of Curacao
and Bonaire, coastal Venezuela, Tobago, the Orinoco River, and Trinidad
-- 1200 sea miles in all.
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....Trip
Report - Venezuela – February 18-26, 2000 by Francis Toldi
and Peter Metropulos. This
is a trip report about a birding trip to the Merida Andes and Llanos in
Venezuela. The report is divided into three parts: Part I is an overall
trip narrative (this part only posted to Birdchat); Part II addresses trip
logistics and planning, including informational updates for people contemplating
a trip to this area; Part III is an annotated list of species.
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....Trip
Report: Venezuela, Henri Pittier NP - April 29 - May 7, 2000. By
Allen
& Nancy Chartier. This trip had been originally scheduled for the first
week in April to coincide with the bird banding operations at Henri Pittier
N.P., since our group was a local group of banders and banding assistants.
We found out when we arrived that the banding is conducted in March and
October so we would be treated to a special demonstration.
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....Trip
Report: Venezuela - 18 June -2 July 2000. By Roger Ahlman.
Going
to such a big and bird-rich country as Venezuela for just two weeks is
of course not enough and therefore we decided to concentrate on the Bolívar
province in the southeast, with just "skimming the cream" of some of the
other sites more or less en route. The main targets were the Escalera Road
and the surrounding forests and the Harpy Eagle near Rio Grande. To add
some more to the total trip list and our lifer-lists we spent one and a
half day at Henri Pittier and about the same time in the vast Llanos area
and also two days near the Oilbird cave and in the Sucre province.
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....Trip
Report: Northern Venezuela, January 2004 - by Jurgen Beckers of
Trogon
Travels. The north of Venezuela has its dry season between the months December
and March. This changes a bit from year to year but anyway the best period
for birding. This year was unfortunately extremely dry. Some areas, such
as the Paramo and Henri Pittier NP were very poor in birds. The end total
was 440 species seen, something that was beyond the expectation.
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....Trip
Report: Venezuela Mar. 12-17, 2004, by Joseph C. Thompson.
Junglaven is a Fishing Camp
located close to the Ventuari River in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas.
It affords a unique opportunity to birdwatch in lowland rainforest, and
due to the lack of disturbance and absence of hunting, a number of species
are possible here which are difficult in other areas of Amazonia. This
is probably the most predictable place in the world for Rufous-winged Ground-Cuckoo.
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....Trip
Report: Venezuela Mar. 12-17, 2003, by Joseph C. Thompson.
Venezuela,
long popular with birders, has seen a marked decrease in tourism following
the 2 month general strike in late 2002. This report briefly details
a trip I undertook to Henri Pittier National Park in March, and I am pleased
to report that I encountered no problems of any kind. The people
remain extremely friendly and welcoming, there were no problems whatsoever
at police checkpoints, and gasoline was plentiful in all locations that
I visited.
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....Trip
Report: Venezuelan N/NW Specialities, Aug/Sept 2003 - by Joe
Thompson.
This trip focused on Venezuelan endemics and what we came to call ‘Functional
Endemics’ that only occur in Venezuela and in inaccessible (due to guerilla
activity) parts of NE Colombia. Since the 2 segments of the trip were rather
different, logistics will be mentioned separately. VE is a true pleasure
to travel in, with a well-developed infrastructure and extremely friendly
people. This was the rainy season, but we had clear days in xerophytic
areas, with occasional mainly afternoon/night rain in the mountains. Birds
were generally vocal and tape-responsive, and we did not miss any target
birds due to weather conditions.
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....Wild
Macaws of Venezuela - by Harold Armitage. According to
Forshaw's
"Parrots of the World" there are forty eight parrots in Venezuela, including
six macaws. It seemed about time to visit the place. As usual it's hard
to discover much about the whereabouts of any of them, although I did discover
from the internet that there were Blue and Gold Macaws in the Orinoco delta.
We had intended this to be a tour for us poor people this year, however
we were lured into a couple of rather expensive side trips which made a
hole in the budget.
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....Trip
Report: Sucre Province, Venezuela - 30 October - 3 November
1999.
By Niels Poul Dreyer.
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....Trip
Report: Henri Pittier National Park, 1999. By Niels Poul Dreyer.
Henri
Pitter National Park is situated in the middle of Cordillera de la Costa.
This isolated mountain range supports montane evergreen forests that have
long been isolated by drier surrounding lowlands from one another and from
larger blocks of moist forest to the south. The forest which range from
600 to 2500 meters elevation include deciduous to evergreen and elfin forest.
About 575 species of birds have been recorded in the park, but more importantly
the park is located in an important birding area and protects about 17
restricted range species of which 2 are classified as threatened and 4
near threatened
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....Trip
Report: Tiputini Biodiversity Station, Venezuela, 1999: A heaven
for
critters and predators. By Niels Poul Drejer. This is the wilds of
Tiputini in August 1999. It is located next to Yasuni Indian reservation
and adjacent to a National Park under the same name which covers 2 million
hectares of virgin forest. I realised when I approached the station that
it is a special place. It is so remote that it takes 7 hours of travel
to get here. First you fly to Coca, then go by boat 2 hours downstream
on Rio Napo, change over in a truck which takes you 2 hour down to Tiputini
river on gravel road which is about 50 km long. Finally it is 2 hours boat
ride down river on Rio Tiputini. The station has been developed by the
Universidad San Francisco de Quito in collaboration with Boston University.
As the station is located away from any human settlements, it is a heaven
for birds and mammals normally not encountered in other Amazonian forest
areas along Rio Napo, species which disappears first when hunters move
into a new area.
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....Birds
in Ecuador: Feb. 12-28, '99 - by Eva Casey.
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