Day four - Drive to Las Claritas

We packed up and left the hotel at El Palmar and headed south towards Las Claritas.


We stopped enroute at this marshy area with dead trees.


Diane spotted this Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in a hole in a tree.

Our lunch spot was a disused bridge


over the River Cuyuni.

Unfortunately, it started to pour down with rain and we had to eat in this attractive structure.

The bridge with umbrellas after it stopped raining.

Birding on the bridge.


Video montage of day four:

Day three - March 7: the Imataca Forest preserve

On the road in the forest.















Another scope convention....















On a trail in the forest.















After lunch, we had rain and exciting jeep maneuvers.












Judy is ready for more rain.


















Which unfortunately comes but we keep birding.













The video montage for day three:








Black Nunbird















Bat Falcon


















Plumbeous Kite














Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Day two - March 6: the Harpy Eagle

Our first objective was the Harpy Eagle. Javier, the local guide, had located a nest on the property of a local landowner.

We arrive in our vehicles...











and the first thing we have to do is climb over or get through a fence...















We heard and saw some Red Howler monkeys.











We saw the Harpy Eagle nest but it was very far away. To get closer, we had to cross a muddy stream...













We got excellent looks at the young Harpy Eagle and heard him call (see the video)


















































We birded our way back from the nest,












and saw this interesting lizard.

















Montage of video from the first couple of days of the trip.






We had lunch and then birded on the road in the afternoon.

Yellow-headed Caracara

Pyratic flycatcher

A Cocoi Heron in an unusual pose

Rufescent Tiger Heron

Day one - March 5

Early in the morning, we flew from Caracas to Puerto Ordaz. This city is not marked on this map but it is right next to Ciudad Guyana. From the plane, we could see the giant Orinoco river.














Just outside Puerto Ordaz, we stopped at this park.

The park is at the rapids of the Caroni River

A scope convention at the snack bar





We then drove to El Palmar.













We saw a lot of evidence of the recent referendum on allowing Hugo Chavez to run for more terms as president. This sign was in a doorway in a town that we stopped in on the way to El Palmar.

Here is a translation of what the sign says:
Uh! Ah! Let's go for the amendment!
Those that love their country, those that want to be free, those that want happiness for their sons, for their daughters. Come with us on the road to socialism!!
We will be victorious!
Hugo Chávez Frias, President of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela

Uh! Ah! Chávez is with the people.
The Front for Social Missions


One way that Chavez keeps the support of the people is by heavily subsiding gasoline prices. This is a pump in a station where the bus got gas. It shows that the bus got 31 liters for 1.44 Bolivares. Converting both metric and currency is almost beyond my mathematical powers but I think that in US measurement 8.21 gallons cost $0.67, which is $0.08/gallon. (That is converting the Bolivar at the official exchange rate. It would cost even less at the black market exchange rate.)

March 4 - Pre-trip tour to Ávila National Park

The day before the official tour started, WINGS arranged a pre-tour trip to Ávila National Park, which comprises a mountain that is between Caracas and the Caribbean.
The trip was led by David Ascanio and he brought Diego Calderón-Franco along who runs Colombia Birding.

Here is a view of Caracas from the park.








Earlier David and Diego had found some of the native bamboo in flower and we saw a couple of the birds that specialize in these transient food sources.
This is the stand of flowering bamboo








This is the bamboo flower















This is the Slate-colored Seedeater, one of the bamboo specialists.













Diego and David



















Margaret on the bumpy ride up and down the mountain.