Venezuela, Summer 2008 Birding Trip Report - Part 8 of many - Barquisimeto and Barinas Home » Forums » Birding » Trip Reports

We arranged a trip to Los Llanos, the flooded flatlands in southern
Venezuela, through Claudia, the German tour guide in Puerto Colombia,
and Gravity Tours in Merida. Puerto Colombia is a small town, and
Claudia is easy to find. So we had four days to get to Barinas, a
large city on the western side of the Llanos. Sanare seemed like a
very interesting destination in between, near National Park Yacambu, but
because of traffic jams and some commitments I had online, we ended up
spending three days in Barquisimeto and one in Barinas. Barquisimeto
is a large busy city, and I only had time to visit the local zoo (the
only green area I could see inside this large urban area). The
grounds of the zoo is an excellent place to see local birds, such as
the Pale-breasted Thrush, Red-crowned Woodpecker, Scaled Dove, Great
Kiskadee, Bicolored Wren, and Grey Saltator. The park is well run and
worth a visit.

Onward to Barinas. Our bus driver got into a race with another bus,
to be the first to get Guanare, the largest town in between, and pick
up fares. Our bus won. Barinas is a large town as well, and
birthplace of Hugo Chavez. It had a creepy feel about it, the source
of which was hard to pinpoint . I noticed people looking at me more
than usual, and a lot of police and military (which does not
necessarily make you feel safer in Venezuela). I later leared the
FARC, the Colombian rebles, were active in Barinas. A few days after
we left there was a kidnapping in broad daylight at a busy upscale
party by a group of armed men.

We spent two mornings at the Biological Garden associated with the
University. This was one of the top bird watching destinations of the
trip. Southern Crested Caracara and Yellow-headed Caracara are
abundant. From the parking lot I saw about twenty Yellow-headed
Caracara at one time. Other common birds include the Double-striped
Thick-knee and Whistling Heron. I caught glimpses of hummingbirds,
hawks, jays, cuckoos, and probably many more birds outside of camera
range. Again, I was travelling without a field guide; Birds of Venezuela
is impossible to obtain in Venezuela.

Our tour to Los Llanos originated out of Merida, the main tourist city
in Venezuela, and they picked us up, but I wish I could have visited the
University park a few more times.