Visiting birders usually opt to avoid Caracas or to leave as swiftly as connecting flights or hire car agencies permit. Nevertheless, the city does offer some good birding sites at which one can easily spend an enjoyable day or two. So for the intrepid, or those limited to birding the capital during a business trip, here follow a few thoughts. In addition, more on birding El Avila can be found in the next section.

Caracas is well blessed with trees and, together with the oases of metropolitan parks, this probably helps maintain good populations of birds in the city. As testimony to this, in recent years Venezuelan Audubon Charity Birdathons have clocked close on 100 species during a morning’s outing. Chief among the city’s green areas are Parque del Este and the Jardín Botánico (Botanic Gardens), both of which can be visited by Metro via the stations of Parque del Este and Plaza Venezuela respectively.

Parque del Este offers open parkland habitat with several ponds and lakes. The park opens at 5.00 am and it is wise to get there early before the crowds arrive and the day heats up. Typically Chestnut-fronted Macaws and Orange-winged Parrots call raucously as they leave their roosts together with the introduced Ring-necked Parakeets. A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl can usually be called out of one of the stands of trees and the song also serves as an attractant for other species. Stripe-backed Wrens inhabit the large trees bordering grassy areas. Wetland patches hold Wattled Jacanas, Black-crowned Night-Herons and Yellow-hooded Blackbird. Rufous-vented Chachalacas are usually abundant. Copper-rumped Hummingbirds can be found visiting blooming trees while Trinidad Euphonias sing from treetops.

Photo: Parque del Este with the Avila behind (Chris Sharpe)

The Jardín Botánico holds a similar selection of species to Parque del Este, but its extensive deciduous forests are also home to Mouse-coloured Tyrannulet and Fulvous-headed Tanager and there is often a better chance here for Trinidad Euphonia and Black-faced Grassquit.

On the outskirts of the city several other sites are accessible as part of a day tour. The Universidad Simón Bolívar campus on the southern outskirts holds a typical city avifauna similar to that of Parque del Este, but adjoining cloud forests can add a few extra species. Parque Vinicio Adames at 1150 m altitude on the edge of the motorway which exits Caracas towards Maracay is an altogether more rewarding area. Black Hawk-Eagle, Lilac-tailed Parrotlet, Copper-rumped Hummingbird, Collared Trogon, Groove-billed Toucanet, Scaled Piculet, Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Olivaceous Woodcreeper, Plain Antvireo, Fulvous-headed Tanager, Black-headed Tanager, Swallow Tanager, Trinidad Euphonia and Black-faced Grassquit are all regular. There is a particularly good stretch of forest at the top end of the park beyond the games court.

A little further a field Turgua, beyond the Universidad Simón Bolívar, provides true cloud forest birding, though the habitat along the road has become very fragmented now. Birding is somewhat similar to Parque Vinicio Adames and typical species include Black hawk-Eagle, Collared Trogon, Scaled Piculet, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Black-hooded Thrush, Fulvous-headed Tanager, Black-headed Tanager, Swallow Tanager and Ochre-breasted Brush-Finch.

A vast range of accommodations for all tastes is to be found in Caracas. The Hotel Avila in San Bernardino is particularly pleasant as its grounds provide a nice introduction to neotropical birding.

Specialities and endemics (E = endemic; S = semi-endemic)

Full bird checklist

None available.

(see also: 2. Coastal Cordillera: El Avila)