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7. Andes:
Yacambú National Park |
For many years, the 14,580 ha Yacambú
National Park was little known and even less visited by birders,
probably because it lay some distance from the traditional
birding circuits. Nowadays this has changed and the park has
justly become one of Venezuela’s most popular birding
sites, due in large part to Peter Boesman and Dave Willis’
rediscovery a few years ago of the Great Antpitta, a bird
previously unknown in life. In fact, Yacambú gives
the impression of being full of ornithological surprises:
in just a few visits I have been fortunate enough to find
over thirty species new to the park, many of these range extensions
from much further south in the Andes.
Yacambú is justly famous as a cloud
forest park and, as such, holds many of the specialities of
the Coastal Cordillera and Andes. Oddly enough the Parakeets
here are Blood-eared from the Coastal Cordillera rather than
Rose-headed, and Green-tailed Emerald is the common Chlorostilbon
on the lower slopes. However, typical Andean species include
White-rumped Hawk, Golden Starfrontlet, Orange-throated Sunangel,
Crested Quetzal and Mérida Tapaculo. The latter is
actually more common here than anywhere else within its range.
Mixed tanager flocks are always an exciting feature at Yacambú
and neotropical migrants are common during the boreal winter.
Apart from the cloud forest, a small artificial
pool at El Blanquito has long been known as a reliable site
for Rusty-flanked Crake with a couple of pairs usually present.
The pool usually has Caribbean Coot and Masked Duck and a
variety of other commoner birds like Rusty-breasted Antpitta
and Golden-winged Manakin too.
While not strictly within the park, Yacambú
abuts on the xeric habitats which characterise NW Venezuela
and one only has to descend a few kilometres towards Barquisimeto
to be in with a chance of dry country endemics like Slender-billed
Inezia and Tocuyo Sparrow.
Quiet lodgings and restaurants are available
in Sanare just a few kilometres from the park.
Specialities and endemics
Rufous-vented Chachalaca S
Band-tailed Guan S
Helmeted Curassow S
Rusty-flanked Crake E
Blood-eared Parakeet E
Lilac-tailed Parrotlet S
Green-tailed Emerald E
Copper-rumped Hummingbird S
Violet-chested Hummingbird S
Golden Starfrontlet S
Orange-throated Sunangel S
Rufous-shafted Woodstar S
Crested Quetzal
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Yellow-billed Toucanet S
Scaled Piculet S
Crested Spinetail S
Great Antpitta E
Rusty-breasted Antpitta S
Mérida Tapaculo E
Venezuelan Tyrannulet S
Slender-billed Inezia S
Golden-breasted Fruiteater S
Red-ruffed Fruitcrow
Black-hooded Thrush S
Fulvous-headed Tanager S
Tocuyo Sparrow E |
Full bird checklist
Goodwin, M.L. and M. Lentino. 1992. Lista
de las Aves del Parque Nacional Yacambú, Estado Lara,
Venezuela. Sociedad Conservacionista Audubon de Venezuela,
Caracas, Venezuela. 33 pp. 254 spp., but recent additions
make nearly 290 spp. Available from SCAV (http://www.audubondevenezuela.org).
Links
Bioparques: http://www.parkswatch.org/parkprofiles/yacambu/yacambu.shtml
(see also 6.
Andes: La Mucuy and the Humboldt Trail)
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