Venezuela - Off the Beaten Track

About the region

Just four hours from Caracas, and with a bird list of over 350 species, the area around and including Morrocoy National Park has only recently begun to find its way onto standard birding itineraries. The area’s protected marine and Caribbean coastal habitats represent a birding enclave in eastern Falcon State.

Yacambu National Park is set on a quiet spur of the eastern Andes and is justly famous as a cloudforest park – it holds many of the bird specialities of the Coastal Cordillera and Andes. The park has become one of Venezuela’s prime birding locations since the rediscovery a few years ago of the Great Antpitta.

The tour ‘in a nutshell’

This is a 9-day bird watching tour to the outstanding wetland of Morrocoy National Park and the cloudforest at Yacambu.

What birds might I see?

For most birders the chief attraction of Morrocoy National Park is waterfowl. We’ll spend time looking for many of the region’s ducks and migratory shorebirds. We’ll also be hoping to see the stunning Scarlet Ibis and superb spectacle of several thousand American Flamingoes! Other species we’ll look for include the endemic Rusty-flanked Crake and Plain-flanked Rail – the rediscovery of the latter here a few years ago put Morrocoy firmly on the birding map.

The slightly more humid limestone forests inland provide habitat for Black-and-White Hawk-eagle, Horned Screamer, Red-and-Green Macaw and White-eared Conebill, as well as a host of other birds.

Among the Andean species we’ll hope to see in Yacambu National Park are mixed tanager flocks and Neotropical migrants, as well as a wide range of hummingbirds and antbirds. Cloudforest specialities we’ll hope to see include Northern Helmeted Curassow, Crested Quetzal, Merida Tapaculo and Scaled Fruiteater.

Other birds we’ll search for include some rarely-seen desert endemics such as Bare-eyed Pigeon, White-whiskered Spinetail, Black-backed Antshrike, Slender-billed Inezia and Tocuyo Sparrow.

Anything else?

We’ll be based for part of this tour in the charming, family-run Posada El Encanto, one of Venezuela's best birding inns.br />