Venezuela - Part 2 The Llanos (the Birdlife)

This was the first excursion away from Casa Maria. A four hour drive to a cattle ranch and nature reserve called Hato Piñero, which covers much of the central llanos (wetlands and grasslands) of Venezuela and is situated near to Cojedes. Hato Piñero certainly offers the best of the Venezuelan llanos and is home to over 350 species of birds and mammals. The next chapter will look at the Mammals of the Llanos leaving this chapter dedicated to some of the birdlife.

We arrived late afternoon and were quickly introduced to what was going to be an exceptional raptor fest.... a pair of White Tailed Hawks displayed near to the entrance gates. A few miles further ahead we reached the ranch and soon found the local birdlife in and around the courtyard .... a magnificant pair of Scarlet Macaws and plenty of Yellow headed Caracara

This is a working Cattle ranch so for us UK citizens it was quite a treat to see real Cowboys at work

and of course where there are cattle there are birds

Jabiru - standing his ground

The ranch is only a part of the reserve, countless pools and lagoons line the tracks although this was towards the end of the dry season so some had dried and others were close to drying out. Where there was water we were treated to some stunning water birds....  so many species of Egrets and Ibis and our target birds did not dissapoint!

Scarlet Ibis

as did a host of other wonderful waders

Roseate Spoonbill

Rufescent Tiger-Heron

Whistling Heron

Sharp Tailed Ibis

and Buff Necked Ibis

of course there were plenty of the smaller species at Hato Pinero including White Bearded Flycatcher, Ringed Kingfisher, White Headed Marsh Tyrant, Red Capped Cardinal, Black Crested Antshrike, Black Fringed Antwren, Vermillion Flycatcher, Bi-coloured Wren, Tropical Gnatcatcher, and the national bird of Venezuela .....

Venezuelan Troupial.

Hoatzin were noisy, clumsy and fun

Sun bittern 

a stunning wingspan

Russet Throated Puffbird

 pretending to be a kingfisher 

Amazon Kingfisher 

and some of the smallest species

Saffron Finch

Stripe-Backed Wren 

Brown Crested Flycatcher

Streaked Flycatcher

Common Thornbird 

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Pied Marsh Tyrant 

 Fork-tailed Flycatcher

and not forgetting the very special endemic species

Yellow Knobbed Currasow

alas this is too long and still so much to show from the Llanos and Hato Pinero

I will follow with a another post looking at the raptors amd mammals..... dont miss it!!

now its time to roost....

Scarlet Ibis and Mixed Egrets

evening draws in on the Llanos

and a little night life..... this Double striped Thick Knee got caught in the headlights and stayed on the road just in front of us for well over a mile

a very special sighting while heading back for diner!