CUEVA DEL GUÁCHARO NATIONAL PARK 
VENEZUELA

MONAGAS (Caripe) ()

Lat:00^o00´S/00^o00´W 45,500ha, 900-2324m, premontane, moist montane and humid tropical forests 
Protected/registered status 
Best Time for visit (7rd October, 2006)

Birding Site Guide

This park is also known as Alejandro de Humboldt and has the largest know oilbird cave with many thousands of birds roosting inside. You can take a bus or taxi to the entrance and join a tour of the cavern. This is very popular with Venezuelan tourists but the tours are mainly for looking at the formations. I used the town Los Caripe as a base where I managed to find a hotel for 20,000B. There are also a few places to eat (hot dogs) and do internet. I tried to find good forest on Cerro Negro at altitudes for some of the endemics such as Grey-headed Warbler and White-throated Barbtail. I found some after getting totally lost but none noteworthy. There is a nice trail across from the cave entrance which goes up to a waterfall. This is at a lower elevation and is only good for general birding. I tried to climb up this to get to forest higher up without success. After talking to one of the cave guides, I found out a place to try is called Sabana de Piedra but I didn’t have any more time. Ask locals about access. This is nearby and you can hike up from here to reach forest with interesting species. I saw 46 species including 0 lifers.

Species seen

• Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
• Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
• Roadside Hawk Buteo magnirostris
• Black Hawk-Eagle Spizaetus tyrannus Recorded
• Rock Pigeon Columba livia Introduced species
• Ruddy Ground-Dove Columbina talpacoti
• Gray-fronted Dove Leptotila rufaxilla Possibly heard
• Lined Quail-Dove Geotrygon linearis Possibly seen
• Brown-throated Parakeet Aratinga pertinax Recorded
• Green-rumped Parrotlet Forpus passerinus
• Smooth-billed Ani Crotophaga ani
• Oilbird Steatornis caripensis Photographed Recorded
• Collared Trogon Trogon collaris Possibly heard
• Groove-billed Toucanet Aulacorhynchus sulcatus Endemic
• Red-crowned Woodpecker Melanerpes rubricapillus
• Black-banded Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptes picumnus Possibly seen
• Yellow-bellied Elaenia Elaenia flavogaster
• Slaty-capped Flycatcher Leptopogon superciliaris
• Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans
• Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
• Boat-billed Flycatcher Megarynchus pitangua Heard only
• Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
• Gray-breasted Martin Progne chalybea
• Blue-and-white Swallow Notiochelidon cyanoleuca
• Bicolored Wren Campylorhynchus griseus
• House Wren Troglodytes aedon
• Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus
• Green Jay Cyanocorax yncas Photographed
• Tropical Parula Parula pitiayumi
• American Redstart Setophaga ruticilla Recorded
• Slate-throated Redstart Myioborus miniatus
• Golden-crowned Warbler Basileuterus culicivorus
• Bananaquit Coereba flaveola
• White-lined Tanager Tachyphonus rufus
• Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus
• Palm Tanager Thraupis palmarum
• Speckled Tanager Tangara guttata
• Bay-headed Tanager Tangara gyrola
• Blue-black Grassquit Volatinia jacarina
• Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis
• Ochre-breasted Brush-Finch Atlapetes semirufus
• Grayish Saltator Saltator coerulescens
• Carib Grackle Quiscalus lugubris
• Orange-crowned Oriole Icterus auricapillus
• Crested Oropendola Psarocolius decumanus
• Oriole Blackbird Gymnomystax mexicanus

Other Fauna 
A total of -- species of mammals. 

There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles. 

Flora 

Author: Charles Hesse

www.birdingsiteguide.com