PICO HUMBOLDT TRAIL
VENEZUELA
MÉRIDA (La Mucuy), (Compass)
Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl
Protected/registered status
Best Time for visit (18th-19th September, 2006)
Birding Site Guide
This great site is easily accessible from Mérida. I birded the trail on 2 day trips from the city. Staying in the park may also be an option. There are some dormitories and also a camp site. Bring your own food and a sleeping bag. Mérida is a fairly big city and has many places to stay, eat and do internet. I found a cheap place to stay (15,000 for dormitory) near the cable car station. To get to Mucuy, first take a bus to Tabay about half an hour away (leaving regularly from 6am about 4 blocks west from Plaza Bolivar). From the plaza in Tabay, there is a sign to the right to 'Parque la Mucuy'. It's about 7km up to the park entrance and the road is paved all the way. You can get a taxi up from the plaza in Tabay, try to hitch, or walk it. The lower entrance has a sign saying open at 8am, but I found it open before this. Up from here, the road runs along the river where you can see White-capped Dipper. Trees nearby have some tanager flocks and also Moustached Brush-Finch. There is an office higher up but no admission is charged. Further up is a fork, go to the right and up the hill, passed some buildings and try and find the start of the trail. After the last building, walk up a grassy bank and look for a wooden archway that is the start of the trail. From here is supposedly 9km up to Laguna Coromoto where you can camp. It took my about 4-5 hours up from the entrance and 2-3 hours back down. A sign said it was 3,000m here although I got it as about 3,100m.
Good birds on the way up included Andean Guan, Emerald Toucanet, Grey-capped Hemispingus, Grey-naped & Undulated Antpittas, Longuemare's Sunangel, Plushcap and possibly Rusty-faced Parrot heard. The second half of the way to the lake is quite steep and changes in nature. I was here later on and it was fairly quiet. This would be worth exploring in the early morning. Around the lake at the top I saw, Tyrian Metaltail, Mountain Velvetbreast, Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia, Blue-backed Conebill, Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant, Red-crested Cotinga and Slaty Brush-Finch. I saw 89 species including 15 lifers.
Species seen
- Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
- Yellow-headed Caracara Milvago chimachima
- American Kestrel Falco sparverius Photographed
- Andean Guan Penelope montagnii Photographed Recorded
- Rock Pigeon Columba livia Introduced species
- Lined Quail-Dove Geotrygon linearis
- Rose-headed Parakeet Pyrrhura rhodocephala Endemic Heard only
- Rusty-faced Parrot Hapalopsittaca amazonina Endangered Heard only
- Speckle-faced (White-capped) Parrot Pionus tumultuosus (seniloides)
- Smooth-billed Ani Crotophaga ani
- Lazuline Sabrewing Campylopterus falcatus
- Green Violet-ear Colibri thalassinus
- Sparkling Violet-ear Colibri coruscans
- Blue-tailed Emerald Chlorostilbon mellisugus Possibly seen
- Speckled Hummingbird Adelomyia melanogenys
- Mountain Velvetbreast Lafresnaya lafresnayi
- Longuemare's Sunangel Heliangelus clarisse Photographed
- Tyrian Metaltail Metallura tyrianthina
- Long-tailed Sylph Aglaiocercus kingi
- Gorgeted Woodstar Chaetocercus heliodor Possibly seen
- Masked Trogon Trogon personatus Possibly heard
- Ringed Kingfisher Ceryle torquatus
- Andean Toucanet Aulacorhynchus albivitta Photographed
- Golden-olive Woodpecker Piculus rubiginosus
- Rufous Spinetail Synallaxis unirufa
- Spotted Barbtail Premnoplex brunnescens Possibly seen
- Pearled Treerunner Margarornis squamiger
- Streaked Xenops Xenops rutilans
- Streaked Tuftedcheek Pseudocolaptes boissonneautii
- Black-banded Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptes picumnus
- Montane Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger
- Undulated Antpitta Grallaria squamigera
- Chestnut-crowned Antpitta Grallaria ruficapilla Heard only
- Gray-naped Antpitta Grallaria griseonucha Endemic Heard only
- (Merida Tapaculo?) (Scytalopus meridanus?) Endemic Recorded
- Red-crested Cotinga Ampelion rubrocristata
- Green-and-black Fruiteater Pipreola riefferii
- Barred Fruiteater Pipreola arcuata
- Torrent Tyrannulet Serpophaga cinerea
- Black-capped Tyrannulet Phyllomyias nigrocapillus
- Venezuelan Tyrannulet Zimmerius improbus
- White-throated Tyrannulet Mecocerculus leucophrys
- White-banded Tyrannulet Mecocerculus stictopterus
- Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans Photographed
- Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant Ochthoeca fumicolor Photographed
- Cattle Tyrant Machetornis rixosus
- Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
- Barred Becard Pachyramphus versicolor
- Gray-breasted Martin Progne chalybea
- Blue-and-white Swallow Notiochelidon cyanoleuca
- White-capped Dipper Cinclus leucocephalus Photographed
- House Wren Troglodytes aedon
- Gray-breasted Wood-Wren Henicorhina leucophrys
- Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus
- Great Thrush Turdus fuscater
- Chestnut-bellied Thrush Turdus fulviventris
- Green Jay Cyanocorax yncas
- Brown-capped Vireo Vireo leucophrys
- Slate-throated Redstart Myioborus miniatus
- White-fronted Redstart Myioborus albifrons Endemic Near-threatened Photographed Recorded
- Black-crested Warbler Basileuterus nigrocristatus Photographed Recorded
- Russet-crowned Warbler Basileuterus coronatus Photographed Recorded
- Three-striped Warbler Basileuterus tristriatus
- Bananaquit Coereba flaveola
- Blue-backed Conebill Conirostrum sitticolor
- Common Bush-Tanager Chlorospingus ophthalmicus
- Gray-capped Hemispingus Hemispingus reyi Endemic Near-threatened Photographed
- White-lined Tanager Tachyphonus rufus Possibly seen
- Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus
- Blue-capped Tanager Thraupis cyanocephala
- Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager Dubusia taeniata Possibly seen
- Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia Chlorophonia pyrrhophrys Photographed Recorded
- Flame-faced Tanager Tangara parzudakii
- Burnished-buff Tanager Tangara cayana
- Beryl-spangled Tanager Tangara nigroviridis
- Blue-and-black Tanager Tangara vassorii
- Black-capped Tanager Tangara heinei
- Black-headed Tanager Tangara cyanoptera
- Plush-capped Finch Catamblyrhynchus diadema
- White-sided Flowerpiercer Diglossa albilatera
- Masked Flowerpiercer Diglossopis cyanea
- Saffron Finch Sicalis flaveola
- Slaty Brush-Finch Atlapetes schistaceus
- Moustached Brush-Finch Atlapetes albofrenatus
- Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis
- Carib Grackle Quiscalus lugubris
- Yellow-billed Cacique Amblycercus holosericeus
- Lesser Goldfinch Carduelis psaltria Photographed
- Merida Tapaculo Scytalopus meridanus
Other Fauna
A total of -- species of mammals.
There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles.
Flora
Author: Charles Hesse
www.birdingsiteguide.com
