Birding Venezuela: Amazonas at Junglaven

[Chris Sharpe]

Here is some information on Venezuela's premier Amazonian birding lodge which the owner, Captain Lorenzo Rodriguez has asked me to post on his behalf. Since Lorenzo spends much of his time incommunicado at Junglaven (there are no phones anywhere near this area), he has asked that Birding Venezuela manage bookings for birders on his behalf.

Junglaven is a tremendous birding area with a number of specialities which are not easily seen in the rest of their range - see the partial list at the end. The best time of year for this is our dry season - December to April - and a week is a good minimum to set aside for the area. The lodge is on the itineraries of most major bird tour companies, but can also be booked privately by independent travellers.

1. Birding information

As one flies over the largely uninhabited, mountainous terrain from Puerto Ayacucho to Junglaven one is impressed by the sensation of visiting one of the worlds last unexplored birding destinations. Indeed, this is part of the planets largest tropical wilderness area and Junglaven is one of those few places where the ornithologist feels that great discoveries are still waiting to be made at any moment. Situated on a tributary of the R?o Ventuari in the Upper Orinoco, Junglaven began as a fishing lodge in the early 1980s and birders did not discover it until 1990. Since then, over 400 species have been recorded, even though the prolonged dry season makes this a relatively species-poor area in comparison with other sites in Orinoquia-Amazonia. However, the attraction of Junglaven is not so much its diversity as the relative ease with which its specialist species can be seen. This is one of the best localities to find the so called Imer? endemics like Grey-legged Tinamou, Tawny-tufted Toucanet, Cherries Antwren, Yellow-crowned Manakin, Brown-headed Greenlet and Azure-naped Jay. Junglavens terra firme forest provides your best chance anywhere to track down the elusive Rufous-winged Ground-Cuckoo. Other birds that have been hunted out elsewhere, like Grey-winged Trumpeters and Black Curassows, can be seen along the road. The enormous extension of primary forest remaining in this area also provides habitat for large eagles like Crested and Harpy as well as the smaller Black-and-white, Black and Ornate Hawk-Eagles. Smaller forest inhabitants include Rusty-breasted Nunlet, Furnariids and antbirds such as Rufous-bellied Antwren, Dot-backed Antbird and Spot-backed Antwren, the latter usually in v?rzea forest. And like any Neotropical lowland forest there are tinamous, trogons, jacamars, parrots and so on. Boat trips on the Big Lagoon are usually rewarded with Zigzag Herons as well as Agamis, Sunbitterns and a host of other water birds including Green-and-rufous and American Pygmy Kingfishers and Amazonian Black-Tyrants. Crestless Curassows are often drawn to the water at dusk and this is one of the easiest places to see them. Rivers are good places for cotingas such as Pompadour and Spangled and their larger cousins the Bare-necked Fruitcrow and Amazonian Umbrellabird. Savanna forest mosaic holds Brown-banded and Spotted Puffbirds, Green-tailed Goldenthroat, Pale-bellied Mourner (still the only site in Venezuela for this species), Rufous-crested Elaenia and groups of Orange-cheeked Parrot and other psittacids, while Moriche Orioles inhabitat the palm swamps. Night trips will usually produce Rufous Nightjar, Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl, Crested and Spectacled Owl as well as commoner species. The relatively poorly known Long-tailed Potoo has been seen regularly too. Mammals include Giant River Otter, Lowland Tapir and Pink River Dolphin. Junglaven accommodation is typical basic Amazonian standard with a generator at night and simple - but good - food. Visits are generally limited to the dry season as high water levels close access to some parts of the property. Access is by commercial flight to Puerto Ayacucho and light plane to Junglaven Camp.


Specialities and endemics

S = semi-endemic or regional endemic

Grey-legged Tinamou S
Zigzag Heron
Agami Heron
Harpy Eagle
Crested Eagle
Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle
Blue-throated Piping-Guan
Crestless Curassow
Grey-winged Trumpeter
Giant Snipe
Tepui Parrotlet S
Rufous-winged Ground-Cuckoo S
Long-tailed Potoo
Rufous Nightjar
Festive Coquette
Black-bellied Thorntail
Racquet-tailed Coquette
Green-tailed Goldenthroat
White-chested Emerald S
Brown-banded Puffbird
Spotted Puffbird
Rusty-breasted Nunlet
Tawny-tufted Toucanet
Ivory-billed Ara?ari
Cinnamon-rumped Foliage-gleaner
Cherrie's Antwren S
Rufous-bellied Antwren
Spot-backed Antwren
Dot-backed Antbird
Rufous-crowned Elaenia
Cinnamon-crested Spadebill
Pale-bellied Mourner
White-browed Purpletuft
Spangled Cotinga
Pompadour Cotinga
Amazonian Umbrellabird
Bare-necked Fruitcrow
Guianan ??-of-the-Rock
Yellow-crested Manakin S
Saffron-crested Tyrant-Manakin S
Azure-naped Jay S
White-bellied Dacnis

2. Bookings

Please book through:-
BIRDING VENEZUELA
Caracas, Venezuela
Tel. +58-212-2665766 / 2667467 / 2662445
Fax. +58-212-2667944
email: birdingvenezuela@gmail.com
http://www.birdingvenezuela.com (coming soon!)
For more information on birding in Venezuela, see:-
http://www.birdvenezuela.com

*Currently over 5% of Birding Venezuela's profits directly support conservation projects in Venezuela. This year we are pleased to finance the Venezuelan Audubon
Society's bird migration and banding project in Henri Pittier National Park
in the fall of 2005. We always welcome suggestions for future funding.
*Birding Venezuela is Venezuela Audubon Society's official wildlife tour
operator