Bearly Believable – Birding Bolivia (1 Viewer)

[Farnboro John]

This trip started as an alternative to a failed attempt to assemble a team of four to go to Mongolia for Snow Leopard and Pallas’s Cat (we are still trying and welcome any serious interest). Steve Babbs had been to Bolivia 20 years previously and in several trips to South America had racked up a good bird list and some tasty mammals – but still needed a bunch of cats which seemed from trip reports to be almost routine for Nick’s Adventures visiting their exclusive access Jaguarland reserve North of Santa Cruz de la Sierras and Kaa Iya National Park, to the South-east of Bolivia’s most important city apart from the capital.

Never one to waste any part of an opportunity Steve devised an itinerary divided into four basic parts: an initial four nights in Santa Cruz recovering from the long series of flights and visiting the Botanical Gardens and Curichi la Madre reserve; then five nights at the Yungas location of the Refugio los Volcanes followed by two excursions with Nick’s Adventures to the aforementioned Jaguarland and Kaa Iya. Between each element we had a night in Santa Cruz, plus two nights at the end, when we paid another visit to the Botanical Gardens. In addition to recovery time this gave us a reasonable chance of not being hampered by the occasional roadblock demonstrations by which the citizenry indicate their opinion of the government: in particular the extra day at the end made it unlikely we would miss our flight home.

Route out and back was London City – Frankfurt – Sao Paulo – Santa Cruz.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

6-7 August: Next time I say let’s go someplace like Bolivia, let’s go to Bolivia!

The security staff at London City Airport decided to do a full search of my hand luggage which profited them nothing. We’d left plenty of time so it didn’t bother me either. The Embraer E195 of Dolomiti Airlines had more leg room than any other aeroplane we travelled on but no other amenities: for an hour’s flight it didn’t need any.

At Frankfurt, as transit passengers we had no need to go through immigration and our baggage was through-ticketed – allegedly! With two connections and three airlines involved although ticketing was all Lufthansa we were very conscious (from bitter experience) that not all luggage reaches the destination and not only did we have emergency clothing along with absolutely all our birding gear in hand luggage but we had cross-packed, with half my clothes in Steve’s case and vice versa. Asking various people in the airports we passed through whether or not we could rely on the through-ticketing we received answers as follows: yes, no, maybe, I don’t know, you’ll need to get it back at Sao Paulo but otherwise OK….. We crossed our fingers at Frankfurt and had a beer before boarding a Boeing 747-8 for the long overnight flight to Brazil. Then we crossed them again for two and a half hours in the company of GOL in a Boeing 737-8 MAX (yes, the one that developed a very bad reputation a few years ago). We landed safely at Santa Cruz and recovered both our cases – no probs.

Nick’s Adventures actually picked us up as a current banking crisis in Bolivia had led them to offer us a discount for cash payment of our trip balance and then to protect it by giving us a lift to our hotel, which was useful. As we left the airport (first two birds on the Bolivia list Feral Pigeon and House Sparrow, with the native and universal Rufous Hornero a close third and my first tick of the trip) we swept past grasslands with half a dozen Greater Rheas ambling about and some Southern Lapwings standing tall amid a few splatters of rain that increased as we headed into the city. I’ll try and remember to embolden ticks for me (mammals in red) and mention ticks for Steve, who didn’t need a whole lot whereas the only non-new stuff for me had been ticked in North America or the Falkland Islands.

Southern Lapwing was a bird I’d waited 37 years for after missing a vagrant in the Falklands that was present when I reached the islands but left before I discovered how easily I could have hitched from Mount Pleasant to Stanley. Though fully expected on this trip it was still a satisfying get-back.

On the way into the city our driver pointed out a Guira Cuckoo on a power line that was big and close enough for me to tick, but that was the last identifiable bird before we reached the Hotel 7 Calles, our base for the initial phase as well as the overnights between subsequent episodes (but not the last two nights). Room 107 was to become almost home-like and I have to say after initial ambivalence (the water temporarily running out soon after our arrival didn’t help) our returns involved increasing enthusiasm for its reasonable spaciousness, air conditioning and quiet.

Culture shock: finding the Bolivian notices in bathrooms everywhere instructing that used toilet paper was to be placed in the bin, not the toilet. Bigger shock: forgetting once in a while and having to decide whether to recover it or just flush it…..

Having paid our trip balance and booked in, scoring a familiar Black Vulture from the room window, we went for a walk. We had to grab some lunch in a café, scout the local shops, get some bottled water and then set off again to check out restaurants and visit the cathedral with its small leafy park holding Yellow-chevroned Parakeets – upgrading my feral Florida tick from 1988 to wild birds. The weather had improved and we enjoyed views of the cathedral and parakeets in warm or even hot sunshine.

Our eventually selected restaurant was the El al Jibe and we found ourselves back there on each visit to Santa Cruz, partly because it was good, friendly and welcoming and had cold bottled beers as well as nice food and partly because it was straight up the same street as our hotel for half a mile limiting the chances of getting lost.

John

Cathedral Basilica of St Lawrence, Santa Cruz de la Sierras

 

[mjh73]

Looking forward to the rest of this John, Bolivia is high on my bucket list!

 

[Farnboro John]

8 August: Raindrops keep falling on my head

Breakfast was an omelette. There were rolls as well but this early in the trip I managed to withstand their appeal and stick to my low-carb diet. Steve asked the hotel receptionist to call us a taxi to the Botanical Gardens (70 Bolivianos or about £7) and having bombed up with water we set off into increasing drizzle on a forecast of drizzle with dry spells or increasingly wet with downpours depending which forecast you believed. It turned out the downpour one was right and as we entered the Gardens (10 Bolivianos each on this occasion) the sky unleashed its worst. We found a bench under a shelter and birded from there until it slacked off, when we ventured out to see what we could find. In very poor light under heavy cloud and thick canopied trees we’d seen Purplish Jays, Chopi Blackbirds, Creamy-bellied Thrushes and Thrush-like Wrens whose vocabulary seemed quite wide and inclined to keep making us think we’d got something different! In addition to whatever birds, we had some primate targets with White-eared Titi and Azara’s Night Monkeys, Bolivian Horned Capuchins and Black-tailed Marmosets all theoretically possible – though whether other primates would feel as inclined as us to brave the weather was anyone’s guess.

Our first stop was the lagoon near the gate, in which we could see the head of a caiman – we believe Yacare Caiman is the resident away from the Pantanal – and a few basking turtle sp as well as a bunch of water birds: familiar Great White, Cattle and Snowy Egrets with Black-crowned Night Herons, Limpkin that I’d seen in Florida and a Cocoi Heron, a species I’d found as a vagrant in Port Stanley; new Neotropic Cormorant, Yellow-headed Caracara and Crested Oropendola. On the beach a Red-capped Cardinal hopped about, red cap brilliant in the dull light.

As we passed numbers of feeding Yellow-chevroned Parakeets along the lagoon rim, Steve reassured me they were common and there was no need to strain taking pictures on a duff day. In return one of the parakeets accurately aimed a stream of white excreta onto his trouser leg, an avian souvenir he didn’t appreciate. After a bit of a chuckle I provided some tissue to clean it off. Well most of it anyway…

We started off into the less formal area of the Gardens via the nursery and compost heaps, both haunted by birds exploiting the attracted invertebrates and any seeds fallen from nearby trees. Sayaca and Silver-beaked Tanagers showed immediately and a showy Woodcreeper foraged on tree trunks. I wasn’t sure about it then and I’m not absolutely positive about it now but I think the photo shows Ocellated Woodcreeper. The only other possibility seems to be Buff-throated but I think the bill isn’t strong enough and the bird too small and compact.

As the rain faded to drizzle and we plodged along on increasingly clingy mud we saw Tropical Parulas and our first Blue-crowned Trogon as well as Scaly-headed Parrots and more Oropendolas. A venture down a side track resulted in retraced steps when it faded into woodland but a brief cut through to the far side of the reserve produced Masked Yellowthroat and Red-crowned Ant-tanager before another out-and-out cloudburst led us to occupy another roofed bench we found by a birding tower to which access was forbidden.

John

Thrush-like Wren
Neotropic Cormorant
Red-capped Cardinal
Great White Egret
Ocellated Woodcreeper
Sayaca Tanager

 

[Farnboro John]

Some more photos taken in the rain!

John

Grey-necked Wood Rail
Cocoi Heron and Neotropic Cormorant
Black-crowned Night Heron
Snowy Egret
Creamy-bellied Thrush

 

[pbjosh]

I'm off to Bolivia shortly, will be curious to read more about how you got on.

FWIW, your Woodcreeper looks to be Black-banded. The breast banding isn't super prominent in all subspecies / over all the range, but it is visible in your photo, and the structure fits.

 

[Farnboro John]

I'm off to Bolivia shortly, will be curious to read more about how you got on.

FWIW, your Woodcreeper looks to be Black-banded. The breast banding isn't super prominent in all subspecies / over all the range, but it is visible in your photo, and the structure fits.

Think I might agree with you after looking at the guide. Bill length particularly seems to fit better. We took a long time to plump for Ocellated but I can change it. Any comment Steve?

John

 

[temmie]

Yes a Black-banded Woodcreeper. Looking forward to read more!

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

And I just got back from there. Looking forward to your report.

 

[Farnboro John]

Once the weather again improved we encountered a small troop of Bolivian (aka Azara’s) Horned Capuchins and watched these too for a while until they moved into dense cover and became very difficult. Back on the main drag down the centre of the reserve and glancing down a wide but very muddy side track we saw a South American Coati foraging in the open, though not particularly close. We watched it and took some pictures over about ten minutes before it ambled into the woods and disappeared.

It wasn’t all that long after that we found a few Black-tailed Marmosets feeding their way quite quickly through some fairly open tree branches and managed to watch and photograph them – we never saw any more so that was quite lucky.

Towards the bottom end of the reserve we ran across a Crimson-crested Woodpecker which obligingly sat for pictures and a Rufous-tailed Jacamar that was great to see but was camera-shy. Returning up the track along the reserve fence we found some more monkeys and to our astonishment it was three Azara’s Night Monkeys! They are so named because they are nocturnal so we felt very lucky indeed to encounter them in admittedly dull daylight and speculated the poor weather was what had tempted them out.

Soaking wet and with shoes clumped with mud we made our way up the reserve border and added Red-crested Finch, Grey-necked Wood Rail, Picui Ground Dove and Wattled Jacana to the day list and of course my life list. Unfit and with a damaged left ankle playing up I may have been a bit of a trial to Steve in the latter stages of this march but unlike me he made no complaint. Arriving back at the gate we realized that to catch the bus back to the city centre we would have to cross the dual carriageway that passed the Botanical Gardens. Bolivian traffic acknowledges few rules but we were actually helped by the very close presence of a toll booth which meant everyone had to slow down, giving us a good chance of surviving the crossing: a raised concrete central reservation offered useful refuge halfway.

Once we were across it was a short tramp to the nearest bus stop past a long queue of trucks hoping for diesel at a filling station: the bus fare of 2 Bolivianos each seriously undercut the outbound taxi price albeit leaving us with an acceptably short walk back to the hotel at the other end. Hot showers without the water failing part way through restored us to the point of heading for the El al Jibe and a couple of Prost beers to accompany a solid dinner. Our verdict was that despite the weather we had managed to have a pretty decent day, with particularly some great mammals.

John

Azara's Horned Capuchin X 2
South American Coati
Black-tailed Marmoset X 2

 

[Farnboro John]

And to finish the day off:

Scaly-headed Parrot
Crimson-crested Woodpecker
Azara's Night Monkey
Picui Ground Dove
El al Jibe Menu

 

[Steve Babbs]

Another Azara's Night Monkey.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

We didn't have that selection of mammals at the Gardens. But I was surprised to see a couple Capybaras there.

 

[Steve Babbs]

We may have moaned about the poor weather but I think it probably went in our favour with what we saw when we weren't sheltering from the rain.

 

[Steve Babbs]

Think I might agree with you after looking at the guide. Bill length particularly seems to fit better. We took a long time to plump for Ocellated but I can change it. Any comment Steve?

John

Woodcreepers have never been a group that I have found easy and, not having been to South America for 13 years prior to this, I am feeling rather rusty so happy to accept the guidance of those better qualified than me to say.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Another Azara's Night Monkey.View attachment 1606575

If I'm honest I'm not much sold on primates but I do have a soft spot for these, but seriously, why waste a great name like Douroucouli?

 

[Farnboro John]

If I'm honest I'm not much sold on primates but I do have a soft spot for these, but seriously, why waste a great name like Douroucouli?

Because I had no idea that was what I was looking at!

John

 

[Farnboro John]

9 August: El Curichi la Madre

Breakfast was Mandarin juice followed by a ham omelette and finally yoghourt. Afterwards reception ordered us another taxi (actually the same one giving us a sneaking suspicion someone’s brother/nephew/father/boyfriend was getting some bonus business) this time to a smaller reserve within the city boundary called Curichi la Madre. This was reputed to also have our wishlist White-eared Titi Monkeys as well as Brown-throated Three-toed Sloths and a bunch of good birds.

The taxi driver had a little difficulty finding which side of the reserve had the entrance but after a few blind alleys he managed to get to the right place where helpful staff sounded for a while as if they were going to insist on guiding us. Either we’d misunderstood or they looked at our appearance – typical birder gear-behung slight dishevelment – and decided we probably knew what we were doing, because they released us onto the trails without accompaniment.

Almost immediately we were into a feeding flock moving through thick bush below the main canopy from which we managed to sort a pair of Bolivian Slaty Ant-shrikes, a pair of Moustached Wrens, more Tropical Parulas and Silver-beaked Tanagers and Thrush-like Wrens. Steve had a piculet that I missed and from the Bolivia field guide weighing down my waistcoat pocket reckoned it was Ocellated Piculet. Thagt turned out to be wrong and all the piculets we saw were White-wedged – according to one of our Nick’s Adventures guides, Hugo.

Strolling on Steve found a Fork-tailed Woodnymph perched up and despite a continuing shortage of light (though dry the day was cloudy and quite windy: in the woodland the wind wasn’t a big issue apart from the rushing sound of leaves not helping with listening for calls, but it wasn’t all that warm) we managed to get some shots of it. There were a couple of wide vehicle track trails through the reserve and various loops off them that were narrower including one that involved a low but precarious cable-supported boardwalk in need of a bit of maintenance.

Before we reached the cableway we found a reserve signboard showing cartoon representations of some animals that one might see: a sloth, a toucan, an Armadillo and a Red Fox. Hang on – what??? Someone tasked with artwork must have gone to the internet and either googled cartoon fox directly or just looked for “fox” – it’s a pound to a penny such a search would yield Red Fox at the top of the list. Whoops.

Teetering along the aerial boardwalk, avoiding the odd broken board, we came across a showy female Blue-crowned Trogon and another Rufous-tailed Jacamar escaped my lens. Various butterfly species were less evasive and a male Blue-crowned Trogon also sat for its portrait: a big flock of 50 or so Chopi Blackbirds worked frenetically past us without ever really giving a decent opportunity for a good picture.

We found a large-headed flycatcher with yellow underparts, an absolutely stonkingly massive hook-tipped bill and bold black-and-white striped head. After some discussion and reference to the guide we decided eventually that it was a Boat-billed Flycatcher. A Squirrel Cuckoo flitting through the upper branches was easier to identify but more than equal to staying out of the way of my camera. Coming downhill round a bend in the track I found a small animal legging it across the track and disappearing into the bushes: luckily a second then followed it by emerging from reeds on the other side and happily it paused in view long enough for photos: Brown Agouti onto the list and into the can.

Further on another largish Woodcreeper had us once more thumbing through the field guide to decide this time we really did have a Buff-throated Woodcreeper and I have photos which I’ve since compared with both the Botanical Gardens bird and internet pictures. It’s always a conundrum: do you watch and try to record features in your minds eye, get the guide out and look back and forth at the bird and plates or whip the camera up and rattle off shots for later perusal? I don’t think there is a single right answer, it depends on circumstances. I do know the feeling of having got it wrong no matter which option I’ve gone for: on this occasion perhaps I got it right.

Another small bird gave us a similar opportunity and for me the sub-optimal result: an ID but no picture, this time of Little Woodpecker. Above the canopy Turkey Vultures, familiar from both the USA and Falklands, wheeled in the open sky across gaps in the tree cover. A Black Vulture, high among the Pete Postlethwaite-standard uglies of the bird world, perched against the light on a tree branch over the track for a silhouette shot.

John

Bolivian Slaty Antshrike female and male
Fork-tailed Woodnymph

 

[Steve Babbs]

We presume brown agouti, and the photos do look like this species but there is a lot of dispute over the range, see for example, Brown Agouti (Dasyprocta variegata) — Coke Smith Wildlife

 

[Farnboro John]

More pictures from El Curichi la Madre.

John

Silver-beaked Tanager
Crested Oropendola
Blue-crowned Trogon
Tropical Parula