Birding trip report Bolivia Sep/Oct 2000

We rented a Suzuki four wheel-drive car (the usual option in Bolivia) at A.Barron's rent-a-car for 400 USD a week. We had e-mailed with them ( antonioba@cotas.com.bo ) and we were picked up at the airport. The car was good although the tyres could have been better. On one of the last days we had a flat tyre and it was beyond repair then so we had to use the spare tyre instead and buy another spare tyre (second-hand). Note that there is also another company with nearly the same name: Barron's rent-a-car (his brother), as well as a branch of Localiza. But we were happy with this car and the service, esp. the possibility of e-mailing beforehand (all in Spanish however).
We had a good hotel in town, the Asturias, phone (591) 3 33 9611, fax 35 0897. Hotel prices in Santa Cruz (as well as Trinidad, the other lowland town) are higher than in the other parts of Bolivia, even higher than in La Paz. This hotel was 400 Bs for a spacious room (don't take the smaller ones for a bit less) and a swimming pool in a large inner courtyard with some trees. Taxis were everywhere and not expensive.

There are three main birding sites near Santa Cruz:

1. Lomas de Arena. This is a regional nature park with large sand dunes (hence the name) but also some nice open chaco woods and even a small stream and some ponds. Here we got several of our first lowland species like Red-winged Tinamou and Guira Cuckoo but also a few duck species that we did not have later on in Bolivia. It is a lovely and quiet area (except in the weekends I think). To reach this area take the long road indicated on the map, and 50 m before the end (a gate) go left on a dirt road an then after another 50 or 100 m go right again. Then follow this as straight as possible until you see the barrier of the park where you have to pay something and can drive on through the various habitats. These roads are definitely 4WD (to our western standards; taxi's here drive anywhere…). This is LA in the species list.

2. Jardin Botanico, the botanical garden, is more a forest than a garden. And a good forest! I think we had the best chaco woods of the trip right here. See the map how to get here, it is on the right, just after a fly-over across a railway. There is long and stately fence and a large gate which was open and seemed to be open mostly (if it is closed go to the house on the left corner and ask there to be let in). The first part has open lawns with a pond also, and then you follow the broad tracks along the left-hand border fence through the woods, all the way for maybe 2 km until you reach the backside where you see open fields beyond the fence. Here we turned right along that backside and then back again along the other side and fence of this elongated reserve. Hot here! Bring sufficient drinking water. We had nice chaco species, several of which we did not see later on. We had good views of several Arrowhead Piculets, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Brown-crested Flycatcher, White-backed Fire-eye, and others. See column JB in the species list (part 4 of this report).

3. The airport fields and near surroundings was good for some savanna species such as Red-legged Seriema. The airport is about 20 km north of Sta. Cruz. There are some dirt roads to the left before the terminal building, and we had the seriema on the grazed grasslands outside the airport, some 5 km to the North along the main road.


Rio Pirai (PI)
At 47 km from the last big roundabout of the town of Sta. Cruz, or 22 km after a village called San Jose, is a large bridge across the Pirai River. We drove the track left before the river for about 1 km and had some nice additional species of the chaco woodland and transitional habitats, as you get here gradually into the lower reaches of the large dry Andes valley here, the so-called Valles. Spot-backed Puffbird is one of these species. Look for PI in the list, for other species.

Angostura
Along the 'old' road up from Sta. Cruz to Cochabamba, right after the village of Angostura the road goes through a nice gorge where Golden-collared Macaw is often seen but we had no luck. We were probably too late but it was also very crowded as we were there on a special holiday, with lots of colorful dressed people in the riverbed. We only stayed half an hour here.

Cuevas valley (CU)
About 20 km before Samaipata and 100 m before the big sign 'Cuevas 100 km' (100 km from Sta. Cruz) is a side road to the left that leads through a splendid valley to a village called Bellavista (as another sign says at the main road). The habitat is open mountainous with at first steep cliffs (should hold Golden-collared Macaw in Nov./Dec., according to a few locals), and gradually more wooded moist subtropical further on. This seems to me to be a moist subtropical refuge inside the drier Valle region. I had not heard about it but we got this tip from the owner of our lodge in Samaipata (see below). We drove this dirt road for about 7 km. At the cliffs we got good swifts (Ashy-tailed and White-tipped) and the rest of the valley is just a good chance of getting into subtropical woods. See CU in the species list.


Samaipata (SA)

In this small town we had a wonderful birder-friendly lodge (cabañas), La Vispera, at the left backside of town, bordering the hills. A Dutch couple owns it for many years now and they have a large shaded garden for growing several plants, a/o kitchen and medicinal herbs for which people come from the wide surroundings, esp. Sta. Cruz. Other farmers around have gradually adopted their biological practice, and their approach is very matter-of-factly. Their e-mail address is vispera@bibosi.scz.entelnet.bo and phone nr is (591) 9446082. Pieter is a keen conservationist too and gives good advice on where to go birding (like the Cuevas valley described above). He knows Amboro National Park also, from long trekkings, and can act as a guide there, or provide you local guides for this and other destinations. See their info at http://www.travelxs.com/agents/boliviajes/

Their garden and the bushes below it and above it have many of the Valle specialties like Narrow-billed Woodcreeper and Spot-backed Puffbird, and also several Golden-billed Saltator. Another good spot was when driving (walking is possible too) from town up to the chapel on the hilltop or rather in a pass, visible from below, with the best birding just before leaving the town. There, a small artificial watercourse attracted warbling-finches etc. Up on the hill we did not see many birds. So I think that just walking around the backside border of this cozy town or rather village will produce most species (backside as seen from the main road). But if you stay a bit longer you could explore more habitats in the surroundings, and even into Amboro NP of course. Sjoerd Mayer stayed a full week at the lodge and several recordings on his Bolivia CD-ROM are from this place. Many of the species here can also be seen at Comarapa/Tambo. The famous 'pipeline-track' did we explore shortly in the afternoon, but we were not very lucky there. It starts at a short (100 m) dead-end side road to the right, which can be found just before you enter the village from the direction of Sta. Cruz.


Tambo/Comarapa (CO, SI)

At the upper end of the large semi-arid valley along the old road from Sta. Cruz to Cochabamba is the simple village of Comarapa and some 15 km before that (or just 1 km after the hamlet of San Isidro, and behind a sports field to the right) is the Tambo Mission School. This is for children of development-aid workers and missionaries in Bolivia and even South Peru. You can stay there in one of their guestrooms (with shared bathrooms) for 10 dollar per person. We arranged this beforehand by e-mail with one of the teachers, Lenna Gill: lennagill@tambo.scz.net. Also possible is just schooloffice@tambo.scz.net. It is a peaceful place, with quiet nights. You can have meals in the dining hall but all at sharply fixed hours, so we also ate at Comarapa at some days, because this fitted better in our birding. In Comarapa, restaurant Paraiso is the best according to the people of Tambo, and we did not even try the rest. Hotel/restaurant Paraiso has a friendly owner and the meals were simple but good (and very cheap). They recently built new rooms with private bath (the older rooms have shared bathrooms). These are in the premises behind the restaurant, where we chatted a while with a Turquoise-fronted Parrot. On our last visit to the restaurant we asked for a quick look at the rooms and these are really worthwhile, and probably very cheap as well.

This region is a semi-arid habitat at about 1500 m so not too hot, and in fact pleasant year-round (a reason for establishing the school here). But there are two other habitats nearby as well: lush river valleys, and the Siberia cloud forest on the mountain ridge above Comarapa.
The river valleys are famous for the Red-fronted Macaw, a Bolivian endemic and an endangered species. In fear of the possibility of macaw pet trade I won't publicly describe here where exactly we found the species (thanks to other birders, esp. Patricia) but you can personally e-mail me for more information.

The Siberia cloud forest is a wonderful area. As there was virtually no traffic because of the roadblocks further on towards Cochabamba, we had the main road through the forest all to ourselves. Of the three best spots one was right at the beginning, where you see a small pond to the right. A tiny trail leads up into the forest from a small plot of lawn-like grass. Inside the forest we had a/o Bar-bellied Woodpecker, brush-finches, fruiteaters. A second good spot was at the pass-like area (forested as well) several kms further on, before a lonely barrack on the left and just before a side road to the right (the only or first clear side road to the right; it goes to Kuahari). Here we had our first ever Condors. But best of all was that side road down to the right. This eventually would lead to subtropical forest but that's a long way. We stayed in the cloud forest zone along this side road and had White-eared Solitaire (seen after 1 hour trying, at WP01), Plumbeous Tyrant, Rufous-faced Antpitta at 15 meters but not seen (also at WP01). As always in cloud forests, be here early, as the bird activity slows down by mid morning. But we mostly remain as long as possible and you'll pick up new things later on the day as well.

Around Tambo itself there are many interesting species of the semi-arid area and also some common species in the arable fields behind the school. We could freely wander around on the private tracks in these fields. Right opposite the school entrance we had our first White-tipped Plantcutter and several more were at the bushes bordering those arable fields at the back. For the semi-arid specialties we had our best luck along the side road to the right after 5 km when going from Tambo to Comarapa, and just along the first km of this side road: Bolivian Earthcreeper, White-fronted Woodpecker (both at WP02), Stripe-crowned Spinetail, Streak-fronted Thornbird and others.
In the species list the sites are indicates together as CO (of Comarapa), and separately SI for the Siberia cloud forest.

Laguna Alalay at Cochabamba (AL)
On our flight from Sta. Cruz to Trinidad in the Beni lowlands, we had a stop of 4 hours in Cochabamba and took a taxi to drive around the laguna Alalay, a well-known birding site at the border of the city. This was for 2 hours, 40 pesos. At the city-side of the lake many young men aimlessly wandered around and we were glad to have the taxi nearby when we made short walks from the road to the lake border. On the opposite side of the lake it was much quieter and seemingly safer. In general we don't like birding in city parks in these countries, and the city-side of this lake is just like that, so you probably keep better to the other side. We had a good introduction to the high altitude wetland species, although most if not all of them would we see later near La Paz and at Lauca NP in Chile. In several of the small trees around the lake White-tipped Plantcutters were singing.

Our hotel in Trinidad was the Gran Moxos first, but we found the service so bad that we changed the next morning to Mi Residencia I (Uno). The latter was better, with a more professional staff, but both are definitely overpriced at US$68, so it may be better to look at alternatives if you can take some time for it. Probably Mi Residencia II (fax 46 22464) is better value for money but this is further from the plaza. Please mind that for Mi Residencia the prices in the hotel listing on http://www.boliviaweb.com/hotels/trinidad were far below the real prices (less than half), but the manager of Mi R Uno did not seem to bother much when I pointed this out to him. Never mind, there are more hotels here and reportedly a new one at the road to the airport, near the TAM-office.

The plaza and side streets were good for anything from booking a flight to having a haircut (because it's so hot here). The best and prettiest place to eat and drink (with beer bottles in coolers) was La Casona, with a shaded street terrace overlooking the plaza. Although the kitchen was a bit slow (to the fast South American standards), the food was good.

We found the taxi driver who had brought us from the airport to the city careful and keen enough to ask him to take us out the next morning and later in the afternoon again. The morning drive was to the nearby Laguna Suarez and then slowly on for some 4 km more. Trinidad is already a bit more Amazonian than the lowlands around Santa Cruz so we had several new trip ticks. This is a partly wooded savanna area with many pools.
On this trip to the laguna and beyond we had both cardinals (Yellow-billed and Red-crested), Rufous Cachalote, Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Toco Toucan, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Buff-necked Ibis, Great Antshrike and the like. The same morning we also did another road, the one going South to something like Sachojera, and on this 8 km or so drive we added Jabiru a/o. We were back in town at the end of the morning and only went on for another drive late in the afternoon because of the heat these days (was better the next day). We drove the 5 km or so from the airport to the river, where the village Loma Suarez is idyllically situated in a more moist and more wooded area. On this slow drive we added species like Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Spix Guan, White-bellied Seedeater, Undulated Tinamou and Band-tailed Nighthawk. In the species list the birds of this day are lumped with those of the next days further North to the macaws under the code TR (Trinidad), as there is not a big difference in habitat except that further north everything is even more spacious. But believe me that the direct surroundings of Trinidad are good birding so there is no need to do all the birding here on the expensive trip to the Blue-throated Macaw.

Our 2-day trip straight North from Trinidad to that 'barbazul' (Blue-throated Macaw) was a rather weird but impressive one and with success. The car was a normal taxi with airco because of the dust roads where you don't like to open your windows. A normal taxi was possible on these roads in this season indeed, but the car had suspension problems so in the end we had to walk a few kms on a small field road (picking up our only Buff-breasted Sandpipers of the trip) before reaching the place where we would stay the night, a ranch at an exquisite location in a wide river bend with several river dolphins. This was not the official place where we had to stay the night but the car would not allow us to go on. But this ranch was a necessary step in the itinerary as from here you can reach a forest island with the barbazul. We walked on (in far less heat than the day before, luckily), first still with our guide but when we reached another, smaller farm he arranged to have us guided for the last 2 kms by one of the children so that he could help fixing the car, which had electrical problems now as well. So there we walked with a 7-year old girl, who had no problem finding the forest island as it stands out from far in this open savanna. We first thought somehow that we had to wait on the macaws as if this was a night roost only, but after 10 minutes we discovered a pair of this absolute wish-list species Blue-throated Macaw, sitting on a palm front at the edge of the forest island. They were feeding each other palm nuts, and were preening each other. We witnessed this from a safe distance for another 10 minutes before they disappeared into the forest, and we realized how lucky we had been to see them so well. At the farm we understood that there were just two couples of this barbazul here (lots of Blue-and-yellow screaming around though). On our last leg back to the lodge we were given a horse ride, our first ever.

The next morning the driver had to wait for help of a mechanic from the city who would arrive by motorbike later on. So we took our time and wandered around the ranch, or in fact mostly sat at that absolutely wonderful spot in the river bend, on a small concrete plateau right in front of the lodge. The show of river dolphins, macaws (Blue-and-yellow), cayman, wood-rails (Grey-necked), Sunbittern and kingfishers amidst a choir of antbirds, spinetails, doves and others was something that we will never forget. A Green Kingfisher was having troubles a long time with a too big fish, and this was watched most of the time by his bigger nephew Ringed Kingfisher…
With the car fixed in 2 minutes, we had an easy drive back to Trinidad, although slowly (good!) in order to spare the suspension. All in all we had a good trip, mainly thanks to the skill of our guide who could improvise so well. He normally does long trips with fishermen or even small expeditions. His name is Johnny Zambrano Fernandez and he is well known in Trinidad, as just Johnny. He can be reached at johnnyZ@latinmail.com but more regularly at his phone number (591) 46 20431 or cellular 01796573.

Apart from the barbazul we also ticked Golden-collared Macaw on this trip. This was at a small but clear woodland plot with a farm well before the hamlet-with-restaurants San Pedro (which is WP10). At that woodland we also had a piculet (I am still sorting out this).
Another good spot was a small wet pasture to the left just before the access road left to Estancia Betlehem, with several storks, herons and ibises, and Orinoco Goose. At another spot (WP03) where we had breakfast the first day, we ticked two monjita species (White-rumped and White), and had a group of four Toco Toucans displaying well. This was in an open savanna with scattered palms.
At WP09 the road crosses a small river, this may be worthwhile to check a bit longer. We saw a river dolphin and Anhinga. The more North you get along this road the opener the scenery becomes and here we had Greater Rhea which were camouflaged by the slightly similar termite hills that are all around.

GPS-waypoints

List of waypoints measured by GPS on a trip to Bolivia, N Chile and Buenos Aires province Argentina in Sept/October 2000.

Waypoints of sites with vulnerable macaw species have been left out.

Data are in WGS84. "W 001" below = W01 in the text of this report.

W 001 S17°49'51,85" W064°42'51,85"
W 002 S17°58'43,42" W064°28'30,54"
W 003 S14°23'42,49" W064°52'19,64"
W 004 S14°02'29,14" W064°50'33,91"
W 005 S14°03'01,04" W064°51'24,25"
W 006 S14°04'21,69" W064°53'00,97"
W 007 S14°09'42,87" W064°56'38,61"
W 008 S14°10'19,29" W064°57'19,19"
W 009 S14°12'21,36" W064°56'30,31"
W 010 S14°20'05,83" W064°54'07,30"
W 011 S10°55'37,31" W065°57'52,72"
W 012 S10°55'51,64" W065°54'44,54"
W 013 S10°55'40,11" W065°55'15,60"
W 014 S10°55'35,34" W065°56'30,05"
W 015 S11°00'01,36" W066°02'18,78"
W 016 S11°00'08,60" W066°03'01,90"
W 017 S11°00'15,80" W066°03'03,55"
W 018 S16°21'28,43" W067°46'06,77"
W 019 S16°18'42,25" W067°54'11,06"
W 020 S16°17'10,40" W067°51'00,97"
W 021 S18°18'07,72" W069°35'40,57"
W 022 S18°22'45,19" W069°38'21,97"
W 023 S18°26'31,39" W069°45'34,83"
W 024 S18°27'30,08" W069°47'01,87"
W 025 S16°11'30,69" W068°45'16,22"
W 026 S16°12'52,86" W068°40'44,04"
W 027 S35°01'37,74" W057°31'03,52"
W 028 S36°23'28,82" W056°48'43,73"
W 029 S36°23'47,93" W056°48'59,65"
W 030 S36°26'54,45" W056°57'19,71"
W 031 S36°28'40,96" W056°59'12,99"
W 032 S36°29'19,94" W057°00'14,95"
W 033 S36°29'46,54" W057°00'55,83"
W 034 S36°23'08,65" W056°43'39,05"