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Nature Calendar in a complete Year -  by Regions

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In the mountain Regions the lack of rain is also felt. At the foot of these mountains the defoliation process begins as moisture saving of the plants to avoid an excessive evapotranspiration, this occurs in the deciduous forest. This phenomenon favors the use of scarce resources to allow the reproduction of many vegetable species, which becomes the best moment to watch the arboreal fauna.

In Guayana it still rains. Their raining pattern is different from the one in the northern part of the country, due to this the great forests still reflect an unstoppable green.


In this month, the rains stop and the chill strikes. With the stopping of the rains, the flow of rivers and streams has reduced little by little in such a way that the flooded lowlands has receded and the wild fauna began to move and concentrate around the tidelands.

The lowering in the flow of many rivers allows the gallery forests to be more easily explored, making that many animal species move into it.

Guayana Shield - January

The fruit of the "Pijiguao" Palm begin to ripen. These are important in the diet of many species, particularly toucans.

On the edges of primary forests, Guianan Saki Monkeys can be frequently seen. They apparently like the fruit of some colonizing plants.

At sundown, Blueheaded Parrots can be seen returning to their roosts. While they fly, they repeat their characteristic metallic call, "hoy, hoy, hoy".

Due to the drought, the vegetation along the roads becomes less dense, affording a better view of those southern landscapes, where the tepuis stand out. These are the famous tabular mountains of Precambrian rocks which form the Guayana Shield.

Throughout the day the strident and sharp sound of the Screaming Piha can be heard. For visitors, it becomes the voice of this region. There is the belief among miners that if one finds the bird, one finds a gold vein. But it is almost impossible to find it, because its plumage blends with the foliage of the trees and its voice seems to come from everywhere, because what is really heard is more than four birds in different places and at different heights.

It is also common to hear, from morning until night, the Whitetailed Trogon, which responds to the imitation of its song.

Groups of birds, specially Turquoise and Paradise Tanagers, can be observed feeding on the fruit of the shrubs and plants of the Melastomatacea family

 

February is the month to watch the birds of the forests that are adjacent with the moor. Early in the morning and before the sun rays rise the temperature, is a spectacle to get into those "midget" forests searching for the wonders that the nature offers

 


The local fauna movements become more noticeable, besides the accumulation of waters to locate those resources that form their diet. On the other hand, in many high mountain areas the weather is still relatively humid , due to the ascent and condensation of the air masses that rise from the lowlands and favor the forming of mixed bird flocks to locate their nourishing resources.

Guayana - February

During February the local fauna movements become more noticeable, besides the accumulation of waders to locate those resources that form their diet. On the other hand, in many high mountain areas the weather is still relatively humid , due to the ascent and condensation of the air masses that rise from the lowlands and favor the forming of mixed bird flocks to locate their nourishing resources.

 

March is the peak month of what is known in the plains as "summer". Throughout this period scarce precipitation is registered all along the country, which forces to an intense defoliation of the vegetable species including those in the cloudy forest. That leaf carpet determines a greater concentration of bugs on the floor, because in the canopy the excess of light and radiation do not allow the development of a rich life.


In the whole Venezuela the fauna restricts its activities to the beginning of the morning, ending of the afternoon or to the night to avoid the high temperatures that are produced during noon.

 

Guayana Shield March in Brief

Many species of shrubs from the Melastomatacea genus are in bloom, which offers an excellent opportunity for observing groups of Tanagers.

The Redbilled Scythebill is singing in pairs, inspecting tree trunks and branches for larvae and insects. It likes decomposed trunks very much.

The Capuchinbird is in activity with its spreading. It does it while posed on the higher branches of the forest's canopy.

Another bird active in its display is the Bearded Bellbird. It is thus called because of its resonant metallic hammering song. The Bellbirds emit several pealings separated by silences of minutes, to later resume singing a repeated series of the same.

The Great Tinamou and its close relative, the Little Tinamou, are looking for mates. They are easily recognizable by their song. The former begins with a series of sounds which are imitated by the latter.

The Conck Bean Tree is flowering. It is very sought after for its aromatic bean, used in the manufacture of perfume and tobacco and in regional cooking.

The Rubber Tree, legendary for the use of its latex, is in bloom.

The Guianan CockoftheRock is nesting and with luck a female might be seen flying in search of food.

The Purplebreasted and the Pompadour Cotingas are busy displaying in the treetops at sundown.

 

April is the end of the drought. Many couples of parrots and macaws must be taking care of the hole where they will nest in the up coming season for two months already. However, in this month, the custody of this hole is done with more insistence due to the proximity of the reproductive period.

The flows of the rivers and streams are in their lowest level, forcing many fish to go the surface. This situation is profited by the Cranes the Gray Cranes, the GrayNecked WoodRail, such is the case of the Jabirus, which accmulate in large numbers of adults and young, taking advantage in this banquet.


noon most of the country's ecosystems seem "off". Besides, April is the month of the retiring. Thousands of neotropical migratory birds will make their moving towards North America to begin there their reproductive period.

In what respects to the resident fauna, many mammals, reptiles and birds concentrate in the few places where there is the alimentary resource available, some maybe varying their regular diet.

April also is characterized by being the period of greater birth of bat species.

 

Guayana Shield - April

The Little Chachalaca is mating, and the male can be heard singing its three resonant notes which it repeats at morning and afternoon.

The Long John which grows in the South finished bearing fruit, while the one from the North continues.

The Whitebrowed Purpletuft moves around the treetops feeding on insects.

The Swallowwing perches on some dry or bare branch catching insects.

The Black Nunbird is courting and its song can be heard surprising everyone because of its high volume.

The Scarlethorned Manakin is also courting. In the display ritual, the male flies between two branches while it emits a metallic crack, and ends with fast movements from side to side.

  

With May comes the water, and with them, the insects, the birds and the amphibian sing in unison, as if they were celebrating the arrival of the resource of life. In this month and during the next bimester the greater amount of nesting will occur in almost all the tropic's representative ecosystems.

In the Regions, the Hummingbirds fly at amazing speeds like wanting to take nectar from every available flower in their zone of forage.

The plains come to live at night, owls actively hunting to feed their pigeons can be seen. The most dramatic change occurs when the savannas get dressed with an extraordinary green color that does


not remind at all the desolation of the late drought.

The rivers south of the Orinoco recover slowly from the scarce flow they use to have. The great water falls nourish from the rains to form huge free fall flows.

The most transcendent event takes place in the country's great caves. There the oil bird (Steatornis Caripensis) concentrates in numerous groups to begin their reproductive period, as well as most of the bat species, that can be observed in their brood's birth and nursing period.

 

 

Guayana Shield - May

The fruit of the CannonBall Tree ripens and falls to the ground, emitting a strong and disagreeable smell.

The Giant Armadillo gives birth to its young, usually two.

In midmorning two or three Swallowtailed Kites can be seen gliding through the sky.

In the upper branches of the highest trees, the Plumbeous Kite perches, ready to catch prey.

 

In June it rains all over Venezuela, this is why it is commonly known as the "winter month" or "of the water entrance".

All along the Caribbean coast the sea turtles begin their spawn period, being this an ancestral behavior of the surviving species.

In the plains, and product of a more accented sedimentation from the Andes, the rivers get colored in different tones that go from dark brown to brick red, being this haulage the ingredient that will stimulate life in this area.

If up North it rains everyday, in the South it rains


the whole day. Guayana is a sole scream of adult and young parrots and macaws directing to the sleeping and eating places. Whit this begins the dispersion of many species to the areas distant from the damp areas. Now there is water everywhere.

In the Orinoco, the beaches and sand banks disappear under the growth and the waters go back into the shallow lagoons that are all along the great river, which will serve as a breeding place for many fish species, which will feed from seeds and small plants that are in the bottom of the lagoon.

 

 

Guayana Shield - June

Due to the abundant nutrients in the soil, the forests tend to improve their development, due to a relative abundance of nutrients in the soil. This is because of the haulage of the rivers.

Monkeys are enjoying an increase in breeding.

Large flocks of parrots can be observed flying through the forest and emitting their typical screeches.

Period of birth of the Giant Armadillo.

The increase in precipitation becomes more notorious in this region of the country. In the cloud forest the leaves of the trees are more abundant and the undergrowth is enriched by colonies of palms and heliconias. The ground is covered by moss and ferns.

 

In July the raining period begins. During this months, the rainfalls seem neverending, however, in the Coastal Region and due to a particular regime, a dry period will begin and it will last until mid September.

In the bird world, the plumage of the immature, juvenile, subadult and adult get confused all over. The great number of pigeons actively looking for seeds, fruits or an insect represent an identification challenge for the observer.


Both the plains and Guayana are saturated with water. Now the general animal behavior is oriented towards the search of the few dry places such as a high branch of a gallery forest, medium height mountains or even the "bank from the plains".

 

 

Guayana Region - July

The "Chata" Turtle prefers shallow waters, near the borders of rivers, to nest.

The Papilio androgeus and Caligo illioneus butterflies are abundant.

 

During August, the beaches of the Caribbean serve as a scenery for the arrival of migratory shorebirds of North America. These birds concentrate around the coastal damp areas where, among Flamingos and Herons, they feed from the rich fauna of the salty waters.

In Guayana and in the rest of the country a great silence is felt all the time. With a good weather for


the breeding, and the ending of the reproductive period, most of the birds seem to rest from the active months with a silent behavior.

On the other hand, in the Western coast of Venezuela, in Falcón State, a short rain regime begins.

 

 

Guayana Region August

The Freshwater Otter begins its reproduction season.

The Marmosa demerae areniticola, a small marsupial which inhabits the tepuis, is also breeding.

The Long John begins to bear fruit. Its flowers and fruits attract tanagers and honeycreepers.

In the Orinoco Delta, the Greater Largebilled SeedFinch and the Cinnamon Attila, are singing and actively defending their territory.

 

September is the best month for the watching of frogs and toads. A ride along any damp area would be impressive because of the quantity of singing and croaking at dusk and dawn.

The birds begin the formation of "flocks of mixed species".


In the plains any mata surrounded by water serves as rookery for the nesting. During the following months its a spectacle watching how these "maternities" begin leaving their space for the reproduction of waders. This process will last until the endings of December.

 

Guayana Region September

Around this time many birds have finished raising their young and begin to form large feeding flocks.

The Harpy Eagles can be seen flying over large jungle extensions. Their young take many months to leave the nest, and both parents take turns feeding it. This species is particularly common in the Reserva Forestal de Imataca.

 

Regarding the visits, the arrival from the Northern hemisphere of bird flocks searching for a refuge towards the south. One can see them crossing the lower areas of the Regions to continue their pass towards South America. At least some 70 species of birds, that include Shorebirds, Gulls, Swallows, Songbirds and Hawks lodge in the ecosystems of our country or pass through them on their way to


other warm areas of the tropic.

The gallery forest disguises of nests of different sizes. Platforms with sticks, gramine balls and feathers, bags hanging in an exposed branch and even fifty centimeters diameter platforms of dry sticks in the lower branches of the bushes. When in the interior of this last one two white color eggs can be observed, that indicates the presence of the Rufescent TigerHeron.

 

Guayana Region October

The Floss Silk Tree begins to flower.

 

November is known as the month of the lowering, even when the dry season begins in the whole country, in some areas isolated patterns continue. In the Venezuelan Eastern coast it rains, in the Andes during the morning the atmosphere will be cleaner, and in the plains almost the whole savanna seems flooded, but without so much precipitation.

 


end later than the rest of the ecosystems.

In the plains the water begins to stop and the damp areas begin to dry gradually, being this a process that ends in April. However, this soil continues to receive an important flow of those rivers that pour their waters through the eastern side of the Andean Region.

 

Guayana Region November

The Ruffle Palm is in bloom. The fruit of this palm attracts parrots and macaws.

The Bearded Bellbird is nesting.

In the Sierra de Lema, where "La Escalera" or ascent towards the Gran Sabana is found, the phenomenon of feeding flocks of mixed birds occurs.

The leaves begin to fall in the deciduous forests. In the majority of species, flowering occurs after the trees are bare. This process of defoliation in deciduous forests is accompanied by an exodus of small mammals (mice, shrews and others) seeking refuge in areas with greater cover.

 

December is famous for bringing in the cold. This happens because of the arrival of the soft trade winds, which move from the East towards the West, or said in other way, in the opposite direction of the great rivers as the Orinoco and the Apure.

In the high areas the temperature lowers significantly in the early morning. In the plains the dry season or "summer" has already begun, and with it, the regular processes of this time of the year are showing: the floggings go away, the Savanna's grasses turn yellow and the water fauna begins to feel the radical changes in the bodies of water.


From November the different migratory warblers may be found in the mountain forests. For many hunting birds this month marks the beginning of the courting and reproduction period, while some aquatic birds are initiating their process of flying with their babies.

The lower forests seem drier everyday and the falling of the leaves from the deciduous trees speeds up.

 

 

Guayana Shield

End of the flowering period of the CannonBall Tree, the Floss Silk Tree and the Ruffle Palm.

At this time it is possible to see, in an emerging tree of the forest, the nest of the Harpy Eagle. During this period the nest is taken care of by the male and female.

The inhabitants of this region say that in this month the jaguar with its babies can be seen, and it is the time in which it becomes more aggressive.


Nature Calendar in a complete Year -  by Regions

 

Nature Calendar - Andean Region Nature Calendar - Coastal- Region Nature Calendar - Guayana Region Nature Calendar

 

Andes - Coastal - Guayana - Los Llanos



 

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