Note on a bedroom of birds in limits between Colombia and Venezuela

Abstract

In mid-January 1993, we recorded in the town of El Amparo, Venezuela, the activity of a spectacular bedroom of several species of birds that were concentrated in the afternoons on the vegetation of a swampy area near the bed of the Arauca River in limits between Colombia and Venezuela.

During several days we stayed in the city of Arauca, we could see the agglomeration in the afternoons of a huge population of five species of birds from a large surrounding sector that gathered to spend the night concentrated in a small area of approximately two hectares.

The bedroom was in a flooded land and covered homogeneously with a species of Marantaceae, locally called "Platanillo de Laguna". On these relatively fragile grasses, it was possible to observe up to 20 individuals perched on a single plant and in some cases the weight of the birds tilted them until they were horizontal.