Note About a Bird Dormitory in San José del Guaviare, Guaviare

Abstract

During the second week of January 1992, during a visit to the capital of Guaviare, we had the opportunity to record the activity of an extraordinary dormitory of four species of birds of the family Icteridae, whose population consisted of approximately 3000 individuals.

The birds gathered on a corpulent ornamental Bambusal located within the urban area and about 400 m from the Guaviare River. The species in order of abundance were Molothrus bonariensis, Cacius cela, Scaphidura oryzivora and Psarocolius viridis.

As a method to calculate the total population and of each of the species, we made counts in the evenings when the birds arrived at the dormitory and in the early mornings when they left the site. To facilitate the counting of individuals at peak arrival times, a video camera was used to allow a more accurate count of the number of birds per species.