Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

General characteristics 

The Cordillera de la Costa Central extends from Carabobo state to Laguna de Tacarigua in Miranda state, along the north coast of Venezuela. In the west, the main cordillera terminates at the Yaracuy river. The EBA also embraces the parallel southern chain, the Cadena del Interior, as well as the Sierra de Aroa to the west of the Yaracuy around San Felipe (and north of the Cojedes headwaters that form the northern boundary of the Cordillera de Mrida, EBA 034), and also some of the isolated higher peaks in Lara and Falcn states (e.g. Cerro Cerrn and Sierra de San Luis).

The isolated mountains and ranges that characterize this EBA support montane evergreen forests that have long been isolated by drier surrounding lowlands from one another and from larger blocks of moist forest to the south (e.g. the Andes and Orinoco basin) (Dinerstein et al. 1995). The forests, which range from 600 to 2,500m, include deciduous to evergreen and elfin forest (Huber and Alarcn 1988).

Restricted-range species 

The birds in this EBA are primarily reliant on montane evergreen forest and forest-edge habitats (mostly above 750m), although secondary vegetation and coffee plantations also feature as important for a number of species. Apart from Laterallus levraudi which appears to be confined to wetland habitats at lower elevations (Collar et al. 1992), all of the restricted-range species occurring in the area are found in the main coastal range; 10 species are present in the adjacent but disjunct Sierra de Aroa, and only Chlorostilbon alice occurs on Cerro Cerrn and the Sierra de San Luis. Cypseloides phelpsi, essentially a bird of the Tepuis (EBA 064), is known in the present region from just one record (possibly of a vagrant) at Rancho Grande in Aragua state (Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978).

One restricted-range form, Caracas Tapaculo Scytalopus (latebricola) caracae, which occurs throughout this portion of the Cordillera, has recently been recognized as a species (Ridgley and Tudor 1994, though it is not so treated here), and further work may raise other taxa to species level. Rufous-lored Tyrannulet Phylloscartes flaviventris, for example, is known from two disjunct populations, in this EBA (and the Cordillera de Mrida, EBA 034) and the Peruvian East Andean foothills (EBA 053), and these almost certainly represent two distinct species (Ridgely and Tudor 1994).

Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Threats and conservation 

There is still extensive forest cover in parts of the Cordillera de la Costa Central, although deforestation has been severe around Caracas, and many other areas have been badly degraded (Huber and Alarcn 1988). Being such a densely populated area, widespread hunting threatens most species of large bird (A. Grajal in litt. 1993), and pollution and drainage threaten most of the wetland habitats.

Just two of the restricted-range species are presently considered threatened: Pauxi pauxi, due to excessive hunting (and, to a lesser extent, deforestation); and Laterallus levraudi, due to the loss of wetland habitats (Collar et al. 1992). Two widespread threatened species also occur in this EBA: Red Siskin Carduelis cucullata (classified as Endangered) and Yellow-faced Siskin Carduelis yarrellii (Vulnerable). Six Key Areas have been identified for the conservation of these threatened species (both restricted-range and widespread): four of the areas (San Esteban, Henri Pittier, Guatopo and Laguna de Tacarigua) are currently designated as national parks (Wege and Long 1995). Other protected areas within this EBA include Pico Codazzi National Monument and Sierra de San Luis, Yurubi, El Avila and Macarao National Parks, although El Avila is under severe threat from an influx to the park of landless people, now estimated at c.100,000 (M.L. Goodwin in litt. 1993), and Laguna de Tacarigua National Park, which is known to have supported a population of Laterallus levraudi, is under severe pressure from tourist-related development (Wege and Long 1995).

Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Cordillera de la Costa Central. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/05/2013

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