Oilbirds | Miles To The Wild

The Oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis), locally known as the guácharo, are birds found in the northern areas of South America (including the island of Trinidad in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago). Nesting in colonies in caves, they are nocturnal feeders on the fruits of the oil palm and tropical laurels. They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating birds in the world (the kakapo is flightless). They forage at night, with specially adapted eyesight. However they navigate by echolocation in the same way as bats, and are one of the few kinds of birds known to do so. They produce a high-pitched clicking sound of around 2 kHz that is audible to humans.

DSCN1264 DSCN1251 IMG_3186a Although they have a large range in the northern part of South America, there are a few Oilbird caves which are easier to access such as Chontal near Mindo, Rio Claro in Colombia & Asa Wright’s in Trinidad.

oilbird

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VIDEOS

Mindo Oilbirds showing the love!

Night flights

There aren’t many places around the world where Oilbirds can be seen so easily so I wanted to visit the Cueva de los Tayos Oilbird Cave which is about a 90 minute drive from Mindo. It can be easily slotted in after a visit to Angel Paz if you have your own transport as the Oilbirds can be seen any time of day. We saw them around 1pm-ish, a time when other birds would be taking a siesta.

The route out to El Chontal where the cave is located is pretty interesting as it passes a few small villages and some nice farmland. Most of it is a good tarred road but there are some rough roads to travel so if you are renting a car, choose accordingly. I thought it best to leave the driving to the locals, in our case a driver arranged by Sachatamia Lodge named Daniel.

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After arriving at the farm owner’s house, a lady joined us to show us the way to the cave. We drove for about 10 minutes, then pulled up outside the cave. DSCN1241 DSCN1243 DSCN1244 DSCN1245

It’s less than 5 minutes walking to a place where the Oilbirds can be seen but a bit slippery so I was taking it slow. DSCN1247

It’s pretty dark in there and kind of eerie to see those big eyes staring down at you. The website describes them as “scary” but I thought they were cute! DSCN1251 DSCN1257 DSCN1264 DSCN1266a IMG_3186a