The region comprises two disjunct mountain ranges in northern Venezuela, separated by the San Juan river: the coastal and low-lying mountains of the central and eastern Paria peninsula, and, further inland, the Cordillera de Caripe. Cerro Peonía lies at the western end of the Cordillera de Caripe, Cerro Turumiquire (the highest peak) in the middle, and Cerro Negro and Los Cumbres de San Bonifacio at the eastern end. The large Paria peninsula projects east from the mainland towards Trinidad (Secondary Area s016), and at 400-1,300 m supports lower and upper montane evergreen forest (rich in epiphytes, bromeliads, ferns and Heliconia spp.) with elfin forest on the peaks. These forest types are at lower altitudes than on the adjacent Cordillera de Caripe. Oilbird Steatornis caripensis, which nests in this area (and from which its specific name derives), is a major seed disperser and crucial to the biodiversity of these forests (A. Grajal in litt. 1993).

All the restricted-range species occur in the now much-reduced montane evergreen forest, a number being forest-edge specialists and occurring also in secondary habitats. The species are primarily found above 400 m, the altitude at which lower montane forest is present on the Paria peninsula, but the same species occur at higher altitudes on the Cordillera de Caripe. This is best demonstrated by the two subspecies of Premnoplex tatei, the Paria form being found up to 1,200 m, and the Caripe one occurring from 1,200 m upwards.

Over half of the restricted-range species in this EBA occur also in the adjacent Cordillera de la Costa Central (EBA 033). Ten species are present in the Cordillera de Caripe, and eight occur in the Paria peninsula. Just one species is found solely in the Cordillera de Caripe, and two are confined to the peninsula - but an additional two are endemic to both areas, and thus these two centres of endemism are combined into a single EBA. The number of Andean-derived bird species in the various coastal mountain ranges decreases eastwards, so leaving the peninsula relatively impoverished (Bond et al. 1989).

Cracraft (1985) described the Caripe - Paria region as including 45 endemic subspecies, 13 of which are confined to the Paria peninsula. One restricted-range form, Caracas Tapaculo Scytalopus (latebricola) caracae, which occurs on Cerro Turumiquire, has recently been recognised as specifically distinct (Ridgley and Tudor 1994, though it is not so treated here), and with further work other taxa may be raised to species level.

The Cordillera de Caripe is under severe human pressure which, through widespread clearance for agriculture and pasture, has resulted in extensive degradation of the montane forest such that little remains undisturbed. Even in El Guácharo National Park the agricultural practices of local campesinos (forest clearance, repeated burning and removal of understorey for coffee) have reduced the park's humid montane forest to a small percentage of its former extent. On the Paria peninsula, although the national park embraces most of the remaining forest, changes in agricultural practices have led to increased forest degradation (Wege and Long 1995). The Paria peninsula is just south of an enormous natural gas field, with a pipeline and a major refinery planned for the middle of the peninsula (C. J. Sharpe in litt. 1997). This project, which is proceeding apace, is still in urgent need of an impact assessment, the recommendations from which must be followed to prevent an environmental disaster.

Each of the six species (largely) confined to this EBA are considered threatened (four are classified as Critical), and five Key Areas for their conservation were recently identified (Wege and Long 1995). Hylonympha macrocerca and Myioborus pariae are found at only a handful of localities on the Paria peninsula (the most important being Cerro Humo), and Basileuterus griseiceps is confined to the Cordillera de Caripe where it is severely threatened by almost total deforestation and currently known only from the El Guácharo National Park area, primarily around Cerro Negro (Boesman and Curson 1995). The other three species are more widespread within the EBA, Campylopterus ensipennis being found also on Tobago (Secondary Area s017).

Both the Paria peninsula and El Guácharo National Parks offer formal protection to the restricted-range (and threatened) species, but habitat destruction is still occurring at a frightening rate within them.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: Caripe-Paria region. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/32 on 22/11/2024.