E. Shary Almasi

Turpial – Venezuela’s National Bird	Paraguana Peninsula

This past April 2007, Trevor Roberts and I headed south, once again, to visit Isla Margarita, located off he north-east coast of Venezuela. It had been four years since our last visit and it is a location that Trevor enjoys as good shelling is the norm. After a night in Miami we headed for the airport and met with Peggy Williams, our “tour” leader, Mona Pache and her husband, Thomas Kubem, a couple of very enthusiastic young shellers from Freiburg, Germany.

After a long flight to Caracas and a short flight to Isla Margarita, we reached our hotel, checked in, changed and rendevoued in the hotel lobby, a.s.a.p., as Peggy thought we should go shelling, though by this time we had had a long day and it was after five in the evening! But, as everyone knows, a sheller never turns down a chance to look for shells, so we made a quick trip to La Isleta, the fishing village where one finds

Trevor, Mona & Thomas picking thru the shell “dump”, La Isleta village, Isla Margarita

piles of shells discarded by the fishermen. Many of the shells they net are eaten and any that they do not eat are thrown into this wonderful foul smelling array of gastropod and bivalve garbage soup. It’s “dump” shelling at its best! I found a new-to-me turrid [Clathrodrillia gibbosa (Born, 1778)] and a fairly nice Conus spurious Gmelin, 1791 with operculum. Some of the shells taken here were: Fasciolaria tulipa (Linné, 1758), many Plyllonotus margaritensis Abbott, 1958 (with colorful apertures), Crucibulum auricula (Gmelin, 1791), Voluta musica Linné, 1758, very nice Chama macerophylla Gmelin, 1791, Spondylus americanus Hermann, 1781 and Melongena melongena (Linné, 1758). If you didn’t want to shell, you watched the many children playing in the water and on the beach. This seemed to be one location where children didn’t follow us and try to find shells for us.

boat under construction at La Isleta village

After breakfast the next morning we met our driver and guide, Obdulio, who has lived all his life on Margarita. During the day I saw scaled doves, ruddy pidgeons, a beautiful red cardinal (we don’t see them on the U.S. West Coast) and a vermillion flycatcher, lots of pelicans and a few caracaras. Frigate birds are everywhere and the ani’s are easily spotted. I also observed the tropical mockingbird, cormorants and snowy egret.

two “locals” watch us going thru the shell “dump” at La Isleta, Isla Margarita

We had lunch at La Restinga, where Trevor, Mona and Thomas gathered those beautiful red Fasciolaria tulipa hollesteri Weisbord, 1962. At La Restinga we took Donax denticulatus (Linné, 1758) and Fissurella nimbosa (Linné, 1758). Trevor found Lithopoma tuber (Linné, 1758), Chama macerophylla, Arcinella arcinella (Linné, 1767), Pecten jacobaeus (Linné, 1758) and Trachycardium isocardia (Linné, 1758) (he does like those bivalves!). I also caught glimpses of Tellina punicea Born, 1778, T. fausta Pultney, 1799, Pitar dione (Linné, 1758), Tivela mactroides (Born, 1778), Natica canrena (Linné, 1758) and Chione paphia (Linné, 1758).

Village of El Tunal, Isla Margarita

Then we were off to the fishing village of El Tunal where we usually find live Voluta musica. We weren’t disappointed! I looked through some grunge for micros, but found little of interest. Actually, I was finding the little ones, but I sort of gave up as one of the young girls kept looking into my grunge, taking it from my hands and throwing it back into the sea! She could see nothing of interest and must have decided it wasn’t worth her time or mine! It was both funny and frustrating. I finally gave up as she was too beautiful to argue with!

Peggy with her “fans” as she distributes clothes.

In this vllage we distributed clothing we had brought for the children. Peggy has been bringing a suitcase full of children’s clothing to El Tunal for several years and suggested I bring a few things along too. The gesture was greatly appreciated.

Trevor, Thomas & Peggy with local “helpers” at El Tunal village

Later, on our way out to the main highway from El Tunal, I spotted a Turpial – a black, golden and white oriole which turns out to be the Venezuelan National Bird, Icterus icterus. This bird is very colorful and this day turned out to be more of a birding day than a shelling day for me. Happily, others found plenty of shells to keep themselves occupied.

Peggy instructs the “helpers” in El Tunal village as to what shells we are looking for

Thomas & Trevor on beach at El Tunal

The next morning, Easter Sunday, we headed off to Playa Juan Griego, our old stomping ground that we first investigated a few years ago. Here I found very good grunge, but did not have enough time to get any really serious shelling done. We did find several species though: Brachiodontes domingensis (Lamarck, 1819), Epitonium albidum (d’Orbigny, 1842), Polinices lacteus Guilding, 1834, Nitidella larvigata (Linné, 1758), a Littorina species, Costoanachis senutulariumm (d’Orbigny, 1839), Pisania tincta Conrad, 1846, Anachis sparsa Reeve, 1859, Eulithidium (Tricolia) tessellatum (Potiez & Michaud, 1838) [this is a real beauty under a microscope], Tricolia affinis (C.B. Adams, 1850), Anachis obesa (C.B. Adams, 1845), a lovely Murex brevifrons Lamarck, 1822 and Columbella mercatoria (Linné, 1758). We made several stops – Playa Caribe, Punta de Piedras, Punta Cabo Blanco.

The next morning we headed off to El Morro, just outside the main town of Porlimar. Thomas and Peggy snorkeled, but it was rather poor – dead olives and marginella mostly. We then drove across the island through wooded areas (we were climbing hills a bit). We passed homes growing mango, papaya and banana. Beautiful winding roads and a nice change of scenery. A stop at a beach or two with nothing to write home about, but maybe this was because we didn’t spend much time at each location. Sometimes it takes me an hour just to find the right habitat! In spots the grunge was quite good. Laguna de Raya was our last stop for the day. Here we found Prunum prunum (Gmelin, 1791), Persicula interruotolineata (Mühlfeld, 1870), Olivella verreauxi Duclos, 1857, more tiny Tricolia, Crepidula convexa Say, 1822, Crucibulum spinosum Sowerby, 1824, Bulla striata Bruguiere, 1792, Corbula contracta Say, 1822, Fissurella rosea Gmelin, 1791, several unidentified small bivalves and Tivela mactroides (Born, 1778).

On our last day on the island we began by visiting the Museo de Margarita. This is a very nice small museum in an out-of-the-way place. I Identified some shells and birds from their displays, which was most convenient! The museum also has an aquarium with nurse sharks, rays, etc. This stop was a pleasant surprise and the museum was well worth the visit.

beach at Boca de Pozo village

We then headed on to an eatery on the beach at El Morro for lunch. We stopped at the village of Boca de Pozo at the western end of the island and, again, hit the beach. Peggy found a new shell for me – Oxynoe antillarum Mörch, 1863. It looks like a green tadpole, but she says there’s a shell in there. It is found at low tide and on the green algae Caulerpa racemosa. I still do not have a clear idea as to what the shell looks like as I have yet to separate the unusual animal from its shell. Boca de Pozo was a fun beach, as there were many children there and lots of net fishing going on. Here we found Mitrella ocellata (Gmelin, 1791), Engina turbinella (Kiener, 1835), Trivia pediculus (Linné, 1758), a lovely hairy Cymatium parthenopeum Von Salis, 1793 and several yet to be identified species of Fissurella and trochids.

In the evening, one of our guides, Lucca, escorted us to a huge covered mall for dinner. It was noisy and very crowded. This is where everyone probably goes in the evening because it is airconditioned!

The following morning we headed back to Caracas, then flew up to the Paraguana Peninsula for the second part of our trip. Santa Barbara Air took us to Las Piedras. A new adventure. We arrived after nine in the eveing and could see huge oil refineries blasting flames into the air. It looked almost fairy-tale like with the lights of the refineries, the flames and all. It turns out this is the largest oil refinery in the world. Or so we were told. We arrived at our hotel at Punta Cardon at about 9:30 p.m. Punta Cardon is on the southwest corner of the peninsula.

Checking the “garbage” at Amuay village

On our first morning we headed off in our rental car to the village of Amuay, by way of Punta Filo, just north of Punta Cardon. And at Amuay, guess what, we went through garbage again! We all found Voluta musica Linnaeus, 1758 and piles of bivalves. On the beach a couple of people (not me) were lucky enough to come away with Sinum maculatum (Say, 1831) and very nice V. musica. Then we went into the village and a couple of fishermen brought out boxes of shells and we purchased Cypraea mus Linnaeus, 1758, Polystira albida (Perry, 1811), and nice V. musica. Also purchased was Aequipecten lineolaris (Lamarck, 1819) – a truly beautiful and delicate pectin.

Peggy, Trevor & Mona “talking shells” with local fishermen at Amuay village

As it was fairly early in the day we decided to move on and return another time when more fishermen would have shells for sale. We turned back south to Piedras Negras and lunched near the beach. It is hot here when the wind isn’t blowing. However, the wind is practically always blowing. This area
Is known for being windswept and arid. True, true, true. At Piedras Negras the shelling was pretty nice with fair grunge with
Tricolia affinis (C.B. Adams, 1850), Rissoina catesbyana d’Orbigny, 1842..

At Punta de Barco, located in the northeast section of the peninsula, we crossed salt flats and spotted, in a wetland area, Scarlet Ibis. I think it is the most stunningly beautiful bird I have ever seen. A real show stopper. We saw a pair, along with a pair of White together. Lots of acacia and cactus and wild goats and wild burros. Then we came across about 17 of the Scarlet Ibis with some White Ibis mixed in for contrast. I tried to get as close as I could and got some fair photos, considering how far away they were.

Shortly after that stop we had a flat tire. Thomas was our life saver and changed it. We’d likely still be sitting out there in the middle of no where if it weren’t for Thomas. I’ll bet the closest gas station would have beem 20-30 miles away and there was no traffic on that road. Something we didn’t want to think about! The roads in the middle of the peninsula, where it is sparsely populated, were poor, but the roads connecting the towns around the perimeter of the peninsula are excellent. As we headed home we watched the red orb of the sun setting into the refinery smog. Deadly beautiful. The birds were definitely a high-light for me, the frostimg on the shelling cake.

Village of Amuay on the Paraguana Peninsula, Venezuela

The following morning we headed south towards the mainland via the old colonial town of Coro, which lies at the base of the Paraguana Peninsula. Coro was founded in 1527 and has beautiful old 16 th and 17th Century buildings, standing in good condition. It was a fairly quiet town before Venezuela’s vast oil reserves were discovered at Lake Maracaibo. It now sends oil, coffee, hardwoods and hides for export via Port Vela. We got a good look at the city as the streets are narrow, traffic was fierce and it was very slow going.

We found a nice beach, Baineareo Santa Rosalia, but the tide was not so great. Took some grunge – a small unidentified Terebra, Eratp maugeriae Gray, 1832, rock shells, Epitonium albidum, Tricolia affinis cruenta Robertson, 1958, Conus jaspideus pygmaeus Reeve, 1844, Polinices hepaticus (Röding, 1798) and a little 11mm Turridae species. Very nice, but had to work in the surf – the waves kept grabbing my grunge before I could get it to a safe spot, but the water was warm and what else was I there for? We were back at our hotel by 6:30. A lot of driving hours. We stopped to check out an unnamed (to us) beach and Janthina and Spirula spirula were found. Later, at home, I found quite a nice article on the Spirula in a recent issue of The American Conchologist.

Trevor, Peggy, Mona & Thomas look at the shells offered by
fishermen at Amuay village

In the morning we headed north again. We made a couple of stops, but nothing new and exciting was found. We headed back to Amuay at about 3 in the afternoon, where several more men came to us with shells. Mona and Thomas bought a very large and beautiful Cassis madagascarensis. And stinky too, the shell, that is! Am I glad I don’t have to clean it! We added some truly beautiful Ancilla tankervillii (Swainson, 1825) and Oliva caribbaeensis Dall and Simpson, 1901 to our collections. The Ancilla are a deep golden color and look good enough to eat.

Mona Pache and Thomas Kube wuth their Cassis madagascarensis, Amuay Village, Paraguana Peninsula

Sunday and the five of us enjoyed breakfast together. In the courtyard we found a Red Crowned Woodpecker eating a very tidy hole in a piece of fruit on the tree. The Arii’s are frequent visitors to these trees and when we are on the deck to our room, the wind blows through them so loudly all other noise is drowned out. It could drive one crazy. Today we made a trip to the local zoo, where we saw some really nice birds, tapirs, various types of monkeys, jaguars, boars, pigs and turtles. After getting back to the hotel, Trevor and Peggy took off for yet another visit to Amuay to buy more shells. I spent some quiet time reading. Then I hiked down to the beach in front of the hotel, which is located on a cliff overlooking the sea. It turned out to be one of the better sites we had for grunge. There were about 150 stair steps to navigate to get to the beach. I sat, very contentedly, for two hours in a puddle of water, sifting shells and working the grunge. Happiness. Then back to the room to pack.

Looks like both Trevor and the fishermen are happy with their shell dealings

Well, our last morning didn’t start well. We got to the airport by 6:15 a.m. only to find out that the plane for Caracas left at 6:20! After a couple of hours scurrying around, Peggy got us on a flight to Aruba and then on to Miami. The Aruba flight was 7 or 8 minutes long. My shortest commercial flight ever! Aruba, a part of the Netherlands Antilles, was a busy area after the discovey of Venezuelan oil and most of the people of Aruba worked the oil fields. Then when Venezuela restructured the industry, the workers from Aruba were out of a job. Aruba then turned to tourism.

This was a relaxing trip. I came away with more than 20 species new to my collection and that makes me happy. To be perfectly truthful, getting to see the Scarlet Ibis is probably the memory that will stay with me the longst. Mona and Thomas were perfect shelling companions as their youth and enthusiasm added much to the Venezuelan experience. A warm thank you to Peggy for the planning that went into the trip and to Trevor for bringing me along, as usual. Trevor and I have traveled together for nearly twenty years and those years have been packed with great memories. Adios, amigos.

Scarlet Ibis

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