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our trips | |||
A R G E N T I N A | |||
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27 December 2009 - 08 January 2010 and 26 January 2010 - 27 January 2010 | |||
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Introduction: As we were going to be leaving from Ushuaia in the south of Argentina for our upcoming cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula, the decision was not difficult to consider adding on a little extra time to the trip and spend it birding our way south through Patagonia. After some time spent seeing whether we could actually afford to do this, we eventually convinced ourselves that we would be able to make it happen and so the planning started. Friends of ours, Alvin and Flick Cope, who would also be on the cruise with us, then also agreed to join us on the pre-extension trip through Argentina and, before long, a basic itinerary was in place. Given the fact that both Alvin and I had birded in South America several times before, but that neither Margaret nor Flick had set foot on the continent yet, the itinerary was also set up taking this into account with a couple of days in the beginning of the trip which would introduce them to a number of bird families that we would otherwise not encounter on the rest of the trip. |
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Overview: Known officially as the
Argentine Republic, this is the second largest country in South America,
after Brazil. At around 2,7 million km2, it shares its
western boundary with Chile, is neighboured in the north by Bolivia and
Paraguay and is bounded in the north-east by Brazil and Uruguay. The
Atlantic Ocean makes up most of the eastern boundary of the country with
some 4 665km of coastline. With a population of around 41 million
people, the climate and landscapes vary from very tropical in the north
through to open barren tundra in the south with everything imaginable in
between. The country is a federation consisting of 23 provinces and an
autonomous city, Buenos Aires, its capital city with some 13,3 million
inhabitants. Birds: With a total bird list of around 1 026 species recorded within the country, this destination is a big attraction to any world birder. Of these, 20 species are considered truly endemic whilst a good number of others are considered to be Southern Cone specials shared only with Chile. The true endemics are Chubut Steamer Duck, Bare-eyed Ground Dove, Tucuman Pygmy Owl, Rothschild's Swift, Buff-breasted and Band-tailed Earthcreepers, Olrog's and Comechingone's Cinclodes, Steinbach's and Patagonian Canasteros, White-throated Cachalote, Sandy Gallito, Rusty-backed and Salinas Monjitas, Rufous-throated Dipper, Carbonated Sierra Finch, Cinnamon Warbling Finch, Tucuman Mountain Finch, Narosky's Seedeater and Yellow-striped Brush Finch. Given the fact that Argentina is such a vast country and we had such a short time to spend there, we could obviously not target all of the endemics. However, we managed to find most of the ones that we could target and generally found the birding in the country relatively easy. By contrast to our previous experience in the more tropical parts of the continent, the birding was a lot slower in the south and one had to work a lot harder to build up a reasonable trip list, however, the south also produced a higher percentage of specials in the somewhat smaller list. |
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Chubut Steamer Duck | Cinnamon Warbling Finch | ||
Mammals: With around 325 species recorded in the country, the high level of endemicity is rather attractive with some 47 species being classed as truly endemic. Many of these (or rather most of them) are actually rodents, but there are also a number of other mammals shared only with Chile i.e. restricted to the Southern Cone. Obviously, when on a more birding-orientated trip, it is difficult to target most of the endemic mammals, but we found that we still managed to pick up a good selection of mammals along the way and thought that it was probably one of the easier countries in South America that we have experienced for mammal watching. |
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Patagonian Mara | Guanaco | ||
Our trip:
With the assistance of our friends at Rockjumper Birding Tours (www.rockjumper.co.za),
we were put in touch with Luis Segura of Trogon Tours (www.trogontours.com)
to begin planning our trip. Luis was extremely helpful and produced an
initial itinerary even including which internal flights he recommended
that we take. I am sure at some point he must have gotten irritated with
me as I kept going back making minor amendments to the itinerary to try
and maximize our chances of getting as many birds as possible, but he
was always extremely accommodating and eventually, we settled on a final
route. |
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Margaret and Trevor Hardaker | Alvin and Flick Cope | ||
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Patricio Ramirez Llorens | Marcelo de Cruz | ||
Daily account: 27 December 2009 After arriving on our Air Malaysia flight direct from
Cape Town to Buenos Aires, we were met at the airport by our guide,
Patricio, and transferred across to our hotel
for the next few days, the Lafayette Hotel (www.hotellafayette.com.ar).
Our hotel was situated in the central CBD along a pedestrian route and,
although there were some smallish trees in the area, it seemed pretty
birdless. After freshening up a bit, we decided to go out for a while
and headed off to downtown Buenos Aires. This was a great area with lots
of colourful buildings, interesting mannequins hanging out of windows
and on balconies, lots of wide pedestrian routes with many trees,
streetside market stalls, many outside cafes and just a general lively
buzz about it. Given that we were in Argentina, we also went to watch a
bit of tango dancing (which seemed to be taking place at a number of
venues in the area). This was certainly popular amongst the locals and
one had to squeeze in to the venues to try and get a decent view of the
dancing. |
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The Lafayette Hotel | Pedestrian route outside our hotel | ||
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Downtown Buenos Aires | Downtown Buenos Aires | ||
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"Green" pedestrian routes | Streetside cafe | ||
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Visiting the market stalls | Taking it all in | ||
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Colourful buildings | Colourful buildings | ||
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Interesting building decorations | Interesting building decorations | ||
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Tango dancers | Tango dancers | ||
28 December 2009 After an earlyish start, we
hit the road and headed north for about 100km or so to Reserva Natural
Otamendi. Birding here is pretty much restricted to roadside birding,
but it is a long road that runs through a variety of different habitats
from thick bush to open wetland areas and our first day's birding was
simply superb. On arrival, we had bright sunshine and were soon greeted
with the likes of Guira Cuckoo, Whistling Heron, Picui Ground Dove,
Black-hooded Siskin, Brown-and-yellow Marshbird, Glittering-bellied
Emerald and Masked Yellowthroat. Raptors were also on show including
many Snail Kites, Roadside Hawks and several Long-winged Harriers whilst
other distractions included Spectacled Tyrant, Silver Teal,
Sulphur-bearded Spinetail, Freckle-breasted Thornbird and Yellow-winged
Blackbird. We were also introduced to our first mammal of the trip,
Brazilian Guinea Pig, of which there were many feeding in the short
grass on the sides of the road. As we moved further along the road, we
added species like Pampa Finch, Southern Beardless, White-crested and
Sooty Tyrannulets, Spix's and Yellow-chinned Spinetails, Rufous-capped
Antshrike, Green-barred (Golden-breasted) and Checkered Woodpeckers,
Limpkin and Giant Wood Rail as well as our first frog of the trip,
Creole Frog. |
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Entrance to Reserva Natural Otamendi | Wetland areas at Otamendi | ||
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View along the road at Otamendi | View along the road at Otamendi | ||
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View of the river from our lunch stop | Large ship using the river | ||
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Roadside birding at Otamendi | Roadside birding at Otamendi | ||
29 December 2009 With only half a day left in the Buenos Aires area,
we packed up early and headed off to Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur, a
lovely reserve situated on the the southern edge of the city. The
reserve has a good network of paths running through it which wind their
way through nice thick bush at times and along open wetland areas as
well and is truly a birding gem so close to the city. Species seen soon
after arriving included Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Rufous Hornero
(Argentina's national bird), Rufous-bellied Thrush, Shiny and Bay-winged
Cowbirds, Monk Parakeet and Saffron Finch. As we moved on through the
more thickly wooded areas, we added Masked Gnatcatcher, Black-and-rufous
Warbling Finch and Tropical Kingbird whilst the wetland areas held
White-winged, Red-gartered and Red-fronted Coots, Coscoroba Swans,
Yellow-billed Pintail, Lake Duck, Brazilian and Yellow-billed Teals and
Spot-flanked Gallinule. After much calling, we eventually managed
reasonable views of Wren-like Rushbird, whilst we also managed to
scratch out Olrog's Gull, Rusty-collared Seedeater, Gilded Sapphire,
Blue-and-yellow Tanager and Yellow-billed Cardinal. Lifting up some dead
logs down near the Rio Plata also revealed several Bella Vista Toads
whilst Black Tegu was our first reptile of the trip. |
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The sign says it all... | Map of the reserve | ||
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Pathways at Costanera Sur | Pathways at Costanera Sur | ||
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Costanera Sur is on the edge of the city | Costanera Sur is on the edge of the city | ||
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Birding at Costanera Sur | Birding at Costanera Sur | ||
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Alvin trying his hand at photography | The ladies swopping photographic tips | ||
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Hotel Libertador in Trelew | Hotel Libertador in Trelew | ||
30 December 2009 Up early this morning and, after breakfast at the
hotel, we hit the road driving out of town and then turning on to a dirt
road heading south. Immediately, we were in a new habitat with vast open
plains with low sparse scrub, very much like the Karoo areas that we
have back home. An American Kestrel on the way out of town was a small
distraction, but as soon as we were properly out of town, we started
encountering a number of new species. Initial additions included
Cordilleran Canastero, Rusty-backed Monjita (our first Argentinean
endemic of the trip), Chocolate-vented Tyrant, Patagonian Mockingbird,
Austral Negrito, Common Duica Finch and Tawny-throated Dotterel. As we
headed further south, we also started picking up a few mammals like
Culpeo Fox and Patagonian Mara whilst the birds continued with Burrowing
Owl, Long-tailed Meadowlark and Mourning Sierra Finch. After a fair
distance, we eventually reached the coast and found a spot to stop for
lunch. Lunchtime distractions on this patch of beach included Rock Shag,
Two-banded Plover, American Oystercatcher and Great Grebe whilst there
were also a small group of Southern Elephant Seals lazing pretty close
to us. |
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The long road south from Trelew | Typical habitat south of Trelew | ||
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Our first view of the Atlantic coastline | Arriving at our lunchtime stop | ||
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Our lunchtime stop | Our lunchtime stop | ||
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Trevor, Alvin and Patricio enjoying the lunch break | Trevor photographing Rock Shags | ||
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The sign says it all... | ...as does this one | ||
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Birding at Punta Tombo | Birding at Punta Tombo | ||
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Enjoying the penguins at Punta Tombo | Flick and Margaret at Punta Tombo | ||
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Time to move on to the next penguin... | Flick, Alvin, Margaret and Patricio at Punta Tombo | ||
31 December 2009 After breakfast at the hotel, Luis once again joined
us and we headed off to Trelew Sewage Works. The wind was howling this
morning and it was also relatively cold, so it made birding a little
more difficult, but we still managed to catch up with a number of good
species there. New birds included White-tufted and Silvery Grebes,
Brown-headed Gull, Chilean Flamingo, Chiloe Wigeon, Red Shoveler,
Rosy-billed Pochard, White-backed Stilt and Black-faced Ibis whilst
Correndera Pipit, Lesser Yellowlegs and Wilson's Phalarope were also
welcome distractions. On our way back to the hotel to pick up our
luggage, we also quickly stopped off at Lake Trelew where most of the
same species were seen again including a huge flock of Wilson's
Phalaropes. |
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Trelew Sewage Works | Trelew Sewage Works | ||
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Birding at Trelew Sewage Works | Birding at Trelew Sewage Works | ||
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Scanning the coast at Puerto Madryn | Scanning the coast at Puerto Madryn | ||
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View of Puerto Pirámides | Enjoying the view over Puerto Pirámides | ||
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View of Puerto Pirámides | View of Puerto Pirámides | ||
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Motel Aca Puerto Pirámides | View from our room | ||
01 January 2010 Today was to be our day on the Valdez Peninsula. We
made a beeline for the South American Sea Lion colony where we held a
vigil for the next few hours in the hope that we might be lucky enough
to see the Killer Whales coming up on to the beach. Fortunately, there
was a small look out point which provided some cover from the sun and
protection for the howling wind for the next few hours. Knowing that we
were not there at the right time of the year, we didn't really hold out
too much hope and so therefore, were not that disappointed when we did
not see them, but this is certainly something that I would like to go
back and try again at the right time of year. However, there were at
least some distractions for us while we waited. Mourning Sierra Finch,
Cordilleran Canastero, Chocolate-vented Tyrant and Elegant Crested
Tinamou kept us entertained from the vegetation whilst, along the coast,
we saw several species of cormorant, Royal Tern, American Oystercatcher.
Red Phalarope, Hudsonian Godwit and Southern Giant Petrel. We also
managed to see our first Goetsch's Lizards here. |
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View across South American Sea Lion colony | View across South American Sea Lion colony | ||
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Our vantage point | Scanning for Killer Whales | ||
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Valdez Peninsula scenery | Valdez Peninsula scenery | ||
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Birding on the Valdez Peninsula | Birding on the Valdez Peninsula | ||
02 January 2010 A pre-breakfast outing just a short distance from our
accommodation quickly added another Argentinean endemic, Patagonian
Canastero as well as a couple of new reptiles, Bell's Lizard and
Burmeister's Green Racer. I was able to actually catch the snake and
then had to force Patricio to "extend" his guiding requirements when
no-one else in the group would hold it so that I could photograph it.
Well done Patricio! Another stop at a smaller South American Sea Lion
colony added Plain-mantled Tit-spinetail in the bushes and South
American Tern along the coast. It was then time to head back to our
motel and pack up. |
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SA Sea Lion colony near our motel | Birding at the SA Sea Lion colony | ||
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The sign says it all... | Our hotel | ||
03 January 2010 After breakfast, we headed slightly north out of town to an area with more open and low vegetation. It was interesting to pick up 3 species of Mockingbird here - Chalk-browed, Patagonian and White-banded, whilst other species included White Monjita, Swainson's and Vermilion Flycatchers, Sharp-billed (aka Lesser) and Short-billed Canasteros, Blue-and-yellow Tanager and Spot-winged Pigeon. Red-tailed Lizard was a new reptile for us and we also managed to find another Burmeister's Green Racer here as well. We then made a lunch time stop back at the coast where it was interesting to see a large flock of Chilean Flamingos on the sea sand whilst other distractions included Royal Tern, Crested Duck, Neotropic Cormorant, Brown-headed Gull and Austral Negrito. After heading back to the hotel to pick up our things, it was then a long drive back to Trelew where we spent the evening again at the Hotel Libertador (the same one we had stayed in a few days before). |
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Flick and Patricio along the coast | Alvin on the prowl | ||
04 January 2010 Up early this morning, we headed off to the airport
to catch our Aerolineas Argentinas flight to El Calafate. After landing
in El Calafate, sorting out the usual logistics with the hire car and
then driving the approximately 20km into town, we booked ourselves into
the Michelangelo Hotel (www.michelangelohotel.com.ar).
After freshening up, we headed off in the direction of Parque Nacional
Los Glaciares. We made frequent stops en route to do birding. Stopping
along the shores of Lago Argentina, we added a number of new species
including Upland and Ashy-headed Geese and Black-necked Swan and
roadside stops at wooded areas revealed Thorn-tailed Rayadito,
Black-chinned Siskin, White-crested Elaenia and Austral Thrush
amongst others whilst an Andean Condor soaring effortlessly overhead was
enjoyed by all. Once inside the park, we made stops at several sites and
added species like Austral Parakeet, Chilean Swallow, Patagonian Sierra
Finch, Magellanic Tapaculo (being typically as skulking as tapaculos
generally are!), Fire-eyed Duicon, Patagonian Sierra Finch and the much
sought after Magellanic Woodpecker. |
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Michelangelo Hotel | Michelangelo Hotel | ||
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View across Lago Argentina | View across Lago Argentina | ||
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The sign says it all... | Typical Beech forest habitat | ||
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Margaret scanning across Lago Argentina | Perito Moreno glacier in the distance | ||
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Visitor centre at the glacier | The sign says it all... | ||
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Walkway down to the glacier | Taking it all in... | ||
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View of Perito Moreno glacier | View of Perito Moreno glacier | ||
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Margaret up close and personal with the glacier | Close up view of Perito Moreno glacier | ||
05 January 2010 This morning we birded around the shores of Lago
Argentina around El Calafate. Species in the area included Black-faced
Ibis, South American Snipe, White-winged and Red-gartered Coots, Andean
Duck, Correndera Pipit, Scale-throated Earthcreeper, Baird's Sandpiper,
Two-banded Plover, South American Tern and Patagonian Yellow Finch
amongst others but, despite intensive searching, we were unable to find
our main target here, Magellanic Plover. This was extremely
disappointing as this was one of my main wants for the trip, being a
monotypic family and all. Nevertheless, we still saw some great birds
and other species included Black-necked and Coscoroba Swans, Least
Seedsnipe, Chiloe Wigeon, Yellow-billed Teal and Red Shoveler. |
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Accommodation at Estancia La Angostura | Accommodation at Estancia La Angostura | ||
06 January 2010 Up early and out birding on the farm before
breakfast, we worked some of the wetland areas in this small oasis close
to our accommodation. Our main target here was Austral Rail which called
for a long time before eventually giving some of us a brief glimpse of
it. Other species in the area included Cinereous Harrier, Spectacled
Tyrant, Long-tailed Meadowlark, Yellow-winged Blackbird, Chiloe Wigeon,
Yellow-billed Pintail, Chilean Flamingo, Lesser Yellowlegs and
Black-faced Ibis. After a good breakfast, we packed up and quickly
visited the same dam as the evening before. Although we saw good numbers
of Silvery Grebes there, we were unable to relocate the Hooded Grebe.
Just as well we had stopped in the evening before! Black-necked and
Coscoroba Swans, Kelp and Brown-headed Gulls and Baird's and
White-rumped Sandpipers were also present on the dam. |
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Main farmhouse at Estancia La Angostura | Habitat at Estancia La Angostura | ||
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Hostería América | Hostería América | ||
07 January 2010 After breakfast at the hotel, we headed off to Parque
Nacional Tierra del Fuego where we would spend the rest of the day. The
park was really scenic with the snow-capped extension of the Andes
overlooking large tracts of Beech forests and many lakes. Species
encountered early on included Chilean Swallow, Austral Thrush,
Black-chinned Siskin, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, White-crested Elaenia and
Ringed Kingfisher. There were also many European Rabbits (introduced)
running around. Other good species that we caught up with included
White-throated Treerunner, Great Grebe, Flying Steamer Duck, Tufted
Tit-tyrant, Patagonian Sierra Finch and Bar-winged Cinclodes. A search
at a day time roost eventually, after what seemed like an eternity,
revealed an adult and chick Lesser (aka Magellanic) Horned Owl whilst
Peregrine and Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle soared overhead. Although the
park looks potentially fantastic for birds, we found the birding to be
quite slow and would have expected much larger numbers of birds in the
area. Perhaps it is as a result of it being so far south and normally
quite cold. |
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The sign says it all... | ...as does this one | ||
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Information Centre at the entrance to the park | Road through the park | ||
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Habitat in the park | Habitat in the park | ||
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Scenery in the park | Scenery in the park | ||
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Birding in the park | Birding in the park | ||
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Flick takes aim | Margaret's all smiles after finally bagging the owl | ||
08 January 2010 Our last morning in Ushuaia saw us working along the coastline to try and pick up a few extra species. The coast line revealed several Magellanic Oystercatchers as well as Dolphin Gull, White-rumped and Baird's Sandpipers, Crested and Fuegian (aka Flightless) Steamer Ducks and Austral Negrito. It was then time to shoot off to the local dump (one gets to visit such fantastic places on birding trips...) where we added Chimango, Southern Crested and White-throated Caracaras, Turkey Vulture and Chilean Skua as well as a small flock of Black-chinned Siskins. By this time, it had started raining, so we beat a hasty retreat back into town to do some last minute shopping before Patricio transferred us to the harbour and we said our good-byes. |
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View along the coast | View along the coast | ||
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View of Ushuaia | Some last minute scanning | ||
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Some last minute photos | And there is our boat in the background | ||
08 - 26 January 2010 We spent the next few weeks on a cruise which visited the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antarctica. See the separate trip report for information on that trip. |
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26 January 2010 After disembarking from the MV Plancius
after our cruise, we were met on the dock by our new guide, Marcelo. As
it turns out, John and Linda Donelson, who were on the cruise with us
had also booked some birding with Marcelo and Rick and Betty Zarwell and
Soren Skov, other participants on the cruise, would be staying at the
same hotel as us in Ushuaia, the Hostería América (this was the same
hotel we had stayed at prior to the cruise). After being transported to
our hotel and booking in, the four of us together with John and Linda
and Rick and Betty, headed off to Martial Glacier for the rest of the
day for some birding. Given the choice of the long slog up to the
glacier or paying a small fee and taking the chair lift up, it was an
obvious choice. After buckling into our chairs, we started the ride up
to the top station which took several minutes. It was good to see "old
friends" again like Black-chinned Siskins and Chimango Caracaras on the
way up and, once up there, we began looking for the few species we could
still get. Much time was spent scrambling up and down the scree slopes
in the hope of locating White-bellied Seedsnipe (this is a known site
for them at certain times of the year), but luck was not on our side.
However, we did manage to locate a few new species including
Grey-flanked Cinclodes, Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant and Yellow-bridled
Finch whilst it was also good to reconnect with things like Dark-faced
Ground Tyrant, White-crested Elaenia and Bar-winged Cinclodes. After
eventually giving our futile search for the seedsnipe up, we headed back
down with the chair lifts picking up Bi-coloured Hawk on the way down. |
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The sign says it all... | Chair lifts up to Martial Glacier | ||
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The ride to the top... | Arriving at the top chair lift station | ||
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Scenery at Martial Glacier | View down from Martial Glacier over Ushuaia | ||
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Rick on the chair lift | Betty on the chair lift | ||
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Linda and John on the chair lift | Flick and Alvin on the chair lift | ||
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Margaret in search of the seedsnipe | Alvin patrolling the scree slopes | ||
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Marcelo in search of seedsnipes | Marcelo in search of seedsnipes | ||
27 January 2010 Our last morning's birding so, after collecting John and Linda at their hotel, we headed off to the Tierra del Fuego National Park again for a few hours. Once again, things like Black-chinned Siskin, White-crested Elaenia, Patagonian Sierra Finch and Austral Thursh were reasonably common and it was also good to catch up with the likes of Flying Steamer Duck, Austral Parakeet and White-throated Treerunner again. Scratching around in the Beech forests, we eventually also managed to pull out the last two new species of the trip, Patagonain Tyrant and Austral Pygmy Owl. Apart from the ever-present European Rabbits, the only other mammal we encountered was a friendly Culpeo Fox. It was then time to bid our farewells and head off to the airport only to find out that our flight to Buenos Aires had been delayed! This cut down our connecting time in BA substantially, but we were fortunately still able to make our homewardbound flight by the skin of our teeth and, after many hours stuck in an aeroplane seat, we eventually arrived back in Cape Town. |
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Conclusion: Although the trip was a bit rushed and was perhaps not at the best time of the year for birding in Argentina, we still really enjoyed it and would love to go back. In particular, a March trip to the Valdez Peninsula to see the Killer Whales coming up on to the beach should be very much on the cards. The biggest disappointment of the trip (for me anyway!) was dipping out on the Magellanic Plover, but I suppose that is another good reason to go back. With only 2 weeks, we were satisfied with what we got to see managing a bird list of 226 species as well as 14 mammals, 6 reptiles and 2 frogs. Please click on the link below to see our full trip list as well as links to photos of many of them. Link to full list of species recorded on the trip
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