Southern Cone: ChAr 2016, Part 5 - Patagonia to Pampas (Argentina)

Jan 22

Packing up our stuff, we took a cab to the bus station, not relishing the thought of another day stuck in Punta Arenas (although it is a nice town). We just made it in time, and by 11:00 we were under way, and rolling down the same highway we had driven a few days earlier (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142882). Arriving at the border, we waited around for a while before finally getting off the bus to get our stamps and make sure our paperwork was in order (you have to have proof of paying for a tourist visa ahead of time to get into Argentina). For whatever reason, the border agents took a long time with Josh (Adam and I had virtually breezed through customs). I noticed that the other passengers on our bus had all been processed and left, so I went outside to make sure our bus driver knew we were still in customs. I searched all around the building, but our bus was gone! We double-checked all around the border crossing, but there was no sign of it. Panicking slightly (we did not really want to be abandoned at the border, and almost all of our gear was on the bus still), we asked around, and eventually found someone who knew what had happened. One of the passengers didn't have the right paperwork, so the bus had gone back to Chilean customs down the road to sort that out. After a bit of a wait, the bus reappeared, and the driver made some jokes about us thinking we had been forgotten! With that, we were off, and adding the first birds to our Argentinian lists (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142884).

Just adding this here for some colour - somewhere near the Chile/Argentina border

Making it to Rio Gallegos, we took a cab to a bank, to load up on Argentine pesos. As we had quite a bit of time to kill before our overnight bus, we decided to see if the cab driver would take us to the shorebird reserve, where a few of our missing target species could be found. Unfortunately, the roads weren't signed and we really didn't know where exactly to look for the reserve, so we didn't end up finding it. At this point, the wind was pretty brutal as well, and we hardly saw any birds (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142890). To cap all this off, we didn't realize that Argentine cab drivers will sometimes screw with the fares, and this particular guy told us that there was some 'fee' for leaving the city limits, and overcharged us for the ride. When we argued with this, he offered to call his manager, but of course none of us could understand the Argentine accent at this point, so we gave up and paid what he asked (1000p or about $100 Canadian!!!). With this rather unfortunate introduction to Argentina, we went back to the bus station to await our chariot. At 20:00, we got on the bus and headed north toward Fitz Roy, spotting a few more birds before it got too dark to see and we fell asleep, after they served us an on-board dinner (what a novelty!) (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142898).

Running trip list: 235 (Chile: 235, Argentina: 23)

Jan 23

Our choice of destination turned out to be a mistake. Fitz Roy looked like a good jumping-off point from which to get to Puerto Deseado, where we'd heard there was an accessible colony of Southern Rockhopper Penguins. In planning our time for this part of the trip, we had originally wanted to go look for Hooded Grebes, an endangered species that breeds in the uplands of central Patagonia. It sounded like quite an expedition though, and a costly one to boot, so we opted for the coastal route as we had limited time, leading us to the penguin colony option. Anyway, our bus driver came and woke us up to kick us off the bus at our desired stop of Fitz Roy (the bus was continuing on to Caleta Olivia, where we should have gone). Dropped at the side of the road in rural Argentina at 04:15, we looked around, expecting to find a bus station or something. There was nothing, and what had looked like a town on the map was actually just a few houses and a gas station. Luckily, the gas station was open, and we blearily wandered over there to seek refuge and hopefully figure out how to get to our destination. After a bit of a nap and a few cups of coffee, it eventually came to light that there would be a bus at 08:15 that made a pit stop here, and we could likely buy a ticket from the driver. Hopeful, we waited until the appointed hour, and sure enough a bus pulled up. After a brief discussion with the driver, he gave us our tickets and we hopped aboard, headed to Puerto Deseado. Arriving in town, our first priority was getting a boat. After finding the penguin tours place on the waterfront, we discovered we were too late - the only zodiac of the day was scheduled for earlier in the morning, and it had been cancelled anyway due to high wind. After making reservations for the next day, we went off to find a place to stay. After doing a lap of basically the entire town (almost every place was closed), we eventually found the Hotel los Acantilados, where we got a cash discount and paid 747p for the three of us (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142899). Due to the high winds and sand blowing everywhere in town, we hardly saw a soul out on the streets as we foraged for lunch. Deciding we'd had enough of the sand-blasting, we spent most of the afternoon sleeping, emerging at 22:00 to go find food. The town had come alive once the wind died down, and the guys had what they agreed was their best 'completo' (a hot dog with everything on it) of the trip here, pretty much the only highlight of our day. By 00:30 we were back in bed, eagerly anticipating the penguins.

Running trip list: 235 (AR: 31)

Jan 24

We were up for the included breakfast at 06:45, and made it to the docks for the penguin tour at 07:45. While waiting, we watched our first Southern Martins and a few Southern Giant-Petrels cruising around the harbour. By 08:00, it looked like everything was a go, with all participants present and the winds almost dead-calm, and a few minutes later we were on the water, heading out to sea in the relatively small zodiac. As we exited the harbour, the wind picked up a bit and the seas got rougher, but our first Brown Skuas of the trip kept us happy (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142913).

Brown Skua

Heading out of the harbour

Following the coastline, the seas got progressively worse, with bigger waves and stronger winds. Eventually, we had to tuck our optics away for fear of getting them soaked, as large waves were crashing over the boat. As we got nearer to the penguin island, our captain steered us into a sheltered cove, and instructed everyone to put on the waterproof ponchos they provided. We wrapped our gear in some extras, just in case. They then told us we wouldn't be going to the island as it was too rough, and their landing spot would be inaccessible. Straining our eyes, we scanned the island in the hopes of at least picking out some penguin-shaped blobs for our efforts, but the island was a little too far and the seas too rough for us to see anything. Our way back was far worse than the ride out, with huge waves crashing over the boat, some people becoming hysterical, and one of the kids on board puked for most of the time. By the time we arrived back at the dock, everyone was soaked through and shivering, and we were just hoping that our optics had survived the beating. Thankfully, the tour company refunded us our money, and our waterproofing job seemed to have worked for our cameras, although Josh's binoculars had let some water in. Back at the hotel, we dried off and weighed our options. Since there was no guarantee that the boat trip would run the next day, and we had already wasted several days at this point, we decided to continue onward. We walked to the bus station, hoping that a bus would come earlier than the 17:00 we had been quoted, but there was no such luck. The bus arrived on time, though, and we were off on our way northward, adding Elegant Crested-Tinamou and Patagonian Tinamou from the bus as we left town, and adding a few birds to our Argentina lists as we worked our way north from Fitz Roy (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142932). We switched buses in Caleta Olivia, and arrived in Comodoro Rivadavia around 21:30. We hung out at the bus station there, eating dinner and wandering around, until our next bus at 01:15 to Puerto Madryn.

Running trip list: 239 (AR: 45)

Jan 25

As it got light, Josh spotted a Patagonian Tinamou on the outskirts of town, making up for the one he had missed as we left Deseado. Stopping in Trelew, we did a drive-by of a pond, adding a few ducks to our Argentina lists (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142943). Rolling into Puerto Madryn at 07:50, we made our way to the waterfront, where we found a little cafe to have breakfast and some much-needed coffee. After a streak of bad luck over the past three-and-a-half days, we were ready for a change. We rented a car from Centauro (a little Ford Fiesta) and hit the open road, bound for the Valdes Peninsula. Along the way, we added our first Burrowing Owl and Fork-tailed Flycatcher of the trip before making it onto the peninsula proper. The rest of our day was spent exploring the peninsula, with most of our time spent around Puerto Piramides and Punta Pardelas (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27142998). Our first stop was the Southern Sea Lion colony at Piramides, where we enjoyed the sounds of the sea lions with a spectacular cliff above them, and Snowy Sheathbills foraging among them. We also had our first Royal Terns of the trip here, and a Northern Giant-Petrel offshore was a lifer.

The Sea Lion colony, with Snowy Sheathbills and Kelp Gulls

We continued around the peninsula, stopping wherever good scrub habitat or birds caught our eye. Patagonian Canastero, White-banded and Chalk-browed Mockingbirds, and Lesser Shrike-Tyrant were new for us using this tactic, and Elegant Crested-Tinamous were common. The Lesser Shrike-Tyrant was especially cooperative, and I also managed to get a recording of it calling - as far as I can tell this is the first recording published online! At one point we got out somewhere in the interior of the peninsula to explore on foot, finding a pair of Band-tailed Earthcreepers and the strange-looking Patagonian Mara, a large rodent endemic to Argentina.

Typical Valdes Peninsula habitat

Elegant Crested-Tinamou

Lesser Shrike-Tyrant

Scanning the scrubland

Patagonian Mara

After a full day on the peninsula, we made our way north through seemingly endless flat, dry scrub to Las Grutas, where we found a suitable pulloff on the road north of town (highway 2 on Google maps) to set up camp shortly after midnight. Adam and I once again got the car, while Josh laid out his camping mat on the ground and slept under the stars.

Running trip list: 248 (AR: 73)

Jan 26

We awoke to the sounds of birdsong as the sun was cresting the horizon, with our first lifer of the day coming in the form of a few Carbonated Sierra-Finches right at our chosen campsite (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27143078). We quickly packed up and made our way to our destination for the morning - the dry washes just southwest of Las Grutas (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27143082). We spent the entire morning walking the road here, and exploring up the second and third washes a ways, turning up a great variety of birds and seeing most of our target species. By the end of the morning, we'd added 18 species for the trip, including Sandy Gallito (heard-only), White-throated Cacholote, Stripe-crowned Spinetail, Golden-billed Saltator, Straneck's Tyrannulet, White-tipped Plantcutter, Greater Wagtail-Tyrant, and both Black-crowned and White Monjitas.

Greater Wagtail-Tyrant

Chaco Tortoise

With the heat haze increasing and the bird activity dying down, we headed into town for lunch and then made our way eastward to a spot where Yellow Cardinal had recently been reported. Likely due to the heat (it was somewhere around 33C by this point), we had no luck with the cardinals, but some Burrowing Parakeets provided good looks (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27143085).

Burrowing Parakeets

From there we headed south to the beaches of San Antonio Este to look unsuccessfully for Olrog's Gulls. Here we enjoyed the numbers of Two-banded Plovers and "Cayenne" Sandwich Terns (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27143098) before heading east. As the air cooled, we birded along Route 52, which seemed like it had potential based on a report I had read somewhere (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27143107). This turned out to be a fantastic decision, and as we slowly made our way up the road, getting out whenever we saw decent habitat, we picked up quite a few new birds. Greater Rhea, Campo Flicker, Green-barred Woodpecker and Darwin's Nothura were added in the fields near the south end of the road, and as the habitat changed to scrub we found some Hudson's Black-Tyrants, Ringed and Cinnamon Warbling-Finches (heard-only for this latter), and some Firewood-gatherers. By the time we made it back to the highway, the sun was setting, and we added a Nacunda Nighthawk over the outskirts of Las Grutas. In town, we found a triple room at Hostel Designio 48 for 950p, then went for empanadas and beer.

Driving into the sunset

Running trip list: 277 (AR: 108)

Jan 27

Seeing as we'd pretty much cleaned up our land-bird targets, and it was a rainy, windy morning, we opted to head to San Antonio Oeste to try our luck once more with Olrog's Gull. Despite thoroughly searching the waterfront, and finding a good variety of gulls, terns and shorebirds along with our first Great Kiskadee, we failed in our mission (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180494). After this, we weighed our options. We didn't have much left to see in this area, and our car was due back that evening in Puerto Madryn, about three hours south of San Antonio. Obviously, our only choice was to make the most of it and try for those last few birds. With logic that only another birder could understand, we made the decision to make a break for Punta Tombo, about six hours south of us, and then make the three-hour return journey to Puerto Madryn in time to drop off our car. Cruising southward, I spotted a Gray-bellied Shrike-Tyrant that unfortunately the other guys didn't get on (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180507). Shortly after 16:30, we rolled into Punta Tombo, where we ran into a bit of a roadblock on our quest for White-headed Steamer-Duck. This species is endemic to this part of Argentina, and it would be our only shot at it, however, the only way to access the bay where they hung out was to pay to enter the Magellanic Penguin colony that is there. The entry fees would have cost us $60, and to make matters worse, the place was closing soon. We were unable to talk the gate attendants into letting us in for a few minutes, despite assurances that we simply wanted to run down, see the ducks, and run back. They insisted we had to pay, no matter how long we would be there. So, we did the next best thing, and got as close as we could, balancing my little scope on a sign by the gate and taking turns squinting at the distant bay. Eventually I picked out a duck, and we could make out its pale head and fat gray body. Far from amazing views, but identifiable at least, and White-headed Steamer-Duck was under our belts (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180656). With time running out, we piled back in the car and made our way north through the dusty scrub toward Puerto Madryn. With only two species left that we could realistically hope to see (Rusty-backed Monjita and Chocolate-vented Tyrant), we had done quite well on this leg of the trip. Keeping our eyes peeled, we were losing hope as Puerto Madryn grew nearer with no sign of our targets (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180708). As we neared Trelew, however, a bird flushed off the roadside ahead - Chocolate-vented Tyrant! Brakes were slammed and car doors were left open as we hopped out, optics in-hand. After covering several thousand kilometres of suitable habitat with no sign of this species, we were beyond relieved to finally see one, and it put on a good show for us (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180799).

Chocolate-vented Tyrant

The car was abandoned with doors left open when we saw the CV Tyrant!

Already running a bit late, we enjoyed our 20 minutes with the flycatcher before trying to make up time on our way to Puerto Madryn. We arrived at the rental agency at 20:30 only to find it already closed up for the night. Eventually a worker at the restaurant across the street saw us and asked if we needed help. It turned out they knew the owner, and called them for us. A while later, they showed up and we returned the car (I think we had to round up the price to make up a late penalty). With that sorted, we made it to the bus station at 21:59, just in time to hop on the 22:00 overnight bus to Bahia Blanca!

Running trip list: 280 (AR: 115)