Southern Cone: ChAr 2016, Part 7 - Northeast Argentina

Feb 1

We pulled into the bus station in Mercedes at 06:45, and after a brief search we found the ticket booth for the bus to Carlos Pellegrini. They told us the next bus was at 08:00, so we got some food and settled in to wait. Other people trickled in over the next hour or so, and also asked about the bus. Eventually there was a small crowd of us hoping to get to Carlos, and the bus failed to show up (seemed to be a pattern forming here). After some discussion with the others, one of the travellers (a girl from Mexico) went off to find a truck. A little while later she showed back up with a pickup truck and driver, and our whole crew piled in after agreeing on a price (I forget the exact price, but I think it was somewhere around 200-250p each). In the truck we piled the girl from Mexico, a family of 5 from Germany (parents, 2 kids and a grandparent), a local guy, Adam, and myself, plus all of our collective gear and the driver. It was a rather cramped 3h drive from there to Carlos, sitting in the back of the pickup (and picking up a pretty good sunburn despite using sunscreen!), but we did eventually make it. Along the way, Adam and I did our best to bird, as many of the species here were new for us. Some of the highlights along the drive were Streamer-tailed and Strange-tailed Tyrants, Saffron-cowled Blackbird, White-bellied Seedeater and Plumbeous Ibis. Unfortunately, due to our seating arrangement, Adam was looking to the south, while I was looking north - my side of the road had a fence and therefore quite a few flycatchers and seedeaters perched, while his side had more wetlands and therefore more waterbirds. It was pretty difficult to get on a bird that the other person saw, so we each missed a few things on the way in. In town, we ended up staying at the Hospedaje San Cayetano (there are a ton of places to stay - this one I had found from another report and it had good reviews), where a room cost us 150p each for a night. Since it was now the heat of the day, we took a nap at the hostel - or at least tried to. The owners had a couple pet parakeets, and the Blue-headed was a bit of a jerk, crawling up on our beds and biting us. It was pretty funny to watch its antics though, and it did end up cuddling with me for a bit before biting my leg...

The jerk - Blue-headed Parakeet

After our rest, we headed out on foot to the west of town to see what we could find. At the interpretive centre just west of the bridge, we did a lap of the boardwalk and trails, finding plenty of Capybaras and two species of Caimans. From there we walked west down the road a ways, finding loads of seedeaters (a few of them quite range-restricted), Lesser Grass-Finch, Chotoy Spinetail, Giant Wood-Rail and many others (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27305206). After our walk, we got dinner at a little outdoor bar a few blocks away from our hostel before getting to bed.

Birding the road west of Carlos Pellegrini

Great Pampa-Finch

Rufous Hornero nest

Running trip list: 401 (AR: 252)

Feb 2

I awoke this morning to the sound of Adam squealing. It turned out a bat had gotten into our room and hit him in the face when he got up! After turning the lights on and snapping a photo, we managed to help the bat escape and then got ready for the day.

A free-tailed bat of some sort

It had turned out that the owner of our hostel also ran bird and boat tours to get to some of the more distant reaches of the marsh, so we had signed up for the morning tour. After an included breakfast, we were off on the 2.5h tour, with a couple from Belgium - they were the only other guests at the hostel while we were there. We headed south from town, to a small channel through the reeds at the south end of the lake. Here we added more marsh and water birds, including Muscovy Duck, Least Bittern, White-headed Marsh-Tyrant, Scarlet-headed Blackbird and others. We also had great looks at Long-winged Harrier, Southern Screamer, Capybaras, Marsh Deer, Spectacled Caimans and some neat red and black dragonflies on the boat ride.

On the boat tour

Long-winged Harrier

Capybara family

Southern Screamer

Diastatops intensa

Marsh Deer

Scarlet-headed Blackbird

Back in town, we decided to try to rent bikes so we could get a little farther afield. We ended up finding some at Posada Yacare, for 100p/day each, and tried to head east of town. By this point in the day the sun was blazing and the temperature was pretty high. This, combined with the extremely soft sand of the road, hampered our efforts on the bikes, and before too long we simply had to admit defeat. We went back to our hostel and took a 3.5h siesta, emerging once more in the late afternoon once the heat began to subside. We biked to the west of town (where the road was better), making it about 8 km before turning around. On this stretch we added Crested Doradito, Marsh, Rusty-collared, Pearly-bellied and Tawny-bellied Seedeaters, Long-tailed Reed Finch and Dark-billed Cuckoo among others (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27305211 - yes, I know I should have done a separate list for the boat ride and our bike tour...). A quick stop at the interpretive centre's boardwalk gave us great looks at Rufous-sided Crake before we made it back to town. Dropping off our bikes and gear at the hostel, we went back to the same little outdoor bar for dinner.

Biking west of town

Rufous-sided Crakes

Running trip list: 421 (AR: 273)

Feb 3

We were up at 06:15, figuring we might be in luck for another breakfast, but the owner wasn't around this morning and it was not to be. On a tip he had given us the day before, we headed east of town in the relatively cool morning air, on a quest for Yellow Cardinals. He had told us they were out that way, but would be too far for us to bike to. Eager to give it a shot anyway, we made our way slowly through the soft sand, adding Gray-fronted Dove, Little Woodpecker and Black-and-white Monjita plus seeing many of the same birds as we'd had on the west side of town the day before. A few kilometres from town, we came across a female Yellow Cardinal, and after we'd stopped to check her out, a male joined her and started singing! It turned out we didn't need to go as far as we'd been told to see this rare species, and we enjoyed watching them for a few minutes as they went about their business.

Yellow Cardinal (the real one!)

White Monjita

Biking the soft sand road was tough work

Having had success in the cardinal department, we headed back to town to return our bikes and check out of our hostel. From there we went back to the interpretive centre, where we left our big packs at the front desk and went for a walk around the trails. We mostly saw the same birds as the other days, but a highlight of this walk was seeing a Geoffroy's Cat that the rangers had rescued - it now followed them everywhere they went. Just after noon, we started looking for a ride back to Mercedes. The staff at the centre told us the bus would be by at 14:00, but given our track record with buses in the last while we decided to try our luck with hitch-hiking. At 13:30, only a single car had gone by, and not even looked at us, when one of the park staff came up and mentioned that an employee was leaving in a few minutes to drive home, and he lived in Mercedes. We went over to talk to him, and he kindly offered to give us a lift in his truck, refusing any money for gas. Tossing our stuff in the back, we hopped in, and he positively blasted down the road on his way home. Along some of the slower stretches we managed to add our last few birds for the south side of Laguna Ibera - Gray Monjita, Sharp-tailed Tyrant and Bearded Tachuri, plus had looks at a few male Marsh and Chestnut Seedeaters (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27305213). The road that had taken us three hours on the way in took less than two on the way out, and we thanked the kind man profusely as he dropped us right at the bus station! From there, we hopped on the 15:50 bus to Paso de los Libres (adding Pectoral Sandpiper and White Woodpecker on the way - https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27305198), where we caught the 19:00 bus to Posadas. From there we got on the 01:30 bus to Iguazu and promptly fell asleep.

Running trip list: 432 (AR: 284)

Feb 4

Arriving in Iguazu at 06:45, we ditched our big packs in the lockers at the bus station, bought some snacks and then caught a bus to the national park. The Iguazu Falls are a must-see for anyone visiting the region, and the place was busy despite it being a Thursday. Most of the crowds were around the falls and the tourist kiosks though, and some of the trails were actually pretty quiet. We walked as many trails as we could over the course of the morning; unfortunately the Macuco trail (the most productive one for birds) was closed due to flooding while we were there. We quickly located Iguazu's specialty bird - the Great Dusky Swift, as a flock of ~100 birds cruised over the falls. Other lifers for us over the morning included the omnipresent Plush-crested Jays, Green-headed Tanager, Ochre-collared Piculet, Green-throated and Violaceous Euphonias, Surucua Trogon (heard-only), Riverbank Warbler and Blue-winged Parrotlet among others (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27305089). Late in the morning, as bird activity died down, we were entranced by swarms of tropical butterflies, and stopped to take in the diversity and some photos. Of course, the falls themselves were extremely impressive as well, and we spent a fair amount of time just admiring them.

Plush-crested Jay

A gathering of sulphurs

The rather crowded falls at Garganta del Diablo

Iguazu Falls

Moody Garganta del Diablo

In mid-afternoon, we headed back into town to retrieve our packs and find a hostel. We ended up at the Garden Stone, a decent place on a quiet side street near the river, where a double room cost 540p. After a bit of a rest, we walked the few blocks to the Jardin de los Picaflores. The owner has a nice setup, and after paying our entry fee we sat and watched the hummingbird feeders, where a nice variety was coming to feed (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27305167). Among the eight species, the highlight was two Swallow-tailed Hummingbirds, followed closely by Black Jacobin. An Ochre-collared Piculet also came in quite close to us and provided great views. Around the garden were signs saying something along the lines of 'Beware mosquitos, dengue fever present'. We applied some of the bug spray the owner provided, but these warnings would soon prove their merit - more on that later!

Black Jacobin

Swallow-tailed Hummingbird

Ochre-collared Piculet

After getting our fill of hummingbirds (it was starting to get dark as well), we went off to find a grocery store to buy some food for dinner, since our hostel had a full kitchen. Our cheapest and one of the most delicious meals of the trip so far! We did have a bit of a fiasco trying to open our wine though, as someone had apparently stolen the corkscrew from the hostel. We managed to get the cork out using Adam's multitool and a bit of elbow grease after some brainstorming - crisis averted. While eating dinner we watched a good show of swifts flying over in the evening light and added Yellow-bellied Elaenia for the trip (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27310675).

Desperate times...

Running trip list: 462 (AR: 314)

Feb 5

We had breakfast at the hostel, and spent some time figuring out plans for the next few days. After Josh had headed back to Canada, our trip scheduling loosened up a bit as we didn't have to cover as much ground in as short of a time span. We eventually decided that hiring a guide with a vehicle would be worth our time, despite the high cost, as many of the birding areas around Iguazu region are not accessible by bus, and we had a lot of potential target birds to see. Following Noah Strycker's lead from his Big Year birding in the region, we got in touch with Guy Cox, who agreed to guide us for two full days at $200 USD/day, and was cool with camping and eating grocery store meals! With that sorted out, we headed for Brazil. We had discovered through some other travellers that there was a bus to the Brazil side of the falls that skipped customs (unless you were planning to travel in Brazil after) and took you directly to the park. The customs bit was key; as Canadians we required an expensive visa to get into Brazil. While bird activity in the park was rather low (it was mid-day by this point), we did add one new bird - a male Blue-tufted Starthroat (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27317413). Unfortunately we had both left our cameras at the hostel, fully anticipating getting soaked as the Brazil side of the falls allows you to get much closer. We did get quite soaked, as it turned out, but it was well worth it to see both sides of the falls - there were even a few rainbows on the sunny day. After walking all the free trails in the park, we caught the bus back across to Argentina and spent the evening at our hostel.

The Brazilian side of the falls

Running trip list: 463 (AR: 314)

Feb 6

As Guy wasn't available until the next day, we had the day to putter around. Since we'd already done both sides of the falls, and figured we'd see our remaining target birds with Guy over the next two days, we slept in and then walked the 2 km to the Hito Tres Fronteras, the spot where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina all meet, with the Parana and Iguazu rivers forming the border. Here we added Chestnut-vented Conebill and Yellow-chevroned Parakeets to our life lists, plus added a few new birds for the trip (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387697). Our main goal though was to add to our Paraguay and Brazil lists, by scanning the shores of each country from our vantage point, with some success (Paraguay - https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387725, Brazil - https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387762).

Birding the tres fronteras

After this little adventure we headed back to the hostel for lunch, and since the internet was down all afternoon we spent our time lounging in the pool and enjoying our air-conditioned room while studying up on the birds of northern Argentina. We were due to meet with Guy at 22:30 to go over the plan for the next couple of days, but due to a scheduling change he actually showed up at the hostel at 20:30, where the guy working the desk sent him to the wrong room! At 22:15 the internet started working again and an email came through saying he was at the hostel, so we went outside to meet him and discovered he'd already been waiting for almost 2 hours and had sent the email when he arrived at 20:30... Thankfully he was quite understanding of the situation, and we quickly made a plan for the next few days before getting some sleep.

Running trip list: 469 (AR: 320)

Feb 7

Our first official day of birding in the Atlantic Rainforest, and what a day it was! We were up at 05:30 to meet Guy at our hostel, and after a quick coffee stop we made our way to Route 101, just east of town, where we spent the entire morning. Although it looks like a highway on the map, it's a narrow dirt road that runs adjacent to the national park, and passes through a large tract of Atlantic forest. We birded the road by driving a ways, then getting out at spots that Guy knew for various target birds. Our main goal for the two days was to see a Creamy-bellied Gnatcatcher, as this species is restricted to a small range centred on the Iguazu region, and looking at the eBird species map, almost all the recent records are from this one province in Argentina. Guy was a bit worried about this, as the species is fairly rare and he estimated he saw them maybe once or twice in every ten days in suitable habitat. Luck was on our side though, and at our first stop I almost immediately heard what sounded like a gnatcatcher calling, and after a few seconds I got on a pair of Creamy-bellied Gnatcatchers in the canopy over the road! Our third and fourth individual birds of the morning.

Birding the 101 track

After that stroke of good fortune, our next goal was just to see as much as possible in the rest of our time with Guy. Over the course of the morning, we added 44 new birds for the trip, of which 28 were lifers, just on this stretch of road (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387933). Highlights were a good variety of Atlantic forest species, including White-bearded, Spot-backed, Tufted and Large-tailed Antshrikes, Red-breasted Toucan and Swallow-tailed Manakins doing their displays. After our success on the 101, we made a stop in Comandante Andresito for groceries and gas, then headed to Urugua-í Uruzu. Here, we spent the afternoon walking the loop trail behind the washrooms, encountering two really good mixed flocks and a few quality individual birds (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387958). Highlights of this were an Ocellated Poorwill that we accidentally flushed from beside the path, a Purple-crowned Plovercrest that came into some flowers not 2m from us, Bertoni's Antbird, Ruby-crowned and Chestnut-headed Tanagers, and two birds that were extremely rare for Argentina - White-browed Foliage-gleaner and Sao Paulo Tyrannulet. The former had only one other eBird record for the country, and the latter was the only eBird record for Argentina, although Guy said he occasionally sees them in this area. I should also mention that at this point the heat, humidity and mosquitoes were getting to us a bit - humidex values in the Misiones area were pretty consistently above 40C during the afternoons, and the Uruzu area in particular abounded with mosquitoes!

Birding Urugua-í Uruzu

After dinner on the picnic tables and a bit of a vigil at the bridge, hoping in vain for the apparently regular Black-fronted Piping-Guans to come in, we headed onward to find a place to sleep. We ended up camping at the 101 section of Urugua-i. Guy had his van outfitted as a small camper, and had been kind enough to bring camping gear for Adam and I. We got set up on a flat spot near the outhouse as it got dark and then spent some time listening for nocturnal birds (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387964), adding Short-tailed Nighthawk and Black-banded Owl before calling it an early night.

*Note* I don't really know why, other than the fact that we were so focused on target birding, but I didn't take a single photo with my camera between Feb 5-9. Some day I'll have to revisit the Atlantic rainforest to photograph its birdlife.

Running trip list: 536 (AR: 387)

Feb 8

After an early breakfast at our camp, we walked the trail over the bridge at this section of Urugua-í, adding a few quality targets such as Spotted Bamboowren, Planalto Woodcreeper, Rufous-capped Motmot, Variegated Antpitta, Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner and Rufous-capped Spinetail (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387966). Once the bamboowren was in the bag, we headed back to pack up our camp and headed to San Sebastien de la Selva, a fantastic reserve only a few minutes down the road from where we'd camped. Here we birded the grounds around the lodge and talked with the owners for a bit to gain access, and then spent the rest of the morning walking the trails across the river and up the hill (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27388008). The trails here were well-maintained and went through a good diversity of habitats, but bird activity was pretty low for most of our time here, likely as we'd spent the best hours of the morning over at Urugua-í. We eventually encountered a good mixed flock, and through perseverance we slowly added new birds here and there - Tataupa Tinamou, Giant Antshrike, Dusky-tailed Antbird, White-throated and Scalloped Woodcreepers, Greenish Schiffornis, Crested Becard and Hooded Tanager were all lifers, and we added a few more widespread species for the trip. By 13:00, the heat was really kicking in and bird activity had died down, and since we had some ground to cover we reluctantly headed back to the van. Along the 2.5h drive south, Adam and I drifted in and out of consciousness (my notes use the words 'bobble-headed'), but managed to pick up a White-eared Puffbird sitting on a wire beside the road just a few kilometres outside San Pedro, our only one of the trip. In town, we went to Guy's home, right on the edge of Araucaria Provincial Park, to wait out the heat and get some snacks. Fueled up and cooled off, we went for a walk around the park, hoping for a few target birds (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27387678). Robust Woodpecker and Pileated Parrot were lifers, and eventually we found a few Vinaceous-breasted Parrots, an endangered Araucaria specialist (Monkey Puzzle Trees as they're also known). We spent some time playing hide-and-seek with a Canebrake Groundcreeper, but eventually it won and we had to leave it as heard-only. Heading back toward Guy's house, we sat down in an open area with a few Araucaria trees to await our last target. After a short vigil, a small group of Araucaria Tit-Spinetails came in and foraged on the trees in front of us.

Paraná Araucaria

As the last bus to Posadas was at 19:00, and we wouldn't make it there in time, Guy was nice enough to let us sleep at his place, and we set up the tent beside his house then went to find dinner. As is typical in Argentina, the restaurants didn't open until 21:00 and as we were pretty starving, we ended up eating empanadas and burgers at a little food stall. Back at Guy's, he gave us a bottle of his homemade beer to try, and we stayed up talking for a while before calling it a night.

Running trip list: 573 (AR: 424)

Feb 9

We did some casual birding around Guy's yard, adding White-throated Hummingbird and Chopi Blackbird before heading to the bus station to catch the 08:30 bus to Posadas. This ended up being quite a milk run, and we arrived in Posadas at 13:30 with enough time to find lunch before our 15:00 bus to Ituzaingo. Not long into the bus ride, it started raining quite heavily, and when we got into Ituzaingo at 16:00 it was pouring. We quickly found the tourist office we were looking for (Turismo Diversidad), but it was closed, so we went across the street to wait out the rain at a gas station until they reopened at 17:00. Eventually someone showed up, and we organized a tour for the next day, then found the Hostel la Plaza around the corner, where a room cost us 200p each. We got dinner at a gas station, which seemed to be the only restaurant in town that was actually open, adding Little Nightjar on our walk after the rain had stopped (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27467298). Ituzaingo may seem like an odd choice, as it isn't a place that featured on any birding tours or trip reports we had seen, but we had a good reason to be there. During our down day in Iguazu, Adam had been furiously researching spots to see Strange-tailed Tyrant, as he had missed them on our drive into Carlos Pellegrini, and this species is only found in the grasslands of northeastern Argentina and southern Paraguay. A small reserve not far from Ituzaingo boasted on their website that they held one of the highest concentrations of this species in the world, and a tour company in Ituzaingo ran trips to visit the reserve. Since we had an extra day or two banked into our itinerary, we decided to go for it, and here we were, hoping the rain would hold off for the next morning.

Running trip list: 576 (AR: 427)

Feb 10

We were at the tourist office (only 1 block from our hostel) at 05:50, in time for our 06:00 tour to the Reserva Don Luis with our driver Freddy. The tour was a bit expensive by our standards (900p each), but it ended up being well worth the price. The drive in was quite birdy, passing through open grasslands and marsh habitat with Jabiru, Spotted Nothura, Gray Monjita, and hundreds of other water, wading and marsh birds.

Gray Monjita

Brown-and-yellow Marshbirds

Arriving at the reserve proper, we were greeted by Alejandra and her husband Seppi, who were the caretakers. Alejandra knew her birds pretty well, and took us for a tour around the general vicinity of the house, showing us some roosting Tropical Screech-Owls, their semi-wild Marsh Deer that they'd raised, a pen where they were raising Bare-faced Curassows for reintroduction, and then asking if we wanted to see their new seedeater. At first, we were a little skeptical, as she explained it was different in that the females have a white patch on the wing (most seedeater species in this region have that field mark), and we had heard nothing about an undescribed seedeater. Once we got to the spot though, all doubts vanished as a group of them popped up from the grasses right in front of us, with the males looking and sounding different from all the other species in the region. After we got back to internet we discovered this was known as the "Ibera" Seedeater, and will soon be recognized as its own species!

Tropical Screech-Owl

Ibera Seedeater (undescribed)

Adam and the Marsh Deer

The short boardwalk through the reserve

With that bonus bird, we inquired about whether we might be able to see the Strange-tailed Tyrants. They happily obliged this request, and we went for a spin in their truck down the rough road through the reserve. Along the way, we stopped at a few spots that Alejandra indicated might be good. The first was where she sometimes sees 'burritos', and to our surprise an Ash-throated Crake walked right out in the open (burrito is the Spanish name for small crakes and rails). At our next stop, she casually mentioned that she sometimes sees Azure Gallinules at this pond. Sure enough, a few seconds later an Azure Gallinule popped out of the reeds and wandered around in the open for a while, providing great viewing and photo opportunities of this difficult-to-find species! Three good birds that we hadn't been expecting, and the best was yet to come. We pulled up at an open field, and were soon looking at six Strange-tailed Tyrants - two pairs and two young birds! After getting our fill of these weird-looking little birds, we moved on to a patch of woodland where a nice mixed flock contained our first Orange-headed Tanager, Little Thornbird and White-barred Piculets. Somewhere on the reserve (I don't remember exactly where), we also added Blue-billed Black-Tyrant, Warbling Doradito and Ochre-breasted Pipit, all fairly range-restricted species (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27467574).

Azure Gallinule

Strange-tailed Tyrant

Ash-throated Crake

After our successful time here, we went back to the little house to have lunch, and spent some time chatting with Alejandra over a beer on the porch before heading back to town in the heat of the day. In town, we tried to organize a trip across the dam to spend some time in Paraguay, but discovered that as Canadians we needed a visa, so we just did a quick check of the river before heading back to the Turismo office to pay our fees for the morning, and made a donation to the reserve as they refused our offer of a tip! Since we had cleaned up in this area and Paraguay was a no-go, we headed to the bus station, where the 14:10 bus was running late, luckily for us! We bought our tickets and hopped on just in time. We didn't make it very far before our bus was delayed 1.5h at a police checkpoint - I guess some people were trying to bring goods for sale into another province without permits or something, and they had all their stuff confiscated. We eventually rolled into Resistencia at 20:00 where we got dinner and tried to take some money out. Due to our tight schedule and relatively expensive tours over the past few days, our money reserves were running a bit low as we hadn't had a chance to get to an ATM. Unfortunately for us, none of the ATMs at the bus station or a nearby bank would accept our cards, and I used most of my remaining money to buy an onward ticket on the 22:00 bus to Taco Pozo, where we hoped we'd find a bank.

Running trip list: 588 (AR: 439)