Southern Cone: ChAr 2016, Part 6 - Pampas and Buenos Aires

Jan 28

Our overnight bus pulled into Bahia Blanca around 08:00, and we walked to find a rental car agency where we could get a vehicle for the day. We ended up at Localiza, and by 09:30 we were on the road. Our first stop was at a little wetland on the northwest side of the city, where some activity caught our eye (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180722). Here we added our first Snowy-crowned and Gull-billed Terns, Picazuro Pigeons and Cliff Swallows for the trip. Heading north, we checked out the roads through the grasslands near Chasico, adding Red-winged Tinamou, Spotted Nothura, Guira Cuckoo, Tawny-headed Swallow, White-browed Meadowlark and Great Pampa-Finch to our life lists (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180732).

Pampas near Chasico

After getting lunch in one of the small towns, we continued on our quest for Pampas specialties, and quickly found one of them - a group of Pampas Meadowlarks (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180755)! This species has become quite rare and localized, so we were extremely happy to have found a few and gotten good looks. As we were heading out, windows down as usual, I heard a song that sounded vaguely familiar. Stopping the car, we got out to see and hear 4 Pampas Pipits doing display flights over a field (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180782)! A bonus bird that we assumed we had no chance for on this trip, as there were very few records on eBird.

Pampas Meadowlark showing the diagnostic black underwing

With that success, we headed back through Bahia Blanca to the little village of Villa del Mar, adding a Long-winged Harrier on the way (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180790). Almost immediately we found our first target, with 15 Olrog's Gulls out on the mudflats (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180804). After spending quite a bit of time looking for them farther south, it was nice to catch up with this target species! Josh went out on the mudflat to get some better photos while Adam and I scanned for shorebirds.

Olrog's Gull

Neohelice granulata

Gull ticked, we wandered around a grassy area nearby that was rumoured to hold Dot-winged Crakes, a secretive and range-restricted species. In the heat of the afternoon, we had no luck with the crakes, so we retreated to a restaurant in Punta Alta to get some food and use the WiFi out of the heat. Crake spot confirmed, we were back at it a few hours later once the wind had died down and it had started to cool off a bit, and this time we had some luck, with a Dot-winged Crake responding to playback (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27180814). Despite sounding like it was close to us, and seeing the grass move where it must have been on a few occasions, we never actually saw the bird - sneaky little bugger! As we were running short on time, we gave up on the crake and headed back to Bahia to drop off the car (just made it before closing time), and caught an overnight bus to Buenos Aires.

Running trip list: 299 (AR: 140)

Jan 29

After a coffee at the bus station, we got a locker for the day to keep our big bags in, and hopped a cab to Costanera Sur, a large reserve on the east side of Buenos Aires that has quite a large bird list. We had decided to stay in the city rather than try to rent a car and explore further afield, as Josh was flying out the next day and there was plenty for us to see at the reserve anyway. After taking a cab to the reserve, we arrived to find the gates closed, and were informed the reserve would open at 8. With that news, we grabbed breakfast and birded the promenade for a bit before entering the park proper. We spent the next 6 hours walking just about every trail the park had to offer, with 51 of the 93 species we observed being new for the trip, and 30 of them were lifers for me (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27190946).

The reserve in the city - Costanera Sur

Nanday Parakeet

We could easily have spent all day here, but a thunderstorm rolled in and so we ran to get lunch (highly recommend the sausage stands that are near the park entrances!) before hopping a cab back to the bus station to pick up our gear. From there we caught a cab to our hostel (V&S Hostel Club, only a few blocks from the reserve, 210p each for a dorm bed). We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing at the hostel, making friends with some other travellers before going out for an Argentine asado and splurging on a couple bottles of nice wine to celebrate Josh's last night on the trip.

Running trip list: 350 (AR: 198)

Jan 30

As we had done quite well the day before, we slept in a bit, and then after the included breakfast at our hostel we wandered back down to the reserve to try our luck with a few more species. We concentrated more on the marshy areas on this attempt, skipping the back trails that went mostly through scrubby forest. This strategy proved successful, and we added another 11 species for the trip, highlighted by Southern Screamer, Gilded Hummingbird, Solitary Black Cacique and a skulking Stripe-backed Bittern that I spotted from across the pond (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27208880).

Guira Cuckoo

Stripe-backed Bittern

Rufescent Tiger-Heron

Rosy-billed Pochard

After another round of delicious sausage on a bun from the local vendors, we headed back to the hostel so Josh could pack his stuff and catch a ride to the airport. He ended up leaving a bit late, and had a bit of an adventure getting to the aiport, almost missing his flight in the process! Luckily he made it just in time, and sent us a message to let us know he was en route back to Canada. From that point our trio was down to a duo, and Adam and I would continue on just the two of us. As we planned our next move using the hostel WiFi, it appeared there were a few more range-restricted species we could see near Buenos Aires, so we opted to stay another night at the V&S hostel, and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hanging out with a group of European girls that were staying at the hostel, most of whom we'd met the night before.

Running trip list: 361 (AR: 212)

Jan 31

We had a 05:45 wakeup, as we wanted to be at the bus terminal early enough to catch a ride out to the Otamendi reserve, not far from the city. Arriving at the bus terminal, we asked around about how to get there, and everyone pointed us to one ticket window that was closed, saying it would open at 08:00. At 09:15, there was still no sign of it opening any time soon, and we eventually figured out that you can't get to the reserve by taking a bus out of Buenos Aires, as the bus companies don't like to fill the seats with short-distance travellers. In order to get there, you'd have to take a network of local buses and taxis, which wasn't worth the hassle for us. We ended up deciding to cut our losses, and searched around for bus tickets on to Mercedes. Not finding anything decent until later that day, we booked our tickets for a 21:00 bus and then returned to the hostel for breakfast. After a bit of hanging out at the hostel, we ended up spending the afternoon walking around that area of the city with our new European friends, checking out a few markets and cafes before going for a walk through the Costanera reserve (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27232293). While the day was a writeoff for new birds, it was nice to have a bit of a relaxing 'tourist' day after several weeks of intense travel. In the evening, we said goodbye to our new friends and hopped a cab to the bus terminal, where we got dinner, only to discover that dinner was served on the bus as well! We stuffed ourselves and hoarded a few snacks for the next day, then got some sleep as the bus rolled on into the 'Argentine Pantanal'.

Running trip list: 361 (AR: 212)

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)

Southern Cone: ChAr 2016, Part 4 - Patagonia (Chile)

Jan 18

Our flight from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas arrived at 00:45. After collecting our bags, we went and waited for the bus to town, which we were assured would arrive 'soon'. Eventually it became clear to us that 'soon' meant 'never', and we resigned ourselves to sleeping at the airport. We felt a whole lot better about this decision when we rounded a corner and discovered pretty much everyone else on our flight had already set up camp in the airport, with various camping mats, sleeping bags and the like strewn across the floors. We chose a relatively quiet spot and laid out on the tile floors, using our backpacks for pillows (at least Josh had his thermarest and sleeping bag!).

Bummin' it on the airport floor in Punta Arenas

By 05:30 we were all awake, and went once again to wait for the bus to town. Once again, it didn't show up, and by 08:00 we had lost patience and managed to get a taxi after a bit of a wait. Getting into town, we discovered that all the car rental agencies were closed, so we went to a cafe to grab breakfast and wait. Using the WiFi, we looked at car prices, and eventually the companies were open. We decided to go to Recasur, where they had one car left, a Renault Fluence. The price was about the same as anywhere else (~$130 Canadian/day), so we bit the bullet and got the car, hitting the road shortly after 10:30. With limited time, we wanted to maximize our daylight hours in Patagonia, which is why we went for the extra expense of the rental car rather than trying to rely on the sparse public transit system down there (our experience at the airport hadn't helped with this!). Once we were on the road, we were immediately impressed. Chilean Skuas and Black-browed Albatrosses flew right alongside the road, and our first lifer (Dolphin Gull) was right on the waterfront in town (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024198). On the north side of town, we made a stop at the Humedal Tres Puentes, where eBird had shown us some goodies could be found (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024240). Coscoroba Swan and Upland Goose were new for all of us, and we also had our first White-rumped Sandpipers of the trip foraging on the mud. On our drive north, we stopped occasionally at roadside lakes that looked birdy, and to look at some of the many Lesser Rheas that dotted the wide-open landscape (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024237). Along this stretch we added Ashy-headed Goose, Magellanic Oystercatcher and Wilson's Phalarope for the trip. Making it to Puerto Natales, the jumping-off point for Torres del Paine, we birded the waterfront for a few minutes (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024288) before heading into town to get groceries for the upcoming days, and to find some cold medicine for me, as my fever had receded but was replaced by heavy congestion and a migraine, and it looked like Josh and/or Adam was/were coming down with whatever I had. Thankfully whatever the sickness was, it was quite intense, but only lasted three days!

Puerto Natales waterfront

Landscape just outside Puerto Natales

On our way out of town, we stopped at a scrubby field near the airport, picking up an Austral Canastero (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024323). Continuing north, we made a few stops along the road to check out a small lake (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024353) and to take some photos of the many roadside Lesser Rheas (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024392). A bit after 18:00, we reached our destination at Sierra Baguales, a small mountain range east of Torres del Paine on the border with Argentina. This looked like it would be our best bet at a few austral specialty birds, but we couldn't find much information online about it, so we basically just drove up the road and hoped for the best (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024418). It didn't take us long to add Barn Swallow to the trip list, and a bit farther up the road we found a group of Cinnamon-bellied Ground-Tyrants and a Humboldt's Skunk. We made it up to where the road appeared to end at someone's property before turning around and slowly birding our way back, occasionally getting out to wander the hillsides in search of our target. Late in the evening, I flushed a group of Yellow-bridled Finches from beside a rock cut, but they disappeared before any of us could get good looks at them.

Lesser Rheas and the Sierra Baguales

Humboldt's Skunk

Calceolaria uniflora

End of the road in Sierra Baguales

Around 21:30 the bird activity was dying off in anticipation of sunset, and so we found a decent pulloff at km 372.1 to set up camp. We stayed up until it got fully dark at 23:30 (the days were long in midsummer!), talking over a few beers before turning in for the night. Adam and I slept in the car (I folded the back seats down and slept half in the trunk, while he slept in the front passenger seat) - neither of us had a sleeping bag so we just put on all our clothes and I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag liner I'd brought. Josh slept outside on his thermarest once more, despite our joking about Pumas being common in the hills here.

Austral Beer with the austral sunset at our camp spot

Running trip list: 216

Jan 19

The temperatures dropped pretty significantly overnight, hovering just above freezing for the later hours. As a result, none of us slept very well, however at one point I looked outside to see what looked almost like daylight. There was no moon or sun, however, the stars were just that bright due to a complete lack of cloud or light pollution! Josh got the full show as he was outside, and luckily no Pumas paid him a visit in the night. By 05:30 we were up and breaking camp, eager to warm up and see some new birds. The birds, however, had other ideas, and almost nothing stirred in the calm of dawn. It wasn't until the sun was fully up and the landscape warmed up that the birds finally became active - sometime around 06:30. We spent about four hours working our way up and down the road between our campsite at km 372.1 and the entrance to the valley at km 360, as this had seemed like the most productive stretch the evening before (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024444). The bird activity was much higher this morning than it had been the night previous, and we added Least Seedsnipe, Common Miner, Dark-faced Ground-Tyrant and a heard-only Band-tailed Earthcreeper, along with higher numbers of Cinnamon-bellied Ground-Tyrant and some other species we'd seen earlier. Two female Yellow-bridled Finches gave Josh and I a decent look at one point, although Adam didn't get enough on them.

Least Seedsnipe

At 09:00, Josh and Adam took a nap in the car, as Josh was coming down with the cold I had just gotten over and Adam had slept even worse than I had. As we still had at least one target bird here, I decided to fight the drowsiness and carried on down the road. About a kilometre farther on, I spotted a group of three White-throated Caracaras hanging out around a fenceline. Snapping a few quick photos, I ran back up the road to get Josh and Adam - they were a bit annoyed that I had disturbed their beauty rest until I told them the reason. We zoomed down the road, where one of the birds was luckily still present, giving the two of them good looks.

White-throated Caracara

After that adrenaline rush, the other two were wide awake, and we made our way over to the Torres del Paine entrance (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024460). The lake here is home to a highly localized species - the Austral Rail. Ideally, one would have a few days to check out the park, as the scenery is beyond spectacular, but on this occasion we were pressed for time, and so we walked down to the edge of the lake and waited for the rails. We ended up hearing several individuals, and eventually saw one briefly. Heading back to the car, we got in a bit of trouble for skipping the entrance gate, but after explaining we just went to the lake and were leaving anyway, they let us go.

Torres del Paine

On the way into Torres del Paine

Leaving the park behind, we made the long drive toward Tierra del Fuego, stopping occasionally at roadside wetlands but mostly trying to make time. It became obvious along this stretch that our car had a major issue. At the rental place, they had instructed us to always drive with the windows up and the vents set on 'recirculate' rather than 'intake', so as to keep the dust out. Following their instructions to the T, our car was still intaking dust at a rather alarming rate. After some time of this with the dust getting thicker (forcing us to wear our bandanas over our faces), we figured out it was leaking in through the pedals and the sound system somehow. We eventually gave up on their instructions and drove with the windows down, figuring the laws of diffusion would take some of the dust out of the car! By the end of our time in Patagonia, everything we owned was coated in a fine layer of dust. After a few hours of dust-bathing, we made it to San Gregorio, where a pair of Ruddy-headed Geese had recently been reported from a roadside wetland (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27024482). Sure enough, the birds were there as we pulled up, and after a few minutes of admiration in the heat haze, we continued on our way. Our next stop was the entrance road to Pali Aike, at Pampa Larga (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27025697). This was another place that we didn't really know where to go, so we worked our way up the road, stopping occasionally to walk around and scan/listen for birds, and checking out the few watering holes. One such watering hole held our target Rufous-chested Dotterel, and farther up the road we eventually spotted some Tawny-throated Dotterels out in a field. They allowed us to get close enough for a few photos before we headed back to the road. I eventually turned up a White-bridled Finch in a little wash, but it didn't stick around long! This was in my top 5 most-wanted Patagonian birds, so I was pretty ecstatic to have seen one during our limited time here. All of these target birds were between km 8-12 from the main highway.

Tawny-throated Dotterel

White-bridled Finch

Heading back, we stumbled across a family of Patagonian Mockingbirds on a hillside - at the time they were quite an uncommon bird in Chile although they seem to be expanding their range in recent years. From Pampa, we headed for the ferry to Tierra del Fuego, making a quick stop at the Buque wetland near the ferry terminal, as we were a bit early for the 20:50 ferry (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026001). The ferry crossing itself held no excitement for us in terms of pelagic birds (the northern crossing is a bit too short to regularly hold true pelagic species), however a few spectacular Commerson's Dolphins kept us entertained during the crossing (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026019). Officially on Tierra del Fuego, we made our way south as the sun fell lower in the sky, and we stopped to take a few sunset photos over the barren landscape.

Sunset on Tierra del Fuego

Along the way, we kept our eyes peeled for Short-billed Miners - despite flushing many miners from the road, we didn't conclusively identify any in the fading light. At 22:00, a Black-crowned Night-Heron flew by, and just as it was getting dark at 22:30, Adam spotted a Short-eared Owl. We rolled into Porvenir around 23:00 with our gas tank on empty, and quickly found a hostel that was still open and didn't seem too exorbitantly priced (accommodations on TdF are expensive!). We managed to talk them down from 90000p for a room with three beds to 70000p, as the place was pretty empty (and $140 for a hostel still seemed crazy to us). After almost 18h straight of birding/driving, and 700 km on the road, we all passed out almost instantly when we finally got to bed.

Running trip list: 228

Jan 20

Despite our long day yesterday, we were up early and heading north of Porvenir to try for a very special bird. En route, we picked up Short-billed Miner (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026092) and Two-banded Plover (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026110) roadside, both of which we would see more of during the course of the day. Our main stop was at Laguna de los Cisnes, north of the Porvenir airport, where we hoped to find a Magellanic Plover or two. Luck was on our side, and the famous Patagonian winds had died down this morning, giving us a glass-calm lake to search.

The lake where we searched for Magellanic Plovers

As we didn't know where exactly the plovers hung out, we decided to split up and call if one party found the birds. I took the south end of the lake while Adam and Josh took the north side. As I wandered along, a few smaller birds flushed up ahead of me - our first Patagonian Yellow-Finches of the trip. Looking back, the others were too far away and the birds disappeared over a hill before I could even shout to them. Rounding the southernmost part of the lake, I spotted some shorebirds on a bar up ahead. As I got closer, I could make out some Rufous-chested Dotterels, Two-banded Plovers, both White-rumped and Baird's Sandpipers, and... Magellanic Plovers! Waving at the other guys and trying my best to get their attention without spooking the birds proved useless, as the wide-open landscapes made the distance across the lake seem smaller than it really was - they were almost 1.5 km away from me at this point. I just hoped they had found some birds on their side, and enjoyed my time with the plovers - 7 of them were in with the shorebird flock. These birds are in their own family, and are often described as looking like a cross between a plover and a dove - an apt description.

Magellanic Plovers

Rufous-chested Dotterel

After a little while, I realized we were getting short on time, so I started heading back to the car, and saw that the others were doing the same. Meeting up, we swapped stories - it turned out the others had seen the same shorebird mix as I had, although with lower numbers. They had but a single Magellanic Plover, however it was much more confiding than the south-side birds had been, and Josh got some great photos (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026141)! Happy with our views, we headed back to the hostel to take advantage of the included breakfast buffet. Checking google maps on the hostel WiFi, we debated our options. The ferry to the mainland was at 14:00, and if we missed it, we would have a long drive around the north route. There was a King Penguin colony that we really wanted to visit, however the map said it was a 2h15 drive one-way, and it was 09:45 at this point, meaning we would miss the ferry by 15-20 minutes, and not have any time to actually look at the penguins. Deciding to risk it (we really wanted those penguins), we quickly packed, checked out, and hit the road. I won't say exactly what speeds Josh attained on that gravel road, but our predicted drive was cut almost in half (although it was quite an overestimate to begin with). We saw a few birds along the way (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026173), before pulling in at the penguin colony with almost an hour to spend with these elegant creatures (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026202). Most of our time was spent admiring the King Penguins, and making a careful count as our numbers were the highest recorded at this site (and still are, per eBird, as of the time of writing). Some occasional scans of the bay gave us good numbers of Sooty Shearwaters and our first Southern Giant-Petrel, with two Great Shearwaters among them - quite a rare species in Chile. Land birds were few, however the guys got their Patagonian Yellow-Finch with a confiding bird near the parking lot, and we all enjoyed the antics of the Austral Negritos.

Obligatory King Penguin selfie

King Penguin colony

King Penguin with classic Tierra del Fuego landscape

Austral Negrito

Before long, it was time for us to go, and we made the drive back a little more slowly, spotting a Fire-eyed Diucon and some Rufous-chested Dotterels on the way. Along this stretch, it became obvious that our car was suffering more than just a dust problem, as the windshield first chipped and then cracked from gravel flying off passing cars, one of the tires started going flat, and worst of all, the latch on Josh's door had somehow lost all of its screws and fallen out, meaning his door was no longer able to close. He drove the last few kilometres to the Porvenir ferry with one hand holding the door closed and the other alternating between the steering wheel and the stick shift (our car was a manual, as most rentals in Chile and Argentina were), using his knee to fill the gaps in steering. We made it to the ferry terminal at 13:59, and I ran inside to get tickets while Josh zoomed over to the ferry lineup. With seconds to spare, I ran over and jumped in the car, handing the tickets to the ferry attendant, and the ferry pulled away just after we got on. Phew! On our way out of the harbour, some Peale's Dolphins performed acrobatics, jumping out of the water and spinning around, while good numbers of Chilean Skuas cruised by. With light winds on the east side of the strait, we didn't have much else in the way of pelagic birds until we passed the halfway point, and the wind picked up. From there we had flock after flock of seabirds, and by the end we estimated we'd seen around 500 Black-browed Albatrosses (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27026323)! Good numbers of White-chinned Petrels also kept us entertained, while a few Magellanic Penguins and Diving-Petrels rounded out the list.

Peale's Dolphins playing

Chilean Skua

In Punta Arenas, we birded the waterfront for a little while, finding a locally-rare Red-legged Cormorant before heading off to find a hostel. We eventually settled on a (tiny) three-bed room at Hostel Torres del Paine (12500p each), and spent the rest of the day relaxing, getting dinner, and making a plan of attack for our next few days.

Running trip list: 235

Jan 21

This day was a bit of a turning point in our trip, and not for the better. Up until this point, our loosely-planned trip had been quite successful, with almost all of our target birds in the bag and only a few minor mishaps and hours wasted looking for accommodations or due to missed buses.

It started with our rental car. It was due back around 10:00, so after eating a nice breakfast and packing our stuff, we checked out of our hostel and headed to the rental agency, to be there when they opened in order to make our bus. They quickly noticed the thick layer of dust coating the entire car, and were quite angry with us for 'not following their instructions'. After explaining that particular issue, they let it go, and didn't notice the leaky tire. They did notice the door latch, but we were off the hook for that as it was a manufacturing defect. The cracked windshield, however, was another story. Luckily, Josh's credit card insurance covered that, but he had to fill out a lot of forms and spend some time on the phone with his credit card company, and the rental agent had a lot of paperwork to do as well. A few days earlier, we had realized that Josh had thrown out his PDI form (the tourist 'receipt' you get when entering Chile), a necessary piece of paper in order to leave the country. As they can only be replaced at a major police station (which only exist in the capital city of each province in Chile), we left the rental agent to his paperwork and slipped out to find the police station where we could replace Josh's form. That task complete, it was back to the rental agency where we waited around for a while before eventually everything was sorted and we could go on our way. We made it to the bus station, only to discover that the bus to Argentina had departed 15 minutes earlier, and there wouldn't be another one until the next day at the same time! With that, there was nothing we could do, as no other buses even went that direction, so after booking our tickets for the next day, we went off to find a hostel, hoping for one a little less pricey than the night before. We ended up at Hostel Ayelen near the bus terminal (10000p each). After looking for a laundromat with little success (we did find some, but they all said it would take 24h to wash our clothes), we spent the bulk of the day at the hostel. We did make a brief foray to the waterfront in the afternoon, not adding any new birds, but seeing the Red-legged Cormorant again and getting some decent photos of Dolphin Gulls (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S27037553).

Dolphin  Gull

Running trip list: 235