TOP 10 SPECIES
Top 10 lists are voted upon by the participants at the completion of
each tour.
SOUTHERN ARGENTINA
2-19 December 2005
Leaders: Mike Haldeman, Luis Segura and other Birding-Argentina Guides
Trip Report by Mike Haldeman
After our flights from the US we checked into our Buenos Aires hotel and set out for Costanera Sur, a wetland reserve near the downtown area. Despite some heavy rain we jumpstarted our trip list with many of the common southern South American ducks, Coscoroba Swans, and the coot trifecta - White-winged, Red-gartered, and Red-fronted. But most importantly, among these common birds we managed to pull out a couple of rarities - a pair of Ringed Teal and a single male Black-headed Duck.
The next morning we flew south to Ushuaia. As we dropped below the clouds to land we caught our first glimpse of the world’s southernmost city nestled between the Beagle Channel and jagged peaks still covered with fresh snow. After checking into our hotel on the outskirts of town we visited the coast and instantly picked up Upland, Ashy-headed, and Kelp Geese, both Flying and Flightless Steamer-Ducks, and Blackish and Magellanic Oystercatchers. Since the chairlift at the local ski area was closed for repairs we decided to bird an area with a more subtle beauty and charm - the town dump. Here we immediately found our target - White-throated Caracara - but what was more amazing for us were the "pelagic" birds. Right at the dump we had Antarctic Giant Petrels perched on the ground, while several Chilean Skuas landed all around our van for easy viewing and photographing. As we drove back to our hotel on a cliff overlooking the ocean, snow was falling - a fitting introduction to Tierra del Fuego on the fringe of summer.
Our comfortable heated catamaran ride on the Beagle Channel started off with 15 Antarctic Giant Petrels before we left the dock! Chilean Skuas seemed to be everywhere and we managed to pick out a few Brown Skuas. We had one Common Diving-Petrel and many of the more common Magellanic Diving- Petrels. At a colony of Imperial (King) Shags we watched a few of the pigeon-like Snowy Sheathbills scramble over the rocks and, at a small Magellanic Penguin colony, we saw Gentoo Penguins on their nests. Throughout the day we would see an occasional Black-browed Albatross, but as we neared the end of the channel it was almost impossible to put our binoculars on a patch of sky and NOT see a Black- browed Albatross. There were hundreds of them drifting above the open sea.
At Tierra del Fuego National Park we started the day with a dramatic encounter with our most sought- after species. A pair of enormous Magellanic Woodpeckers with a youngster came in close to us for several minutes. We had incredible views of the male’s all red head and the female’s impressive long curled crest as they foraged. The forest was filled with Thorn-tailed Rayaditos, and at one point we enjoyed a lengthy study of the intricately patterned White-throated Treerunner at eye level and only a few yards away. A pair of Austral Parakeets perched in the open long enough for all to see, we scoped a pair of Magellanic Horned Owls on their day roost, and an Austral Pygmy-Owl called for us as we watched it being bombarded by Black-chinned Siskins and an Austral Thrush.
The following day we flew to Calafate and headed straight for a local lagoon. Here we watched Cinereous Harriers chase Southern and Chimango Caracaras from their nesting area and had our first of many looks at Chilean Flamingos and Black-necked Swans. It’s hard to imagine a pigeon-like shorebird stealing the show from such spectacular birds but the Magellanic Plover did just that. This rare bird is in its own family, so being able to study three of them at our leisure was a special treat. At Los Glacieres National Park we observed chunks of ice calving off the two hundred foot tall Perito Moreno Glacier. A few stops along the way produced Chilean Flickers, a Rufous-tailed Plantcutter, and a last minute sighting of a pair of Spectacled Ducks with ducklings. A boat ride on Lago Argentino drifted us past enormous deep-blue icebergs to see the park’s largest and tallest glaciers as well as many smaller glaciers nestled into the valleys of the steep mountainsides surrounding the lake. We saw so many Andean Condors on this ride that by the end most of us wouldn’t even look up if one was called out. All of these sights were explored from the Estancia Alice far outside the town of Calafate. This old ranch has its own bird preserve with hundreds of breeding birds to watch from the deck into the very late hours of the Patagonian summer.
It was sad to leave the food, hospitality, and the setting of the ranch, but we had many kilometers of windswept plains to cover to reach our next estancia on the Patagonian High Plateau. Lesser Rheas and Guanacos were common and we had great looks at a Tawny-throated Dotterel and a Chocolate-vented Tyrant foraging together along the roadside. Least Seedsnipes flushed from the roadside in a steady stream and mammal finds included Patagonian Skunk, Patagonian Gray Fox, and both Seven-banded and Eight-banded Armadillos. And the jagged crags of Cerros Torre and Fitz Roy were uncharacteristically free of clouds, giving us distant views of some of Patagonia’s most spectacular peaks. Near our new estancia we looked for the incredibly rare Hooded Grebe at a traditional spot but the only new bird we found there was Two-banded Plover, so we retired to our outdoor barbeque and considered options for the next day.
In the early morning we set out with a new plan – we didn’t drive all this way to give up easily. The owners of the estancia could take us into a remote lake with the proper vegetation requirements for the Hooded Grebe, but only in a high clearance pick-up. So we went as far as we could in our van and bounced the last few miles to a hill overlooking a lake and after a few minutes of scanning we found them - six Hooded Grebes! It was easy for us to imagine how this bird was overlooked until its scientific discovery in 1974.
Our first morning in Puerto Madryn we went to the Valdes Peninsula after a quick stop outside town to see Burrowing Parrots come out of their burrows. A few kilometers into the reserve our driver slammed on the brakes and pointed. It took us awhile to see what he was showing us but finally, under a small shrub right on the side of the gravel road they materialized - a mother Geoffroy’s Wild Cat with a kitten. They stayed there a few minutes watching us before slipping away to a better hiding place. It was too late in the season to see the adult male Southern Elephant Seals sparring on the beach but plenty of female and young were sprawled on the sand soaking up the summer sun. And the Southern Sea-Lions were just getting started - we watched several large, maned males roaring and "chasing" rivals across the beach with very short bursts of energy punctuated with long pauses for rest. Afterward we checked a small marsh where, with patience, we were amazed to see - at our feet – an Austral Rail! This recently rediscovered bird was just found on the peninsula by Luis Segura far from any previously known sites. Other highlights for the day were the large rodents known as Mara, Scale-throated Earthcreeper, White- banded Mockingbird, and a quick look at a flushed Darwin’s Nothura.
We spent one day visiting the penguin colony at Punta Tombo with its 208,000 Magellanic Penguin nests. A path is roped off through one section where the penguins are accustomed to humans and allow approach to within a few feet of their nestlings. One rule to which we had to adhere while navigating the maze of nesting burrows - always yield right-of-way to a penguin. This is an important rule since they often walked right through our group. At the beach we watched the drama unfold as frightened youngsters were coaxed to their first encounters with the ocean. We found a single male of the highly localized White-headed Steamer-Duck resting with adult penguins. Besides tourists, an enormous colony like this also attracts predators, and from a small cliff above the beach we watched Antarctic Giant Petrels and Brown Skuas fly by at eye level.
Back in the north we spent a day in Entre Rios Province where bird diversity dwarfed what we found in southern Patagonia. Monk Parakeets were in constant motion around us and we shared blinding scope views of a male Glittering-bellied Emerald in perfect light. Southern Screamers and Long-winged Harriers were common and we found Ringed Teal, Spot-flanked Gallinule, South American Snipe, Dark- billed Cuckoo, Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper, Brown Cacholote, Warbling Doradito, and White-naped Xenopsaris among the 100+ species for the day.
En route to the pampas south of Buenos Aires a few stops yielded Firewood-gatherer, amazing views of a pair of Curve-billed Reedhaunters as they called from a roadside marsh, the sight of Screaming Cowbirds parasitizing the nest of their usual host, the Bay-winged Cowbird, and a pair of Southern Grison crossing the road. Among grasslands and marshes near San Clemente we had excellent looks at a singing Bay- capped Wren-Spinetail and then prepared for a long search for the rare and skulking Hudson’s Canastero. We got out of the van and were ready to plunge into the spiky vegetation when a Hudson’s Canastero that had been singing flew onto the road! This huge canastero is very rarely seen in the open and rarely seen at all, but we were able to watch it for several minutes on the edge of a mudflat before it disappeared back into cover. Other good finds in the area included Olrog’s Gull, Long-tailed Reed-Finch, and Scarlet- headed Blackbird and, although the dry conditions diminished our chances for American Painted-Snipe, our marsh excursions still paid off with several great scope views of Stripe-backed Bittern.