Holiday Highlights Patagonia 5 22 November 2016

Transcription

1 Guides: Guests: Day 1: 1 Roy Atkins and Lucas Marti Holiday Highlights Patagonia 5 22 November 2016 Christine and Max Maughan, Richard Maynard, Jean Davies and Jonathan Hannam, Stef McLaney, Lynn and Steve Osborne We arrive in Buenos Aires an hour earlier than expected and we are impressed that Lucas has kept an eye on the flights and is there to greet us. We are soon on the bus and on our way to the hotel, spotting Grey-breasted Martins, Southern Lapwings, Rufous Hornero, Eared Doves and a brief Guira Cuckoo as we go. We take a short break to freshen up and unpack a little then meet up again and head for an early lunch. We arrive to find the restaurant does not open until 12 so we drive round the block and look out for birds but find the most when we are walking the few yards to the restaurant! Here there are Grey-breasted and Brown-chested Martins over the river with several White-rumped Swallows that look exactly like House Martins. There are Neotropic Cormorants on the river and Great Egrets flying over. Lunch is a superb buffet and we all eat too much, before heading out into the heat and the waiting bus. A flock of White-faced Ibis fly over! We arrive at Costanera Sur - a nature reserve that is also rather like a city park and wow - are there a lot of people!! Perhaps the hot weather has brought them all out. We feel a bit conspicuous at first as the crowds walk by wondering what we are doing but we are soon distracted by the birds and stop noticing, there are birds everywhere!! As we walk the first few yards we spot both Monk and Nanday Parakeets, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Shiny Cowbird, Picazuro Pigeon, lots of Eared Doves, Swainson s Flycatcher in the trees above our heads plus Kiskadee and Saffron Finch. We start scanning the lake and find Pied-billed Grebe, Wattled Jacana, Common Gallinule, White-tufted Grebe and in the bushes a small group of Guira Cuckoos and a Tropical Kingbird. At the back edge of the pool Roy finds a Rufescent Tiger Heron but it vanishes instantly and as Max searches for it he finds a Southern Screamer instead, a very nice surprise. We continue to scan and Roy is delighted to find a Black-backed Water-Tyrant which shows well in the bushes. There are several Baywings, we get better views of the White-tufted Grebe and we find a pair of Red-crested Cardinals. We can see other birds on the water further away so start walking up the track that follows the waterside and is a little less crowded with people. Soon we are enjoying great view of Rosy-billed Pochard, Red-gartered Coot, Great Grebe and Speckled Teal. A superb Fork-tailed Flycatcher perches in the treetops and

2 we find Creamy-bellied Thrush and get great views of Glittering-bellied Emerald, a beautiful hummingbird with brilliant red bill! A Chequered Woodpecker works up and down a dead branch nearby and we find several Masked Gnatcatchers, delightful grey birds with a long, cocked tail. It seems quiet for raptors though eventually both Southern Crested and Chimango Caracara fly over. We are bit shocked by how hot it is! It is not usually quite this hot at this time of year with the temperature at around 30 degrees!! It saps the energy a bit, especially after travelling, but the constant trickle of new birds keep us keen! The Rufescent Tiger-Heron flies by, then two Snowy Egrets too and another Southern Screamer like a big fat goose! We find a Limpkin that seems remarkably tame on the near shore just below us. There are a few butterflies around too mostly unidentified but we put names to Brazilian Painted Lady, Monarch and species later identified from the internet called Yellow Lazy (Actinote carycina), and Polydamas Swallowtail (Battus polydamas) We have been covering the ground rather slowly, stopping to look at everything, but we have some way to go and so start trying to speed up a little but it is hard as we keep seeing new birds! Red-eyed Vireo, Small-billed Elaenia, Chalk browed Mockingbird, Silver Teal, Golden-billed Saltator and Bran-coloured Flycatcher all are added to the growing list. A very well hidden Brazilian Cavy, a small wild guinea pig, is tucked under the vegetation here too. We play a little of the call of Freckle-froated Fornbird - no Freckle-fronted - no, what is it again? Oh yes, Freckle-breasted Thornbird, which flies straight in and puts on an excellent show! We walk on, pausing for Streaked Flycatcher and Solitary Cacique, until we reach the coast, except that it is not the coast! It looks like the open ocean with views out over the sea and no land in sight, until you use your binoculars and yes, there, way off in the distance, is the other side of the river! This is the River Plata, the widest river in the world according to Lucas! Out on the water it is almost devoid of birds with just a few Neotropic Cormorants then Roy spots a pair of Brown-hooded Gulls flying towards us and even better a couple of Snowy-crowned Terns!! These are lovely birds with completely white heads save for a black mask running through the eye and a good find. There are both Screaming and Shiny Cowbirds here making a nice comparison. As we walk back through the reserve to the bus we still add more birds. White-crested Tyrannulet and Guilded Sapphire, a lovely hummingbird and at one point we have both this and Glittering-bellied Emerald feeding together in large Red Coral Tree - the national tree! We get frustratingly brief views of a Spectacled Tyrant then superb views of Nanday Parakeets feeding right above the path before arriving back at the entrance ready for a nice cool drink back at the hotel, it is still astonishingly hot! Day 2: 2 We meet for an excellent breakfast at 7am and shortly afterwards we are on our way but are soon stuck in traffic! The roads are enormous, we can t believe that at one point there appear to be six lanes going one way, five the other way and

3 two lanes outside of a wall going the same direction both ways making fifteen lanes in all!! The traffic is solid and it seems the main reason is an accident as once we are past that everything speeds up considerably but it has rather delayed our arrival at our first site. We are pleased to see the weather is not as hot or sunny predicted as there is no shade here and another scorcher like yesterday could have been hard work. There is a thin layer of cloud and a nice temperature as we start walking and birding this rather nice marshland reserve called Otamendi, there are birds everywhere! Many are just Picazuro Pigeons and Eared Doves flying back and forth or Monk Parakeets that fly past in small flocks at frequent intervals but there are also Southern Lapwings flying around, Chimango Caracaras, Southern Crested Caracaras and frequent Yellow-winged Blackbirds and Brown-and-Yellow Marsh Birds. A pair of Green-barred Woodpeckers fly across and land on the reeds! We watch a flock of Bare-faced Ibis fly over then discover a Long-winged Harrier flying low over the reeds, a beautiful dark phase bird. There are plenty of bird calls emanating from the sedges, rushes and reeds and we soon find a Warbling Dorito, a lovely yellow bellied bird. With it is a Curve-billed Reed-haunter which promptly vanishes and it takes a little while before we coax out another further down the track and two birds appear and show wonderfully well calling from the tops of the reeds. A Great Pampa-Finch also shows well perching on the reed tops, as does a Spectacled Tyrant, though a Wren-like Rushbird proves much more difficult. As we look for birds in the reeds, Snail Kites fly by and a single Roadside Hawk. A flock of Bare-faced Ibis flies over and later two White-faced Ibis too. We walk on the down the track and flush a Brazilian Teal from one of the ditches. Five Glittering-bellied Emeralds fly around in pursuit of each other! We drive a little further down the road pausing to look at a Ringed Kingfisher perched near the road. We soon stop to get out again and discover several birds in the trees here, including Sayaca Tanagers and Short-billed Elaenia. We cross the road to see if we can motivate a Straight-billed Reed-haunter into the open. We play a little of the song and shortly get a reply but first a Black-and-Rufous Warbling-Finch appears close by, giving great views. We are distracted by this when suddenly there is the reed-haunter, an astonishing looking bird with a very long straight bill. This not an easy bird to see so we are well pleased. While watching it, a very smart Long-tailed Reed-Finch appears in front of us and a beautiful male Masked Yellowthroat. In the ditch we add Sooty Tyrannulet and in the trees a Bran-coloured Flycatcher and Hooded Siskins including a couple of nice males. Time is flying and we have other places we are keen to get to, so we head for an early lunch at the picnic tables by the visitor centre. Here we find a calling Sooty-fronted Spinetail which eventually provides a decent view and on the grass are several Rufous Horneros. There are several of their bizarre nests on the trees and building nearby. There are some enormous Monk Parakeet nests in the trees

4 too, with lots of birds around them. We are also impressed by the beautiful deep blue-purple flowers of an air-plant growing on the trees here. We now have quite a long drive to our next spot but on the way we pass a truly enormous area of flooded land that looks fantastic but has far fewer birds on it than you expect. There are plenty of Great and Snowy Egrets but we only spot a couple of Cocoi Herons. There are occasional Snail Kites and Limpkins and we spot our first Maguari Storks, looking rather like our White Stork. There seem to be quite a lot of Roseate Spoonbills and one lake has several Great Grebes. We arrive at the next spot and get out, to walk along the dirt track. There is a Picui Ground Dove as we stop then we find Chestnut-capped Blackbirds in the bulrushes and nearby trees. A pair of Red-crested Cardinal appears and we find a calling Short-billed Canastero. Scanning the road up ahead we spot both Rufous Cacholote and Lark-like Bushrunner. A stunning male Blue-and-Yellow Tanager looks fabulous. Walking on we find two very smart White-fronted Woodpeckers and a few minutes later two White Woodpeckers fly over as well. We spot occasional Fork-tailed Flycatchers in the fields and a stunning male Vermillion Flycatcher and in the bushes Short-billed Elaenia, Cattle Tyrant, Stripe-crowned Spinetail, Suiriri Flycatcher, Chotoy Spinetail and a superb Savannah Hawk. A Guira Cuckoo is calling from the tree tops then we get better views of the Rufous Cacholote with two Narrow-billed Woodcreepers in the same tree. We drive along the road a little way but jump out again when we spot a White Monjita, a beautiful white flycatcher with black wings, and while here get even better views of Vermillion Flycatcher, a stunning male on a broken stump. We find Double-collared Seedeater and Grassland Yellow-Finch on the fence. At our next stop, there are wetlands and open reedy areas, scrub and a lake and again there seem to be birds everywhere. Lots of Limpkins are either, in the open areas or flying over the reeds, Southern Screamers call noisily as they flap heavily across the reedbeds and Snail Kites and a Long-winged Harrier quarter the open areas. There are Coypus almost submerged in the water at the edge of the reeds and we find a rather smart Spot-flacked Gallinule. Walking on we find several Black-crowned Night-Herons, a close Cocoi Heron, Wattled Jacanas, plenty of Common Gallinules (Moorhens) and two South American Snipe fly by. We eventually get close enough to scan the pool and find a Large-billed Tern perched on the far shore, which is a nice find. White-backed Stilts are wading nearby and there are Brown-hooded Gulls, a single White-faced Whistling-Duck and a couple of waders that turn out to be Pectoral Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs. Christine spots a Giant Wood Rail as it crosses the road so we try to find it and eventually get great views of two of them as they preen amongst the dead reeds, great looking birds. In this same spot we find Striated Heron, Yellow-chinned Spinetail and Sooty Tyrannulet. Scanning the pool one last time, Roy is pleased to spot a Ringed Teal then we are astonished when a huge flock of perhaps thirty or more Southern Screamers take flight and flap across to land

5 again the far end of the pool, a nice finish as we head back to the bus and snooze on our way back to Buenos Aires. Day 3: 3 Oh what a horrible start! We meet in reception to load up the bus at 3.15am! Our flight to Trelew is at 5am, so we set off with plenty of time to arrive and check in before the flight. Here we are welcomed by a local guide called Martin and we head straight to a nearby lake at the city dump - yes, we certainly know the lovely spots! We have a bit of confusion trying to find our way in. Newly dumped stuff and fences block the normal route and as we drive round trying to find a way we spot Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Southern Lapwing and on the wires with the cowbirds a Long-tailed Meadowlark. There is a flock of Kelp Gulls and a few Brown-hooded Gulls and a Rabbit! There is much discussion about this as the local guy seems to insist only Brown Hares are here but we get a good view of it and we feel we perhaps have enough experience of this species to dispute his claim! A Brown Hare seen shortly afterwards does nothing to convince us otherwise. We eventually decide we are close enough to walk the last bit to the lake and as we get out a Sharp-billed Canastero is singing from the top of the bushes. There seem to be House Wrens everywhere, singing from the bushes and piles of rubble, and plenty of Rufous-collared Sparrows. We arrive at the lake and it is teaming with birds. Immediately obvious are the Coscoroba Swans and Chilean Flamingos, the latter a beautiful orangey-pink colour. There is a pair of Black-necked Swans and we look at the beautiful face markings with fine white lines and red bill. There are Coots everywhere and careful inspection reveals three species, lots of White-winged Coots, with pale bills and yellow or slightly orangey shields, occasional Red-gartered in amongst them with the dark line between the shields and the bill and one or two Red-fronted Coots with very dark red and rather slim shields. We then work our way through the ducks, with quite a selection! There are both Yellow-billed Pintail and Yellow-billed Teal, Rosy-billed Pochard, Lake Duck rather like black headed Ruddy Ducks and a single Southern Wigeon. We find a beautiful pair of Cinnamon Teal in breeding plumage, there are Red Shovelers at the back and to Roy s astonishment quite a lot of Black-headed Ducks including smart males with the red spot at the base of the bill. Amongst them are lots of White-tufted Grebes and at the back two pairs of Silvery Grebes and a pair of Great Grebes. In the scrub close by a pair of Correndera Pipits are taking food to their chicks. A flock of South American Terns fly overhead and we are delighted to spot a pair of Cinereous Harriers on the far side chasing off a Chimango Caracara. There are a small number of White-backed Stilts.

6 We have more things to see today and head back to the bus for our journey a little down the coast. We travel through endless scrub pausing when we reach a Variable Hawk nest, where a bird flaps lazily onto the bushes nearby and is then joined by the male, who seems very friendly! We are amazed when two Elegant crested Tinamou appear on the road and walk straight towards us, providing amazing views. We also spot our first Guanacos with a nice close group. We arrive at the coast and drive down to overlook a bay, where Elephant Seals are hauled out on the beach. Our Martin tells us how to behave around the Elephant Seals, which will allow a fairly close approach but not too close! There are quite a few of them on the beach and most are this year s young, not very big animals and a silvery grey colour though some are moulting with patches of skin hanging off. They look quite doe-eyed when they look at you! There are also a couple of bigger animals that are at least a year older, which appear to be young males including one really big fat one that seems very content sleeping half in and half out of a rock pool. What a life, lying here sunbathing all day! We are soon distracted however by a group of Chubut Steamer Ducks, very chunky ducks, the males with rather orangey yellow based bills and very pale napes that are almost white. We are very pleased to see this species - an Argentinean endemic found only in the Chubut region. We walk round to see them closer and enjoy good views. There are Rock Cormorants, Great Grebes, American Oystercatchers, Chilean Swallows, Blue-and-White Swallows and a brief view of Grey-headed Sierra-Finch. The flowers here are quite nice too, with a beautiful yellow composite called Gum Plant or Shrubby Gumweed (Grindelia chiloensis) and a strange plant with no leaves but little pompom flowers called Pingo-pingo (Ephedra andina). We head round towards the biggest Male Elephant Seal and on the rocks where he is lying we also find more American Oystercatchers and some beautiful Two-banded Plovers. While we watch these a small group of waders fly down the beach towards us and as they bank round we can see they are a mix of White-rumped and Baird s Sandpipers. We drive to Ponta Tombo from where we can watch the surrounding area while eating lunch in the restaurant. Lynn spots our first Magellanic Penguin from the restaurant window and we find Common Diuca-Finch and a female Grey-hooded Sierra-Finch. Mourning Sierra Finch should be common here so Roy assumes at first a bird he spots on the top of a bush is this species but he is puzzled by the very orange bill and very black appearance and wonders about Carbonated Sierra-Finch which is much rarer. Lucas says this is extremely unlikely as he has never heard of any records here but we get out the scope and examine it anyway and to our surprise it is one, a brilliant find and Martin is astonished when we tell him! After lunch we drive to the point and then walk out to the penguin colony. Almost immediately we are finding Magellanic Penguins right beside the track and

7 they are completely un-phased by our presence. Some look rather scruffy and others are pristine, many lying in scrapes in the ground where their eggs are laid, other in real burrows under the bushes. They look great! As we walk on we find a pair of Elegant Crested Tinamous walking through the colony and get brief views of Patagonia Mockingbird. A Scale-throated Earthcreeper flies past and some get views of a Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail. Our intention is not to walk very far as we are rapidly running out of time but when we reach a point where we can see the end of the trail we decide to go for it and if we have no time before our evening meal then we ll put up with that - as Lucas says - "You have been warned, on your head be it!" The further part of the penguin colony looks so different, being on open grounds with loads of penguins all standing around amongst a mass of holes on a smooth area of bare ground. It is a superb sight and worth the extra walk and time it takes. Out on the sea we are pleased to find a Northern Giant Petrel amongst the Southerns, the tip of the bill looking darker than the rest. The giant petrels look most impressive as they fly by, especially when they come very close so you can really judge just how enormous they are! There is a large flock of Great Grebes out there and on the beach a single Chubut Steamer Duck - a male with a very pale head indeed. Southern Martins are flying around the whole area and three Cabots (Cayenne) Terns fly by looking very sleek with yellow bills. Cabot's Tern is a recent split from Sandwich Tern but looks virtually identical, however some have yellow bills and are known as Cayenne Terns and may indeed be another split in the near future. As we walk back, we are pleased to see two South American Sea Lions swimming below us. We watch Magellanic Penguins coming up from the beach and can't resist taking pics of a very close Guanaco. We march back as fast as we can as time is really an issue now and we are soon on our way with about a three hour journey to our hotel still ahead of us! The journey is broken with a stop for a coffee but otherwise is amazingly constant in terms of surroundings, an apparently enormous area of low scrubby bushes for mile after mile after mile!! As we enter the Peninsula Valdes National Park, we make a stop to pay the entrance fee and spot Patagonian Mockingbird on the fence posts and a Southern Martin is nesting in the building. We arrive at the hotel rather late, sort out what we want to eat then check in so that by the time we have a grabbed a quick shower the food is ready! We eat and chat then remembering that it is the American election today we turn on the news - we feel very relieved as the results in so far suggest Hilary Clinton has a slight lead. The general opinion round the table seems to be that no nation would really vote for Donald Trump as their leader and there seems to be a confidence that Hillary will win as we head to bed. Day 4: 4 We wake to unbelievable news - Donald Trump is President of the USA!!!! We can't believe it and we sit around the breakfast table with miserable faces in a state of shock!! It is hard to know what to say.

8 We are not really recovered from the shock when we leave for our whale watching trip and it is very nice to be distracted from the subject. We drive the very short distance round to the spot where we will be getting our boat and while Martin goes to sort out tickets etc we take a wander down to the beach to scan for birds. There are quite a lot of Great Grebes out on the calm water but no sign of any whales! We spot American Oystercatcher on the beach with the Kelp and Brown-hooded Gulls and on the wires behind us are Southern Martins. A Royal Tern flies through but there seems to be little else. A short walk and scan from a new spot finds a Rock Cormorant but a very strange bird with an almost completely white head and neck. We get kitted up with life jackets and head down to the boat, which is on a trailer on the beach. Once onboard the trailer is then backed down the beach into the sea and once the boat is afloat our skipper reverses it out onto the water. It seems the whales are not so close this year so we have to head some way out to find them. We pass little on the way, the odd Rock Cormorant and some distant Imperial Cormorants on some rocks and a South American Sea Lion, then he slows down and we scan up ahead. He suddenly speeds up and says "We have a whale!!" We are astonished to see it tail lobbing as we approach, lifting its tail and smashing it down on the surface with a big splash again and again! It would appear to be a young animal and they suggest it might to trying to get its mothers attention. We watch for a while and get great views of this small animal as it surfaces and lifts its tail now and then but it is dwarfed when the adult female suddenly surfaces nearby and swims to join it - it looks huge! It is such a strange shaped animal with the large head, arching jaw and large pale callosities on the head and jaw line. Photos don't do the animal justice, making it look rather like a large barnacle covered rock! This is an impressive animal and the sound of its blow is amazing. We spend some time just enjoying and photographing both adult and youngster with the younger animals spending much more time at the surface. We see the tail and flippers etc and at one point it even swims right under the boat, visible under the water! Then we are out of time. It has taken a while to get here and we have to get back for the next boat outing at 12, so we leave them and head back. It has been fabulous. So how do you follow that!? Well with small birds I guess, so we drive a short distance and stop for a quick search of the scrubby bushes. There are several Mourning Sierra-Finches here and we compare with our memory of yesterdays excellent find, easily able to tell the difference. We find Long-tailed Meadowlarks and get excellent views of Patagonian Canastero. A Patagonian Lesser Cavy is found under one of the bushes and looks very cute. We find a 'Common Chilean Satyr' - a butterfly rather like a small Grayling and also a Patagonian Lizard - we think - though it would appear that trying to name lizards here might be impossible! A Variable Hawk is circling in the distance and there are several Turkey Vultures.

9 We drive a short distance and stop to eat our lunch in the bus. A group of three Elegant Crested Tinamou wander by while we eat. A few yards up a dirt track and we make another stop at a more open area with short grass. We start scanning for birds but are quickly distracted when Lynn spots a couple of Maras feeding at the far edge of the grass. These strange looking animals with thin legs and rodent faces are like a cross between a deer and a hare! As we are standing watching them, a small bird flies into the bush in front of us and we are unsure what exactly it is. We try and get a view and wonder if it might be a Band-tailed Earthcreeper. After searching a little and playing a bit of recording instead of this bird, a Rufous-backed Monjita hops up onto the top of a bush. It flies even closer and we get superb views of this lovely bird before suddenly the Band-tailed Earthcreeper also hops up onto another bush, excellent! We try for Short-billed Pipit next and soon spot one in flight that lands at the back of the grass. We walk towards where it landed and another flies in landing much closer and astonishingly it actually lands in short enough grass to view the bird and get a scope on it. It looks like every other pipit and doesn't even have a very short bill! The weather gets better and better as the day progresses, with sunshine taking over from the cloudy skies of this morning - though the wind does pick up rather so perhaps it was good we did the whale watching first! Martin is a font of information about the area, the reasons for the reserve, the rocks and fossils, history and sheep farming, the arrival and colonisation by the Welsh, all very interesting as we drive towards the coast. We pass some large groups of Guanacos, which look fabulous in this habitat, then Roy is pleased to spot a group of three Lesser Rheas close enough to the road for photos. We also pause to enjoy a nice close Burrowing Owl just sat watching us and also in the other direction are two Maras. We arrive at the coast looking out over a strip of shingle that runs for miles along the coast big waves are crashing onto the beach and we scan for Orcas, with no luck. There is a Magellanic Penguin colony here and it is nice to enjoy more ridiculously close views. Southern Giant Petrels fly past now and then, very close indeed and enormous. We spot Crested Duck, Royal Tern, a Peregrine Falcon flies through and we find a very tame Common Miner. A couple of Lesser Rheas are wandering up the slope and we get superb views of these and a good opportunity for frame filling photos. There are also scattered Elephant Seals along the shingle and some look huge! We drive a short distance to a second viewpoint and here we find a pair of Patagonian Yellow Finches along with another Common Miner. Similar species are down below us in the lagoon but nothing unexpected, so we travel on to our final stop at the end of the lagoon. We take a short walk here stopping to look at the lizards that are along the path. Martin tells us they are called Darwin s Lizard but searching the internet later it is hard to know what they are but the males are certainly quite colourful. Rufous-collared Sparrows sing from the bushes and look different here to further north with much plainer greyer heads, perhaps a split one day. We see Patagonian Mockingbirds, lots of Southern Giant

10 Petrels cruising by and enjoy the superb view looking right up the lagoon with more Elephant Seals down below. With no sign of any Orcas passing by we head back to the bus and we are just pointing out a Common Diuca Finch when # a shout of Armadillo! goes up!! A Big Hairy Armadillo (that is its name not a description!) is running across a patch of open land and stops on the track. We dash to try and get photos and some manage great shots of this great little animal before it vanishes off up the track and into the vegetation. Three Elegant Tinamou also appear and seem to run off after it. And we are out of time. There is so much to see but the distances are huge and we race back to arrive with enough time to freshen up and have a short break before our evening meal. Day 5: 5 After a 7am breakfast we get on our way. It is quite a long drive to Punta Norte where we are making our first stop. As we get close, we pass groups of Guanacos and a pair of Maras that run along ahead of us for miles! Not intelligent animals. We arrive at Punta Norte and take a short walk down to look out at the sea hoping perhaps for passing Orcas but it is always a long shot and your timing would have to be lucky indeed. Elephant Seals are considerably more reliable of course and there are many of them lying on the beach but we are treated to the sight of two young males fighting - something you are lucky to see at this time of year. As Lucas says, they are practicing really, but one has certainly shed blood and they are reared up and smacking each other with their teeth, hitting each others chests. The others all around don t look the least bit interested. There are one or two Sea Lions on the beach too and quite a few birds. American Oystercatchers are here and one pair have little chicks. There are several Neotropic Cormorants and three pairs of Crested Ducks and a Great Grebe high on the beach that starts trying to make its way down to the sea - standing upright and waddling in a very strange way before collapsing on its belly and then trying again. Eventually it makes it. Then way in the distance Roy spots a Snowy Sheathbill, which is a bit of a surprise. It is very distant but you can at least see it is all white. It is much windier today and the waves are very impressive out at sea. The Southern Giant Petrels are loving it, sweeping down to the sea then up again in high wheeling arcs - a wonderful sight. Scanning out further Roy is delighted to find a Black-browed Albatross and we work on getting everyone a view through the scope with it being some way out. It looks wonderful over the masses of waves. A flock of Baird s Sandpipers flies in and lands below us on the green seaweed, we check them carefully but there is nothing else with them. Lynn finds a Two-banded Plover on the beach and later a second albatross and Steve spots a fly by Peregrine. Back at the bus we are astonished to be almost hand feeding some Mourning Sierra-Finches and Rufous-collared Sparrows that are happy to literally hops

11 between our feet! The wind makes looking for small birds quite difficult and the only other species we see is Patagonian Mockingbird. We move on to Estancia where we watch a pair of Burrowing Owls while Martin sorts out our lunch time meal so it will be ready when we return. We then drive a short distance to visit the penguin colony here before lunch. The colony here is enormous with 100,000 pairs of birds - though it does not give an impression of enormous numbers as they are all hidden in their burrows and scrapes and the colony covers a huge area. It is fabulous with penguins everywhere along the trail, often almost under your feet! They are ridiculously tame as always and some don t even open their eyes as you walk past just feet away, while others seem quite interested and turn their heads this way and that to get a look at you. Lucas knows so many fascinating facts about penguins and finding various bits of them lying around he picks each up to show us some feature in interest - the huge sternum to which the chest muscles are attached, how heavy the bones are to help them dive, the stiff and very hard wings, the feathers with their fluffy secondary feather attached to the base (second shaft) and features of the skull including the area round the eyes where the glands are that collect the salt and take it to a hole at the base of the bill where it is ejected. All fascinating stuff. It is extremely windy, making other birds take cover in the bushes so we just see the odd Patagonia Mockingbird and Rufous-collared Sparrow but little else. We have a quick look at the sea lion station where men used to come to catch and render down the fat from the sea lions to make a living for part of the year. Part of the accommodation and the boiler can still be seen, then we head for lunch. When we arrive they are not quite ready for us so we take another look at the Burrowing Owls, a few Southern Lapwings, a couple of close Mara and on the wires and short turf find two Rufous-backed Monjita. The meal is a speciality here where a lamb is taken and split lengthways and opened out before being stretched between two wires and placed beside a fire. This traditional barbeque style of cooking the lamb works so well, producing a very tender piece of meat and the lunch includes empanadas, salad, cheese and cut pieces of pork and lots of lamb on a sizzling hot plate! Very well fed we continue on our way back towards Puerto Pyramides but take a detour down to the coast at Punto Pyramides, where we drop down through a fascinating landscape of hillocks and layers of grounds where you see almost solid layers of fossil oyster shells. They look like they were dropped there in their masses just yesterday but are actually rock! At the end of the road is a viewpoint which looks down on a group of South American Sea Lions, our closest so far. There are a few huge males amongst

12 them but there is also a nice surprise for Lynn here, who said she wanted to see a Snowy Sheathbill. There is not just one but five Snowy Sheathbills and much, much closer than the one we saw this morning. This time you can even see the strange bill and face of these odd birds. There are quite a few Kelp Gulls here too and three Dolphin Gulls, two adults and a dark headed young bird the adults with brilliant red feet! We spend a little while watching them before Lucas shouts he has spotted a Blackish Oystercatcher flying by! We walk to the other viewing platform and sure enough there are two of them on the rocks looking completely black but for the red bill. Southern Giant Petrels pass by at eye level looking enormous as ever and two Variable Hawks are overhead briefly then we pop in again for a last look at the Sheathbills before we leave and - oh no - one of them is doing what they are famous for and eating a pile of Sea Lion poo!! It is said they will eat just about anything and this seems to be what they are hanging around the Sea Lion colony waiting for. Everyone is horrified but can t resist taking pictures! About an hour s drive and we make our next stop, two Burrowing Parrots are perched on the wires on the other side of the road. We take pictures then get out and cross the road to try for better pictures closer and from the sunny side with great results. We have now seen Burrowing Owls, burrowing penguins and now Burrowing Parrots! Guess that is what you get when there are no trees. They are a very unusual looking parrot with dark plumage but yellow and red bellies and a white teardrop shape round the eye. A few more arrive as we walk to have a look at their holes in a small ravine then as we start walking back to the bus suddenly they all take flight and are gone! Good timing!! The sky is completely blue now as we drive on but still windy as we head to Puerto Madryn and our final stop before heading to the hotel. Our aim here is to try and see White-throated Cacholote, an endemic bird of Argentina. Martin points out a statue to the first Welsh pioneers as we drive through the town. We arrive at the spot and walk into the bushes a little way and play a little of the song. We walk on spotting Chiguanco Thrush, Southern Martin and a large flock of Burrowing Parrots flies up and across, then suddenly right in front of us is a White-throated Cacholote!! This bird is joined by a second and we set up scopes before walking closer for better photos. As we watch a Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail appears on the same bush - a super bonus find. Steve spots something with a crest like a Crested Tit which has to be a Tufted Tit-Tyrant but it vanishes instantly and despite a good search we fail to relocate it - but a great few minutes and very successful before we head back to the hotel. Day 6: 6 Today is a travelling day. If there is a problem with Patagonia it is the size of it! Vast areas are so similar that to see new habitats and some of its treasures you have to cover huge distances - much easier done by plane - so today we fly first to Ushuaia then to El Calafate. After breakfast it is a pretty quick departure for the airport and our first flight, the last part of which is pretty spectacular with snow covered mountains from the

13 plane window as we approach Ushuaia. A few folk spot Upland Geese on the grass by the runway after we land but there is little else to see. Perhaps we should have spent time watching from the windows but instead we have lunch and chat about this and that and eventually head for our second flight. This short flight takes us down into the flat, wide and rather amazing scenery of El Calafate and the turquoise blue lake nearby glittering in the sun as we land. It takes some time for our bags to appear and we spot a Rufous-collared Sparrow as we leave the airport and, on the way to the hotel, fly over Black-faced Ibis and Cinereous Harrier - but little else. The hotel is lovely and we are delighted to hear we have been upgraded to even nicer rooms. A short break and we meet up in the bar for our evening meal. It is worth bringing binoculars as there are a few birds out there and it stays light later here - light enough to see birds at 9:30pm! There is a pair of Southern Lapwings out on the lawn and with them two chicks. Chilean Swallows are zipping around and a Black-faced Ibis flies in, wandering on the lawn for a little while before flying off again. Two Upland Geese also appear and we get brief sightings of Black-chinned Siskin and White-crested Elaenia. A nice collection of birds considering we see them all from the dining table. Day 7: After breakfast, which is an incredible variety of cereals, bread, cheese, meat, cakes, fruit, yoghurt, coffee and much more, we meet our local guide, Leandro, at the bus. As we drive through town and onwards towards the glacier we are visiting today he tells us all sorts of interesting information about the town and local area. The building of the airport and the tourism that result from people coming to see the glacier, means the town grew rapidly from just 2000 people to something like 20,000 today, still not a huge place but a lot bigger than it was. As we leave town we pass the bay where we will come to birdwatch in a few day s time. We spot dozens of Upland Geese, a few Coscoroba Swans, Chilean Flamingos, Black-necked Swans and lots of ducks and look forward to returning. Driving on we are chatting about the glacier and what to expect when suddenly Roy notices that there are Andean Condors out there! We pull in and over the next few minutes we spot several, some younger rather browner birds but also some superb adults with white collars and those beautiful white marking on the upperwings. They are circling round and as they bank round the markings are fabulous. An immature Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle flies towards us and we are pleased to see an adult following it. It is an odd shaped bird that seems to be all wings and no tail! Moving on, we pass through some of our first woodlands since we started the trip! We make a stop on the edge of a stand of rather scruffy looking trees where we get out to see what we can find. A pair of Long-tailed Meadowlarks is feeding on the ground here, we find our first Austral Thrushes and after a short while a Chilean Flicker appears in one of the trees. There are Chilean Swallows flitting

14 through, a few Black-chinned Siskins, a White-crested Elaenia and a pair of Austral Parakeets land very briefly before moving on. We drive on to a large pull in with restrooms and here there seem to be lots of Austral Parakeets! One pair flies in to the tree right beside us and vanish into a hole. Others are in the treetops the other side of the road and show very well. There are Austral Thrushes all over the place and we spot House Wrens and White-crested Elaenias. There is plenty of evidence of Magellanic Woodpeckers but no sign of the culprits. We are beginning to find a few nice flowers too and identify Native Anemones and Yellow Violets. At our next stop we spend a while trying to find Rufous-tailed Plantcutter with no luck except that a couple of us see one fly by as we are leaving. There is a very tame Southern Crested Caracara in the car park but without doubt the best birds here are the Andean Condors. Out of the blue one appears flying towards us and flies past almost at eye level - much closer than the birds we have already seen and looking truly magnificent. Another flows shortly afterwards and a third and we are blown away by how impressive they are - they are huge! Also from here you can see one end of the Glacier. It is hard to judge scale until our Leandro points out the tiny boat on the water in front of it and tells us it has a capacity of 200 people! Clearly the glacier is bigger than we realised! We are also only seeing one end of it and the whole front of the glacier is 5km long and 60m tall! We drive on to the car park at the end of the road and try for Magellanic Tapaculo. They can be found at the edge of a damp area of grassland in the bushes but unfortunately, when we hear one calling it in over the far side of the marshy area and is unlikely to cross the wide space. While we try to coax it across we are pleased to discover a pair of Spectacled Ducks snoozing by a small wet hollow, a pair of Yellow-billed Teal and a couple of South American Snipe fly in landing right in front of us and there seem to be House Wrens everywhere! We head for lunch on the tables by the visitor centre then take a walk down to the edge of the lake. Here we find a Dark-faced Ground Tyrant on the shoreline, more Black-chinned Siskins and the occasional Andean Condor passes overhead. From here you get a view of the other end of the glacier and there are some big pieces of ice floating in the lake too like carved icebergs. There is a very good trail round the edge of the lake to view the glacier, so we set off, pausing as we go to enjoy the views and identify plants and birds. Almost before we have left the car park we find a pair of Tufted Tit-Tyrants, fabulous little birds with their crazy little crests. There are some interesting flowers such as the white flowered Fashine, Prickly-heath, Diddle-dee, Yellow Violet, Stick Tight, Native Anemone, flowering Calafate bushes and surprisingly Field Mouse-ear (introduced from Europe). Sheets of Antarctic Hard Fern, (Blechnum penna-marina) cover the ground in patches and also Leather-leaf Fern

15 (Rumohra adiantiformis). There is even the occasional butterfly in the more sheltered places and we identify them as Andean Foothills White and Yramea Fritillary. The trail is a very well made metal boardwalk and we follow it round pausing to take photos of the astonishing glacier as we go. It is a truly incredible sight with the huge pillars of ice along the leading edge looking like they could fall over any moment. A deep blue colour almost appears to glow in the cracks between the columns and the surface sparkles in the sunshine - it is simply stunning. Our guide has a wealth of knowledge about the glacier and tells us about the source of the glacier being the enormous Southern Patagonian Ice field, which is 2,000 km long and feeds over 40 Glaciers in this park alone! The glacier is 30km long and is a hugely popular tourist attraction partly because it is relatively easy to see but also because where it hits the shore of the lake it is quite narrow and it spills right across the lake towards the viewing platforms. The glacier sometimes fills the gap across the lake completely and then water builds up on the southern arm of the lake, where several rivers flow in and lowers on the northern part where rivers run out. When this happens, the water tries to find a path through and in the end generally creates a tunnel under the nose of the glacier which eventually collapses in most spectacular fashion! Seeing the glacier from so many different angles we take tons of photos and really enjoy the whole scene. We hear frequent gunshots as the glacier ice cracks and breaks and Leandro points out a piece that may break off any moment where a steady stream of small pieces of ice tumble into the water below. Seconds later a large piece breaks off and crashes into the water below, really spectacular! It is a circular walk and we have chosen the route that gives the best views, however this means a lot of steps! We finally reach the top and the final viewpoint, which gives a view over the top of the glacier and the astonishing rough broken up surface disappearing back miles into the mountains. We are picked up by the bus at the top and then start on our way back towards the town but once more we make a stop at the plantcutter spot, where sadly we still have no luck. Roy remembers stopping at another spot on the last trip and when he spots the place, he is astonished to also spot two Rufous-tailed Plantcutters fly up into one of the bushes! We pull in, though technically this is not allowed here and jump out to see if we can get a view. At first, all we can find are White-crested Elaenias but then suddenly a Rufous-tailed Plantcutter flies into the bush nearby. It is a female and she flies to another bush followed by the male. We get several more views including a great view of the smart male, a strange looking bird for sure. Day 8: 8 We gather for an early breakfast with lots of Black-faced Ibis on the lawn outside and a pair of Upland Geese. We are soon on our way for a very long drive to Torres del Paine - keen to get through the border as there is a rumour of strikes and there could be long delays. It is very quiet for birds with just endless grassland in all directions as we drive. There are occasional herds of Guanacos,

16 a few sheep and horses but little else. Occasional Austral Negritos are on the fence posts and we make a stop when we spot two Grey Foxes close to the road. The weather is beautiful as we watch the scenery go by, spotting more groups of Guanacos and Lesser Rheas. We make a brief stop at a shallow pool where there are Chilean Flamingos, Upland Geese, Coscoroba Swans, Red Shovelers, Crested Ducks and a couple of Two-banded Plovers. Going through the border controls of Argentina and then Chile proves not a problem after all as apparently they are not on strike today, then we have lunch in a very nice café and do a bit of shopping while we wait for our local guide to arrive, a Puma tracker called José. We drive into the Torres del Paine National Park pausing here and there enroute for birds we spot on the way. There are quite a few Lesser Rheas, lots of Guanacos and we are thrilled to enjoy more excellent views of Andean Condors including an adult female that lands beside a carcass and completely dwarfs the Southern Crested Caracaras already there - she is enormous! There seem to be Upland Geese everywhere and we pause at Lake Sarmiento where Jean points out the thrombolites along the edge of the lake, which look like rather strange boulders. They don t look like much, but thrombolites are rare and ancient forms of microbial communities that photosynthesize, a living relic from the earliest days of life on our planet. At the next lake we stop at there are Chilean Flamingos and Crested Ducks and we start our scanning for Pumas as there has apparently been a male very active here recently but there is no sign. José suggests we try another spot and we drop him off to go and check for us, nothing here, so we try a third spot. This involves a bit of a walk and we follow the track up over a slight ridge. There are Austral Negritos as we walk and we find a few flowers including the rather strange Lady s Slipper or Lady's Purse, Calceolaria biflora. We scan the hills and are surprised to discover a man at the top of the hill who seems to be waving at us! We don t know who he is but suddenly Christine says, There is a Puma walking just below the skyline! There is slight panic as we all try to find the right spot and soon everyone is watching the animal, which walks along the slope and all too quickly vanishes behind a ridge. It looks enormous and is a fabulous sighting but oh so brief! Hopefully the sighting is not too tainted by the realisation that there are in fact three people above us on the hillside and we have a feeling they have been searching for this animal and may have been the cause of it walking along the hilltop. Another group of people are now walking up behind us and they climb over the over the fence and walk up the hill and we realise these people on the hill are clearly their Puma trackers but what they have just done is actually against

17 all the rules in the Park!! José sneakily takes photos of all of them with his long lens and says he will pass all this on to his father who is a park ranger. Delighted with our sighting we head back to the bus and with the time racing away we head to the hotel to check in and go for our evening meal adding Bar-winged Cinlcodes to the list as we go! Day 9: 9 Our target today is Puma!! Although we got a brief view of one yesterday we are greedy and want better and after a very early breakfast (5am) we head out, aiming for a spot where we are to meet José. We drive slowly along scanning as we go, seeing plenty of Brown Hares, a brief Fire-eyed Diucon, then suddenly the radio crackles to life and we speed up considerably - dare we hope!! Within a few minutes, we turn the corner to find José stood beside his car pointing up the hill and there, head and shoulders above the ridge, is a Puma! We carefully get out of the van but it vanishes over the ridge, so we get back in and drive a little further up the road following José in his car. We arrive to find him pointing now down the hill unto a dip below us. We get out and can see nothing there then suddenly realise the cat is right below us incredibly close!! It doesn t even stop to look up as we gather on the roadside looking down on this impressive animal walking along the slope below the road, it is just twenty yards away!! It heads to a Guanaco carcass and José explains, via Lucas, that she killed the Guanaco some time during the night and is coming back to have some more! We now spend a long time just enjoying this wonderful moment, she is a beautiful animal and the light is perfect! For at least 40 minutes we watch as she eats her fill, ripping out meat and crunching through ribs to get to the inside of the animal. Her face becomes covered in blood and she stops quite frequently to look round. Apparently, this is a big males territory and she is probably nervous he may show up any minute. She seems to pay us no attention what so ever, save the occasional glance in our direction accompanied by a paparazzi of cameras firing. We suspect she is not as excited to see us, as we are to see her! She is beautiful with a fabulous face and her eyes really penetrate you when she looks directly down the scope lens into your eyes! At times, she tugs on the remains or moves round to tackle it from another angle allowing us masses of photo opportunities and we just can t believe our luck that she happened to make this kill so close to the road, somewhere that José could spot it and we can watch it with ease. José tells us later that he is surprised how unbothered she seems, as this particular female can apparently be quite skittish. After a long time and hundreds of photos, she suddenly gets up and starts walking away. She heads along the slope and gradually works her way higher, before pausing for a rest and a clean-up. She washes her paws and face, sits, and looks round for a little while before eventually getting up again and sauntering slowly over the horizon - a momentary silhouette on the skyline before she is gone. And we are all grinning from ear to ear and can t stop talking about how lucky we are