Cheers to our adventure!
Our first view of the South American continent.
Delana & I flew out of Johannesburg on 10th March. We flew business class, courtesy of Delana's air miles & very nice it was too! Arrived in Sao Paulo nine & half hours later. Six hours difference in time, so I bit groggy the next morning, but managed a walk around the hotel garden seeing:
Our first caipirinha's of the trip!
American Black Vulture; Yellow headed Caracara; American Kestrel; Picuzaro Pigeon; Blue & White Swallow; presumed Sooty Swifts at great distance over the nearby hill; Monk Parakeet; Rufous Hornero & Tropical Kingbird.
Our route in Argentina
Killed a bit of time in the bar before our next flight to Buenos Aires. Spent a long time in the airport as our flight was delayed due to technical reasons. Always a little worrying that one! Arrived late & in the dark to our accommodation. Both of us exhausted. Thought I heard a Stygian Owl in the night. Up at the crack of dawn after only a few hours sleep & arrived at the airport to find we were at the wrong airport! Rookie mistake, should have checked the tickets carefully! A made dash in a taxi across Buenos Aires cost us almost a hundred US dollars but we made the flight!
Trelew is of course home to one of the great
Paleontological Museums.
It was closed at the time of our visit
due to the corona-virus.
Arrived in Trelew mid morning on 12th March & what a pleasant surprise the airport was! Small, but we very indeed. We organised our car hire & set off to find our accommodation, which turned out to be spacious & in a nice location on the edge of town.
Southern Lapwing in our garden in Trelew
Eared Dove
Water is scarce in these parts.
Quite a nice selection of wetland species
were present
Coscoroba Swan
These swans are totally unique!
There is nothing quite like them.
Chalk browed Mockingbird
There is nothing quite like them.
Started birding at a wetland just outside of town on the road to Rawson. This provided good roadside birding & we saw a nice selection of wetland species:
White tufted Grebe; Snowy Egret; White faced Ibis 3; Chilean Flamingo 21; Coscoroba Swan 25; Black necked Swan 6; Yellow Billed Pintail 25; Speckled Teal (Yellow billed Pintail) 55; White cheeked Pintail 1; Chiloe Wigeon 120+; Cinnamon Teal 2; Red Shoveler 40; Lake Duck 2; Chimango Caracara 6; White winged Coot 30; Southern Lapwing 80; White backed Stilt 25+; Eared Dove common; Picui Ground Dove 7; Austral Negrito 5; Chalk browed Mockingbird 2 & House Sparrow.
The Chubut River
Great Grebe
Kelp Gulls with a Neo-tropic Cormorant & a lone
Brown hooded Gull
Neo-tropic Cormorant
Adult Kelp Gull
Immature Kelp Gull
American Oystercatcher
South American Sea Lions
Brown hooded Gull
We then drove towards Rawson, making a small detour down a dirt track along the Chubut River. We followed the river to where it entered the sea & saw a few nice species:
Scale-throated Earthcreeper
Responded well to pishing.
Buff winged Cinclodes
This individual gave great views.
Patagonian Mockingbird
Austral Negrito
Rufous collared Sparrow
Great Grebe 2; Neotropic Cormorant 8; Crested Duck 6; Chimango Caracara 10; American Oystercatcher 65; Kelp Gull 500; Brown hooded Gull 100; Scale throated Earthcreeper 1; Buff winged Cinclodes 1; Austral Negrito 4; Patagonian Mockingbird 1; Long tailed Meadowlark 1; Rufous collared Sparrow 2 & House Sparrow.
And we saw them!
Female
Male.
Variable Hawk
Yet more Elegant crested Tinamous!
Correndera Pipit
The coastal road, heading south from Trelew.
Elegant crested Tinamou
One of the easiest species of Tinamou to see.
Very common along this road.
Brilliant birds!
Patagonian Lesser Cavy
Patagonian Mockingbird
Abundant along this road
Long tailed Meadowlark
A superb male
Common in this scrub
Mourning Sierra Finch
A nice male.
Abundant here.
Grey hooded Sierra Finch
Rufous collared Sparrow
This Elegant crested Tinamou
was having a dust bath.
was having a dust bath.
This was a nice wide gravel road, with very little traffic. Ideal for roadside birding. We made several stops but one stop in particular proved to be excellent as birds were coming to drink & feed on a small watered area on a construction site. We spent around an hour here & the birding was superb.
Guanco road sign.
Punta Tombo
Birds were coming to drink at the shelter.
Grey hooded Sierra Finch
This is the scenery around the entrance.
Patagonian steppe.
You pay your entrance fee but the interpretation centre & cafe were closed because of the corona virus fears. Then you have to drive about 2kms to where one parks & the walk way commences. You are surrounded by Patagonian steppe habitat, birds are sparse but there are some good species to find here.
The reserve is very well laid out, with raised walkways
to the penguin viewing areas.
This bay is the major breeding ground for
Magellanic Penguin
Walking is easy & birding is great!
Our first view of the famous bay.
The Penguins use the shade provided
by the raised walkways!
Most of the adults are moulting.
They cut a somewhat forlorn figure.
Some individuals are really close.
This one has nearly finished its moult,
then it will return to the sea.
Keeping out of the sun!
by the raised walkways!
then it will return to the sea.
Penguins in the distance.
In peak season (October - January) there can be over
1,000,000 birds here.
1,000,000 birds here.
We saw around 1,000 birds: a few well grown chicks
around & some moulting adult birds.
This individual will return to the sea very soon.
This one looks a bit folorn!
Photo courtesy of Delana Louw
Cooling down in the surf.
Great Grebe
A pair of White-headed (Chubut) Steamer Duck
Male
This was my last species of Steamer Duck to see.
Delana managed to get a bit closer
with her bridge camera.
Female
around & some moulting adult birds.
Photo courtesy of Delana Louw
with her bridge camera.
On our way back we came across a party of four
Lesser Rheas which gave great views.
Lesser (Darwin's) Rhea
This is an adult.
This is a youngster, there were three young birds
following the adult bird around.
Lesser Rheas which gave great views.
following the adult bird around.
This is the habitat they were in.
They really are very strange birds!
A young bird following the adult.
Turkey Vulture
Always plenty of these around scavenging.
It is also the habitat for Guanuco.
Some animals feed along the beach.
This is a female with a well grown young animal.
They really are wonderful animals.
Chimango Caracara
A scavenger supreme.
Rufous collared Sparrow
Greyish Baywing
Birds:
Lesser Rhea 8; Elegant crested Tinamou 55+; White headed Steamer Duck 14; Great Grebe 1; Magellanic Penguin 1000+; Southern Giant Petrel 8; Imperial Cormorant 4; Turkey Vulture 10; Cinereous Harrier 1; Variable Hawk 2; Kelp Gull 100+; Sandwich Tern 2; Rock (feral ) Pigeon; Eared Dove; Chimango Caracara 70+; Plain mantled Tit-Spinetail 2; Yellow bellied Tit-Tyrant 1; Blue & White Swallow; Patagonian Mockingbird abundant; Correndera Pipit 4; Grey hooded Sierra Finch 10; Mourning Sierra Finch 80+; Rufous collared Sparrow abundant; Long tailed Meadowlark 25+; House Sparrow.
Mammals:
Guanaco 70+
Patagonian Lesser Cavy 2
European Brown Hare
Coscoroba Swan
This species is just brilliant in flight!
Lesser Yellowlegs
Great to see this species again.
Buff winged Cinclodes
We then returned to Trelew & Delana discovered another wetland area on the outskirts of town by looking at Google Earth. We never did find the famous Trelew Sewage Ponds. We birded for around 40 minutes but then rain threatened & we beat a hasty retreat to the car. It looked a good area though deserving of much more time than we gave it.
Birds:
Black necked Swan 4; Coscoroba Swan 18; Cinnamon Teal 10; Red Shoveler 50+; Chiloe Wigeon 35; yellow billed Pintail 10; Speckled Teal 70; White faced Ibis 60; Southern Lapwing 50; Lesser Yellowlegs 8; Picui Ground Dove 1; Buff winged Cinclodes 2; Austral Negrito 2; Great Kisadee 4; Blue & White Swallow 10; Chilean Swallow 3; Chalk browed Mockingbird 4; Grassland Yellowfinch 2; Greyish Baywing 2; Yellow winged Blackbird 3 & House Sparrow.
It had been a terrific first full days birding & Punta Tombo was fantastic.
The morning of 14th March was spent re-organizing flights & car hire for later in the trip. Aero Argentina changed their flight schedule at the last minute without telling us! Then we drove north, around 350 kms to Las Grutas. No real birding done, just species seen while driving. brief sea watch from the apartment in the evening.
Birds:
Lesser Rhea 13; Manx Shearwater 225+; Neotropic Cormorant; Snowy Egret; Turkey Vulture 30+; Cinereous Harrier 1; American Oystercatcher; Southern Lapwing; Brown Hooded Gull; Kelp Gull; South American Tern 6; Cayenne Tern 4; Eared Dove; Southern Caracara 1; Chimango Caracara 25+; American Kestrel 1; Rufous Hornero 4; Tufted Tit Tyrant 2; Southern House Wren 2; Austral Thrush 3; Patagonian Mockingbird; Chalk browed Mockinbird 2 in the garden; Mourning Sierra Finch; Rufous collared Sparrow; House Sparrow.
Mammals:
Guanaco 30+
We then drove towards San Antonio Este & we spotted six Burrowing Owls in a grassy area in the middle of a large roundabout. It was a new species for Delana & we spent some time photographing them. Always entertaining!
Absolute brilliant birds!
Then we drove up Route 250 for about 15 kms & birded the scrub on both sides of the road. We found an old quarry where Burrowing Parakeets & Burrowing Owls were nesting. It was a nice couple of hours.
We returned to Los Grutas & walked along the beach for a couple of hours, getting some nice photos. There was no-one around. Little did we know that this was to become the norm!
Spot winged Pigeon
Eared Dove
Tropical Kingbird
Adult (on the right) feeding a young bird.
In late afternoon we walked around the camping ground in town, seeing quite a few species which we hadn't recorded so far.
We enjoyed a nice evening on the terrace, reflecting on what had been another fabulous day in Argentina.
Birds:
White tufted Grebe 1; Great Grebe 6; Silvery Grebe 1; Chilean Flamingo 25; Neotropic Cormorant 35; Snowy Egret 1; Black faced Ibis 50; Turkey Vulture 10; Chimango Caracara 50; American Oystercatcher 40; Greater Yellowlegs 12; Brown hooded Gull 70: Kelp Gull 300; South American Tern1; Snowy crowned Tern 2; Royal Tern 1; Rock Pigeon; Spot winged Pigeon 50; Eared Dove 15; Burrowing Owl 8; Campo Flicker 2; American Kestrel 1; Burrowing Parakeet 500; Rufous Hornero 5; Scale throated Earthcreeper 2; Plain mantled Tit-Spinetail 2; Short billed Canastero 4; Stripe crowned Spinetail 1; Patagonian Canastero 2; White throated Cacholate 2; Tufted Tit-Tyrant 4; Greater Wagtail Tyrant 8; Lesser Shrike Tyrant 1; Great Kisadee 2; Tropical Kingbird 4; White tipped Plantcutter 1; Blue & White Swallow 30; Chilean Swallow 1; Southern Martin 12; Brown chested Martin 5; Southern House Wren 2; Austral Thrush 10; Patagonian Mockingbird abundant; Blue & Yellow Tanager 3; Mourning Sierra Finch 30; Common Diuca Finch 5; Grassland Yellowfinch 4; Rufous collared Sparrow; Long tailed Meadowlark 20; Shiny Cowbird 40; Greyish Baywing 10; Hooded Siskin 6 & House Sparrow.
53 species.
Sharp billed Canastero, this is much more
secretive than the above species.
Stripe crowned Spinetail
This is a really smart Spinetail, but secretive.
16th March was another very good birding day. We drove south of the town on the coast road for a few kilometers & then walked along a dry river valley up on to a hill. It was mainly low rise Patagonian scrub habitat, with one or to larger trees dotted about. But we had some nice birds here.
We then continued south along the coast spotting a Sandy Gallito at the side of the track! Mega bird!
The location was: S 40.88664 W 65.13835.
We birded some nice coast habitat with a mixture of mudflats, rocks & shallow tidal pools. This was approximately 15 kms south of the town. The whole area looked very productive & was very scenic. Just ripe for future exploration.
Came back to the apartment for lunch, then went exploring San Antonio Este, which proved to be very disappointing. Plenty of decent habitat but no birds!
Birds:
Darwin's Nothura 1 seen & two heard; Elegant crested Tinamou 2; Coscoroba Swan 2; Crested Duck 20; Great Grebe 10; Neotropic Cormorant 50; Great White Egret 4; Black crowned Night Heron 1; American Black Vulture 1; Turkey Vulture 60; White backed Stilt 1; American Oystercatcher 50; Southern Lapwing 6; Two banded Plover 5; Baird's Sandpiper 1,000+; Greater Yellowlegs 10; Leseer Yellowlegs 13; Brown hooded Gull 1,000; Kelp Gull 300; Rock (Feral) Pigeon; Spot winged Pigeon 50; Picui Ground Dove 1; Eared Dove 30; Burrowing Owl 3; Southern Caracara 2; Chimango Caracara 50; American Kestrel 1; Aplomado Falcon 1; Burrowing Parakeet 120+; Sandy Gallito 1; Rufous Hornero 3; Scale throated Earthcreeper 4; Buff winged Cinclodes 1; Plain mantled Tit-Spinetail 2; Sharp billed Canastero 4; Stripe crowned Spinetail 2; Patagonian Canastero 1; White throated Cacoholote 1; Tufted Tit-Tyrant 2; Greater Wagtail Tyrant 8; Lesser Shrike Tyrant 1; Crowned Slaty Flycatcher 1; Blue & White Swallow 15; Chilean Swallow 10; Southern Martin 6; Brown chested Martin 2; Southern House Wren 4; Austral Thrush 6; Patagonian Mockingbird abundant; White banded Mockingbird 1; Mourning Sierra Finch abundant; Common Diuca Finch 7; Golden billed Saltator 4; Rufous collared Sparrow abundant; House Sparrow in town & Long tailed Meadowlark 30.
56 species.
Guanuco
Darwin's (Lesser) Rhea
Turkey Vulture
American Oystercatcher
Eared Dove
The abundant Patagonian Mockingbird
Our very nice apartment in Los Grutas
Rufous Hornero
Austral Thrush in the garden.
Southern House Wren
Cheers!
The morning of 14th March was spent re-organizing flights & car hire for later in the trip. Aero Argentina changed their flight schedule at the last minute without telling us! Then we drove north, around 350 kms to Las Grutas. No real birding done, just species seen while driving. brief sea watch from the apartment in the evening.
Birds:
Lesser Rhea 13; Manx Shearwater 225+; Neotropic Cormorant; Snowy Egret; Turkey Vulture 30+; Cinereous Harrier 1; American Oystercatcher; Southern Lapwing; Brown Hooded Gull; Kelp Gull; South American Tern 6; Cayenne Tern 4; Eared Dove; Southern Caracara 1; Chimango Caracara 25+; American Kestrel 1; Rufous Hornero 4; Tufted Tit Tyrant 2; Southern House Wren 2; Austral Thrush 3; Patagonian Mockingbird; Chalk browed Mockinbird 2 in the garden; Mourning Sierra Finch; Rufous collared Sparrow; House Sparrow.
Mammals:
Guanaco 30+
Doesn't look much does it?
How wrong can one be?
Campo Flicker
This is one fancy Woodpecker!
Me enjoying a great few hours birding.
Patagonian Mockingbird
White throated Cacholate
This is an uncommon species,
so nice to get it under the belt!
Greater Wagtail Tyrant
We were up at dawn on 15th March. We drove around 400 m to the edge of town to a large patch of scrub next to the sea. The place looked like nothing special, but it turned out to be a superb morning's birding! Birds were calling everywhere & things zipping about. It was hard to keep up!
so nice to get it under the belt!
Burrowing Owl
Always entertaining.
We then drove towards San Antonio Este & we spotted six Burrowing Owls in a grassy area in the middle of a large roundabout. It was a new species for Delana & we spent some time photographing them. Always entertaining!
Black faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Burrowing Parakeet
This was one of the main reasons we came to
Las Grutas
Las Grutas
An old Burrowing Parakeet nesting cliff.
Burrowing Owl
Then we drove up Route 250 for about 15 kms & birded the scrub on both sides of the road. We found an old quarry where Burrowing Parakeets & Burrowing Owls were nesting. It was a nice couple of hours.
Delana birding.
Our apartment is on the low cliff,
centre left, in the photo.
It looks bleak, but this spot was full of birds.
Silvery Grebe
Adult Neo-tropic Cormorant
Immature
Chilean Flamingo
Turkey Vulture patrolling the beach.
Adult Kelp Gull
My new bird watching friend!
He was particularly interested in the fish!
Royal Tern
Snowy crowned Tern
There always seems to be a few individuals around.
American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
We returned to Los Grutas & walked along the beach for a couple of hours, getting some nice photos. There was no-one around. Little did we know that this was to become the norm!
Burrowing Parakeet
This pair was close to our apartment.
Stunning birds!
Austral Thrush
Rufous Hornero
Common in the town.
In late afternoon we walked around the camping ground in town, seeing quite a few species which we hadn't recorded so far.
This beer is fantastic!
We enjoyed a nice evening on the terrace, reflecting on what had been another fabulous day in Argentina.
Birds:
White tufted Grebe 1; Great Grebe 6; Silvery Grebe 1; Chilean Flamingo 25; Neotropic Cormorant 35; Snowy Egret 1; Black faced Ibis 50; Turkey Vulture 10; Chimango Caracara 50; American Oystercatcher 40; Greater Yellowlegs 12; Brown hooded Gull 70: Kelp Gull 300; South American Tern1; Snowy crowned Tern 2; Royal Tern 1; Rock Pigeon; Spot winged Pigeon 50; Eared Dove 15; Burrowing Owl 8; Campo Flicker 2; American Kestrel 1; Burrowing Parakeet 500; Rufous Hornero 5; Scale throated Earthcreeper 2; Plain mantled Tit-Spinetail 2; Short billed Canastero 4; Stripe crowned Spinetail 1; Patagonian Canastero 2; White throated Cacholate 2; Tufted Tit-Tyrant 4; Greater Wagtail Tyrant 8; Lesser Shrike Tyrant 1; Great Kisadee 2; Tropical Kingbird 4; White tipped Plantcutter 1; Blue & White Swallow 30; Chilean Swallow 1; Southern Martin 12; Brown chested Martin 5; Southern House Wren 2; Austral Thrush 10; Patagonian Mockingbird abundant; Blue & Yellow Tanager 3; Mourning Sierra Finch 30; Common Diuca Finch 5; Grassland Yellowfinch 4; Rufous collared Sparrow; Long tailed Meadowlark 20; Shiny Cowbird 40; Greyish Baywing 10; Hooded Siskin 6 & House Sparrow.
53 species.
The habitat.
Turkey Vulture
There is a lot of space out here!
I just love birding in Argentina!
Burrowing Parakeet
Elegant crested Tinamou
Burrowing Owl
This species is quite common in
& around the town.
& around the town.
White throated Cacholote
Short billed Canastero
secretive than the above species.
Greater Wagtail Tyrant
Tufted Tit-Tyrant
Long tailed Meadowlark
Common Diuca Finch
16th March was another very good birding day. We drove south of the town on the coast road for a few kilometers & then walked along a dry river valley up on to a hill. It was mainly low rise Patagonian scrub habitat, with one or to larger trees dotted about. But we had some nice birds here.
The habitat for Sandy Gallito.
Sandy Gallito
Uncommon & hard to observe!
Fast moving, always diving into cover.
Damm that twig!
The best I could do!
We then continued south along the coast spotting a Sandy Gallito at the side of the track! Mega bird!
The location was: S 40.88664 W 65.13835.
This was a nice bit of coastline.
Mudflats & a type of Spartina grass.
American Oystercatchers
We birded some nice coast habitat with a mixture of mudflats, rocks & shallow tidal pools. This was approximately 15 kms south of the town. The whole area looked very productive & was very scenic. Just ripe for future exploration.
Chimango Caracara
Burrowing Owl
This bird was just on the edge of the town.
Can't get enough of them!
Came back to the apartment for lunch, then went exploring San Antonio Este, which proved to be very disappointing. Plenty of decent habitat but no birds!
Burrowing Parakeet
We came across this nice flock of these
fabulous birds on our way home.
The light wasn't great, but the birds were very close.
A great ending to the day.
Birds:
Darwin's Nothura 1 seen & two heard; Elegant crested Tinamou 2; Coscoroba Swan 2; Crested Duck 20; Great Grebe 10; Neotropic Cormorant 50; Great White Egret 4; Black crowned Night Heron 1; American Black Vulture 1; Turkey Vulture 60; White backed Stilt 1; American Oystercatcher 50; Southern Lapwing 6; Two banded Plover 5; Baird's Sandpiper 1,000+; Greater Yellowlegs 10; Leseer Yellowlegs 13; Brown hooded Gull 1,000; Kelp Gull 300; Rock (Feral) Pigeon; Spot winged Pigeon 50; Picui Ground Dove 1; Eared Dove 30; Burrowing Owl 3; Southern Caracara 2; Chimango Caracara 50; American Kestrel 1; Aplomado Falcon 1; Burrowing Parakeet 120+; Sandy Gallito 1; Rufous Hornero 3; Scale throated Earthcreeper 4; Buff winged Cinclodes 1; Plain mantled Tit-Spinetail 2; Sharp billed Canastero 4; Stripe crowned Spinetail 2; Patagonian Canastero 1; White throated Cacoholote 1; Tufted Tit-Tyrant 2; Greater Wagtail Tyrant 8; Lesser Shrike Tyrant 1; Crowned Slaty Flycatcher 1; Blue & White Swallow 15; Chilean Swallow 10; Southern Martin 6; Brown chested Martin 2; Southern House Wren 4; Austral Thrush 6; Patagonian Mockingbird abundant; White banded Mockingbird 1; Mourning Sierra Finch abundant; Common Diuca Finch 7; Golden billed Saltator 4; Rufous collared Sparrow abundant; House Sparrow in town & Long tailed Meadowlark 30.
56 species.
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