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Posted by Elsa on 18:34:20 03/23/09
Hello everybirdy,
I was in Chile the first three weeks of March, solo hiking and camping, visiting penguin and sea lion colonies, and visiting family and friends. Along the way I birded the following areas: the W trail in Torres del Paine National Park (Patagonia), Seno Otway (Patagonia near Punta Arenas), Isla Magdalena and Isla Marta (both in the Straits of Magellan), Tres Puentes Humedal (wetland in Punta Arenas), Puerto Natales (shoreline, mostly), road-birding from a bus from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas, road-birding from a bus driving from Valparaiso to Concon, Concon (near Vina del Mar), Jardin Botanico (Valparaiso), Cerro San Cristobal (Santiago), Parque Mahuida (Santiago). The landscapes were spectacular, the food delicious and plentiful (especially the fruit), the people super nice, the metros and new bus system clean and dependable and safe can t say enough. The birds, of course, were great. Sadly, I ran into no other birders the entire time, and the worst part about that was the boat trip to the Magellanic islands, because I saw I saw incredible numbers of seabirds, and had no idea what they were, other than albatross and either petrel, prion, or shearwater. I bet there were a dozen different species out there. I was able to identify two so sad. I was wishing I could have teleported Robin Diaz, Toe, or Stuart Pimm out to the boat to tell me what the heck I was lucky enough to see, but not identify. The Isla Magdalena penguin colony was spectacular. And it was so cool to see Darwin s Rhea on his 200th birthday year! Big shout-out to Alvaro Jaramillo, author of the terrific field guide Birds of Chile. Now that I have birded southern Chile, I am looking forward to birding northern Chile, including the Atacama desert. The W trail was my birdiest place. Nearly all species were lifers (I curse my young and foolishly non-birding years when I would travel through Chile and not know what I was seeing!). My most spectacular birding moments: when the condor soared over a hilltop at eye level and just a few meters ahead, quietly watching the tapaculo scurry about for almost ten minutes just a few feet from me, watching the black-chested buzzard-eagle soar, being surrounded by noisy flocks of thorn-tailed rayaditos with a couple of tufted tit-tyrants (I swear one of the rayaditos was considering perching on me), and of course my constant buddies, the rufous-collared sparrows. I dipped on the many-coloured rush-tyrant, and the negritos, and coots, and Inca Terns, but not for lack of trying. If I had had more days, and a few thousand dollars, I might have been able to go to Chilean Antarctica and add Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins, and perhaps even Snowy Sheathbill... maybe someday. Here is the list, not bad for no scope.
Albatross sp. (I think it was either Wandering or Royal)
Magellanic Diving-Petrel (several very close to the boat)
Magellanic Penguin
Peruvian Booby
Peruvian Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Imperial Cormorant
Darwin s Rhea
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Black-faced Ibis
Chilean Flamingo
Black-necked Swan
Ashy-headed Goose
Upland Goose
Flying Steamer-Duck (it was on freshwater, so I assume it was not the Flightless)
Spectacled Duck
Crested Duck
Speckled Teal
Chiloe Widgeon
Red Shoveler
Andean Condor (at one point, a flock of 11!)
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle
Cinereous Harrier
Southern Caracara
Chimango Caracara
American Kestrel
Spot-flanked Gallinule
Southern Lapwing
Rufous-chested Dotterel (at the Isla Magdalena penguin colony!)
Magellanic Oystercatcher
Chilean Skua
Kelp Gull
Dolphin Gull
Franklin s Gull (colony with pink breasts for breeding season, just gorgeous)
Brown-hooded Gull
South American Tern
Eared Dove
Magellanic Horned Owl (at sunset, on a fencepost, sooooo lucky to see it)
Green-backed Firecrown
Magellanic Woodpecker (two pairs!)
Chilean Flicker
Dark-billed Cinclodes
White-throated Treerunner (on my campsite tree how lucky is that!)
Thorn-tailed Rayadito
Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail
Magellanic Tapaculo
Fire-eyed Diucon
White-crested Elaenia
Tufted Tit-Tyrant (freaky eyes)
Chilean Swallow
Southern House Wren
Austral Thrush
Chilean Mockingbird
Austral Blackbird
Long-tailed Meadowlark
Grey-hooded Sierra-Finch
Common Diuca-Finch
Rufous-collared Sparrow (widespread, and australis form)
Black-chinned Siskin
In the list of birds I think I may have seen, but just can t be sure:
Giant Hummingbird at Parque Mahuida (it flew funny and looked like a huge hummingbird but I just can t say for sure)
Chilean Hawk
Spot-billed Ground Tyrant (just a glance and too far to photograph)
Dark-faced Ground-Tyrant
Patagonian Sierra-Finch
No follow-ups on out-of-state trip reports.
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