Woke early this morning, ready for our long day touring the central region of Tierra del Fuego. Looked out of the window to discover that the cabana was covered in snow, with a stiff south westerly wind blowing – bringing temperatures done to around zero. We had a leisurely breakfast and eventually set off to see what conditions were like outside the town. The road north to Rio Grande crosses a mountain range before descending to the patagonian steppe country, which was our intended destination. We got as far as the ski centre, about 30k from Ushuaia, before the build-up of slush in the road finally persuaded us to turn back! The chance of adding more steppe species gone, we focused our mind on a less ambitious day of ‘local’ birding. We decided to pay the rubbish tip our respects, before becoming distracted by the rough track which leaves Ushuaia east, along the coast. This afforded us good views of the Beagle Channel and added three species we’d pretty much written off, once we’d decided not to take the boat to Haberton – Chilean Skua, Brown Skua and Southern Fulmar. The tip failed to produce anything new and with heavy snow continuing to fall we headed for a hot drink and lunch at the cabana.

After lunch we headed to the local golf course and steam railway attraction – the only area of open pasture in the immediate area ( well it would have been pasture if it weren’t covered in thick snow!) – we still managed to add Grey-flanked Cinclodes for the trip. A trip out to the airport gave us close views of Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant but little else of note. The anxiety of seeing the airport being snow bound was palpable!

We retired to the warmth of the cabana and a bottle of the local Malbec, with an Argentinian bird list just short of the ton – what we lacked in quantity being amply compensated for by quality, not forgetting the spectacular scenery. Tomorrow, fingers and toes crossed, we depart for Peru – we have no plan B. Nor are we likely to have anything like the quality of internet connection, which has been better here at the ‘end of the world’ than it is at home!

A snowy landscape…

Two of six Andean Condors seen together, east of Ushuaia. Look at the tootsies on that gisker!

Black-crowned Night Heron – a bird with circumpolar distribution but still a surprise here in the deep south

Only one flight managed to land today…!

Patagonian Sierra Finch – a rare bit of colour in an otherwise ‘white out’  kind of a day

Train to ‘the end of the world’..

…and to finish with, the rather understated but delightful Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant

That’s all from Argentina, our second South American country . Next blog, internet permitting, from Cusco, Peru. I only hope it’s warmer there! Bye for now and thank you for following our Big World Birding Adventure.

Sunday 7th October. Today, after breakfast, we drove up to the ski resort above Ushuaia and climbed to the tree line for views of the Martial Glacier and with a vague hope of finding Grey-breasted Seedsnipe – which we didn’t. The scenery was however stunning, made all the better because the ski lift didn’t start running until we’d completed our walk and therefore there was no one else to spoil the atmosphere!

After coffee and cake (..this is beginning to sound more like a John O’Groats to Land’s End blog every day!) we set off for the historic estancia of Harberton and the penguin colony, situated at the entrance to the Beagle Channel and the ‘end of the world’. We found the former but, as the estacion was closed on Sundays, we didn’t find the later. We did however have a lovely picnic lunch whilst watching a host of birds including new for the list, Austral Parakeet, Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant, Rufous-breasted Plover and Baird’s Sandpiper. We made a brief stop on the way back to examine the handy work of a Beaver (an unwisely introduced species to this part of the world) including dams, den and demolished trees. We also made ‘before and after’ visits to the rubbish tip, in pursuit of the elusive Striated Caracara, but were unlucky for the second day running. Oh well, still another great days birding with spectacular scenery thrown in.

A distant view of the Martial Glacier

Thorn-tailed Rayadito

Distant view of Puerto Williams, on the Chile side of the Beagle Channel…there’s no place like home!

Harberton Estancia

One of a group of six Austral Parakeets seen as we stopped for lunch

Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle – frequently seen in the skies above Tierra del Fuego

..and finally, a Beaver’s handy work!

Today was a slow start. After a latish breakfast we wandered around the cabanas looking for birds. Seeing very few, Bob and I set off to the town, to secure a hire car. An hour later we discovered all the hire car places were shut and, having been told that they were up at the ‘aeropuerto’ we grabbed a passing taxi and headed off in the direction of the airport. Once there we discovered that all the car hire booths were locked up and the place deserted. With no money for the return taxi ride, we’d just decided to walk back to the cabanas, when a man from Hertz showed up. ‘Have you a car we can hire?’ we ask, ‘No’ says the man, having explained that the car hire office was closed for the weekend. ‘Please, pretty please, por favor’ we pleaded (by this time it’s snowing quite heavily outside!). ‘Well I do have this one that’s waiting for a re-spray’ – ‘We’ll take it’! Two hours after we set off we arrive back at the cabana with a set of wheels!

We decide to make the best of the day by heading off in the direction of the national park of Tierra del Fuego. Just the name of it conjures up images of early explorers, whalers and rounding Cape Horn! We knew that the bird life could be good but difficult to find. After a long drive through the park and lunch by the side of a lake with a back-drop of snow-capped mountains, we set off in pursuit of our quarry – the near mythical Magellanic Woodpecker. After an hour of fruitless searching and me frequently performing the David Attenborough stone-tapping on a rotten tree-stump trick, we’d pretty much given up and I was back in the car park looking for a Caracara when Sue came running up breathlessly proclaiming that Jane had seen a woodpecker. A 200 yd sprint and there it was, a fabulous drumming female Magellanic Woodpecker and close-by, her mate! What a birding moment and another ‘must see’ safely in the bag!

We continued to enjoy the spectacular mountain scenery, in temperatures little above freezing, for the rest of the afternoon, adding a number of new species. The day concluded with us parked up at the side of the municipal rubbish tip, looking for two ‘hard to get’ Caracara species – one of which, the White-throated, falling before the finale of the day, the arrival of two gigantic Andean Condor!

View across the lake from the Visitors Centre, Tierra del Fuego National Park

..but to start the day off, circa 100 Flying Steamer Ducks in Ushuaia harbour

..and later, two exquisite Flightless Steamer Ducks, in the TDF national park

Black-faced Ibis – another ‘trip tick’

The star bird of the afternoon (and possibly Argentina!) – a magnificent male Magellanic Woodpecker!

..and his equally attractive mate

A great days birding was rounded off nicely by the arrival at the local rubbish dump of two Andean Condor…

What a great place this southern tip of South America is proving to be…

Just realised that this earlier blog didn’t go, so here it is in a slightly modified version.

Well the Peninsular Valdez was an experience! On the map of Argentina it looks like a ‘bubble’ on the coastline, about half way down. In reality it is a hugh desert wilderness which took us two full days to explore and we only managed to see about half of it. On Wednesday we drove to Caleta Valdez, about 100k each way on dirt tracks, to visit the only mainland breeding colony of Elephant Seals in the world –  and boy are they big! We also stopped off at one of the Magellanic penguin colonies and saw a few good birds and animals en route.

On Thursday 4th, we travelled back to Puerto Madryn, birding en route, ready for our early flight down to Ushuaia at the extreme southern tip of Argentina. If the weather here is anything to go by I don’t expect it’s going to be too warm! We had a brisk walk down the pier tonight and were greatly entertained by a pair of Giant Southern Petrels which kept ‘buzzing’ us at close range.

Friday evening. We’ve now arrived safely in Ushuaia and are installed in our cozy Aldea Nevada cabanas, complete with roaring stove, overlooking the Beagle Channel. On a brief walk into town this afternoon we saw a number of Dolphin Gulls, the most exquisite larids in the world! (Martin, if you are reading this, observe and weep!)

If the weather holds tomorrow, currently forecasting sunny with a high of 9 deg c., we hope to get a car and go exploring further afield – may get to the local rubbish dump and sewage outflow, with any luck!

..and now for some of those long promised photos:

…Gosh, is that a Southern Right Whale off the starboard bow?

..sure was, and here I am again with my calf (just 1 ton at birth and only 5m long!)

A Kelp Gull in the company of a ‘must see’ Snowy Sheathbill!

Believe it or not this shot was taken from the shore!

This weeks ‘caption competition’ – Two Elephant seals in the act of love-making…suggestions on a post card please!

…’I’ll be glad when these bloody tourists have gone home’

An Argentinian ‘dog-rabbit’ – otherwise known as a Maras

A splendid male Sea lion

Jane and Trevor on the front at Puerto Madryn

A superb Southern Giant Petrel doing a ‘fly-past’ at Puerto Madryn pier.

..a lovely Dolphin Gull on the Ushuaia waterfront

..and here’s one for my boys, prior to their arrival in Rio..an ariel view with Sugarloaf mountain in the foreground, Copacabana beach and statue of Christ the Redeemer in the background.

Until next time…

Tuesday, 2nd October. Spent the morning on a slow drive to the Valdes peninsular and arrived at our hotel – the very nicely appointed Del Nomade, in Puerto Piramides by lunch time. The town, one short street and a collection of houses, cafes and shops with a slight Mexican feel to it, exists for one purpose – to facilitate the viewing of Whales – and facilitate they did!! We booked for the one and a half hour trip, leaving at 3.30 and went for a leisurely lunch. You can see the whales in the bay from the quay side, but we were completely unprepared for the experience that was to follow. The small inflatable boat with about thirty people on board, set out across the bay, taking in the local sea lion colony on route to the whales. The experience of seeing these majestic animals at close quarters was utterly amazing! They didn’t just occasionally pop their heads out of the water for a few seconds and then nothing. No these 15m. long, 45 ton creatures were everywhere! Mothers with their 3 month old calves were swimming alongside the boat for most of the hour we were in their ‘territory’. Turning, twisting, breaching, blowing and moaning – they were terribly ‘up close and personal’!! I’ve read trip reports about the whale watching from Puerto Piramides and always thought the accounts sounded rather exaggerated. Nothing could be further from the truth and I’m truly at a lost to adequately describe the experience. Hopefully a few pictures will capture a sense of it..once I get a good enough connection that is!

…and now with photos!

Being Saturday, today was our last full day at Guapi Assu so we decided to stay local and see how many species we could find by ourselves. An early morning stroll before breakfast – it gets light here just after five, produced about forty species with a couple of new ones to get us started, including Pileated Finch & Reddish Hermit. After a leisurely breakfast we ‘hit the road’ to see if we could get a few farmland species that had evaded us thus far – they continued to evade us however and we returned for lunch, having walk 10k in steaming hot weather. In the afternoon we set off to find the canopy hide, which we’d failed to locate on a previous expedition. We found the hide but not so many birds – we did hear  another Channel-billed Toucan though, having seen two on the yellow trail in the morning. There then followed something of a ‘purple patch’ just before dusk, where we added a probable Salvadori’s Antwren, Black-capped Donacobius and Limpkin, bringing our total a couple short of 100 for the day!

Update…

It’s Monday and we’re in Argentina! 24 hours and three flights later and we’re in the whale watching ‘capital’ of South America – peninsular Valdes. We’ve not seen any yet, but we’ll let you know if we do!

Poor internet connection means no photos at all – oh well….

Brazilian Tanager – nice ‘bird table’ species!

Piculet – a very small woodpecker

Streaked Flycatcher

…and a big lizard!

On Thursday we decided to do the waterfall trail, which we’d abandoned earlier in the week because of the rain. A short ride to the beginning of the trail gave us some new birds including a rare White-necked Hawk. We set off on the 2.4k  forest walk to the falls but 10k and several trails later we still hadn’t found it! We didn’t see many birds either – well ones we could identify that is, but we did see a splendid Three-toed Sloth, lazing in the canopy.

We returned to the Lodge for lunch and a bit of R&R before another walk round the wetlands followed by the much anticipated Giant Snipe excursion at dusk and the Owl night walk after supper. The Giant Snipe proved tricky – calling occasionally in a rough meadow near the Lodge but they never showed themselves – oh well, there was always the owls later on. Supper over, we headed off in high expectation – after all Alan had been out a few nights before and photographed three species and heard several more! Two hours later, having only heard a couple of distant  calls, we returned bowed but not broken!

Yesterday made up for it though – another day in the company of ‘super guide’ Adilei. We visited a number of local sites and saw about 80 species – thirty of which were new. Fantastic stuff.

Staying local today, before heading off to Argentina tomorrow.

Speed of the internet means only a couple of photos again I’m afraid! I’ll make it up to you I promise!

Black-cheeked Gnateater

Male, Blue Manikin

Red-necked Tanager

Grey-headed Attila

Saw-billed Hermit

After a fabulous day yesterday today it’s wet – very, very wet! It started raining just after tea and it’s not stopped since, in fact today’s planned walk to the waterfalls has been rendered unnecessary, since we’ve got our own waterfall just outside our bedroom window!

But yesterday, now that was a day! Up for a 5.30 breakfast and then a two hour drive to Macae de Cima and the David  Miller’s orchid reserve, in the company of Alan and guide Adilei. A slow walk up the track, stopping every 50ft for a new bird, with lunch at the house in front of the humming bird feeders, and a leisurely stroll back – pretty near perfect! The days tally of nearly 90 species included several ‘A’ listers, Swallow-tailed Cotinga, Hooded Berryeater, Giant Antshrike and Plovercrest. On both the drive up and back we called in at the Banana stall, on the Nova Friburgo road, to be dazzled by the array of Tanagers and Euphonia feeding on the fruit put out for the birds by the owner.

Green-headed Tanager. Sorry for the lack of photos – very slow internet connection!

Yesterday we paddled our way around the Lodge. Saw some new species but got rather cold and wet.

Today we’re off to do the waterfall trail.