For those who don’t know (and possibly don’t care) a pelagic involves travelling for hours in a small boat, miles out to sea, throwing disgustingly smelly bits of fish overboard, and waiting to see what sea birds turn up! It’s the only way to see many of the deep ocean birds and off the continental shelf of Chile is one of the tops sites for it. And so it was, that on Sunday 28th October, we joined guide Franco, his captain and crew, and headed off from Quintero for a day on the pacific ocean…and what a day it turned out to be! In simple statistical terms we saw four species of Albatross, two Shearwaters, seven petrel type species and a number of other maritime species – in terms of the experience, it was simply phenomenal! By the time we reached the shelf , where the cold Humboldt current brings ‘rich pickings’ to the surface, the sheer number of birds was overwhelming. The vast majority were Sooty Shearwaters but close examination, by our very experienced guide (veteran of  more than 250 pelagics), produced a succession of new species. After six hours on the water, on the way back to harbour, our day was topped by a close  encounter with a Minke whale and calf!

Some pictures, which fail to capture the experience adequately, follow:

Franco with Joe and Sue, running through the finer points of grey headed Albatross identification..

A poor attempt to capture the sheer volume of birds involved….mostly Sooty Shearwater

and now in close-up

A nice shot of the similar but larger, White-chinned Petrel

A Westland’s petrel – distinguished from the previous species by smaller size and a dark bill tip

Pink-footed Shearwater

Possibly my personal favourite of the pelagic species, a Cape Petrel

Frequent throughout the day, Peruvian Pelican

The commonest of the albatross sp., a Black-browed

…and now eating some of our scrummy ‘chum’

Salvin’s Albatross

with a wing span of nearly twelve feet…a Royal Albatross

…and finally, an unexpected ‘close encounter’ with another whale species, this time Minke (with calf)

Fingers crossed…a few pics from Ecuador.

Bob and Sue admiring the Equator monument, just outside Quito. Odd to think that home, near Peterborough, is at 0 degrees longitude.

Bob and Jane with our guide Andrea, deep in the equatorial rainforest, looking for birds…

and speaking of which, a Giant Antpitta…’called up’ by another guide who knew all these birds by name!

A Turquoise Jay in the grounds of Bellavista Rain Forest Lodge

An absolutely stunning Collared Aracari

Another one of those ‘hummers’….Sparkling Violetear I think

Russet-crowned Warbler….nice

A brown hummer – fewer of them and therefore easier to identify, this one is Tawny-bellied Hermit

Orange-bellied Euphonia…trying to steal a nailed down banana

Our ‘apartments’ at Bellavista (that’s Bob looking through the bars!)

…and finally something for you to chew on, a Giant Earthworm – just like ours only bigger…MUCH bigger!

If the internet holds up, more ‘catch-up’ pics to come. Bye for now….

Wednesday 7th November. After a week in Ecuador and nearly two weeks in Chile we finally have a WiFi connection – it’s a miracle! Before I tell you what’s been happening, a big thank you for those of you who have obviously been regularly visiting the blog, despite the lack of postings.

Our week in Equador, at the Bellavista Rain Forest Lodge was fabulous. If you look at their website you get a sense of the special nature of the place – not just the bird life, which was extraordinarily good, but the scenery, climate and people too. Our guide, Andrea, was first rate – very enthusiastic and competent, and between us we managed to gross about two hundred species. We spent a night in a rather quaint hotel in Quito, before departing for Santiago and Chile, our last South American country of the trip.

We were met by Joe and Gabriella, the soon to be newly-weds, at the airport, and after a wash and brush-up at their apartment in Santiago, we headed for Quintero, the coast and three nights at the Pirates Cape cabanas. A bit of local birding on Saturday – mostly revisiting favourite old haunts like Penguin Island and the Sulphuric Acid plant!, got us pumped up for Sundays pelagic. The five of us (Joe came too) and Franco our guide, on a local converted fishing boat, alone somewhere in the pacific, watching thousands of sea birds including four species of albatross! A fantastic seven hour sea bird fest. Monday was spent sight seeing in Valparaiso – the artists quarter was particularly quirky, and birding at the delightful El Peral reserve – which provided us with our first Chilean ‘tick’ of the trip, a pair of Black headed Duck. The following day we made our way to the airport, via Estra Lampa, for our lunchtime departure to Puerto Mont and four days on the rain drenched Chiloe Island. In the event we had more sun than rain and thoroughly enjoyed some much anticipated chilling time, in front of the log fire, at Caulin Lodge cabanas. From there we drove north to Pucon in the Chilean Lake district, to meet up with Joe again and two of his brothers, Matt & Josh – over for the wedding with Luke, a friend of Josh’s. We had four lovely days together, in the shadow of the awesome VolcanoVillarica – though we ‘oldies’ declined to participate in most of the extended stag ( re-named Yak) do, including Volcano climbing, white-water canoeing, drinking games and gambling till four in the morning at the casino!

We’re now on our way back to Santiago and the wedding – which starts at 7.00 pm on Friday night and goes on till Saturday breakfast!

Will post some pictures of the last few weeks, and the wedding of course, as soon as the power of the internet permits. Bye for now…

Due to technical difficulties there’ll be no pictures from Ecuador at present, but check out the Peru pictures added to the Manu Road blog!

Friday 26th October, hotel Eugenia, Quito, Ecuador. First internet for ages, so let me bring you up to date…

Left our hotel in Lima at 03.45 for an early flight to Quito, via Guayaquil. If you are expecting Mundo Albergue to be a hotel you’ll be disappointed but it’s a superior standard hostel, run by absolutely lovely people – Carlos and his mum could not have been more helpful or hospitable. Anyway, we arrive at Lima airport in plenty of time to catch our flight, check our bags in and go for a coffee. An announcement tells us that our flight is delayed and there becomes an increasing possibility that we’ll miss our connecting flight to Quito! We eventually persuade Lan to put us on a direct flight with another airline and get our boarding passes 40 minutes before our departure – having been categorically assured by both Lan and Taca that our bags would be on the flight with us. We get to Quito at about the same time as our original flight, where we are being met by a driver to take us two hours to our cloud forest destination, and guess what – no bags! The Taca duty manager is very friendly but completely ineffectual and we end up departing for Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge with no luggage. That was Saturday afternoon – we were eventually reunited with our possessions on Monday evening! Three days in the same clothes, no toiletries and the power drained from every piece of technical equipment we possess, proved a little wearing at times and tempers became slightly frayed, but we got by and the environment and birding were more than adequate compensation.

We’ve just finished five fantastic days enjoying the birding delights of this part of Ecuador and amassed close on two hundred species, courtesy of our very efficient guide, Andrea. Depending on the internet connection I might even be able to post some pictures!

Tomorrow we depart early for Santiago, Chile for three weeks and the ‘wedding of the year’!

Friday 19th October. I’m writing this blog in a small hotel, come hostal, in a Lima suburb. The circumstances of how we came to be here being another story! Anyway for now the internet is working so I’d better bring you up to date with our latest adventure – five days travelling the entire length of the Manu Road, from Cuzco to Antalya, and back. To call it a ‘road’ would be an insult to any highway engineer – in reality it’s a mud track, which clings to the side of the Andes, as it descends 3,ooo m. to the edge of the Amazon basin. We were in the capable hands of Rivelino our guide – very knowledgable and enthusiastic, and our highly competent driver, from Amazon Birding. We stayed two nights at the Cock of the Rock lodge followed by another two at the Amazonia lodge, reached by an exciting boat ride down the Madre de Dios river, a tributary of the Amazon. We saw 259 bird species, four monkey species and a snake, – and it was truly the adventure of a life time!

Male Cock of the Rock, a member of the birds of paradise family.

Green Jay

Cinnamon Flycatcher

an up close and personal encounter with the rare Solitary Eagle

a magnificent Golden-headed Quetzal

being watched at breakfast by a Brown Capuchin monkey

one of many spectacular hummingbirds…. (that’s code for ‘can’t remember the name!’)

Rufous-crested Coquette

Highland Motmot

the pre-historic looking Hoatzins

a Chestnut-eared Aricari

a mountain village, on the way over the high Andes, 4,600m

approaching the river port of Antalya

Saturday 13th October. Arrived back to Cuzco late yesterday, after our two day expedition to Machu Picchu. We caught the train at Poroy – slightly dissappointed that you no longer do the zig-zagging through the Cuzco suburbs – all part of the smartening up and safety improvements to enhance the tourists experience. The main part of the three and half hour journey through the ‘sacred valley’ of the river Urubamba was every bit as exhilarating as I remember – it is, after all, one of the great railway journeys of the world!

Once in Aguas Callientes we walked the short distance to the Green Nature hotel – perfectly adequate and well located. We spent the afternoon securing our bus tickets and doing a little birding along the river out of town – we saw Highland Motmot and Torrent duck performing their under-water gymnastics. We ate and went to bed ready for our five o’clock start. The breakfast, which was served from 4.30am for those intent on getting into Machu Picchu in time for the sun-rise, was substantial and a good ‘base’ for the physical exertion that lay ahead. On arrival we headed towards the Sun Temple to enjoy crowd-free views across Machu Picchu towards our target, Wayna Picchu – that spike of a mountain that you see in the background of every photograph of the place. They allow 200 people to climb the peak in two shifts, allowing three hours for the return journey. If you make it to the top and the mist clears you can get fabulous veiws of the whole mountain landscape, with Machu Picchu below you. We did make it up and were lucky enough to have brief views through the vale of mist. The climb was pretty severe (as was the descent) but the effort was well worth it and truly breathtaking, in all senses of the word.

After a welcome lunch stop, during which it poured down, we re-entered the site and visited the places we’d missed in the morning. We joined the mid-afternoon queue for the return buses and spent the rest of the afternoon chilling in Aguas Callientes before catching the 5.30 train back to Poroy. During the journey we where entertained by Sue doing a bit of dancing with one of the ‘locals’!

Today we’re off to a local lake for a bit more ‘self-found’ birding and then tomorrow, up at the crack of dawn for our four day expedition in to the Amazon…!

A loco passing through the main street of Aguas Callientes

An early morning view across Machu Picchu towards Wayna Picchu

On the accent….only another 527 steps to go!

The view of Machu Picchu from the top..well almost

And now for the descent. These people seem to be having the colly-wobbles – can’t see why!

A couple of views of Machu Picchu

Sue’s dancing partner…

Wednesday 10th October.  Arrived in Cuzco this morning on the ‘red eye’, having left Ushuaia at 10.00 yesterday. Checked into the very excellent Casona les Pleiades and had some coca tea to off-set the effects of the altitude (well that’s what they say – I just think they like it!). Went for a walk before lunch and managed to print off our Machu Picchu tickets at an internet cafe. Returned to the hotel to be met by the most almighty thunder and hail storm! In the afternoon we did touristy things like a tour of the Sun Temple – very impressive and the local market – not quite so! Just had a superb evening meal, mostly ‘veggie’ at Grandja Heidi’s.

Some random photos from around the city:

The inside our our lovely hotel.

Some gold geezer standing in a fountain in the main square, Cuzco

Sue having her picture taken by a police woman …she’s not wanted for questioning, not yet anyway!

An interesting roof..and an interesting pot!

Tomorrow we’re off on the train to Machu Picchu…not taking the lap top, so definitely no blogging until we get back. Thank you folks for your kind comments – do keep them coming!

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!