Birding trip to Argentina 30 October 2010 – 14 November 2010-12-28


30 October; After arrival and lunch in Buenos Aires, we visited Costanera Sur,
a good wetland in the city. Fantastic views of Spot-flanked Gallinule and
Plumbeous Rail.Night spent at Hotel Bristol, in central Buenos Aires.
Hotel was quite ok.

31 October; Early flight to Trelew, south of Peninsula Valdés,
followed by a long bus ride north, to the coast and Las Grutas.
Habitat in this area is basically Monte desert, only found in Argentina.
Arid, with grass and low busches. Birds included, Sandy Gallito,
White-throated Cacholote, White-banded Mockingbird and Carbonated Sierra-Finch.
Night spent in Las Grutas, in a hotel right by the coast line.

1 November; In early morning, about 150 Manx Shearwater per minute passed,
viewed from our Hotel.Continued our Monte Desert struggle until lunch,
and then headed for San Antonio Oeste and back to Las Grutas for the night.
Sightings included Burrowing Parakeet, Hudson´s Black-Tyrant and Patagonian Canastero.

2 November; Started of towards Sierra Grande in Monte desert habitat with Band-tailed Earthcreeper.
Then headed for Puerto Madryn, by Peninsula Valdés. Our first sightings
of Southern Right Whale was at Golfi Nuevo, where we had some 30 whales really close
to the beach. The Antarctic Giant-Petrel is very common here. We stayed the night
at Del Nomade at Puerto Piramides. Recommendable.

3 November; It rained heavily during night and in the morning,
so we had some problems with bad roads and were unable to go exactly
as planned. Near Punta Delgado, we stopped at a restaurant situated
at the coast line. We had big numbers of Southern Elephant Seal.
At Punta Cantor we had good views of both Antarctic and Hall´s Giant Petrel.
Nesting Patagonian Yellow-Finch was super.
After lunch we visited a nesting area for the Magellanic Penguin.
Returning to Punta Piramides and Del Nomade, a stop gave us our first
Snowy Sheathbills and Dolphin Gulls.
Peninsula Valdés was amazing and it is understandable that it is a part
of the UNESCO World Heritage sites as it constitutes a crucial landmark
for our world

4 November; We drove back to Trelew, with first stop at the “water-cleaning ponds”
outside Trelew. The ponds hold big numbers of many species of Duck;
highest numbers were 400 Red Shovler and 300 Lake Duck.
Continuing south to Punta Tomba, with it´s enormous nesting site for
Magellanic Penguin. Here we also had some good views of elegant-crested Tinamou
and White-headed Steamerducks. Night spent in Trelew.

5 November; Flight from Trelew to El Calafate. We checked in at our Hotel,
perfectly situated just next to Laguna Nimez (Lago Argentino).
Top score on our afternoon walk was 13 individuals of Magellanic Plover.
We also had our first Red-fronted coot.

6 November; After a morning walk by the Lagoon, we drove to El Shalten.
One stop was made with the purpose of finding Greater Yellow-Finch on
the top of rocks. We managed, and drove on to La Leona, a restaurant
and lodge, famous for the fact that Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
was hiding here for two months before heading on to Bolivia.
After arriving in El Shalten, we had the most heavy rain during our
trip and had to surrender.
7 November; complete change, sunny and very little wind.
From the town we see the dramatic and very challenging (for climbers)
Mount Fitz Roy (3405 meters above sea level) and
Mount Torre (3128 meters above sea level). The day is spent along
Rio Las Vueltas, mostly within Los Glaciares NP. We made lots of stops
in the forested area and had birds like Ashy-headed Goose,
Austral Pygmy-Owl, Magellanic Woodpecker, Austral Parakeet and Magellanic Tapaculo.

8 November; A long drive across the Patagonian steppe. We had three goals;
Hooded Grebe – this was a tough one demanding some 5-6 hours walk in all -,
and Estancia La Angostura – here we were going to spend the night after
having had Roasted Lamb.

9 November; Estancia La Angostura is beautifully situated in the middle
of the Steppe. It is situated by hills, grassy and with wetlands.
Such a contrast to the Steppe surrounding it all. This is the spot for Austral Rail,
and we had quick views and calls from three individuals.
On the hillside we had a Magellanic Horned –Owl.
Headed back to El Calafate, including another stop at La Leona.

10 November; main goal for today was Glaciar Perito Moreno,
splitting Lago Argentino in two parts, in Los Glaciares NP and we
spent the day within the NP. The glacier has several hundred thousand
visitors each year and walks have been constructed all over the place.
Afterwards we headed back to El Calafate, and 500 meters before the
airport we had three Patagonian Tinamou crossing the road!
We flew to Ushuaia and the view from the plane as we approached Ushuaia
was amazing. We checked in at Tolkeyen Hotel, just outside the city and
by the Beagle Canal. Perfect! Outside we had Kelp Goose, Flightless Steamerduck
and Chilean Skua.

11 November; Scoping from our hotel in the morning gave some Black-browed Albatross
and Southern Fulmar. By she shore we had good numbers of Baird´s and
White-rumped Sandpiper. After breakfast, out into Tierra del Fuego NP with
superb close-ups of Magellanic Woodpecker and Tufted Tit-Tyrant.
In the afternoon we took a boat trip on Beagle Canal.
Around three hours one way, going west and almost to the Pacific.
We stopped at “Penguin Island”, harbouring both Magellanic and Gentoo Penguins.
The trip gave lots of Black-browed Albatross, Southern Fulmar,
Antarctic Giant Petrel, Chilean Skua, South American tern,
Imperial Cormorant and some Rock Cormorants.

12 November; Early morning from our hotel gave us what we failed
to see yesterday, Magellanic Diving-Petrel. Went into the mountains,
to Lago Escondido, with still a fair amount of snow. At first,
it was windy and at the top it was quite tough with really
strong winds and rather cold. Suddenly the wind stopped and the sun broke through.
Paradise! Ater that we got super viewings of White-bellied Seedsnipe and
Yellow-bridled Finch.
As a contrast we continued to Ushuaia City dump! We did it to get, and got,
White-throated Caracara.

13 November; Returned to Buenos Aires.

14 November; Since we had an afternoon flight we went an hours drive to
Reserva Natural Otamendi, a wetland area with vast reed beds.
Lots of interesting birds, like Yellow-chinned and Chicli Spinetail,
Sooty Tyrannulet and Straight-billed Reedhaunter.

It was like it always is. Day one you feel you have plenty of time,
and at the last day you feel that it passed far too quickly.