26 Mar 2018

26 Mar 18 - On The Waterfront

After spending most of the day at the Garibaldi Pass looking for White-bellied Seedsnipe, Tony, Glenn & I decided to head back to the car & try & find some food given it was mid afternoon. By the time we had found a café & had some food, the rain had settled in. The best option at this point, was to head back to Ushuaia & look for some of the coastal species. No chance of any new Ticks for me, but neither Tony nor Glenn had been to Ushuaia before, so there were plenty of potential Ticks for them. Plus a waterfront with views where you can scan from a car is always a good option in the rain, in my opinion.
Dolphin Gull: Adult. Looks good for a Seagull
Dolphin Gull: Teenager
At another stop we found these two sleeping Ducks: unfortunately in a position where it was not easy to properly judge the relative wing length. However, looking at the photos then I think they are Flying Steamerducks as the wing appears to be relatively long, the bill is not particularly thick and the body feathers have reddish-brown edges to them (instead of greyish edges).
Flying Steamerduck: Well actually "Sleeping Steamerducks" with a Dolphin Gull trying to photobomb the picture
Flying Steamerduck: Showing the relatively thin bill & reddish-brown edged feathers
Dark-bellied Cinclodes
Dark-bellied Cinclodes
Dark-bellied Cinclodes
The afternoon finished off with a party of 60+ Southern Giant Petrels all hanging around and trying to dominate each other around a water outflow pipe near the port at last light.
Southern Giant Petrel: No problem seeing why these are one of the Tubenose Seabirds. This odd posture seems to be an attempt to dominate the other individuals
Southern Giant Petrel: Another view of the dominating posture
Southern Giant Petrel: The pale green bill with no reddish tip rules out Northern Giant Petrel
Southern Giant Petrel: The darker the head patterns the younger they are
Southern Giant Petrel: Another one coming in to land