After an early look around the small coastal town of Mar Chiquita, I headed off to check out the large cattle estancias, inland from the Mar Chiquita area. It was turning into an increasingly hot day into the low thirties and the air conditioning was much appreciated, as the track was throwing up a lot of dust. I had a number of eBird locations where Red-winged Tinamous has been seen, but it was clearly going to be a hit & miss species and it appeared that some of these sightings had occurred when a Birder had been allowed to drive onto an estancia. In the last Blog Post, I had included the photos of a number of the dry country species seen on the estancias. In this Blog Post, I will focus on the species on the wet pools.
This was one of the better marshy areas
Pied-billed Grebe: This is the antarcticus subspecies which occurs throughout South America
White-tufted Grebe: This is the chilensis subspecies which occurs from South Peru & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego & the Cape Horn Archipelago
Snowy Egret: This is the nominate thula subspecies which occurs from the United States & West Indies to central Argentina
Snowy Egret: I wonder how often UK Birders check Little Egrets for the bright yellow lores that are found on Snowy Egrets: we could do with another UK Snowy Egret
White-faced Ibis: This monotypic species occurs from the Great Basin of the Western United States to South West Brazil & central Argentina
Roseate Spoonbill: This monotypic species occurs from the Southern United States & West Indies to Brazil & North Argentina
Roseate Spoonbill: This must be the best-looking Spoonbill
Maguari Stork: This monotypic species occurs on the tropical plains & marshes to the East of the Andes
Ringed Teal: This monotypic species occurs from South Brazil to Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay & North East Argentina. This was a bonus Tick as somehow we had missed it during our five week Argentinian trip in Nov/Dec 1998
Silver Teal: This is the nominate versicolor subspecies which occurs from South Bolivia, Paraguay & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego
Silver Teal: They really are a gorgeous Duck
Cinnamon Teal: This is the nominate cyanoptera subspecies which occurs from South Peru & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands
Red Shoveler: This monotypic species occurs from South Peru & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands
Speckled Teal: This is the oxyptera subspecies which occurs from the Andes of central Peru to North Chile & Argentina
Bahama Pintail: This species is AKA White-cheeked Pintail. This is the rubrirostris subspecies which occurs from the Pacific coast of Ecuador South to central Chile and Eastern South America from Eastern Bolivia, central & Eastern Brazil & Uruguay South to North Argentina
White-winged Coot: This monotypic species occurs from extreme South East Brazil to East Bolivia & South to Tierra del Fuego
There were still a good number of other species seen on this drive inland of Mar Chiquita and I will cover them in the final Blog Post for the day.
