14 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - A Morning In The Pampas

I was down to my last full day of Birding on my whistle-stop return trip to Patagonia. I had booked the flight home a week before Christmas to grab one of the last reasonably priced tickets. But as the Antarctica trip was a last minute decision to book, I hadn't really planned what I would do in Patagonia. Initially I planned the time to look for Commerson's Dolphins around Puerto Rawson. Having managed to bump into them in the Beagle Channel, I could focus on other options. The main target was the Franciscana Dolphins which I had seen at the El Condor River mouth, near Viedma on the previous afternoon. This gave me the time for a long three hours drive North to look for the range-restricted Pampas Meadowlark near Bahia Blanca. I ran out of light before I reached Bahia Blanca and I had pulled over soon after dark at a large garage for the night, about one hundred miles short of Bahia Blanca. I left at first light for the final leg of the drive.

The Pampas around Chasico

After reaching Bahia Blanca, I headed out North West on RN35 before turning right to the small settlement of Chasico. This seemed to be the best option to try and see some Pampas Meadowlarks. This scarce range-restricted species is vastly outnumbered by the commoner Long-tailed Meadowlarks. To add to the challenge the area has many miles of similar-looking arable fields and separating the two species isn't straight-forward. Pampas Meadowlark are a bit smaller than Long-tailed Meadowlarks, with a shorter tail and shorter, straighter bill. Plumage-wise, they have a deeper crimson throat and breast, with a narrower black border and a rounded lower edge to the breast. They are best told in flight, when its possible to see their diagnostic black underwing. The first thing was to look at lots of Long-tailed Meadowlarks to get my eye in on them.

Long-tailed Meadowlark: There was some variation in the Long-tailed Meadowlarks as they were a mixture of adults and immatures sitting on the fence posts. This is the nominate loyca subspecies which occurs in Chile & Eastern Argentina as far South as Tierra del Fuego

White-browed Blackbird: This monotypic species occurs from South East Peru to Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil & North Argentina

I took the dirt track back towards Bahia Blanca and it was a case of stopping and grilling every Long-tailed Meadowlark party, whilst driving miles through identical-looking fields. After a couple of hours of looking and one candidate that disappeared before I could confirm it, I finally found a Pampas Meadowlark, which I was happy was the real deal. Unfortunately, it flew to another fence post about two hundred metres back on the private ranch, before I could get any photos. I continued to watch it for a few minutes with the telescope, but it didn't move back towards the dirt track. It was time to move on. It took me another hour of driving before I ended up back onto a tarmac road. There were plenty of other Birds along these dirt tracks, however, I didn't spent long on photographing them.

Greater Rhea: This is the albescens subspecies which occurs in the Pampas of Argentina South to the Rio Negro

Spotted Tinamou: They are also known as Spotted Nothura. This is the annectens subspecies which occurs in the moist grasslands of East Argentina

Crested Caracara: This is the plancus subspecies previously known as Southern Crested Caracara which occurs from the Amazon basin to East Peru, Tierra del Fuego & the Falklands. It has now been relumped with Crested Caracara which occurs as far North to the Southern United States & some of the Caribbean Islands

Chimango Caracara: This is the nominate chimango subspecies that occurs from South Brazil & Paraguay to central Argentina & central Chile

Burrowing Owl: This is the nominate cunicularia subspecies which occurs from South Bolivia, South Brazil & Paraguay to Tierra del Fuego

Burrowing Owl: They are normally happy to post for a photo, but not this one

Campo Flicker: This is the campestroides subspecies which occurs from South Paraguay to South East Brazil, Uruguay & North Argentina

As I was driving back to Bahia Blanca on the dirt tracks, I stopped to photograph a Pipit on a fence post. This time I took some photos before looking at it properly. It proved fortunate that I did, as it flew off, before I could have done both. When I was sorting out the photos, it was a pleasant surprise to find it was a Chaco Pipit: which was a bonus Tick.

Chaco Pipit: They are also known as Pampas Pipit. This monotypic species occurs locally in the Chaco of East Paraguay & North Argentina

Correndera Pipit: This is the nominate correndera subspecies which occurs from coastal South East Brazil to Uruguay, Paraguay & North Argentina. It was photographed later in the day near to the Parque Eolico Villalonga wind farm on the drive South to Trelew and provides a useful comparison of the Chaco Pipit to this widespread species

Finally, I was back at Bahia Blanca. The next challenge was the four hundred and fifty mile drive South to Trelew to catch my lunchtime plane back to Buenos Aires on the next day. There wasn't any time to lose in heading South, but I had a bit of time for some quick roadside stops. I will cover the last part of the trip in the final Blog Post.

25 Mar 26 - Early Spring Godwits On Brownsea

When I was starting Birding in my early teens, I began by thinking that the Godwits would be difficult to identify when feeding on the coast, when I looked at the poor field guides I had in those days. In reality, Bar-tailed Godwit and Black-tailed Godwit are two very different species.

Bar-tailed Godwit: They appear to have pale grey upperparts due to the nice pale edgings to all the feathers and a slightly buffy wash to the breast. In their Summer plumage, they have a pale brick-red breast which continues down to the vent and this colouration is paler than the darker brick-red seen on the breasts of Black-tailed Godwits

Bar-tailed Godwit: It's not often to see them feeding close to the Avocet hide, so this was a good opportunity to get some close photos

One of the great things about the Brownsea Avocet hide is sometimes Waders feed really close to the hide and are generally unconcerned by the people in the hide, except when the windows are opened or closed. This coupled with some nice light, ignoring the harsher early morning light on some days, can produce some nice photographs.

Bar-tailed Godwit: Both species are able to put their whole head in the water to get to some food

Bar-tailed Godwits have a much paler upperpart colouration which is amplified by the nice pale edgings to all the feathers. They are smaller than Black-tailed Godwits and when they are seen standing out of the water, they look to me like their legs are too short for their body. They prefer to feed on sandier areas in Poole Harbour with the Shore Road area by Sandbanks being their favourite area, where a high Winter count will be around one hundred and fifty individuals. When they turn up at Studland, they are on the sandier parts of the bay. On the high tide, they roost on Brownsea, but generally they prefer to roost up with the Curlews rather than their namesakes.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Surprisingly I find that the identification problem with roosting Bar-tailed Godwits on Brownsea isn't Black-tailed Godwit: it's Grey Plover. That seems daft when first said, as Grey Plovers are long-legged, dumpy Waders with obvious short bills, that would not be confused when feeding on a mudflat.

Grey Plover: I've not got a good photo of a Winter Grey Plover, so this is the similar, but paler-looking American subspecies from Hobson Beach Park, California (20 Nov 14)

Bar-tailed Godwits and Grey Plover often roost together on Brownsea at the back of the lagoon. When roosting, they often have their bills tucked into the backs as they sleep, so the bill length doesn't immediately eliminate the other species and they often seem to roost at the most awkward angle to the hide to make their immediate identification a bit harder. They are a similar body size and leg length and have similar pale grey, scaly upperparts. It doesn't take long to separate the two species, but it's not as easy as separating the two Godwit species.

Black-tailed Godwit: In their Winter plumage (right), they have more uniform darker-grey upperparts than Bar-tailed Godwits. As they moult into their Summer plumage, they show a darker brick-red breast, a paler belly, with chestnut and blackish-centred feathers on the upperparts

This is the very common Godwit species in Poole Harbour, with a new record count of over five thousand individuals recorded in the Winter of 2025-26. Black-tailed Godwits are larger than Bar-tailed Godwits, with a longer bill and noticeably longer legs. They have more uniform darker-grey upperparts than Bar-tailed Godwits in their Winter plumage. As they moult into their Summer plumage, they have a darker brick-red breast, a paler belly, with chestnut and blackish-centred feathers, which gives a darker mottled appearance to the upperparts. They are normally found on the open mudflats throughout Poole Harbour, with large flocks roosting up and feeding on the Brownsea lagoon on the higher tides.

Black-tailed Godwit: This one has just found its next meal

It is easy to separate the two Godwit species in flight, as Black-tailed Godwits having a long broad white bar down the centre of the wing and a white base to a black tail, whereas Bar-tailed Godwits have a fairly uniform upperwings, with only a faint whitish wing stripe, a white rump and a finely barred tail.

13 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - Franciscana Dolphin

I had started the first full day of my mini-break in Patagonia in the dunes a few miles to the South of Las Grutas. After seeing a few Ticks here, I had driven West to the town of Viedma, before heading along the Southern side of the Rio Negro river to the small coastal town of Balneario El Condor. As I reached the outskirts, I turned left to the hamlet of El Pescadero. Tall dunes separate the Rio Negro estuary from the approach road.

The view across the Rio Negro from the El Pescadero dunes

Whilst looking for information on possible sites to see Commerson's Dolphin in Argentina, I found a Mammal report by Dominique Brugiere, which said that the Rio Negro estuary was a good place to look for Franciscana Dolphins. Obviously, I was keen to look for a new Cetacean and this was one of my key targets for the Patagonian section of my trip. I arrived about 17:30 and was quickly looking from the top of the dunes. The river is about a half mile across, before it broadens out into the estuary just down river of El Pescadero. The top of the dunes provided a good viewpoint.

Looking towards the Rio Negro estuary from the El Pescadero dunes

Within a few minutes a head popped up. Unfortunately, it was just a South American Sealion. I took a few photos then carried on looking.

South American Sealion

Chimango Caracara: I didn't see a lot of Birds from the Dunes save this Chimango Caracara, flocks of Burrowing Parrots and a few distant expected river species like Neotropic Cormorants and Gulls

Chimango Caracara: This is the temucoensis subspecies which occurs from South Chile & South Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Cape Horn Archipelago

After about fifteen more minutes of looking, I spotted a pale dorsal fin appear in the centre of the river and downstream of my position. It was unobtrusive and quickly disappeared. However, I was sure that was going to turn out to be a Franciscana Dolphin. After a bit of searching, I managed to confirm there were two Franciscana Dolphins and to watch them in the telescope. It reminded me of the pair of Amazon River Dolphins I had seen on the River Orinoco in Venezuela back in Apr 1999, which were feeding unobtrusively in the river and just breaking the surface to breath. These Franciscana Dolphins had a similar behaviour to their riverine cousins, whilst having adapted to live in a much more saline environment.

Franciscana Dolphin: They are a pale grey colouration with a fairly triangular dorsal fin

I had expected that I would have to spend several hours that evening and the following morning to look for the Franciscana Dolphins. Seeing them quickly was a real bonus, as it would allow me to move on in search of the last target species I had considered for this Patagonian leg.

Franciscana Dolphin: They are also known as La Plata Dolphins and they occur from the La Plata area to the East of Buenos Aires to the Rio Negro

Franciscana Dolphin: This is my forty-sixth species of Cetacean. The Handbook of the Marine Mammals of the World Ed 2 lists eighty-nine extant species, but two or three have since been described since this was published

Franciscana Dolphin

Franciscana Dolphin: Finally, they appeared closer than a half mile away. However, it was a brief set of surfacing and this was the only photo I managed to get

I walked back to car via a different route and I saw a few local Birds and some Cavys. The identification of these small Rodents isn't straight-forward, but Southern Mountain Cavy seems to be the regular local species.

Picazuro Pigeon: This is the nominate picazuro subspecies which occurs from East Brazil & Bolivia to South-central Argentina

Chalk-browed Mockingbird: This is the modulator subspecies which occurs from South East Bolivia to South Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay & North Argentina

Southern Mountain Cavy: I saw several of this cute Guinea Pig-sized Rodent

Southern Mountain Cavy

After having my fill of views of the Franciscana Dolphins, it was time to continue heading North. First I had to back track to Viedma to cross over the Rio Negro. There were a couple of Patagonian Maras feeding in the fields next to road.

Patagonian Mara: I remember seeing several around the Valdez Peninsula on my first trip in 1998. These two were the only ones I saw on this short Patagonian trip

Patagonian Mara: They are one of the largest Rodents, standing about eighteen inches tall at the shoulder

The sat nav took me across this lovely old bridge in Viedma

I got lucky while looking for fuel in Viedma, when I found this old historical train by the roadside on Juan de la Piedra, in the Northern suburbs of Viedma.

The historical locomotive, La Maragata: The train is close to the Carmen De Patagones station

The historical locomotive, La Maragata: She dates back to 1922 and was built in the UK. She was designated a historical monument in 1970

I carried on driving North towards my next destination near the large town of Bahia Blanca. This was about three hours drive away, however, I pulled over soon after dark at a large garage for the night, about one hundred miles short of Bahia Blanca. The lights on the hire car weren't great. I decided to get some sleep and start at first light for the final leg of the drive. It had been a long, but worthwhile day.

25 Apr 26 - An Approachable Raven

It's hard to go out Birding in the Isle of Purbeck for a couple of hours and not see, or at least hear, a Raven. These days they are a common species, albeit many sightings are of Ravens flying over at a distance. For a change, I was walking back to the car park at St Aldhelms along Emmetts Head, rather than following the main track back. There were a couple of Ravens feeding close to the footpath in the Buff-breasted Sandpiper field. Once was just over ten metres into the field and on this occasion, it didn't follow its mate further into the field. It was time for some photos.

Raven

Raven

Raven

13 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - A Roadside Tyrannulet Steals The Show

Well that's a Blog Post title I never expected to write, given there are a lot of same-same looking Tyrannulets, but like Birding, you can always be surprised. You will have to read further into the Blog Post to find out the species: it's worth it. After an early lunch in Las Grutas, I had a two and a half hour drive East, but I was planning on roadside stops in areas of similar habitat to try and bump into some of the remaining Ticks for me in the wider area.

This Blue-and-yellow Tanager was the reason for the first roadside stop: I saw a flash of yellow as I was driving and it was worth stopping to double-check it. Unfortunately, it was only a Blue-and-yellow Tanager. Whereas, I was hoping for an encounter with the Endangered Yellow Cardinal. I didn't have any sites for Yellow Cardinal, which is targeted by the illegal cage bird trade, but there are historical sites along this stretch of the Highway

The first road stop was on Highway 3, to the East of San Antonio Oeste. It was a random location where I spotted a number of Birds near to the Highway and pulled the car over. Typical for Argentina the land was around the fenced off, so I was restricted to looking at the bushes just beyond the fence. It proved to be a worthwhile fifteen minute stop.

Hudson's Black-tyrant: This was a Tick earlier in the morning

White-tipped Plantcutter: The three species of Plantcutters used to be in their own family, but now they are placed within the Cotingas

White-crested Tyrannulet: This isn't a species I hadn't seen since a trip to Brazil in 2004

White-crested Tyrannulet: It turned its head and wow!

White-crested Tyrannulet: It was transformed from another dull olive-green Tyrannulet to a spectacular Tyrant Flycatcher

White-crested Tyrannulet: Tyrant Flycatchers are a large family containing nearly four hundred and fifty species. There are some incredibly drab and tricky to identify species, as well as, some exceptional pretty or characterful species and this White-crested Tyrannulet has just joined the latter category

White-crested Tyrannulet: This is the munda subspecies which occurs from West Bolivia to West Paraguay, far South West Brazil & West Argentina

It was time to move on as I wanted to have time for a good look at the El Condor River mouth, near Viedma and I didn't have the time for long roadside stops. Later in the journey, I had to brake quickly when a male Greater Rhea and it's offspring ran across the road well ahead of me. They had reached the roadside cover, by the time I reached them and this was the only worthwhile photo for the trip.

Greater Rhea: A species I've just bumped into while driving on the last two trips to Argentina. This is the albescens subspecies which occurs in the Pampas of Argentina South to the Rio Negro

The final roadside stop before I reached the large town of Viedma was where I saw a group of taller trees in the endless bushy scrub, next to a turning to the Estancia O'Connor. There was something different here. It turned out there was a derelict water pumping station and the remains of an old farm house. For once, this area wasn't fenced off, so it was time for another quick stop. It proved fruitful with my final Avian Tick for the day: a Swainson's Flycatcher.

An abandoned cart by the broken pumping station: I do wonder about the reasons places like this were abandoned

Swainson's Flycatcher: This is the ferocior subspecies which breeds from South East Bolivia & western Paraguay South to central Argentina. They winter in West Amazonia from South Colombia to North Bolivia

Swainson's Flycatcher: Only some reports I had seen mentioned seeing this species and I didn't have any good sites, so seeing this was a nice bonus

Fork-tailed Flycatcher: This is a widespread and commonly seen species, helped by their distinctive shape

Fork-tailed Flycatcher: This is the nominate savana subspecies which breeds from East Bolivia & South Brazil to central Argentina. The Southern populations are migratory and they winter in Northern South America

Vermilion Flycatcher: The males are brown with a bright vermilion crown and throat to belly. In contrast, the females are quite dull. This is the nominate rubinus subspecies which breeds in South East Bolivia, Uruguay, South Brazil, Paraguay & North Argentina. They winter from South East Colombia & East Ecuador to East Bolivia and central & East Brazil

White-banded Mockingbird: This was the first White-banded Mockingbird I've seen since my first trip to Argentina in 1998. This monotypic species occurs from Bolivia to central Argentina. They winter in South West Brazil

Time was getting on and I still only half way to my next destination. I needed to crack on. I will cover the excellent evening by the El Condor River mouth in the next Blog Post.