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.