Birding Poole Harbour & Beyond: Chimango Caracara

Showing posts with label Chimango Caracara. Show all posts

9 Jan 2023

9 Jan 23 - Argentina - The Burrowing Owl Town

I had had a good night's sleep in the car at a campsite in the small town of Mar Chiquita on the Atlantic coast. I was up at first light & was greeted by a calling Chimango Caracara near to the car. It was clearly going to be a nice day, albeit with strong sunlight.

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

Chimango Caracara: They are a common species and I bumped into the next individual just outside of the campsite

After a quick breakfast, I was heading out to explore the coastal areas around Mar Chiquita. The small town has two rivers that runs into the larger river and the sea, as well as, some good-looking coastal beaches and mud flats. It looks a nice place to live for a Birder & where the locals were tolerant of their local wildlife.

Southern Lapwing: This is the lampronotus subspecies which occurs South of the Amazon & East of the Andes to South Uruguay & central Argentina

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

Southern Crested Caracara: This monotypic species occurs from the Amazon basin to East Peru, Tierra del Fuego & the Falklands. When I first travelled to the New World, it was lumped with Crested Caracara which occurs as far North to the Southern United States & some of the Caribbean Islands

There was a dirt track along the side of one of the coastal rivers which had a good selection of species.

Coscoroba Swan: This monotypic species occurs from South Brazil to Paraguay, Uruguay, Tierra del Fuego & the Falklands

Hudsonian Godwit: This monotypic species breeds in Alaska and Northern Canada & winters in Chile & Argentina. Note, the stronger supercilium compared to our similar-looking Black-tailed Godwit. In flight, their black underwing gives them away

Black Skimmer: This is the intercedens subspecies which occurs from East Brazil to Paraguay, Uruguay & North East Argentina

There was a good selection of species on the mudflats at low tide, but all too far for photos. Then I ran into the local celebrities. It was good to see how the locals were looking after them.

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

Burrowing Owl: They are quite happy dozing during the day as long as their partner is awake

Burrowing Owl: Just in case it wasn't obvious that they were protected

Burrowing Owl: The protected nest site is next to one of the dirt roads in the small town

Burrowing Owl: When I checked Google Maps, I found that I could see the Burrowing Owl pair & their nest site on Google Maps (Copyright Google Maps)

It was time to leave the Mar Chiquita area & explore further in the hope of seeing a Red-winged Tinamou: which was the Tick I was hoping to see in this area of the Argentinian coastline.

20 Mar 2018

20 Mar 18 - Chile: Birds Around Punihuil Beach

In the previous Blog Post, I covered the first part of my final morning on Chiloe Island. I headed back to the Punihuil Penguin colony & I took a rib out to the colony. After the trip, I spend some time checking the scrubby edges at the back of Punihuil Beach for Tapaculos, but I had no joy. However, there were a few other species of interest.

House Wren: This is the chilensis subspecies which occurs in Southern Chile & Southern Argentina

Lizard sp.: There were a couple of these cracking green Lizards in the scrub at the back of the beach

Butterfly sp.: I don't know much about South American Butterflies, but if this was in Europe, I would call it a Fritillary sp.

On the way back to Ancud, I managed to see my first Ochre-flanked Tapaculo, but it wasn't prepared to pose for the camera. But there was a good selection of species which were more obliging.

Chimango Caracara

Ringed Kingfisher

Rufous-tailed Plantcutter: This occurs in central & Southern Chile & Southern Argentina

Chilean Swallow: This species breeds in Southern Chile & Argentina & migrates North to winter in Bolivia & Brazil

Chilean Swallow: A closer crop of the last photo showing the left-hand individual

Austral Blackbird

Black-chinned Siskin

A typical habitat photo

One of the many dirt side roads on Chiloe

A final habitat photo

Time for a final lunch in Ancud & to head off for the ferry. My time on Chiloe had been a great & I could easily have spent longer in the area. I will certainly consider returning on a future visit to Chile. However, I was still seven hundred miles from Santiago, without allowing for a number of lengthy side journeys off the main road. My initial plan was to get to Parque Nacional Puyehue for the following morning. This was about one hundred & fifty miles from the ferry terminal, which was a two & a half hour drive. I had a few minutes wait at the ferry before being allowed to board the ferry.

The ferry was packed: But at least I was on the first ferry

View of a Chilean mountain from the ferry

19 Mar 2018

19 Mar 18 - Chile: Tap Dancing

My main reason for choosing Chile as a fill-in destination between the Birdquest Colombian trip & the arrival into Argentina in time for the Atlantic Odyssey trip, was to look for the Chilean Tapaculos. There are eight species of Tapaculos in Chile. Tapaculos are a family that are well known to Birders visiting any part of the South American Andes. They are easily described. Imagine the skulkiest Wren you have seen, now make that a uniform dark grey or blackish & imagine that skulking in the darkest part of the forest. Take away the loud song of a Wren & replace it with a quiet chattering call. Finally, change the name to blah-blah-blah Tapaculo, from the one that was in range at the last site you visited & that's virtually all of the family. Chile has a couple of Tapaculos that fit that description. But it also has another six species which look closer to one of the Antpittas than the standard Tapuculo template. On my first visit, I had managed to see one of the Tapaculos, Moustached Turca, at Parque Nacional La Campana, but I hadn't been able to find the other two species there. I didn't get in range of the remaining species. I was keen to improve on my Tapaculo list. Their stronghold are sites in Central & Southern Chile & Chiloe Island was a good place to start as four species can be seen on the island. I had spent a fair bit of time the previous evening downloading calls & songs to my iPhone. I had a small bluetooth speaker with me which allowed me to place the speaker on the ground & back away from it. I was now ready to go looking for Tapaculos. The plan was to drive South on the Pan American Highway about half of the length of Chiloe Island to the town of Castro. Sixteen miles South of Castro was a small road heading to Parque Nacional Chiloe on the West coast. Previous reports had similar messages, it was best to find patches of native forest, get into the forest & try the tapes. The Tapaculo species were fairly widespread & it was a case of just bumping into them. They are inquisitive & will respond well to recordings, providing they are fairly close.

Castro: Castro was a normal looking Chilean town, but this northern suburb was more colourful

First, I had to get to Castro. The Pan American Highway is a normal road on Chiloe. I had only travelled a few miles along it, before having to stop for roadworks. Normally, having to wait would be frustrating. But this time I was hoping I wouldn't get waved on, as there were a party of Slender-billed Parakeets feeding in the trees next to where I was waiting: my first Tick of the day. Many of the reports I had read said Slender-billed Parakeets were hit & miss & had given people a lot of grief trying to find them. However, it looks like March is a better time to see them as I saw over a hundred at various sites during the day.

Slender-billed Parakeet: This species disappears into the extensive Nothofagus forests during the breeding season, but after the breeding season appears in large flocks in agricultural fields

Slender-billed Parakeet: Head & shoulders showing how it got its name

There were a number of other species I saw fairly regularly as I was driving around the Chiloe Island roads.

Chimango Caracara: A common species in central & Southern Chile

Black-faced Ibis: Another species I just bumped into every now & then along the drive

Green-backed Firecrown: This is the common Hummingbird in central & Southern Chile & adjacent Argentina

After a late breakfast or early lunch in Castro, I carried onto the road leading to the Parque Nacional Chiloe. For the final two thirds of its length, the road runs alongside Lago Huillinco. A fair bit of the forest along the shore was private, but I managed to find some patches of native forest that weren't fenced off. One of the ad-hoc stops produced my first of around six Chucao Tapaculos I saw in Chile (I heard another fifteen). They are inquisitive & will often respond to a recording of themselves or another Tapaculo, although I can't be sure if they are calling in the background of the other recordings. They were easily my favourite species from the Chile trip.

Chucao Tapaculo: This is the rubecula subspecies which occurs in Southern Chile & adjacent West Argentina

Chucao Tapaculo: Absolutely brilliant & breaks all the Tapaculo rules by being fairly showy

Having seen Chucao Tapaculo, I changed my focus to Black-throated Huet-huet. This is a large Tapaculo. The first attempt drew a blank & it seemed the same at the second random stop. I then got distracted by another Chucao Tapaculo, which popped in.

Chucao Tapaculo

I then realised something moving very close & just above where I was kneeling. I moved carefully to see be able to see it: a Black-throated Huet-huet which had only come into investigate my recording a few minutes after I had stopped playing it: magic.

Black-throated Huet-huet: Uncropped photo showing how close the Black-throated Huet-huet was

Black-throated Huet-huet: Fortunately, my 100-400 mm lens allows me to reduce the magnification, so this it is now a 240 mm lens

Black-throated Huet-huet: The two species of Huet-huets are the largest Tapaculo species & similar in size to some of the larger Antpittas (although they are longer-tailed)

Black-throated Huet-huet: Some Birders have found them difficult to see & have spent a day or two of looking at known sites, so perhaps I was lucky

Black-throated Huet-huet

Black-throated Huet-huet: They occur in Southern Chile & adjacent SW Argentina

Black-throated Huet-huet

Four of the eight Chilean species of Tapaculos occur on Chiloe Island & I had just seen the two most enigmatic species. It has been a good twenty minutes. I carried on along the road looking for other areas of interesting habitat for ad-hoc stops. I didn't see any more Tapaculos, but my next stop produced a couple of Ochre-flanked Tapaculos which called, but didn't show themselves. However, I did see a Des Murs's Wiretail & a Thorn-tailed Rayadito. Both appeared briefly as they moved through the trees.

Des Murs's Wiretail: This species has a Wren sized body, with a tail which is at least twice the body length. The tail feathers are the pale brown (out of focus) feathers in the top left part of the photo

Des Murs's Wiretail: This is another species which occurs in the forests of central & Southern Chile & adjacent Argentina

Thorn-tailed Rayadito: This has a similar range to Des Murs's Wiretail in the Southern forests

Thorn-tailed Rayadito: A better photo of the bizarre tail feathers

Thorn-tailed Rayadito

It had been a good early afternoon along the road to Parque Nacional Chiloe, but I hadn't reached the West coast or the National Park yet. I'll finish off the other species in the next Post.

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