9 Jan 23 - Argentina - Going Inland

After having an early morning look around the small coastal town of Mar Chiquita, I carried on to explore the neighbouring small coastal town of Mar de Coba.

Great Kiskadee: This is the argentinus subspecies which occurs from extreme South East Brazil to East Paraguay, Uruguay & central Argentina

There was a reasonable-sized lake in Mar de Coba, with more of the Wetland species I had seen on the previous day. It was good to see Southern Lapwings breeding on some of the front garden lawns, which was an indication of the respect the locals had for their local wildlife and also the lack of garden cats.

Southern Lapwing: Feeding on a front lawn & looking after its offspring

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

It was time to head to check out the large cattle estancias inland from the Mar Chiquita area. 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 surveying private estancias.

A typical view one of the from the dirt tracks

Over the next half day, I drove on a set of sandy dirt tracks for about thirty miles, before finally reaching a tarmac road on the edge of the small town of Coronel Vidal. The tracks wound between large estancias. There were many large grassy fields with a few wet marshy pools along the route. The long rank grassland and ditches between the track and the boundary fence provided plenty of habitat for a good variety of Pampas species. It was a stark contrast with many arable and cattle farms in the UK where sadly the birdlife is struggling.

One of the many Pampas roadside fields

American Golden Plover: I found one large ploughed field near the start of the dirt tracks which contained over thirty wintering American Golden Plovers

Guira Cuckoo: This monotypic species occurs from North East Brazil to Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay & central Argentina

Fork-tailed Flycatcher: An adult with two young nearby

Fork-tailed Flycatcher: The recently fledged two youngsters

Fork-tailed Flycatcher: Another nest. This is the nominate savana subspecies which breeds in central & Southern South America. The Southern populations are migratory and Winter in Northern South America

Brown-and-yellow Marshbird: This monotypic species occurs from extreme South Brazil & Uruguay to North Argentina

Brown-and-yellow Marshbird: Another individual

Brown-and-yellow Marshbird: A third individual

White-browed Blackbird: This is the obscurus subspecies which occurs from extreme South East Peru to Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil & North Argentina

Long-tailed Meadowlark: This is the obscurus subspecies which occurs in central Argentina

Bay-winged Cowbird: The juvenile Screaming Cowbirds look very similar to Bay-winged Cowbirds (AKA Greyish Baywing). The bill shape is one of the key features and gives this away as a Bay-winged Cowbird. This is the nominate badius subspecies which occurs from East Bolivia to Paraguay, Uruguay & North Argentina

This was only a few of the species seen along the dirt tracks through the cattle estancias. More photos will be included in the next Blog Post.

8 Jan 23 - Argentina - The Warm Up Act

The Winter of 2022 - 2023 has seen three C19 delayed big trips finally happen. The first was the seven week trip to Indonesia with Bird Tour Asia. Argentina was the start of the second big trip, which was a superb Oceanwide Expeditions trip to the Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica on board the Plancius. I had decided to use some of a large saved collection of Air Miles to travel out to Buenos Aires, but I had been unable to get a flight close to when I wanted to fly down to Ushuaia. The result was I arrived in Buenos Aires with three days before I was booked to fly South. I wasn't particularly worried about this stop over, as it would give me the chance for some Birding in this part of Argentina again. I had spent five weeks flying & driving around a lot of Argentina in Nov & early Dec 1998 with Brian Field, Jem Babbington & Jon Braggs. We spent a few days travelled from Buenos Aires to the Mar del Plata coastline. My plan for this return trip was to retrace part of this route and to focus on looking for the two likely Ticks: South American Painted Snipe and Red-winged Tinamou.

The flight out was enjoyable as by chance I was sitting next to Katie Dyke, who worked for Whale & Dolphin Conservation in Scotland. She was heading out to see a friend who was studying Commerson's Dolphin: a gorgeous Dolphin that we had a chance of seeing in the Falklands. It provided a good chance to have a chat about one of our favourite subjects: Cetaceans. Hopefully, she had more success on her trip, than I did on the Plancius. Some of the passengers did see them in the Port Stanley area, but I was always in the wrong part of the town.

The flight arrived into Buenos Aires at breakfast time & I was quickly heading off in my hired car to the first site, Laguna San Vincente, to look for a South American Painted Snipe that had been seen after Christmas.

Laguna San Vincente: Laguna San Vincente was a reasonable-sized lake surrounded by parkland and housing

Laguna San Vincente

Laguna San Vincente: The water levels were very low in some parts of the lake

There was a good selection of typical Buenos Aires waterside and parkland species on the reasonable-sized lake. The water was a long way from the nearest reeds and a good scan confirmed that there was no sign of the South American Painted Snipe.

Monk Parakeet: This is the nominate monachus subspecies which occurs in South East Brazil, Uruguay & North East Argentina

Monk Parakeet: This was a commonly encountered species in the few days I was in the North East of the country

I decided to cut my losses & after stocking up on some food and drink from a nearby supermarket, I was quickly heading on to the other site I had. Again, there had been a South American Painted Snipe after Christmas at the second and much larger lake, San Miguel del Monte, which was on the edge of Buenos Aires.

San Miguel del Monte: This is a much larger wetland area with some good mud and reed edges in the North East corner of a very large lake

San Miguel del Monte: Driving around other parts of the lake confirmed the North East corner was the best-looking area

This looked a more hopeful area with reeds extending to the water's edge. But it was a very large area, with only parts visible from roads. I spent several hours enjoying the area, but unfortunately, I drew a blank on the South American Painted Snipe.

White-tufted Grebe: This is the chilensis subspecies which occurs from South Peru & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego & the Cape Horn Archipelago

White-tufted Grebe: A closer crop of the group

Lake Duck: This monotypic species occurs in South Argentina & Chile. It migrates North to South Brazil & Paraguay during the Argentinian Winter

Lake Duck

Silver Teal: This is the nominate versicolor subspecies which occurs from South Bolivia, Paraguay & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego

Red-fronted Coot: This monotypic species occurs from Paraguay, Uruguay, South East Brazil, South Peru to Tierra del Fuego

Red-fronted Coot

Red-fronted Coot

Red-fronted Coot: The Neotropical Coots are so much better looking than the Old World Coots

Limpkin: This is the nominate subspecies which occurs from Central & Eastern Panama throughout South America to North Argentina

Limpkin: I was pleased to see this monotypic family again

Wattled Jacana: This is the nominate jacana subspecies which occurs from South East Colombia to the Guianas, Brazil, Uruguay & North Argentina

Pectoral Sandpiper: On its Winter grounds in the South of South America

Rufous Hornero: This is the nominate rufus subspecies which occurs from South Brazil & Uruguay to central Argentina

Rufous Hornero: This is a common & widespread species in the Ovenbirds & Woodcreepers family

Wren-like Rushbird: This is the nominate melanops subspecies which occurs from South Brazil, Paraguay & Uruguay to central Argentina & Chile

Cattle Tyrant: This is the nominate rixosa subspecies which occurs from interior East Brazil & East Bolivia, to Paraguay, Uruguay & North Argentina

Great Kiskadee: This is the argentinus subspecies which occurs from extreme South East Brazil to East Paraguay, Uruguay & central Argentina

Fork-tailed Flycatcher: This is the nominate savana subspecies which breeds in central & Southern South America. The Southern populations are migratory and Winter in Northern South America

Saffron Finch: This is the pelzelni subspecies which occurs from East Bolivia to Paraguay, South East Brazil, Uruguay & North Argentina

Coypu: Coypus are native to Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay & Brazil

Coypu: This large Rodent has been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia & parts of Africa by fur farmers. Fortunately, they have been eliminated from the UK

It was now around lunchtime & I still had a 250 mile drive to get down to Mar Chiquita, which was North of Mar del Plata coastline. The drive took me through large areas of Pampas. There were a few roadside stops to have a quick look at pools in the fields. It was already dark before I arrived at the urban sprawl of Mar del Plata. I headed North along the coastline, looking for some accommodation for the night. In hindsight, trying to find a last minute hotel room in the middle of the Argentinian summer period was not going to be an easy task. Eventually, I stumbled on a campsite in Mar Chiquita & that was perfect. A few minutes later, I was getting ready for a night's sleep in the car: this is my preferred option rather than camping.

4 Mar 18 - Colombia: A Slower Morning At Rio Claro

We were back into the Rio Claro reserve for a final morning after an excellent, but long, first day. It was wetter than the first morning. That would have made the photograph more difficult, as I was struggling with light in the forest when it was sunny. As a result, after some initial photography around the entrance, I decided to leave the camera in the minibus for most of the morning.

The entrance gate

Great Kiskadee: This morning, there was a Great Kiskadee around the entrance gate, which provided a nice contract to the previous morning's Boat-billed Flycatcher. Note, the slimmer, more normal bill & the extensive rufous in the wings

Boat-billed Flycatcher: They are quite different. I normally have problems in South America & end up checking the features as I generally can't stay awake long enough to remember them: they are as dull as large immature seagulls (3 Mar 18)

Another Tyrant Flycatcher group that I end up having to check the books on the Streaked Flycatcher & Piratic Flycatcher group. Again, they aren't particularly tricky to separate if you can remember the features. We saw both species at Rio Claro & it was the first time, I had seen these species for fourteen & sixteen years, respectively.

Streaked Flycatcher: Piratic Flycatcher is superficially similar, but has a smaller, stubbier bill & doesn't have the dark moustachial line

Band-backed Wren: This is one of the large group of large Neotropical Wrens

Saffron Finch: Male

Varied White-faced Capuchin Monkey: Having its breakfast

One of the highlights of the morning was seeing a Yellow-striped Poison Frog. I got into Frogs as a small kid & several years before Birds. So, I have always had an interest in seeing them. This is particularly true of the 'Poison Arrows' Frogs of Central & Southern America. These species are usually small & brightly coloured to advertise they are all very poisonous. There are a number of species that have been used in the past by native Indians to poison their arrows when hunting. Presumably, the effect of the poison must wear off, only be a problem if it gets into the blood stream  or disappear as the meat is cooked.

Yellow-striped Poison Frog: This is a widespread Colombian endemic species

We walked back up the small trail & saw a similar set of species to the first morning, albeit we didn't see the Beautiful Woodpecker again, as we didn't go far enough up the trail. The highlight of the morning was when Janos heard a singing Magdalena Antbird on the small trail: it wasn't close. We ended up having to find a small path down to the small stream, next to the trail. There was a steep rocky hillside on the far side of this stream, which looked impossible to get up. After a bit of searching, we started to see the Magdalena Antbird moving around about twenty metres above our heads. It was singing from a number of preferred rocky ledges & bushes, before disappearing out of sight & reappearing at another of its preferred song points. Once we had worked out where it was singing from, it was possible to get reasonable views of it. This was one of only two Ticks for the day: the other being Grey-headed Tanager. While we were watching the Magdalena Antbird, a Barred Forest Falcon appeared & gave some nice, prolonged views. The views were much better than the brief pre-dawn views we had seen at Montezuma. Pity the camera was still in the minibus. It had finished raining, by the time we arrived back at the hotel. There was a Ruddy Ground-dove feeding around the restaurant area. Time to make use of the camera again. After some food, we packed the bags & spent the rest of the afternoon travelling to Medellin. There wasn't any further Birding opportunities as it was close to dusk by the time we arrived.

Ruddy Ground-dove: This is a widespread species which occurs from Mexico to Central Argentina

The bags were all packed as we only had a short time for Birding the next morning, due to an early flight. But there was time for a dawn visit to the nearby site of La Romera. This was a quiet minor road with forest on either side. A few years earlier, Yellow-headed Manakins had been found breeding. After a bit of searching we found a male singing from a small perch in the forest. We had already seen five endemic Red-bellied Grackles soon after arriving & Janos had lured an endemic Stiles's Tapaculo into view. We were leaving by 08:00 & I had three Ticks under the belt. The first flight was to Bogota, where we had plenty of time for a leisurely lunch, before a mid afternoon flight to the Northern coastal city of Santa Marta. We were met by three 4WDs which slowly took us & all our bags up to the excellent ProAves El Dorado Lodge, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range. It was dark by the time we finally arrived. This was to be our base for the next three nights.