After most of the morning walking along the lakeside trail at Lago Roca in the Ushuaia National Park, it was time to explore a bit more of the National Park. I drove to the car park at Bahia Lapataia, at the end of the main dirt road in the park. I had planned to continue walking along the trail that goes South East from the car park, but that route was heavily disturbed by other walkers. I switched to a smaller trail heading North East from the car park. First, I took the opportunity to photograph the welcoming committee of seventeen Upland Geese.
Upland Goose: Male. They are a delightful Goose and are relatively common in the Ushuaia area
Upland Goose: Pair. This is the nominate picta subspecies which breeds in South Chile & South Argentina and winters North to central Chile & North Argentina
Caracaras are members of the Falcon family. They behave very differently from the Falcons we are used to in the UK and do a lot of scavenging for food. This Chimango Caracara was very approachable by the car park and presumably was successful in being fed by visitors.
Chimango Caracara: This is the temucoensis subspecies which occurs from South Chile & South Argentina to Tierra del Fuego
Chimango Caracara: Head and shoulders
This trail wasn't as busy as the Lago Roca trail. It passed through more open woodland, where there were a few familiar species, as well, as some new ones.
Austral Thrush: Adult. This is the magellanicus subspecies which occurs South of central Chile & central Argentina. There is a second subspecies on the Falkland Islands
Austral Thrush: Adult and Juv (lower)
Fire-eyed Diucon: This is the nominate pyrope subspecies which occurs from the Andes of central Chile & adjacent Argentina to Tierra del Fuego
Patagonian Mockingbird: This individual refused to turn around for a photo. It is a monotypic species which occurs in South Chile and central & Southern Argentina
There was a distinctive Butterfly and a Beetle along this trail. A Google search for each has suggested a name for each species that seems to be a good fit.
It was now early-afternoon and time to leave the National Park. I had one final target species that I wanted to look for, before I had to return the hire car to the airport. One of the most visited parts of Ushuaia for visiting Birders in the rubbish tip. This is just to the East corner of the city. There is a dirt track next to the tip which allows convenient access to view the tip, albeit the track is lower than the tip and it's only possible to see the edge of the tip. The reason for visiting the rubbish tip is it is the easiest place to see White-throated Caracaras in the Ushuaia area. I had seen one at the Garibaldi Pass on my Mar 18 visit, but it was a flyby individual and I failed to get any photos.
White-throated Caracara: The occur in the Andes of South Chile & South Argentina to Tierra del Fuego
There were also a few Turkey Vultures, Chimango Caracaras, Crested Caracaras and a Black-chested Buzzard-eagle around the tip.
Chimango Caracara: These Caracaras at the tip were really letting the family down
Black-chested Buzzard-eagle: Juv. This is the australis subspecies which occurs in the Andes of western Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego. A second subspecies occurs from South East Brazil to Paraguay, Uruguay & North Eastern Argentina
It was getting close to the time when I needed to return the hire car. There was just enough time to drop the scope and camera at the flat, before heading off to the airport. There was no airport bus, so plan B was I would walk back to the flat. It was a three mile walk, but I knew I wasn't going to get a lot of opportunities for walking once I got on the Ortelius. The first part of the walk goes alongside the harbour and by now, the cold wind had restarted. Actually, it probably hadn't abated all day around the exposed airport site. The highlight of this part of the walk was a flock of Baird's Sandpipers.
Walking back from the airport: There was a lot more wind coming off the mountains than this photo suggest
Closer to town, the road runs alongside a large lake which is an urban reserve. It's good to see this urban reserve so close to the city. Even better was seeing two ladies there a couple of days later, picking up rubbish from the foreshore. As I walked into the reserve, something called from next to the path. I turned round and realised I had just walked within a couple of metres of a Magellanic Snipe. Given it didn't flush and was calling, I suspected it may have had chicks in the vegetation. It was time to quickly move on.
Magellanic Snipe: This is an IPhone photo of the nominate magellanica subspecies which occurs from central Chile & Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands
Crested Duck: There was a large flock of Crested Ducks in the urban reserve is close to the city's edge
Next to the main water side road, there is a statue to General Jose de San Martin. He is known as the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru, after he successfully defeated Spanish forces in Argentina, Chile and finally Peru between 1808 and 1822. In 1824, he left Peru and moved to France, the country he had fought against in the Peninsula Wars of 1808. However, by that time, his old adversary Napolean Boneparte had died on St Helena after being exiled there, following his defeat at Waterloo.
Statue to General Jose de San Martin
It had been a good day and I had plans for a second good day starting the following morning. That will be the subject of the next Blog Post.
