20 Mar 18 - Chile: A Boat Trip To See The Penguins

Today was my final morning on Chiloe Island. I wanted another attempt at Marine Otter & Ochre-breasted Tapaculo. Previous reports had said that Ochre-breasted Tapculos occurred in many of the hedges & bushes along the roads near Ancud & the Punihuil Penguin colony. It was just a case of looking & finding a territory. So, I headed back to the Punihuil Penguin colony. Although I had seen the Magellanic Penguins from the beach, I was keen to get out on a trip around the bay on one of the ribs, in the hope of seeing one of the Marine Otters. I asked about my chances & was told it wasn't high, but there was a chance. Not surprisingly, I didn't see any. But I did get to see some better views of the Magellanic Penguins & some of the Cormorant species.

Getting on & off the rib: The punters are wheeled out to the rib

The rib

South American Sealions on one of the large rocks in the bay

Panoramic view of the bay

Coming back into the beach

Magellanic Penguin: This is a mainland breeding Penguin which occurs from Chiloe Island to Argentinean Patagonia

Red-legged Cormorant

Red-legged Cormorant: The eye ring looks like it's modelled on some Elton John glasses from the 70s

Rock Shag: Two adults with a spotty-breasted immature

South American Sealion

South American Sealion

The highlight of the rib trip was a small pod of my first Peale's Dolphins which appeared close to the rib for a short period. I only managed to get a couple of photos, however, that was enough to confirm the identity.

Peale's Dolphin: The black of the head continues down towards mouth. The other potential species is the similarly sized, shaped & marked Dusky Dolphins, but they have a white band on the lower forehead. Peale's Dolphins have a pale panel on the lower body in front of the dorsal fin & this is just about visible on this photo. More distressing as I was sorting these photos was to find this individual was caught up in fishing gear

Peale's Dolphin: An out of focus photo of the rear body showing a large white flank marking. This marking is similar to Dusky Dolphins, except there is a second thin white line that goes up towards the dorsal fin on Dusky Dolphins. Additionally, Peale's Dolphins have a dark grey-black dorsal fin with a thin paler trailing edge, which compares to the broad dark & pale two-tone dorsal fin of Dusky Dolphin

17 Mar 18 - Chile: Arica Harbour

As we were coming back into Arica Harbour at the end of the pelagic, there were plenty of species still hanging around.

Silver Explorer: This is a high luxury cruise ship masquerading as an expedition ship. It's not a ship I would enjoy going on. There seems to be too much focus on comfort & not enough on expedition for my liking. I'm surprised on of the Brexit gang hasn't insisted on a bloody big British flag like the one being flown on the hillside, being flown over both ends of the channel tunnel as part of the Brexit deal

Red-legged Cormorant: This was a species that had eluded me on my first short visit to the Valparaiso coastline in 2002

Neotropic Cormorant

Peruvian Pelican: Adult

Peruvian Pelican: Two immatures with Inca Terns

Turnstone

Grey Gulls & Franklin's Gulls offshore from the harbour

Grey Gull: They were a common species around Arica, albeit not as common as the Franklin's Gulls

Grey Gull

Franklin's Gull: This was the commonest Gull in the Arica area

Franklin's Gull

Kelp Gull: This first year seems to be the only one I bothered to photograph or note

Band-tailed Gull: Non-breeding adult. Breeding birds have white heads

Inca Tern: I saw at least five hundred around the harbour or close inshore

Inca Tern: Adult. This is a common coastal Tern which occurs as far South as Chiloe Island in Chile

Inca Tern: Immature

Inca Tern: They must be the best Tern

Fishing boats in the harbour

Fishing boats in the harbour: This one had half a dozen Turkey Vultures feeding on it

Turkey Vultures

Inca Terns resting on these fishing boats in the harbour

There were also good numbers of South American Sealions, both lazing around offshore & around the harbour breakwater.

South American Sealion: They are a friendly species & generally happy to wave when awake

South American Sealion: There is also a chance of a Juan Fernandez Fur Seal appearing along the Arica coastline. They would be a lot smaller with a very pointed snout, whereas, South American Sealions have a very square-nosed snout

South American Sealion: The breakwater was perfectly designed for chilling out

South American Sealion: A big male catching the rays

Once I was back at the car, I had a final few hours around Arica before my evening flight to Santiago. I decided to have a final crack for Chilean Woodstar at the Hummingbird garden at San Miguel de Azapa. I will cover that in the next Post.