13 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - Franciscana Dolphin

I had started the first full day of my mini-break in Patagonia in the dunes a few miles to the South of Las Grutas. After seeing a few Ticks here, I had driven West to the town of Viedma, before heading along the Southern side of the Rio Negro river to the small coastal town of Balneario El Condor. As I reached the outskirts, I turned left to the hamlet of El Pescadero. Tall dunes separate the Rio Negro estuary from the approach road.

The view across the Rio Negro from the El Pescadero dunes

Whilst looking for information on possible sites to see Commerson's Dolphin in Argentina, I found a Mammal report by Dominique Brugiere, which said that the Rio Negro estuary was a good place to look for Franciscana Dolphins. Obviously, I was keen to look for a new Cetacean and this was one of my key targets for the Patagonian section of my trip. I arrived about 17:30 and was quickly looking from the top of the dunes. The river is about a half mile across, before it broadens out into the estuary just down river of El Pescadero. The top of the dunes provided a good viewpoint.

Looking towards the Rio Negro estuary from the El Pescadero dunes

Within a few minutes a head popped up. Unfortunately, it was just a South American Sealion. I took a few photos then carried on looking.

South American Sealion

Chimango Caracara: I didn't see a lot of Birds from the Dunes save this Chimango Caracara, flocks of Burrowing Parrots and a few distant expected river species like Neotropic Cormorants and Gulls

Chimango Caracara: This is the temucoensis subspecies which occurs from South Chile & South Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Cape Horn Archipelago

After about fifteen more minutes of looking, I spotted a pale dorsal fin appear in the centre of the river and downstream of my position. It was unobtrusive and quickly disappeared. However, I was sure that was going to turn out to be a Franciscana Dolphin. After a bit of searching, I managed to confirm there were two Franciscana Dolphins and to watch them in the telescope. It reminded me of the pair of Amazon River Dolphins I had seen on the River Orinoco in Venezuela back in Apr 1999, which were feeding unobtrusively in the river and just breaking the surface to breath. These Franciscana Dolphins had a similar behaviour to their riverine cousins, whilst having adapted to live in a much more saline environment.

Franciscana Dolphin: They are a pale grey colouration with a fairly triangular dorsal fin

I had expected that I would have to spend several hours that evening and the following morning to look for the Franciscana Dolphins. Seeing them quickly was a real bonus, as it would allow me to move on in search of the last target species I had considered for this Patagonian leg.

Franciscana Dolphin: They are also known as La Plata Dolphins and they occur from the La Plata area to the East of Buenos Aires to the Rio Negro

Franciscana Dolphin: This is my forty-sixth species of Cetacean. The Handbook of the Marine Mammals of the World Ed 2 lists eighty-nine extant species, but two or three have since been described since this was published

Franciscana Dolphin

Franciscana Dolphin: Finally, they appeared closer than a half mile away. However, it was a brief set of surfacing and this was the only photo I managed to get

I walked back to car via a different route and I saw a few local Birds and some Cavys. The identification of these small Rodents isn't straight-forward, but Southern Mountain Cavy seems to be the regular local species.

Picazuro Pigeon: This is the nominate picazuro subspecies which occurs from East Brazil & Bolivia to South-central Argentina

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

Southern Mountain Cavy: I saw several of this cute Guinea Pig-sized Rodent

Southern Mountain Cavy

After having my fill of views of the Franciscana Dolphins, it was time to continue heading North. First I had to back track to Viedma to cross over the Rio Negro. There were a couple of Patagonian Maras feeding in the fields next to road.

Patagonian Mara: I remember seeing several around the Valdez Peninsula on my first trip in 1998. These two were the only ones I saw on this short Patagonian trip

Patagonian Mara: They are one of the largest Rodents, standing about eighteen inches tall at the shoulder

The sat nav took me across this lovely old bridge in Viedma

I got lucky while looking for fuel in Viedma, when I found this old historical train by the roadside on Juan de la Piedra, in the Northern suburbs of Viedma.

The historical locomotive, La Maragata: The train is close to the Carmen De Patagones station

The historical locomotive, La Maragata: She dates back to 1922 and was built in the UK. She was designated a historical monument in 1970

I carried on driving North towards my next destination near the large town of Bahia Blanca. This was about three hours drive away, however, I pulled over soon after dark at a large garage for the night, about one hundred miles short of Bahia Blanca. The lights on the hire car weren't great. I decided to get some sleep and start at first light for the final leg of the drive. It had been a long, but worthwhile day.

30 Nov 25 - Argentina 25 - Penguin Island In The Beagle Channel

This is my third and final Blog Post in the trilogy covering the boat trip down the Beagle Channel to Martillo Island (Penguin Island). The first Post covered the islands just outside of Ushuaia where there are breeding colonies of Imperial Shags, Rock Shags and South American Sealions. The second Post covered the other Seabirds and a small pod of Commerson's Dolphins seen on the trip down to Martillo Island.

This boat was running about fifteen minutes ahead of our boat, to stagger visits to the various locations

Our skipper slowly parked the boat onto the beach at Martillo Island. The loafing around Penguins were clearly used to this and were completely unfazed by it.

Magellanic Penguin: Looking to the right where some of the Magellanic Penguin were resting

Magellanic Penguin: Magellanic Penguins dig out burrows under the bushes for their nests

Gentoo Penguin: There was also a compact Gentoo Penguin colony further back on the island

Magellanic Penguin: These Magellanic Penguins were only about ten metres from the boat and they didn't move as it was beached

Magellanic Penguin: Adult. This adult barely opened an eye as we beached

Magellanic Penguin: Juv. Zooming in on one of the juveniles

Magellanic Penguin: Another juvenile

Magellanic Penguin: There were also some Magellanic Penguins in the shallows

Magellanic Penguin

Magellanic Penguin: Looking in the water for food

Magellanic Penguin: The water is clear enough to allow a photo of this individual swimming underwater

Magellanic Penguin: Adult. They breed from coastal central Chile & central Argentina to Cape Horn & the Falkland Islands and winter as far North as South East Brazil

Magellanic Penguin: Thinking about going into the water

A closer view of the Gentoo Penguin colony.

Gentoo Penguin: This is the nominate papua subspecies which breeds locally in Tierra del Fuego, as well as, on the Falkland Islands

Fortunately, there were one or two photogenic Gentoo Penguins around the water's edge.

Gentoo Penguin: There are other two subspecies which breed on South Georgia and in the Antarctic Peninsula & neighbouring islands, respectively, with a third subspecies breeding on Macquarie Island & the South Indian Ocean islands of Prince Edward, Marion, Crozet & Heard Islands

Gentoo Penguin

I didn't realise it was possible to land on Martillo Island. Looking into this option, there is an operator who can land up to fifteen visitors. However, at just under three hundred quid per person, it's three times the price I paid and it would be hard to justify paying that price to get a bit closer to the Gentoo Penguins, if you were planning on a Southern Oceans trip.

Tourists with the Gentoo Penguins

There was a small colony of distant Rock Shags nesting on the cliff behind the left end of the beach. Other Birds on the beach includes some Imperial Shags, a few Upland Geese and a handful of Chilean Skuas.

Imperial Shags

Chilean Skua: They have a capped appearance. This monotypic species breeds along the coasts of South Chile & South Argentina and they range North to the coasts of South Peru & central Brazil outside of the breeding season

Chilean Skua: Like all Skuas, this one is on the lookout for an unguarded egg or chick

As we left, I spotted this navigation buoy with a few Rock Shags breeding on it, as well as, a few South American Sealions at its base.

This was a popular navigation buoy

A close up of the Rock Shags

A close up of the South American Sealions

We returned to Ushuaia about mid-afternoon and I wandered off to find a late lunch, before heading back to the flat. There were a couple of old Routemaster buses which are used for tourist runs around Ushuaia.

An old Routemaster bus: The colour scheme just looks wrong

An old Routemaster bus: Another thing that is wrong is having doors on the bus. The great thing about the Routemasters, is you could run after them and jump aboard a moving bus, if it had already pulled away. This was in the days when nobody worried about Elves and 'Elf & Safety wasn't as big a worry as today

I spent the rest of the day in the flat catching up on emails, backing up photos etc, as the next day I was headed off to Antarctica.

30 Nov 25 - Argentina 25 - Island Hopping In The Beagle Channel

The weather forecast for my second day in Ushuaia said there would be still conditions. This must be uncommon, given the proximity of all the surrounding mountains, as well as, being so close to the tip of South America. I decided to take the boat down to Penguin Island or Martillo Island, as it actually called.

It was great to look down the Beagle Channel from the flat to find it was a millpond

I arrived early, only to find lots of other tourists had the same idea and there were queues for all the boats. I opted for the same boat operator I used in Jan 23: Hotel Yamanas & Catamaranes Canoero, which is a pale green hut in the cluster of boat huts.

Perfect conditions for Cetacean watching

The Saint Christopher: She was built in WW2 for the US Navy as a salvage tug and loaned to the British Navy in the later years of the war, when she was renamed HMS Justice. After the war, the US Navy decommissioned her in 1947 and she ended up as a salvage tug in Argentina. In 1953, she was involved in the failed attempt to refloat the Monte Cervantes, a German passenger ship that had sunk in 1930 in the Beagle Channel. The ship sunk again and the company owning the Saint Christopher went bust. She was deliberately run around in Ushuaia in 1957 and is now a tourist photo attraction

Finally, after twenty minutes of waiting, I was able to book a ticket. I was shocked to find a five hour trip had risen to ninety-six quid, about double the price it was in 2018. Had the weather been windy, I would have walked away at that price. But with the mirror-calm conditions, I decided to buy a ticket, as I didn't have a plan B for the day. I was hoping the calm waters would give me an outside chance of finding a Burmeister's Porpoise in the Beagle Channel.

Finally, we were leaving the pretty & most-Southerly City of Ushuaia

This is probably a daily scene during the Antarctic season of cruise ships in the port: The large ship is the HX Fridtjof Nansen, which takes around five hundred passengers down to Antarctica. The drawback of these large ships is while they have zodiacs (which not all ships have), they have to limit the number of passengers landing at one time. Far better to book on a smaller ship, if the duration of the landings are your priority

It is important to have a good position on the boat where you can see the windscreen. The boat I was on has small side wings to the upper deck and the front of the starboard wing is the best location. I headed straight to that position when the safety briefing had finished. Within a few minutes of leaving the harbour, we were stopping at the first island which hosts a colony of Imperial Shags.

This is about half of the Imperial Shag island

Imperial Shag: There was a good number of Imperial Shag nests on the island

Imperial Shag: There were a lot of off-duty Adults and maybe some non-breeding immature individuals hanging out on the island, along with a few Kelp Gulls and Dolphin Gulls: presumably hoping there would be an unguarded chick or egg

Imperial Shag: This is the nominate atriceps subspecies which breeds on the islands & coasts of South-central Chile & Argentina southward to Cape Horn

Imperial Shag: One of the more surprising decisions in the new AviList is six geographically isolated species of Subantarctic and Antarctic Shags have been lumped, based upon their appearance and relatively similar DNA. The taxonomy of the Shags and Cormorants in the Southern Oceans has changed on a number of occasions over the last fifty years and I wouldn't be surprised if this group is resplit in the next decade, as further studies take place

Dolphin Gull: This gorgeous Gull breeds along the coasts of South Chile, Argentina & the Falkland Islands

There was a Flightless Steamerduck swimming around the edge of the island.

Flightless Steamerduck: Note, the small wings and the thick orange bill which are two of the main features to separate this species from the more-common Flying Steamerduck in the Ushuaia area

Flightless Steamerduck: This monotypic species occurs in Southern South America from South Chile to Tierra del Fuego

We carried on for another fifteen minutes down the Beagle Channel, before we stopped at a South American Sealion breeding island, with a small colony of the less-common Rock Shags.

Rock Shag: This monotypic species breeds along the coasts of South-central Chile & Argentina, as well as, the Falkland Islands. They winter North to coastal Southern Brazil

South American Sealion: With a nice backdrop of Chilean mountains

South American Sealion: This individual appears to be getting some attention from a Dolphin Gull

South American Sealion: They occur along the coasts of South America from Peru to Brazil, as well as, the Falkland Islands

South American Sealion

South American Sealion: They don't have the pointed snouts of South American Fur Seals (which overlaps in most of their range) and they have smaller ears

South American Sealion: This flipper in this photo resembles the distinctive shape of the dorsal fin of a Burmeister's Porpoise. It's a potential confusion species, if you saw a distant flipper without seeing much of the head and body

However, the main stars of the South American Sealion island come to you. As we slowed for the island, the first star arrived: the range-restricted Blackish Cincloides. They breed on some of the small rocky islands in the Beagle Channel and being Passerines, they need fresh water. As there is little or no fresh water on the islands, they quickly fly onto the boats in search of water to drink and bathe. When I took a boat down to Martillo Island in Mar 2018, the skipper turned the wipers on to give them a drink. On this occasion, the two which came aboard found a pool of water on the side of the boat.

Blackish Cinclodes: Both Blackish Cinclodes visited this small pool of water of the boat and they clearly knew the water was there. This is the maculirostris subspecies which occurs along on small islands and around the coastline of Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn. The nominate subspecies occurs on the Falkland Islands

Blackish Cinclodes: This seems to be the only site where this species is easily seen in the Ushuaia area, although eBird shows some records in Ushuaia and the National Park. Perhaps they wander away from the islands outside of the breeding season

A few minutes later, a Snowy Sheathbill flew onto the boat. It was followed over the next ten minutes by more of its mates, until there were eleven walking around and pecking at the sloping deck below the bridge, with a few more left on the island.

Snowy Sheathbill: It wasn't long before the first Snowy Sheathbill flew in

Snowy Sheathbill: After Penguins, Snowy Sheathbills have the most character and attitude of any Bird species in the Southern Oceans and Antarctica

Snowy Sheathbill: Good to see it greeting its pal in the bridge

Snowy Sheathbill: This individual has got the look of a gnarled old man who has had a hard life working outdoors

Snowy Sheathbill: I'm assuming this is a younger individual based upon the state of the bill

Snowy Sheathbill: This looks to be a very functional bill for their lifestyle and environment

Snowy Sheathbill: And then there were three. This monotypic species breeds on the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetlands, South Orkneys & South Georgia. They winter as far North as coastal South-central Chile & East-central Argentina

Snowy Sheathbill: With the local lighthouse: two subjects for one photo

Snowy Sheathbill: At one point, there was a tapping above my head. This individual had just approved the strength of the decking above the bridge

Snowy Sheathbill: Number seven flies in. I ended up with eleven walking around on the sloping front of the boat, with at least another four on view on the island

I will cover the Seabirds seen in the next Blog Post.