1 Dec 25 - Argentina 25 - A Final Walk Around Ushuaia

I woke early as I had a number of things to sort out before I left the flat to drop the bags with Oceanwide Expeditions. A quick scan of the quay confirmed the Ortelius was tied up.

Ortelius is the middle ship on the right hand jetty

As previously mentioned in an earlier Blog Post, this is a flat I wouldn't recommend. However, it had one positive thing, it was only a ten minute walk to drop the bags off. I then headed off to the Urban Reserve which is next to the city.

The view of the Urban Reserve from the flat

There is a raw look to the Urban Reserve: However, the scenery behind is stunning

I'm sure I would find similar raw-looking areas next to some of the high Arctic towns

There was a selection of Ducks on the water, which included over two hundred Crested Ducks, fifty Flying Steamerducks and a handful of Red Shovelers and Speckled Teal.

Crested Duck: This is the nominate specularioides subspecies which occurs from central Chile & Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Crested Duck: There is a second subspecies which occurs in the Andes of North Chile & North Argentina to Peru & Bolivia

Flying Steamerduck: This monotypic species occurs in South Chile & South Argentina. They also occur on the Falkland Islands, where they are a scarce species

Flying Steamerduck: Note, the thinner and less orange bills compared to the Flightless Steamerducks

Flying Steamerduck: The males also have darker heads than Flightless Steamerducks

Red Shoveler: This monotypic Duck is probably my favourite of the Latin American Wildfowl. They occur from South Peru & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Night Heron: Adult. This is the obscurus subspecies which occurs from North Chile & North-central Argentina to Tierra del Fuego. There are two other New World subspecies to the North of this subspecies and on the Falkland Islands, respectively

Night Heron: Juv

Night Heron: Another adult

After the lake at the Urban Reserve, I walked along the path next to the stream that flows into the lake. It didn't take long to find a feeding Magellanic Snipe. They are very approachable compared to our Snipe, which typically would have flushed as soon as it saw me.

Magellanic Snipe: This is the nominate magellanica subspecies which occurs from central Chile & Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Magellanic Snipe

There was a party of three Long-tailed Meadowlarks at the end of the stream, as well as, a Chimango Caracara and a few Southern Lapwings by the houses that are adjacent to the Southern end of the reserve.

Long-tailed Meadowlark: This is the nominate loyca subspecies which occurs in Chile & Eastern Argentina as far South as Tierra del Fuego

Long-tailed Meadowlark: Two other subspecies occur in the North West of Argentina, with a third subspecies on the Falkland Islands

Long-tailed Meadowlark: This looks to be a display, as I saw two different individuals in this posture

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

Southern Lapwing: This is the fretensis subspecies which occurs in South Chile & South Argentina. It always surprised me, how happy Southern Lapwings were on unfenced garden lawns. I saw few cats in Argentina and dog ownership wasn't high in Ushuaia, with many walked on leads. That scenario would be fantastic in the UK, but sadly it will never happen

As I reached the far corner of the Urban Reserve, it was good to see this old Argentinian Patrol Boat. It looked like she was being restored. Having checked since I got home, she was an American Fast Patrol Boat built during WW2 for deployment in the Pacific. After WW2, she was one of ten Fast Patrol Boats sold to the Argentinian Navy and in service up to 1984. After that she was used as a storage vessel, with most of the internal compartments removed. It is good to see that the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia is working closely with the Navy to restore her to her former glory. There still looks to be a lot of work to complete. However, there has been excellent progress to get her back to looking this good, from the sorry state as a glorified storage container.

Fast Patrol Boat A.R.A. Towora

It was lunchtime and time for me to head towards the port to board the Ortelius. I will cover the rest of the day in the next Blog Post.

14 Jan 23 - Argentina - A Few Hours Around Ushuaia

It was my last day in Ushuaia. I dropped my luggage for the Plancius check-in which was conveniently close to my bedsit & one of the reasons for choosing this bedsit. I spent the rest of the morning sending emails: as I didn't intend to pay the expensive wifi connectivity charges once we were at sea. I had been able to arrange a late checkout from the bedsit and that gave me a couple of hours to have a look around the Bahia Encerrada Urban Nature Reserve, which is a large lake on the edge of the town & the docks. There was a selection of the commoner Ushuaia species to keep me & the camera occupied, until it was time to head to the dock to board the Plancius.

The Bahia Encerrada Urban Nature Reserve: It provides sanctuary for Wildfowl & other wetland species on the edge of the town

The Bahia Encerrada Urban Nature Reserve: It is only a short walk from the edge of town

Night Heron: Adult. This is the obscurus subspecies which occurs from North Chile & North-central Argentina to Tierra del Fuego

Night Heron: Adult

Crested Duck: This is the nominate specularioides subspecies which occurs from central Chile & Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Crested Duck

Crested Duck

Crested Duck

Red Shoveler: This monotypic species occurs from South Peru & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Red Shoveler

Yellow-billed Pintail: This is the spinicauda subspecies which occurs from the highlands of South Colombia to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands. The other subspecies is the nominate subspecies which is endemic to South Georgia

Southern Lapwing: This is the fretensis subspecies which occurs in Southern Chile & Argentina

Dolphin Gull: Adult. This monotypic species occurs on the coasts of South Chile & Argentina, as well as, the Falkland Islands

Dolphin Gull: Immature

Kelp Gull: Adult. This is the nominate dominicanus subspecies which occurs in the coastal South of South America, the Falklands, South Georgia, Australia & New Zealand

South American Tern: This monotypic species occurs along the coasts & islands of the South of South America & the Falkland Islands

South American Tern: The bright red bill and clean appearance identify it from Antarctic Terns or wintering Common & Arctic Terns

It was getting close to the boarding time, so I walked down to the port to await confirmation that we can board.

Plancius (right) & her sister ship, Ortelius look small compared to the large cruise ship

It's always good to get on board quickly as it provides the chance to choose the bunk for the next few weeks. I got to my four berth cabin to find Bill, an American traveller, had already boarded & he had selected one of the lower berths: I chose the other. Finally, Steve Preddy & the fourth cabin mate, Alexi appeared. Bunks agreed & bags stowed, it was time to head to the top deck to watch our departure.

Ortelius

Plancius: My home for the next 19 days. It was good to be back onboard her

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.