February 4, Day 1:
After our group first met in the 12th floor lobby of the Hyatt Place Hotel in Santiago, we boarded our van and went of to visit the Central Market (Mercado) in downtown Santiago where we wove our way through the produce, wine and seafood booths arriving at “Richard’s ‘King of Seafood’ Restaurant, a hole in the wall owned by Richard who like most everyone we would meet on the tour, was a long time friend of Marcelo’s. The market was alive with vendors, hawkers, buyers, restaurants and customers.
After lunch we drove to the Farrelones Ski Resort area for our first birding at the Nevado Ski Resort. It is summer below the equator – so dry with no snow and at elevation pleasantly cool. Our first birds included Diuca Finch, Chilean Mockingbird, Rufous Collared Sparrow, White Crested Elaenia, Tufted Tit-tyrant and Plain-mantled Tit-spinetail. [NOTE: Throughout these blogs I will identify new lifers in bold italics.] I got pictures of all but the latter – a fate which would recur every time I “saw” that skulky bird during the trip.
Shortly thereafter a Black-chested Buzzard Eagle flew overhead shortly followed by our first Andean Condor. I had seen the impressive large Condors in Peru and in Ecuador and would see more later on this trip. Too far away for any meaningful photo. As we continued along our climb into the Andes, Marcelo noted some trees off to our left and said we should keep our eyes open as sometimes Lesser Horned Owls roosted in them. Literally two minutes later, Marcelo called out “Pare, pare”, the signal to our driver to stop. He did and we backed up maybe 50 feet and Marcelo pointed out a Lesser Horned Owl buried in the branches. Magic like this would recur often during the trip.
Continuing our climb, we turned onto Camino a La Parva and got out of the van for some “serious” birding just as more Andean Condors flew overhead – a little closer for a first photo – still distant and not very satisfying – but any Condor is a treat.
This was a good stop with many new birds – all new for Chile as this was my first visit to this country and new lifers including White-sided Hillstar (our first hummingbird), Gray-breasted Seedsnipe (heard only), Rufous-banded Miner, White-browed Ground Tyrant, Gray-hooded Sierra Finch, and Greater Yellow Finch. I also got lifer photos of Austral Thrush, Buff-winged and Gray-flanked Cinclodes, and Black-chinned Siskin.
Neither lifers or life photos but new photos for the trip were two doves that would be seen often on our trip Eared Dove (abundant and everywhere) and Black-winged Ground Dove seen mostly at higher elevations and which I had seen and photographed initially in Ecuador in 2022.
I was disappointed that we never got even a glimpse at the calling Gray-breasted Seedsnipe as especially after great looks and photos of the Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe in Ecuador, it was high on my target list. Not to kill the suspense, those looks and photos would come later. We continued on to the Nevado Ski Resort where I picked up three more lifers: Mourning Sierra-finch, Moustached Turca and both Cordilleran and Sharp-billed Canasteros. No picture of the latter until Argentina. We would see another Turca later, but they are not seen on every tour – great bird.
There would be one more lifer and accompanying life picture on this wonderful first day. At a last stop as we retraced our steps back to Santiago, we found a Fire-eyed Diucon, the fire eye quite obvious.
Especially with only a half day of birding, Day 1 was a great success. We had seen 34 species and I had photos of 24 of them. Fully 15 species were world lifers (bringing me to 3289 species) and lots of new world life photos as well. Back to Santiago. We were back to Santiago for dinner ready for Day 2.
February 5, Tour Day 2:
Today was anther day up into the mountains out of Santiago with our prime target being the species I most wanted to see on the trip – the Diademed Sandpiper-plover. We traveled on the Camino Embalse El Yeso in the area of San Jose de Maipo. After a fairly long drive Marcelo had the driver pull over saying that it seemed like a good spot to him for a Crag Chilia. Magic again as we heard its distant song from a rock embankment quite a ways off. Marcelo located it on a rock on got the scope on it. I had a decent ID view and a very distant photo, Appearance and habitat-wise it reminded me of our Canyon Wren. Responding to playback it came in closer, not real close but good enough for a decent highly magnified photo – another lifer.
Continuing on we came to a wet area that might be good for the Sandpiper-plover. We covered it extensively without finding it but there were other birds there including lifers Yellow-billed Teal a fast flying Magellanic Snipe, Creamy-rumped Miner and Yellow-rumped Siskin.
More importantly to me, however, was that we had great photo opportunities for the Gray-breasted Seedsnipe – a lifer photo that had been missed the previous day and I was also able to get a good photo of a Black-billed Shrike-tyrant. I had seen one 11 years earlier in Peru but no photo.
Cindy and I had seen Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe at high altitude in Ecuador, a much sought after species that is often missed, so this was a vey pleasing moment for us. And just as had been the case in Ecuador, we also saw Andean Gulls. Although I thought I had gotten a photo of another bird seen in Peru, I could not find a photo of the Rufous-naped Ground-tyrant seen with the Shrike-tyrant. It would have been a lifer photo. Bummer. I should mention that the area was spectacular , made better of course by the birds!!
So we had good birds but not the prize. When we went over the materials provided by Field Guides, they suggested warm hats and jackets and gloves for the high altitudes and also waterproof boots extending over the ankle for pursuit of the Diademed Sandpiper-plover which prefers watery areas. We had brought all on the trip but never used any of the cold weather clothing. When we got to our next area though, we did use some zip-up waterproof covers that went over our regular books. It was a good idea as there was a fair amount of ankle deep water in the area that Marcelo took us to for the Sandpiper-plover. This was an area that had hot springs and several non-birders were there as well, a concern for a hard to find and possibly skittish bird.
It took some time but finally Marcelo’s keen ears heard its calls and after quite a bit of searching he located one. The good news was that everyone could get good views through the scope. The not so good news was that the really striking bird was backlit and not real close. I took a lot of photos as best I could. This was probably the most frustrating experience on the trip for me. If when first spotted, we had positioned ourselves another 50 yards further along, there would have been good light on the bird enabling a much better picture. Although I understood the decision to stop at the spot where it was first viewed, the group had scattered and it took a while for everyone to get to the scope and get their view. Group protocol rightly requires no movement until everyone has had that first good view. It was very frustrating. When that first view for all was finally accomplished, we began moving to the better lit spot that would have enabled good photos. The bird had been essentially still or foraging in the same area for several minutes. Its patience ran out and it flew off way into the distance never to be seen gain. I include my best photo below but also for the only time I will do so in these blogs, I include a photo from the internet that shows just how cool this bird is.
On the return back to Santiago, there was a near disaster. Our van was making odd noises. First we slowed and then carried on a bit but the noises continued. We stopped and a not very happy Marcelo Padua went into to action. Probably best that we did not speak Spanish as there was a very heated conversation between Marcelo and someone – either the transportation company or the ground agent that Field Guides coordinated with in Chile. It could have been a full-on disaster, but this is where Marcelo’s talents in addition to birding paid off. We made our way to a small boutique hotel on the highway and waited as another van was sent to rescue us. Maybe it took an hour, maybe two. We had some desserts and drinks as we waited. It probably cut into some birding options, but the bottom line was that another van came and got us by late afternoon. Serviceable, but it was not nearly nearly as birding friendly as our original carriage – darker windows, with a more constraining seat configuration. It would have to do.
With our new driver we were off to our hotel back in Santiago and then to dinner at the Bodeguita Miguel Torres Restaurant with local wines of course – except being quite full from several nights of dining and for the first time feeling a bit jet lagged, I chose to sit this dinner out. Marcelo said to order whatever I wanted from room service and just put it on the bill. I passed and had a little snack protein bar and that was it. Cindy enjoyed the restaurant dinner. This thoughtful detail for room service speaks highly of Marcelo and the approach by Field Guides on this trip – always felt like we had first class service. OK we paid for it, but you don’t always get what you pay for.
End of Day 2 – 6 more lifers (now at 3295) and many new life photos. Running trip count now at 49 as we had added a Long Tailed Meadowlark on our way back to Santiago.
February 6, Day 3:
In our new van, in the morning we headed off to Rio Clarillo National Park. On the way I picked up a new lifer, a Picui Ground Dove. The hope was that whatever trouble our first van had could be fixed to enable it to take us to Argentina as there were licensing complications if not. Time would tell. In addition to the Picui Ground Dove, I got a life photo of a Black Faced Ibis, a bird I had first seen in Junín, Argentina in 1989 on my fishing trip.
On the way to Rio Clarillo NP, we picked up a couple of birds along the road in Pirque County including a surprising California Quail, introduced as a game bird for hunters in Chile. I also got pretty nice photos of a Tufted Tit-tyrant, a species I had first seen in the Amazon region in Ecuador.
We birded several hours at Rio Clarillo but did not add that many species although three of them Dusky Tapaculo, Dusky-tailed Canastero and Austral Blackbird were lifers. Another new species for the trip was a Giant Hummingbird (seen previously in Ecuador).
From Rio Clarillo, we headed to the Santa Rita Winery for another multi-course lunch, a tour of the winery and a wine tasting. There was also a small museum with pottery and weavings. It was an enjoyable and long visit taking most of the afternoon before we headed back to Santiago. We drank a lot of wine with an excellent Carmenere and an equally good (to me) Chardonnay. In the U.S. the Pewen Carmenere sells for over $50/bottle and the Alta Floresta Chardonnay for $20.00. These photos give a taste of what our afternoon was like. Santa Rita is r than 140 years old and is the largest wine producer in Chile.
It was then the drive back to the hotel, a short rest and then dinner at the Peumayen Ancestral Food Restaurant featuring – yes ancestral foods – not the highlight of our gustatory trip, but good and interesting and different. This would conclude the first part of our visit in Chile as we would head off the next morning for the long ride over the Andes to Argentina. We would later return to Chile to visit the coast before concluding with a return for flights home from Santiago.
At the end of day 3, I had listed 56 species for Chile and the trip, added 25 lifers to get to 3298 and again many new life photos.
blairbirding 