Exploratory Venture to Chile: January 2004

I had not known quite what to expect on our recent trip to Chile, but was surprised at almost every turn by the sheer beauty of the country, the ease of birding and the modern infrastructure to be found throughout the country. We flew on Chile's world class airline, LAN Chile, on all of our internal flights and there was never a time of day that they did not serve us a glass or two of excellent Chilean red wine. This is the way to go birding! We started the trip in the elegant, but somewhat faded city of Punta Arenas, about as far south as you can go on the Chilean mainland. This is the heart of Chilean Patagonia and the town is surrounded by sweeping, impressive scenery and overlooks the Straits of Magellan. A walk down to the shore produced our first seabirds; Black-browed Albatross, Southern Giant-Petrel, Dolphin, Brown-hooded and Kelp Gulls and a small flock of Yellow-billed Pintail. The wind really does blow at this latitude, but even wind and rain did not prevent us from making our pilgrimage to the Magellanic Penguin colony at Otway Sound. With their charismatic behavior and quaint appearance, the penguins cannot fail to charm even the most chilled birder and we spent quite some time enjoying the colony, as well as finding Rufous-chested Dotterel, Dark-bellied Cinclodes and Austral Canastero in the surrounding area. Waterfowl are a big part of the Chilean avifauna and there is never a roadside pond without good numbers of ducks, geese and swans. Impressive Black-necked Swans swam below craggy snow-capped peaks, bizarre Coscoroba Swans with their bright orange bills and gorgeous Ashy-headed and Ruddy-headed Geese all shared the pools with a host of ducks. These included Silver Teal, Rosy-billed Pochard, Chiloe Wigeon and Red Shoveler - to name just a few. Compare this southern windswept landscape to the dry, stark moonscape of the northern Atacama Desert, our next port of call. It's incredible to think that any bird can live in this seemingly inhospitable landscape, but here lives the dull colored Grayish Miner. Simple lush oases in this extreme habitat hold Vermilion Flycatcher, Burrowing Owl and both Oasis Hummingbird and Peruvian Sheartail, the latter species is a relatively new colonizer from Peru. From the arid coastline of Arica, it is a short drive up to Putre and the high elevations of Lauca National Park, where we were for 2 days. Yet more snowy peaks and dramatic vistas dominate this high elevation park. Flocks of sunset colored Chilean Flamingoes dot the lakes with flashes of pink and a bevy of those typically brown birds with the seemingly incomprehensible names flit from the roadsides ahead of the vehicle; these are the cinclodes, canasteros, ground-tyrants and miners. Giant Coots thrash it out on the cold mountain lakes and a search in the high elevation bogs produced a real gem for us, one of the "Holy Grails" of the birding world, the rare and exquisite Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. This national park has everything from vistas to world class birds and is not to be missed on any birding trip to Chile.

From Patagonia in the south to Arica in the north, Chile is over 4000 kilometers in length, but is only about 200 km in width at its widest point. This is unusual geography for any country, but it certainly produces a diverse selection of habitats. Despite the lack of tropical rainforest and hence the relative paucity of species, Chile's evergreen and deciduous forests still contain a fascinating selection of birds. Our excursion into Chile's beautiful Lake District south of Santiago was most enjoyable, especially staying at very comfortable cabins set deep within the forest at Puyehue National Park. We could even hear the explosive sounds of the Chucao Tapaculo from within our rooms. Surrounded by walking trails, it was easy to enter the rich green forests to look for birds, especially tapaculos, a family that is particularly well represented in this area. These tapaculos are not the little black mice we normally associate with South America, but large rail-like species with great names. The songs of the Black-throated Huet-Huet and the Chucao Tapaculo rang out from the damp forest and with a bit of luck and patience, they were not too difficult to see. Also in the same area we found Slender-billed Parakeets feeding in the open fields, 3 Magellanic Woodpeckers feeding in a large emergent tree, and several mouse-like De Mur's Wiretails skulking in the roadside bamboo thickets. Further north, in the dry arid region closer to Santiago, another large tapaculo is present. This is the endemic Moustached Turca, surely one of the country's more unusual birds and more like a rail than one of those skulking tapaculos. Watching one of these tapaculos walking along the roadside with a pair of Crag Chilias working the nearby bushes was quite a unique experience. Also in the central coast region, close to Santiago and Valparaiso, are some of the finest pelagic boat trips in the world. This accessibility to the cold Pacific Ocean offers visiting birders a wealth of bird life. On our recent trip out of Quintero there were birds everywhere from Peruvian Diving-Petrel and Westland Petrel to Royal Albatross and Inca Tern. All in all, a wealth of birdlife associated with the cold Humboldt Current. Chile has 8 endemic species and most of these are easy to see on a 2-3 week trip to this fascinating country and the diversity of birdlife is enough to make Chile a must-do on any birders list. The fresh fruit and vegetables were mouth watering and accommodations were comfortable and relaxing, with spectacular scenery at almost every turn. So when are we going? How about the winter of 2005-2006? Mark your calendars and prepare yourself for a truly Chile experience.

Simon Thompson