OVERVIEW
In this private tour with Jesper we spent the whole day birding through the coast of the central region, starting at the Maipo Estuary and finishing at Algarrobo. In our route we visited many different birding spots, achieving a total of 79 species up to the end of the day.
ITINERARY
We left Santiago City before dawn, at 06:15, and then drove to Maipo Estuary, where we start birding at 07:45. Maipo river mouth is one of the most important wetland in the central region, recently designated as a Site of regional importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). We started birding across the brushland and sand dunes, before reaching the wetland itself. After 3 and a half hours birding we achieved 53 species including Spot-flanked Gallinule, Plumbeous Rail, Black-bellied Plover, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Hudsonian Godwit, Snowy-crowned Tern, Patagonian-forest Earthcreeper and the beautiful Many-colored Rush-Tyrant. Some clouds and a light-rain threatened us but fortunately the weather became better quite soon and we were able to keep moving as planned.
After some coffee and cookies once we got back to the car, we moved to Cartagena Lagoon, a small but very diverse lagoon placed at one of the most popular beach towns of the central region. There we got some new species for our day list as Red Shoveler, White-tufted and Great Grebe, Coscoroba and Black-necked Swan. Then we kept on our way north up the coast, but not before to stopping for a quick-lunch at Las Cruces, where we got some "empanadas" plus a Peruvian Booby. We reached the our northern birding stop of the day at 2:30 pm and once there we visited 2 different habitats: a small but productive reed site where we found the secretive Stripe-backed Bittern, and a native “matorral” area where we added some inland-species. Early in the season, we didn’t get the Albatross Birding and Nature Tours www.albatross-birding.com spring and summer migrants but we got several species which are more common in the central region during winter time, such as Chilean Pigeon, Green-backed Firecrown, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, Des Mur’s Wiretail and Patagonian Tyrant. In addition we got some Chilean endemics including Moustached Turca, White-throated and Dusky Tapaculo and Dusky-tailed Canastero.
After a long but successfully birding session we headed back to the city, reaching Jesper’s Hotel at 6 pm which gave him time for a shower, dinner and some good rest before an early-wake up to catch the flight to Eastern Island, the next day.
Taxonomic order and notes follows South American Classification Committee http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html
Detailed bird lists available at eBird http://www.ebird.org
DUCKS
Black-necked Swan - Cygnus melancoryphus
Coscoroba Swan - Coscoroba coscoroba
Chiloe Wigeon - Anas sibilatrix
Cinnamon Teal - Anas cyanoptera
Red Shoveler - Anas platalea
Yellow-billed Pintail - Anas georgica
Yellow-billed Teal - Anas flavirostris
Lake Duck - Oxyura vittata
NEW WORLD QUAILS
California Quail - Callipepla californica
GREBES
White-tufted Grebe - Rollandia rolland
Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps
Great Grebe - Podiceps major
BOOBIES
Peruvian Booby - Sula variegata
CORMORANTS
Neotropic Cormorant - Phalacrocorax brasilianus
PELICANS
Peruvian Pelican - Pelecanus thagus
HERONS
Stripe-backed Bittern - Ixobrychus involucris
Great Egret - Ardea alba
Snowy Egret - Egretta thula
Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
Black-crowned Night-Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax
NEW-WORLD VULTURES
Black Vulture - Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura
HAWKS
Variable Hawk - Geranoaetus polyosoma
RAILS
Spot-flanked Gallinule - Porphyriops melanops
Plumbeous Rail - Pardirallus sanguinolentus
Red-gartered Coot - Fulica armillata
Red-fronted Coot - Fulica rufifrons
White-winged Coot - Fulica leucoptera
AVOCETS and STILTS
Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus
OYSTERCATCHERS
American Oystercatcher - Haematopus palliatus
PLOVERS
Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola
Southern Lapwing - Vanellus chilensis
Collared Plover - Charadrius collaris
Rufous-chested Dotterel - Charadrius modestus
SANDPIPERS
Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
Hudsonian Godwit - Limosa haemastica
Sanderling - Calidris alba
Baird's Sandpiper - Calidris bairdii
GULLS and TERNS
Brown-hooded Gull - Chroicocephalus maculipennis
Gray Gull - Leucophaeus modestus
Kelp Gull - Larus dominicanus
South American Tern - Sterna hirundinacea
Snowy-crowned Tern - Sterna trudeaui
PIGEONS
Chilean Pigeon - Patagioenas araucana
Eared Dove - Zenaida auriculata
HUMMINGBIRDS
Green-backed Firecrown - Sephanoides sephaniodes
WOODPECKERS
Striped Woodpecker - Veniliornis lignarius
FALCONS
Chimango Caracara - Milvago chimango
American Kestrel - Falco sparverius
PARROTS
Monk Parakeet - Myiopsitta monachus
TAPACULOS
Moustached Turca - Pteroptochos megapodius
White-throated Tapaculo - Scelorchilus albicollis
Dusky Tapaculo - Scytalopus fuscus
OVENBIRDS
Wren-like Rushbird - Phleocryptes melanops
Patagonian-forest Earthcreeper - Upucerthia saturiator
Buff-winged Cinclodes - Cinclodes fuscus
Thorn-tailed Rayadito - Aphrastura spinicauda
Des Murs's Wiretail - Sylviorthorhynchus desmursii
Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail - Leptasthenura aegithaloides
Dusky-tailed Canastero - Pseudasthenes humicola
TYRANT FLYCATCHERS
Tufted Tit-Tyrant - Anairetes parulus
Many-colored Rush Tyrant - Tachuris rubrigastra
Austral Negrito - Lessonia rufa
Fire-eyed Diucon - Xolmis pyrope
Patagonian Tyrant - Colorhamphus parvirostris
COTINGAS
Rufous-tailed Plantcutter - Phytotoma rara
SWALLOWS
Chilean Swallow - Tachycineta meyeni
WRENS
House Wren - Troglodytes aedon
THRUSHES
Austral Thrush - Turdus falcklandii
MOCKINGBIRDS
Chilean Mockingbird - Mimus thenca
SPARROWS
Gray-hooded Sierra-Finch - Phrygilus gayi
Common Diuca-Finch - Diuca diuca
Grassland Yellow-Finch - Sicalis luteola
Rufous-collared Sparrow - Zonotrichia capensis
BLACKBIRDS
Long-tailed Meadowlark - Sturnella loyca
Austral Blackbird - Curaeus curaeus
Yellow-winged Blackbird - Agelasticus thilius
FINCHES
Black-chinned Siskin - Spinus barbatus
OLD-WORLD SPARROWS
House Sparrow - Passer domesticus