November 15-December 5, 2024 with Willy Perez & local guide
Once again this Chile tour 2024 was a big success and as usual we went from the bottom to the top. Chile, being the longest country in the world, is like visiting at least 4 countries in one. We started this tour flying from Santiago to Punta Arenas to explore the Patagonian area, so every bird with a name Patagonian or Magellanic on it was a big target. The weather gave us a bit of a taste, with one morning of very strong winds, but in general it was kind to us. We visited La Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and also the super famous Torres del Paine National Park. Crossing by ferry to Tierra del Fuego there was a combination of watching different sea birds like, Black browed Albatross, Magellanic diving Petrel, Imperial Cormorants and Chilean Skuas that were present along the channel. We also managed to see Magellanic Plovers and the stunning King Penguins. Back on the mainland, we went to Torres del Paine and along the way we came across many Andean Condors, White -bridled and Yellow-bridled Finches, Magellanic Woodpecker, and even the super rare Austral Rail was part of the repertory. Also, here we saw many species of waterfowl and Austral Pygmy Owl.
Our flight to Puerto Montt was smooth and we started our Lagos adventure visiting the Monumento Natural Lahuen Nadi for one afternoon. Along the trails of this park, we started to be close to the many tapaculos which are definitely a sensation in Chile. Obviously, like any tapaculos, they were hard to see but along the trails we had great views of the most southern hummingbird in the world, the Green backed Firecrown, and we had our first encounter with a Patagonian Tyrant. After a short drive we stayed in the very picturesque town of Puerto Varas with stunning views of the LLanquihue lake and the majestic Calbuco and Osorno volcanos.
The next day we drove along the coastline our way to Temuco, with several stops that were very productive. Some people managed to see our first Chucao Tapaculo and Des Murs’s Wiretail that gave us a bit of a show. In Temuco we visit Cerro Nielol Park and explored the road of this unique place. We had incredible views of Black-throated Huet-Huet, Slender-billed Parakeets and Chilean Pigeons. The following couple of days we stayed at the valley of Las Trancas just below the Nevados de Chillan. This charming valley is surrounded by big Nothofagus trees and it is home for Chestnut-throated Huet-Huet, a big Tapaculo that likes this kind of habitat. We were very lucky because just close to our cabins there was a pair feeding and they gave us a fantastic show. Eventually we went up to higher elevation where Rufous-tailed Plantcutter and Patagonian Forest Earthcreeper were seen.
The drive from Las Trancas to Santiago was long but it was also unique; the scenery was lovely and the amazing encounter with Burrowing Parakeets on a river bank was special. In central Chile we visited two classic places. The first day from Santiago we went to El Yeso reservoir and the day was full of good birds. To mention a few, the Moustached Turca was the first impressive bird that we saw, followed by Crag Chilia (a Chilean endemic) and the superb Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. The next day we visited Farellones and Valle Nevado; the altitude here is 10,000 feet and Andean Condors and Mountain Caracaras were flying by. The same day we drove to Vina del Mar and stayed in the fascinating Hotel Oceanic which was the highlight where the Inca Terns were everywhere. Our pelagic trip from Valparaiso was fantastic; 4 species of Albatrosses were seen, followed by Petrels, Shearwaters and many other oceanic birds. The last part of the trip we flew to Arica where we were able to see the dry and vast Atacama Desert. With a quick stop that day we drove straight to the Altiplano for 2 nights. This place was full of highland birds and a very stunning landscape. The most remarkable birds were the 3 species of Flamingos, Giant Coot, Lesser Rhea (the Puna race), Andean Avocet and Puna Tinamous to mention a few.
Back to the desert the pressure was to find the rarest hummingbird in the world. We put all our efforts to find the Chilean Woodstar, and luckily we managed to see a few of them that are still around in their very restricted habitat along the oasis. This trip was packed with stunning scenery, a lot of birds and delicious pisco sours. For me it was a real pleasure to share this great time with all of you and thank you for traveling with us. Also, I would like to say thank you to Rodrigo, our very informative local guide. I wish you all the best and I hope that we can do some more serious fun birding.
Other animals seen on the tour.
Mammals.
Old world Rabbit, European brown Hare, White-bellied Grass Mouse, Bolivian Pericote, Northern Mountain Viscacha, Nutria, Dusky Dolphin, Commerson’s Dolphin, Orca, Fin Whale, Southern sea Lion, Guanaco, Llama, Alpaca, Vicuna, Andean Deer, Southern gray Fox, Culpeo Fox, Marine Otter.
Lizards.
Thin Tree Lizard (Liolaemus tenuis), Blackish-green Lizard (Liolaemus nigroviridis) Corredor de Arica (Microlophus heterolepis)
Un abrazo Willy.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/306475
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/chi24TRIPLIST.pdf
Abrazos from Dorset, Willy