mjh73
Well-known member
I was lucky enough to get a volunteer gig on a bird research project for Museo De La Plata in Argentina for January / February 2017, and lucky enough to get my wife to let me abandon her and the kids for six weeks to do it! Having never been to the Americas before I planned two side trips to the North East and North West of Argentina to book-end the research work.
The day job has been pretty full on since I returned (as has the family side of things, having used most available leave passes up for a while!) so apologies for only just getting this up now.
Part 1 – Iguazu
Arriving in Buenos Aires late on the 30th December 2016 all I managed on my first day in Argentina was a handful of birds on the way from the international airport into my (not particularly great as it happens) hostel in town: Southern Lapwing, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Southern Caracara, Eared Dove and Rock Dove.
31st December 2016
Up early to head to the domestic airport for the flight to Iguazu, and a 1 hour delay meant after check-in I had some time to explore. The airport is right alongside the Rio de la Plata and a tree-lined esplanade so was reasonably birdy for a busy urban location!
It didn’t take long to connect with my first sightings of Argentina’s ubiquitous National bird the Rufous Hornero, along with Picazuro Pigeon, Shiny Cowbird, White-rumped Swallow, Monk Parakeet, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Red-crested Cardinal, Eared Dove and a couple of ‘plastics’ for the list – House Sparrow and Common Starling.
When I eventually disembarked at Iguazu airport mid morning I was met by my guide for the next few days, Guy Cox from Toucan Birding Guides, and quickly loaded into his Crazy Camper Truck*. Since I had inconveniently persuaded him to guide me across New Years, Guy’s wife and kids were also along for the trip but once we arrived at our first stop at the legendary cataratas Guy took me off birding down the back trails while his family took the train trip.
Once we’d got past the marauding Coatis of the more touristy parts of the falls we quickly racked up some more new birds for me – Turkey Vulture, Red-rumped Casique, Pale-breasted Thrush, Grey-breasted Martin, Chopi Blackbird, Saffron Finch, my first of many many Great Kiskadee I would see in my time in Argentina and more Rufous Hornero. Passing a more reedy section we were only able to hear Black-capped Donacobius and Blackish Rail. Fortunately there were not so many ‘heard only’ birds for the trip overall, but these were two of them. Shortly after saw great views of a male Blonde-crested Woodpecker. I was particularly keen to see some of the woodpeckers, having lived in Australia – we have no woodpeckers! - for 11 years. We saw a few through the trip but this was probably my favourite.
There were large flocks of Plumbeous Kites overhead much of the time, along with Turkey and Black Vultures.
Working our way through the forest a small group of Black Capuchin monkeys passed by - never seen monkeys in the wild so that was pretty cool!
As we moved through the forest towards the falls we added Southern House Wren, Slaty-breasted Wood-rail, Great Dusky Swift, Greater Ani, Squirrel Cuckoo, and Toco Toucan. Plush-crested Jay hung around public areas hoping to pick up tidbits. A few more things heard in the forest but not seen – Short-tailed Ant-thrush, Purple-throated Euphonia high in the tree tops, and Surucua Trogon. A possible streamside warbler stays on the ‘missed’ list as the view just wasn’t good enough to be sure as it darted away.
To get to view the falls there are long narrow walkways out over the river. Being holiday season it was busy, and at times a little awkward trying to bird watch without getting in the way of ‘normal’ people just trying to get out to the falls! That said heading out to the falls was a) worth the effort they are spectacularly impressive! and b) good birding with Aningha, Snail Kite (high on my list of things to see!), Cattle Tyrant, Smooth-billed Ani, Double-collared Seedeater, Amazon and Green Kingfisher, Giant Cowbird, Tropical Kingbird and Southern Rough-winged Swallow all added to the list.
The walk back to the car park added a small group of Blue Dacnis, Red Eyed Vireo (heard), Variable Oriole, Eared Dove, Common Tody-Flycatcher and Short Crested Flycatcher.
Despite being a busy tourist site the Iguazu Cataratas had certainly delivered the goods and my trip to Argentina was off to a flying start
(* not the official vehicle marque)
The day job has been pretty full on since I returned (as has the family side of things, having used most available leave passes up for a while!) so apologies for only just getting this up now.
Part 1 – Iguazu
Arriving in Buenos Aires late on the 30th December 2016 all I managed on my first day in Argentina was a handful of birds on the way from the international airport into my (not particularly great as it happens) hostel in town: Southern Lapwing, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Southern Caracara, Eared Dove and Rock Dove.
31st December 2016
Up early to head to the domestic airport for the flight to Iguazu, and a 1 hour delay meant after check-in I had some time to explore. The airport is right alongside the Rio de la Plata and a tree-lined esplanade so was reasonably birdy for a busy urban location!
It didn’t take long to connect with my first sightings of Argentina’s ubiquitous National bird the Rufous Hornero, along with Picazuro Pigeon, Shiny Cowbird, White-rumped Swallow, Monk Parakeet, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Red-crested Cardinal, Eared Dove and a couple of ‘plastics’ for the list – House Sparrow and Common Starling.
When I eventually disembarked at Iguazu airport mid morning I was met by my guide for the next few days, Guy Cox from Toucan Birding Guides, and quickly loaded into his Crazy Camper Truck*. Since I had inconveniently persuaded him to guide me across New Years, Guy’s wife and kids were also along for the trip but once we arrived at our first stop at the legendary cataratas Guy took me off birding down the back trails while his family took the train trip.
Once we’d got past the marauding Coatis of the more touristy parts of the falls we quickly racked up some more new birds for me – Turkey Vulture, Red-rumped Casique, Pale-breasted Thrush, Grey-breasted Martin, Chopi Blackbird, Saffron Finch, my first of many many Great Kiskadee I would see in my time in Argentina and more Rufous Hornero. Passing a more reedy section we were only able to hear Black-capped Donacobius and Blackish Rail. Fortunately there were not so many ‘heard only’ birds for the trip overall, but these were two of them. Shortly after saw great views of a male Blonde-crested Woodpecker. I was particularly keen to see some of the woodpeckers, having lived in Australia – we have no woodpeckers! - for 11 years. We saw a few through the trip but this was probably my favourite.
There were large flocks of Plumbeous Kites overhead much of the time, along with Turkey and Black Vultures.
Working our way through the forest a small group of Black Capuchin monkeys passed by - never seen monkeys in the wild so that was pretty cool!
As we moved through the forest towards the falls we added Southern House Wren, Slaty-breasted Wood-rail, Great Dusky Swift, Greater Ani, Squirrel Cuckoo, and Toco Toucan. Plush-crested Jay hung around public areas hoping to pick up tidbits. A few more things heard in the forest but not seen – Short-tailed Ant-thrush, Purple-throated Euphonia high in the tree tops, and Surucua Trogon. A possible streamside warbler stays on the ‘missed’ list as the view just wasn’t good enough to be sure as it darted away.
To get to view the falls there are long narrow walkways out over the river. Being holiday season it was busy, and at times a little awkward trying to bird watch without getting in the way of ‘normal’ people just trying to get out to the falls! That said heading out to the falls was a) worth the effort they are spectacularly impressive! and b) good birding with Aningha, Snail Kite (high on my list of things to see!), Cattle Tyrant, Smooth-billed Ani, Double-collared Seedeater, Amazon and Green Kingfisher, Giant Cowbird, Tropical Kingbird and Southern Rough-winged Swallow all added to the list.
The walk back to the car park added a small group of Blue Dacnis, Red Eyed Vireo (heard), Variable Oriole, Eared Dove, Common Tody-Flycatcher and Short Crested Flycatcher.
Despite being a busy tourist site the Iguazu Cataratas had certainly delivered the goods and my trip to Argentina was off to a flying start
(* not the official vehicle marque)
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