Jens Thalund
Well-known member
Just got back from a short trip to Central Chile, where my timing was unfortunately a bit off, so I missed out on the scheduled pelagics from the Valparaiso area.
Instead I tried out a couple of sites on the coast with my Minox travel scope, and despite the calm winds and good weather I had a very good time, especially since it doesn't take that many Sooty Shearwaters to impress a Dane
First place I tried was Boca Norte, the SW point of the Hualpen peninsula at Concepcion on 4 Nov, where it is possible to drive the car on to the top of the beach. Beautiful calm and sunny weather, with most of the action way off, but a few hours from sunrise :
Southern Giant Petrel - 1
Black-browed Albatross - 1
Pink-footed Shearwater - 3+
Sooty Shearwater - 5000+ , a continous flow of birds heading south.
Peruvian Booby - 100
Peruvian Pelican - 30
Red-legged Cormorant - 150 , the legs glowing red in the morning sun.
Guanay Cormorant - 500+
Chilean Skua - 1
The other site I tried was further up the coast, at Quintero, north of Valparaiso, where a place called Punta Liles is mentioned in Mark Pearman's site guide. Unfortunately he describes getting there, as following a coastal path south from the harbour, which is on the eastern side of the peninsula, inside the bay!
This didn't make much sense to me, so I drove a little around and ended up at the NW tip of the peninsula, at La Cueva del Pirata, where I watched from the rocks below the restaurant. On 7 Nov I sat here for 90 minutes in the evening, and the following day from 7.30 - 14.15. The wind tended to pick up a little during the day, but still it was pretty calm, considering the conditions I would usually prefer for a seawatch back home. As with the previous site, the vast majority of birds were moving south, but came a lot closer here.
7 November
Giant Petrel sp. - 2
Pink-footed Shearwater - 1
Sooty Shearwater - 500
Wilson's/Elliot's Strom Petrel - 1
Peruvian Diving Petrel - 10
Peruvian Booby - 150
Peruvian Pelican - 25
Guanay Cormorant - 50
Chilean Skua - 2
Inca Tern - 8
8 November
Southern Giant Petrel - 2
Giant Petrel sp - 4
Salvin's Albatross - 2
Black-browed Albatross - 4
Cape Petrel - 1
Pink-footed Shearwater - 124
Sooty Shearwater - 760
Wilson's/Elliot's Storm Petrel - 4
Peruvian Diving Petrel - 69
Humboldt Penguin - 6
Peruvian Booby - 210
Peruvian Pelican - 103
Red-legged Cormorant - 3
Guanay Cormorant - 20
Chilean Skua - 1 (+ 2 Skua sp)
Arctic Skua -1
Franklin's Gull - 460
Inca Tern - 38
I kept thinking to myself, that if this is the action on a quiet and calm day, I would love to sit here on a good, windy day, especially in the local autumn of April/May, as the Pterodromas are not that far off shore |8.|
I've googled Punta Liles since, and it turns out, that the place is just around the corner from La Cueva del Pirata, at the western end of Avenida O'Higgins.
Jens
Instead I tried out a couple of sites on the coast with my Minox travel scope, and despite the calm winds and good weather I had a very good time, especially since it doesn't take that many Sooty Shearwaters to impress a Dane
First place I tried was Boca Norte, the SW point of the Hualpen peninsula at Concepcion on 4 Nov, where it is possible to drive the car on to the top of the beach. Beautiful calm and sunny weather, with most of the action way off, but a few hours from sunrise :
Southern Giant Petrel - 1
Black-browed Albatross - 1
Pink-footed Shearwater - 3+
Sooty Shearwater - 5000+ , a continous flow of birds heading south.
Peruvian Booby - 100
Peruvian Pelican - 30
Red-legged Cormorant - 150 , the legs glowing red in the morning sun.
Guanay Cormorant - 500+
Chilean Skua - 1
The other site I tried was further up the coast, at Quintero, north of Valparaiso, where a place called Punta Liles is mentioned in Mark Pearman's site guide. Unfortunately he describes getting there, as following a coastal path south from the harbour, which is on the eastern side of the peninsula, inside the bay!
This didn't make much sense to me, so I drove a little around and ended up at the NW tip of the peninsula, at La Cueva del Pirata, where I watched from the rocks below the restaurant. On 7 Nov I sat here for 90 minutes in the evening, and the following day from 7.30 - 14.15. The wind tended to pick up a little during the day, but still it was pretty calm, considering the conditions I would usually prefer for a seawatch back home. As with the previous site, the vast majority of birds were moving south, but came a lot closer here.
7 November
Giant Petrel sp. - 2
Pink-footed Shearwater - 1
Sooty Shearwater - 500
Wilson's/Elliot's Strom Petrel - 1
Peruvian Diving Petrel - 10
Peruvian Booby - 150
Peruvian Pelican - 25
Guanay Cormorant - 50
Chilean Skua - 2
Inca Tern - 8
8 November
Southern Giant Petrel - 2
Giant Petrel sp - 4
Salvin's Albatross - 2
Black-browed Albatross - 4
Cape Petrel - 1
Pink-footed Shearwater - 124
Sooty Shearwater - 760
Wilson's/Elliot's Storm Petrel - 4
Peruvian Diving Petrel - 69
Humboldt Penguin - 6
Peruvian Booby - 210
Peruvian Pelican - 103
Red-legged Cormorant - 3
Guanay Cormorant - 20
Chilean Skua - 1 (+ 2 Skua sp)
Arctic Skua -1
Franklin's Gull - 460
Inca Tern - 38
I kept thinking to myself, that if this is the action on a quiet and calm day, I would love to sit here on a good, windy day, especially in the local autumn of April/May, as the Pterodromas are not that far off shore |8.|
I've googled Punta Liles since, and it turns out, that the place is just around the corner from La Cueva del Pirata, at the western end of Avenida O'Higgins.
Jens
