Argentina 2015 (1 Viewer)

Welcome to my first ever trip report :hi:

This year I had the opportunity to attend an international conference at the amazing location of Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. Iguazu is of course best known for its waterfall, which attracts over a million visitors every year. However, the main attraction for birders is the Atlantic tropical forest habitat and its many unique bird species. This is one of the most endangered ecoregions in the world, and thankfully two substantial tracts of forest are protected by national parks either side of the Brazilian-Argentinian border (more on this later). I had never visited this part of South America before, so the majority of species was going to be new for me.

My itinerary was as follows:
19-20 Sep: Flight London-Paris-Rio-Iguacu with a few hours to kill at Rio airport
20 Sep: Visit to Iguacu NP (Brazilian side)
21-22 Sep: Visit to Iguazu NP (Argentinian side)
23-26 Sep: Conference (with a half day excursion to the falls)
27 Sep: Flight Iguazu-Buenos Aires with a guided visit to Costanera Sur
28-29 Sep: Tourist sights in BA
29-30 Sep: Overnight guided tour to southern Entre Rios province (Ceibas area)
01 Oct: Visits to Vicente Lopez & Ribera Norte reserves (BA)
02 Oct: Attempted visits to Ribera Norte & Costanera Sur
03 Oct: Morning visit to Costanera Sur
03-04 Oct: Flight Buenos Aires-Amsterdam-London

The trip was self-planned with some pointers from friendly Birdforum members, and local advise from friend, bird guide and Aves Argentinas member Laura Dodyk (contact details to follow).


Rio de Janeiro stopover (20 Sep 2015 a.m.)

On my way over I had a few hours to kill at Rio de Janeiro's Galeao airport - unfortunately not enough to head into the city or visit the Tijuca NP. Instead I decided to see what was hanging around the airport, which turned out to be lots of Black and Turkey Vultures, Magnificent Frigatebirds, and an amusing troupe of Guira Cuckoo. Scanning the area around the airport I picked up fly-by Great Egret, several Grey-breasted Martin perched on street lights and a single Cocoi Heron. However, just beyond a newly built car park was an inviting patch of scrubby woodland. Stepping over some barriers (which nobody seemed to mind) I checked out the forest edge for a bit while the morning sun was rapidly heating up. There was a conspicuous group of introduced Common Waxbill, several noisy Great Kiskadees, and a stunning male Aplomado Falcon perched in a comms tower (much like our Peregrines do at home). I wasn't able to identify a hummer whizzing past, but in the forest had great views of a couple of common neotropical species: Common Tody-Tyrant, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Palm Tanager and Brown-chested Flycatcher. I also picked up two of the regional thrushes, Rufous-bellied and Pale-breasted, before a flyby male Ruddy Ground Dove rounded things off nicely.
All in all I was pretty pleased with 8 new species at a piece of airport wasteland - now on to Iguazu proper!

Iguacu National Park (20 Sep 2015 p.m.)

The flight from Rio to Foz do Iguacu/Cataratas was short and uneventful, as was the taxi ride to my nearby hotel. Just outside the airport I spotted my first Fork-tailed Flycatcher, and the hotel grounds were full of Shiny Cowbirds, House Sparrows and Eared Doves. I had chosen to stay along the main road {469} for easy access to the park, and the public bus to the park entrance proved to be a doddle (and much cheaper than taking a taxi).
The Brazilian side of the falls is much more of a tourist site than the Argentinian side. Access is by open-topped bus along a fixed route and there is only a single "trail" at the end of the road. Other trails do lead off into the forest, but are only accessible on guided tours, which I'd heard were overpriced and poor quality. At one of the stops there was a noisy colony of Red-rumped Cacique, a conspicuous and omnipresent bird in this region, and when I got off at the trail head I was greeted by a curious Rufous Hornero.
Despite picking up a lovely Squirrel Cuckoo almost straight away, the remainder of the trail proved to be disappointing bird-wise. The only birds of note were singing House Wrens, a single Golden-crowned Warbler, and the funky Plush-crested Jays. The views of the falls were amazing though, despite the crowds, and it's fun to get up close and personal with them. In between the many Black Vultures there was the occasional Turkey Vulture and a single Snail Kite patrolling falls. The walkways also allow close views of the Great Dusky Swifts that breed right next to the roaring water. After playing tourist for a few hours I decided that my only chance to see some birds was to stay right until closing time, and try to find somewhere away from the crowds. This proved a more successful strategy and I soon encountered my first Picazuro Pigeon and Green-headed Tanagers. Arriving at the Cataratas hotel I noticed a side gate had been left open, which provided access to the jungle around the water purification system. This quiet spot was frequented by several Violet-capped Woodnymphs, thrushes and a gorgeous Chestnut-eared Aracari (my only one of the trip). At 5:30 most of the people had left the park and the birds finally came out. The Southern Lapwings, Tropical Kingbirds and Grey-breasted Martins in the hotel grounds were joined by more Woodnymphs and a Gilded Sapphire, and a large tree opposite the bus stop was graced by a pair of Scaly-headed Parrots, Swallow Tanagers and a male Violaceous Euphonia. A flyover group of Blue-winged Parrotlets was a nice surprise, and I was struck by their passerine-like calls. Finally, a couple of Plumbeous Kites were hunting around the park HQ and a Piratic Flycatcher welcomed me back to the hotel.
All in all not a bad day, but the crowds and lack of access make proper birding tricky on the Brazilian side of the falls. Still, 17 new species and couple of gorgeous ones at that! Argentina next...

Nice start

Thanks for posting.
We were lucky enough to stay in the Cataract Hotel right at the falls so had access early in the morning and after day trippers had left, as you say much better for birds and other wildlife.
We also had some excellent sighting from the roof top viewing and the trail behind the hotel, not sure of that is open to non residents.
From memory the Argentina side was better particularly the hummingbird garden.

Thanks David! The hotel looked nice and I remember thinking the quieter atmosphere there in the evening was perfect. Don't think the trail is normally accessible to the general public If you want any birding during the quiet hours you definitely need to stay inside the park (preferably the Argentinian side), or even better one of the dedicated lodges in Misiones (i.e. Yacutinga, Karadya).

Selva Iryapu "reserve" (21-26 Sep 2015)

Early morning on the 21st I transferred to Argentina, which was only a 20 minute taxi ride away. The border crossing was swift and painless (probably because there were no other tourists at 7 in the morning) and after a bit of broken Spanish and Google mapping I was dropped off at my hotel for the rest of the week.
Rather than stay in Puerto Iguazu itself, which has plenty of accommodation for all tastes and budgets, I had picked a hotel out of town, in the so-called "Selva Iryapu reserve". If you look on the map, this is the forested bit between town and the river, east of the main road {12}. The hotel website advertises the reserve as "an equilibrium between several resorts, ancient tribes, flora and fauna" and the Selva Iryapu Foundation to be striving for "development of sustainable tourism, recovery and care of the forest and the environment". What rapidly became clear upon arriving there, is that this whole foundation thing is a thinly veiled effort to convert a 600 ha section of forest into a tourist playground. The whole place has been carved up into forest blocks that are being partially cleared for new luxury "jungle" lodges. Given how endangered this ecoregion is, it is mind-boggling that this type of development is going ahead at all.
Either way, I was going to be there for a week so made the best of it by birding the forested area around the hotel, as well as a small wetland nearby. The birdlife was still reasonable and besides the local backyard species, I added Black-crowned Tityra and Magpie Tanager (neither of which I saw in the National Park proper), my first Creamy-bellied Thrushes and Sayaca Tanagers, as well as Rufous-capped Motmot, Planalto Woodcreeper, Streaked and Boat-billed Flycatcher, Pale-vented Pigeon, a gorgeous male Purple-throated Euphonia and a White-necked Puffbird (briefly glimpsed from a taxi on my final day). The main birds of prey were Roadside Hawk and the very common Plumbeous Kite. The wetland was surprisingly decent, despite being in heavy use by the locals. The water was full of Pied-billed and Least Grebes, Wattled Jacana and Common Gallinule, and Great Egret, Striated Heron, Limpkin and a small group of Brazilian Teal frequented the adjacent marshy vegetation. Finally, I had great views of Ashy-tailed Swifts hunting for insects in the early morning.
From the Selva Iryapu hotels you can either take a taxi to town or the falls, or walk down to the main road (which takes up to 20 min depending on where you are staying) and catch a bus (frequent and cheap). The fields and shrub along the dual carriageway yielded Smooth-billed Ani, Great Kiskadee, House Wren, Southern Lapwing, Saffron Finch, lots of pigeons as well as my first Brown-chested Martins. It was easy enough to flag down a non-tourist bus and after a slightly dodgy ride perched on the dashboard behind a cracked windscreen and next to a guy with a chainsaw, I arrived at the national park around half 9 - ready to spend the rest of the day on the famous Macuco trail.

Nice one Nohatch, love Iguazu :t:. Your White-necked Puffbirds are Buff-bellied these days by the way. Pretty sure it's been split by everyone from the ones in Central America and NW South America for a fair while :t:

My bad Larry - thanks for pointing that out!
Will try to post another update later on...

Joost