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guides and pelagic trips central chile (1 Viewer)

James Lowther

Well-known member
Hello all,
I will have some time travelling alone round central chile in late october and although i am happy to self-guide most of the time am tempted to get a guide for one or maybe two days for the more difficult sites and specialities, el yeso, la campana etc. Also the driving at el yeso sounds potentially quite nasty!
I would also love to go on a pelagic from e.g valparaiso but obviously being on my own the costs could well be prohibitive, so ideally i'd like to get a place on a boat with other people.

Does anyone have any recommendations for guides for single day trips or companies running pelagics which an individual might be able to join??

Some of the names i've come across include Aconcagua birding, Fantastico Sur, Birding Chle, Cascada Expeditions, Planeta Chile.

cheers,
James
 
Hi James,
I've gone on a pelagic tour off of Valparaiso with Aconcagua Birding and there were great. I would highly recommend them for the pelagic trip as well as any guiding in central Chile. The guides English is fine and I can guarantee that would have a great trip and a fun time.
Hope thats helpful.
Cheers
 
James,
there's the so called "Chile's observers net" (Red de observadores de Chile) better known as ROC, which organizes trips and even pelagics during the whole year. Some of their members are also quite experienced and higly qualified guides, e.g. Rodrigo Tapia from Aconcagua Birding, or Fabrice Schmitt, just to mention a couple of them I know and can definitely recommend.
Have a look at: http://www.redobservadores.cl/salidas.html
There you can see there are namely pelagics in Valparaíso programmed for October 2nd. and November 6th. Maybe one of them fits with your schedule.
 
Hello,

I did my travel without guide, because guided tour does not fit to my time frame.

My reports:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=170763

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=170790

Next birding place to Santiago is Rio Clarillo Reserve.
Not to far from airport is Lampa Reserve.
It should be the best place for Painted Snipe in Chile, but in case if it is dry the chance to see them is very low.

To El yeso is a rough street. With normal car drive very carefully.
But the way can be also blocked by debris avalanche.

Who knows the situation, no idea ?
Maybe the chief of the hut from Club Andino de Aleman ( the chief is from England ).
http://www.refugiolovaldes.com/ingles/ubicacion.htm


Best regards
Dieter
 
Hello,
the link provided by albatross02 is sure the most trustable for the issue. Let me just add a couple of comments to complement his tips:

- The most recent painted snipe I've had notice of was seeing last August at the Rio Maipo mouth, approx. 100 km W from Santiago. They remain to be rare anyway. There were reported also some 20 south american snipes (gallinago paraguaiae) in the same location. By the way, are you interested in specific/rare birds? There's a good collection of good spotting sites in the neighborhood of Santiago, but if you're focusing on some defined families or species, I could maybe provide you some hints.

- This year has been comparatively dry in Central Chile (say from Valparaíso to Concepción). As far as I've heard we lack currently over 20% water compared to average years. As albatross02 quotes, this will be noticeable especially in the case of seasonal streams and ponds, so if you're interested on some waterbirds, maybe you should move a little bit to the South.

Regards
 
many thanks Dieter and Guillermo,
i am not having any luck with guides (5 or 6 e-mailed, but no reply) so any help you can provide is very useful.
In central chile i am most interested in visiting el yeso for diademed sandpiper plover, crag chilia etc., also la campana (white-throated tapaculo, moustached turca, dusky-tailed canastero). Any information on how to find these birds is very welcome!
Probably i will also visit some wetlands, lampa, lago batuco, maipo estuary, el peral, cartagena etc., maybe also farellones, parque mahuida, rio de los cipreses etc.
many thanks,
James
 
Rio de los Cipreses was easy: talk to the ranger at the base where you pay the entry fee, drive or walk up to the trail to the lookout that give good if distant views of the parrots. The ranger looked sceptically at the car we were in (he had expected a 4WD), but we made it up and down without any ill effects on anything and within a relatively short time. Edit: do remember to stop just below the part to enjoy the birds along the little canal.

For Yeso and La Campana, we used a guide as you know and that was definitely worth it. If you have to go on your own you definitely need to know the voices of the specialities, either through Xeno-Canto or the excellent collection shown here (I cannot remember which vendor we got it from).

Niels
 
Last edited:
thanks Niels,
have downloaded recordings of all the tapaculos and endemic ovenbirds etc. so think i'm ok on that front, main worries at yeso are

a) getting past the reservoir in a hire car
b) knowing where to look for DSPs

would love a quote from a guide but it is weird - no replies whatsoever, maybe i've accidentally inserted a chilean swearword in my messages!

no response also means i'll miss out on a pelagic, but on the brightside, have seen all the albatrosses in kaikoura and will have more flexibility and time to see the landbirds (which i'll need with no guides..)!

I'll also be visiting the puerto montt/ chiloe area, but apart from Puyehue and Pinguinera Punihuil have no other firm ideas of sites - anyone got any tips for that part of the country??

cheers,
James
 
I have not been to that part of Chile, but the old essential birding guide mentions:
Near Chillan, a bit north of Puerto Montt: Parque National Laguna del Laja, Parque Nacional Nahuelbuta, and Vegas Blancas.
Nearer Puerto Montt: Puyehue, Ensenada-Ralun rd, and the areas close to town, and finally Chiloe Island.

Several reports I read included info on sections on these areas. A bit down in this thread is a little discussion of one good bird from Chiloe.

Niels
 
Hi James,
For your part of the trip in southern Chile, Chiloe will be great for shorebirds and maybe a couple pelagics on the ferry cross onto the island. You should still be able to see Chilean Flamingos.
Puyehue is a great place for rinocriptids and forests birds. Also some Magellanic Woodpecker families around.
If you are interested to travel a bit farther north to the Temuco area, on the coast at Puerto Saavedra there are plenty of shorebirds and waterfowl on Lake Budi just a few minutes from the beach.
And towards the Andes the snow should be receding and the migrants should be moving up into the mountains. Conguillio, Villarrica or Huequehue National Parks all have a great variety of species.
If you'd like to see a more detailed account of the species of the locations I just mentioned you can check it out at my blog.

PS: Hellmayr's Pipit was just recorded again over the weekend a few km out of Temuco. This pipit is a really good find for the area and its been coming back every year is sounds like. It has just a few record in Chile.
 
Hello,

I used The Essential Guide to Birding in Chile, Mark Pearman.
http://search.nhbs.com/catalogue/quicksearch
http://www.nhbs.com/title.php?tefno=11743

If nobody answered You mail, ask someone for send the mail in spanish language. Mostly the people do not answer english mails.

Lampa Reserve is also interesting if it is quite dry.
South 33 16,743
West 70 48,658

Parque National Lago Penualeas
is a weekend target for domestic people, but in the weeks rather quite and can be interesting to
33 10,520
71 30,848

La Campana
The last 6 km into the park is quite rough with normal car but possible.
I came from the north entry.
Dusky - tailed Canastero and Mustached Turca in the bushes at the hills
White - throated Tapaculo and Chilean Mockingbird in lower areas also near entry
Chilean Tinamo rather in lower areas
Giant Hummingbird is quite common

Worth to see for seabirds is also Rio Aconcagua river into the ocean, the south side from Concon.
I saw Inca Tern there, many Rynchops, a variety of other terns and gulls.






Best regards
Dieter
 
many thanks for your advice Dieter,
since yesterday i have had a couple of responses from guides. El Yeso should be possible but the pelagic will be too expensive unless there are some more passengers.
James
 
Hello James,
for the 4 species you mention I could also suggest the Yerba Loca National Park, about 1 h from Santiago towards the Andes. Especially for tapaculo and turca, you'll have a far better chance to get good pictures, elsewhere you should only hear them.
By the way, last weekend I spent in La Serena and thereabouts (approx. 500 NW from Santiago), where I could also get reasonable pictures of tapaculo, tinamou and miner, but that's maybe way too far for a trip. Anyway, if you want some more details on the path I did, just let me know.
 
Hello,
tonight I'll upload the pictures I got in La Serena. They are TBH better than those links njlarsen posted.

A couple of additional tips regarding guides and voices:
- The most complete bird guides I know (and use regularly) for Chilean birds:
- "Birds of Chile", by Alvaro Jaramillo, ISBN 13: 9780691117409, ~ US$ 65,-. Only for birds, but actually the most detailed regarding distribution, seasons, subspecies and field marks.
- "A Wildlife Guide To Chile", by Sharon Chester, ISBN 13: 9780691129761, ~ US$ 40,-. In this case you'll also get a good but not complete guide for mammals, amphibians, reptiles and flora
- The most comprehensive CD of Chilean birds voices: "Voces de Aves chilenas", by Guillermo Egli, ~ US$ 10,-
The prices are taken from the local market. You should be able to find similar prices through e.g. amazon.
 
Wow in so deep bush, so good pictures !
How do You made this ?

Buy they way, what kind of lens is needed for forest ( mm and light ) ?


Yerba Loca is interesting ( there are opening times ).
Farellones has some bushes and tree in the town and around where You can see different birds.
If You drive trough Farellones, You come trough a strong turn in the town.
Just before is a small unsealed way.
In this area I saw Hummingbirds and at the end also in the early morning and evening ( before it got dark ) a South American Snipe ( I also easy to hear ).

In Farellones I stay in the hut of club Andino.
it was very basic, but enough for 2 nights ( I had also a sleeping bag with, because it is quite cool in about 2.500 m altitude ).
Snow was from 3.000 m and higher middle of November.

Not so bad for bird life is also a small reserve in opposite of Refugio Aleman in Cayon del Maipo. Some birds came very near.
Further up in opposite of El Volcan I saw different ducks and a Condor quite near.


First picture I made at the lamp at the car rental at the airport !
 

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