NYC, Connecticut and Argentina (1 Viewer)

MKinHK · May 20, 2018

Our second hummingbird garden was well known enough to be on the tourist maps and Tripadvisor. Located on another quiet street in Puerto Iguazu the owners have been hanging feeders for more than 30 years and for a few dollars open their garden to visitors. Here the diversity is greater, with Scale-throated and Planalto Hummingbirds – both with long white tail streamers, but the former bronzy-green and the latter more cinnamon-tinged, the wonderfully named Black-throated Mango and the emerald and green White-throated Hummingbird and Fork-tailed Woodnymph all added to the mix. Other birds here included a couple of the tiny Ruddy Ground Doves, Shiny Cowbirds, a female Violaceous Euphonia and a Sharp-shinned Hawk on sentry duty in a nearby tree. The owner mentioned something about a different race of Versicoloured Emerald that has recently come down from Brazil. He showed me birds of both supposed races, but my Spanish was not really up to fully understanding the differences.

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK · May 22, 2018

The real reason for going to Igauzu is of course the justifiably famous waterfalls. While this was Carrie’s top choice of destination (once we learned that the penguin colonies further south had already dispersed and the likelihood of Orcas was small) I was perfectly happy as the falls are set in good forest and the national park surrounding them boasts a very good list of birds.

Having said that we made pretty hard work of the birding, at least in the initial part of our visit. A late start did not help, but having arrived and seen an unidentified raptor from the train then failed to see almost a single bird walking alongside the railway line towards the Devil’s Throat lookout. We were distracted by a spectacular gathering of several hundred butterflies by some pools in the road that presumably held some sort of minerals, but did not see any birds until catching the tail end of a couple of Red-rumped Caciques and some Plush-crested Jays as we approached the station. The walk out along the boardwalk produced Great and Snowy Egrets, a Limpkin hunting the shallows above the falls and both giant catfish and a couple of very large turtles, which were loitering with intent to be fed by the many visitors.

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK · May 22, 2018

Above the falls, which were indeed a magnificent spectacle, a flock of 80 or so Black Vultures waited for any hapless animals or careless tourists to be swept over the falls and into the maelstrom below. I was unable to get good enough views to do anything with one of the larger crested Flycatchers. After stopping for some rather poor empanadas at the Devil’s Throat train station we took the train to the stop for the lower paths and were delighted to find groups of ring-tailed Coatisand Black Capuchin monkeys hanging round the picnic tables. The forest was beginning to wake up and as we headed across a lawn past the park HQ a sudden burst of life brought us pointy-billed Chopi Blackbirds, and a tree that contained a dazzling Green-headed Tanager - a bird that absolutely epitomises rainforest birding - plus male and female Chestnut-bellied Euphonias, and one of the yellow and purple Euphonias that I did not see well enough to nail to species.

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK · May 22, 2018

The walk to the lowest viewing platforms struck more gold in the form of an incredibly approachable Toco Toucan. Having had the briefest views at the airport this was a far more enjoyable sighting as the bird hung around for more than five minutes before flying decoratively away across a background of crashing waterfalls. It was when I was right on the end of the viewing platform that the first Great Dusky Swift zipped overhead and disappeared behind the nearest waterfall. Over the next ten minutes this happened three or four times and then just as we were leaving a screaming horde of thirty or so swifts burst out and zoomed away as if living behind thousands of tonnes of pounding water was the most natural thing in the world. Futher quality came in the form of more Toco Toucans flying between the vertical islands of forest between the falls, and perching perfectly with the falls in the background. With the floodgates now well and truly open a smart trio of Chestnut-eared Aracaris appeared in a treetop, adding one more classic forest bird to my list.

As we headed out we decided not to go back to the railway, but walk out instead past the big hotel. This proved a very good move as the bare trees on the lawns were really attractive to birds. The big highlights were a beautiful gold and black barred Field Flicker on the lawn and a wonderful pair of Yellow-fronted Woodpeckers defending what was presumably their nesting hole from a Plush-crested Jay. I missed the action with the camera, but nonetheless nailed some decent shots of this lovely yellow, black, white and red woodpecker in wonderfully warm late afternoon light.

Cheers
Mike

Paul Chapman · May 22, 2018

Simply stunning. Particularly enjoyed the vultures against the waterfall.

Many thanks

MKinHK · Jun 1, 2018

Many thanks Paul - there's a little more to come:

My last real birding was a fantastic morning at the Costanera Sur https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Costanera_Sur_Ecological_Reserve nature reserve, which was a swift quarter of an hour’s walk from the hotel, in the posh riverside part of Buenos Aires. One of the world’s best urban reserves, CS is some 250 hectares of lagoons, reedbeds, mature trees and canals perched on the banks of the Rio Plata, overlooked rather incongruously by a phalanx of silver skyscrapers. By way of context CS is about the same size as Mai Po, Hong Kong’s premier wetland reserve, where the high rises are all at least a few kilometres away.

Arriving shortly after the 8am opening time at the north entrance I immediately started seeing birds – the sky above offering a flyover of three Coscoroba Swans, my only Roseate Spoonbill of the trip and a gull that was little more than a distant speck.

Walking first along the northern edge of the reserve, with occasional glimpses of a shaded canal on the left and thicker vegetation on the right male and female Golden-billed Saltators, Black-and-rufous Warbling Finch, a fine male Red-crested Cardinal, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper, Blue-and-Yellow Tanager and a Red-crested Finch which surprised my by being a dark red finch with a slightly spiky crown stripe – not a colour combination I’ve come across before.

A quick look out across the enormous mouth of the muddy-brown river produced only a couple of egrets, and another gull too distant to be identifiable, but I was almost immediately distracted y a flock of fifty or so dark-faced Nanday Parakeets. While I understand that they are feral in Buenos Aires they were still a wonderful sight, especially as they allowed close approach as they browed on the lawn and flensed the petals from a small red-flowered tree.

Here and there in shadier spots along the pathways I found usually solitary Golden-crowned Warbler, for which I had earlier mistaken the much more specialized Two-banded Warbler in Salta on my first morning’s birding. Finding a golden Crown was far from straightforward, but the might just be one feather in the attached pic!

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK · Jun 1, 2018

I was glad to have been pre-warned that the main lagoons are not always flooded as I was less disappointed to find them full of reeds and grass but essentially dry. There were still plenty more birds and over the next hour or so I enjoyed getting to grips with the nearly, an ivory-billed Solitary Black Cacique, the nearly all-black Epaulet Oriole, Unicoloured Blackbird, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, an elegantly photogenic Masked Gnatcatcher, Checkered Woodpecker, two curious Green-barred Woodpeckers perching incongruously on the tall pampas grass, and the shrike-babbler-like Black-capped Warbling Finch.

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK · Jun 2, 2018

What I think is a Bay-shouldered Hawk was frustratingly backlit against the reedbeds on the right of the path. I keep thinking that this was a much larger bird than the other more accipiter-like Bay-shouldered Hawk I saw in the main square at Cafayate. Maybe seeing Andean Condor that day had messed up my sense of scale!

Peering through the occasional openings between the trees on the other side of the path I was delighted to finally find some waterbirds on the broad canal that runs along the landward boundary of the reserve. These were headed by an imposingly large Maguari Stork and several Southern Screamers – much more satisfying than the drive-by views on the bus from Iguazu. Wattled Jacanas stalked, chestnut brown, across the floating green carpet of water hyacinth, while Silver Teal, Ringed Teal and Rosy-billed Duck dozed in the midday sunshine. The final significant bird of the day was a Rufescent Tiger Heron lurking in a tree above the water, which recalling the wonderful American Bittern in a bare tree in chilly Central Park three weeks earlier, made a satisfyingly symmetrical end to the trip.

Many thanks to everyone who has stuck with this report to the end. Your comments and insights, especially into the Central Park birding scene, considerably add to the enjoyment as I pull it together.

As usual, anyone interested in any logistical details please feel free to PM me.

Cheers
Mike

Jos Stratford · Jun 2, 2018

Truly a good read, and quite some envy as I ambled through many of the posts. Still on my list of places to go!

viator · Jun 2, 2018

Thanks for sharing - sounds like a great trip to do.

pbjosh · Jun 7, 2018

Nice report, thanks for sharing. Nicely done getting Unicolored Blackbird at Costanera Sur. It certainly is there, at least at times. Scarlet-headed Blackbird has been seen lately, so perhaps with recent rains and more water the past few weeks some birds have moved...

MKinHK · Jun 8, 2018

Thanks Joss, Viator and pbjosh for your kind words.

Here's a pic of the blackbird - I'd be very happy to be corrected.

Cheers
Mike

JWN Andrewes · Jun 8, 2018

I seem to recall struggling a bit with distant black looking icterids when I visited, and found the females more distinctive. Some Yellow-winged seemed all black at rest, not showing any yellow until they flew.

pbjosh · Jun 8, 2018

I actually wasn't meaning to question your Unicolored Blackbird - they do definitely turn up there at times!

However, the photo you posted looks more like Variable Oriole to me - thinner bill, longer tail, more slender build, and notably it has more forehead than Unicolored Blackbird tends to. Also note that Unicolored Blackbird will generally be strictly in reeds. If that tree was directly over reeds it might use it, but they won't be out of the reeds by any distance...

MKinHK · Jun 9, 2018

Very happy to have my ID questioned - as he was my first trip to S America I have no illusions of competence!

I agree that the structure of this bird looks better for the oriole, but on the other orioles I saw I was always able to see the rust shoulder patch. The bird in the pic is not silhouetted - it's just really really black! I've played around with the shadow and exposure and could not bring up a hint of colour or even a paler patch on the shoulder - hence my original ID.

The tree it was in was right next to the reeds in the northern lagoon.

Here's another pic of what I'm pretty sure is a blackbird - another all-black bird with a heftier-looking bill. I'd welcome your thoughts on the ID.

Cheers
Mike

pbjosh · Jun 9, 2018

Having another look, I still think that structurally the photo you posted in post #52 is a Variable Oriole. There is age and individual variation in how much color there is on the shoulder, and depending on posture the color does not always show.

For the second bird, it does look more like a Blackbird with a heavier bill, more robust body, and shorter tail. It could be Yellow-shouldered or Unicolored from what I can see. I would just comment that Yellow-shouldered can also show no yellow on the shoulder when perched (though seeing it in flight will quickly answer the question, you cannot miss the yellow in flight). I don't think I have enough of an innate grasp of the jizz of the two species to suggest that your photo looks more like one than the other to me.

MKinHK · Jun 12, 2018

Many thanks pbjosh - we need the mysteries to keep it interesting . . .

Cheers
Mike

temmie · Aug 17, 2018

I really enjoyed reading this. Like many above, Argentina (both North and South) is high on the wish list, having birded quite often in the Andes from Venezuela to South-Peru.
It really seems like another 'fresh' and new habitat with mostly new birds in a continent I totally feel at home.

One little remark: Torrent duck is geographically variable and some subspecies can be readily separated in the field (e.g. the Chilean one is much darker). While I don't think they will be split anytime soon, they make for good subspecies, so next time you are in S-America (e.g. Chile or Ecuador), you can add 'another' Torrent duck to your list

MKinHK · Aug 17, 2018

Many thanks Temmie.

I certainly saw enough of S America to want to go back , and will definitely look out for other races of Torrent Duck.

Cheers
Mike

NYC, Connecticut and Argentina (1 Viewer)

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