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<blockquote data-quote="Jos Stratford" data-source="post: 3518244" data-attributes="member: 12449"><p><strong><u>17 December. Portillo.</u></strong></p><p></p><p>With a pelagic trip scheduled for the 18th, today I had a day to kill. Though excellent for birds, the coast was a little bit tame, I really yearned to return to the high snow caps of the Andes. So, having seen all my targets on the coast, I opted for a day trip to Portillo, a high altitude area abutting the Argentine border some 85 km north-east of Santiago. A two-and-a-half hour journey from the coast, I was nevertheless winding up the final approach roads soon after dawn, a roadside <strong>Dark-bellied Cinclodes</strong> one of the first birds of the day. At 3000 m, a half dozen kilometres from the border, I stopped at a small ski resort and began exploring. And super it was, quite a complement to Farellones and El Yeso – as at the previous sites, plenty of <strong>White-browed Ground-Tyrants</strong>, <strong>Cinereous Ground-Tyrants </strong>and <strong>Rufous-banded Miners</strong>, plus six <strong>Scale-throated Earthcreepers</strong> and about 20 <strong>Greater Yellow-Finches</strong>, but added extras included four <strong>White-sided Hillstars </strong>and at least 15 <strong>Black-fronted Ground-Tyrants</strong>. Several <strong>Brown Hares</strong> here too.</p><p></p><p>After a while, I zigzagged up the road to the border post and walked a small track leading to the right. Sparce birdlife here at the slightly higher elevation, but did manage one very good bird in particular – after a couple of<strong> Rufous-banded Miners</strong>, up flitted a miner with a nice pale rump ... high altitude specialist <strong>Creamy-rumped Miner!</strong> The track I was on however was descending towards a bunch of barracks and army trucks ...thinking it probably not too good an idea to wander straight into a military camp on an international border whilst loaded with optics, I retraced my route and returned to the car, thereafter driving a few kilometres back down the mountain to a broad area of flat meadow aside a small stream. Excellent spot, both <strong>Buff-winged</strong> and <strong>Grey-flanked Cinclodes</strong> along the stream, a male <strong>Torrent Duck</strong> and in the scrubby stuff a bunch of <strong>Black-winged Ground-Doves</strong>, two stonking <strong>Thick-billed Siskins</strong>, a couple of dozen <strong>Yellow-rumped Siskins </strong>and two <strong>Plumbeous Sieera-Finches</strong>.</p><p></p><p>Remarkably however, as at El Yeso, I failed to find further Andean Condors ...only raptors this day were two <strong>Variable Hawks</strong> and one <strong>Mountain Caracara</strong>.</p><p></p><p>With that, it now middle afternoon, I turned tail and headed back to the coast, a slightly slower journey with traffic.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jos Stratford, post: 3518244, member: 12449"] [B][U]17 December. Portillo.[/U][/B] With a pelagic trip scheduled for the 18th, today I had a day to kill. Though excellent for birds, the coast was a little bit tame, I really yearned to return to the high snow caps of the Andes. So, having seen all my targets on the coast, I opted for a day trip to Portillo, a high altitude area abutting the Argentine border some 85 km north-east of Santiago. A two-and-a-half hour journey from the coast, I was nevertheless winding up the final approach roads soon after dawn, a roadside [B]Dark-bellied Cinclodes[/B] one of the first birds of the day. At 3000 m, a half dozen kilometres from the border, I stopped at a small ski resort and began exploring. And super it was, quite a complement to Farellones and El Yeso – as at the previous sites, plenty of [B]White-browed Ground-Tyrants[/B], [B]Cinereous Ground-Tyrants [/B]and [B]Rufous-banded Miners[/B], plus six [B]Scale-throated Earthcreepers[/B] and about 20 [B]Greater Yellow-Finches[/B], but added extras included four [B]White-sided Hillstars [/B]and at least 15 [B]Black-fronted Ground-Tyrants[/B]. Several [B]Brown Hares[/B] here too. After a while, I zigzagged up the road to the border post and walked a small track leading to the right. Sparce birdlife here at the slightly higher elevation, but did manage one very good bird in particular – after a couple of[B] Rufous-banded Miners[/B], up flitted a miner with a nice pale rump ... high altitude specialist [B]Creamy-rumped Miner![/B] The track I was on however was descending towards a bunch of barracks and army trucks ...thinking it probably not too good an idea to wander straight into a military camp on an international border whilst loaded with optics, I retraced my route and returned to the car, thereafter driving a few kilometres back down the mountain to a broad area of flat meadow aside a small stream. Excellent spot, both [B]Buff-winged[/B] and [B]Grey-flanked Cinclodes[/B] along the stream, a male [B]Torrent Duck[/B] and in the scrubby stuff a bunch of [B]Black-winged Ground-Doves[/B], two stonking [B]Thick-billed Siskins[/B], a couple of dozen [B]Yellow-rumped Siskins [/B]and two [B]Plumbeous Sieera-Finches[/B]. Remarkably however, as at El Yeso, I failed to find further Andean Condors ...only raptors this day were two [B]Variable Hawks[/B] and one [B]Mountain Caracara[/B]. With that, it now middle afternoon, I turned tail and headed back to the coast, a slightly slower journey with traffic. [/QUOTE]
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