Wild Patagonia & Central Chile
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WILD PATAGONIA & CENTRAL CHILE: PUMAS, PENGUINS, CONDORS & MORE! NOVEMBER 1–18, 2019 Pumas simply rock! This year we enjoyed 9 different cats! Observing the antics of lovely Amber here and her impressive family of four cubs was certainly the highlight in Torres del Paine National Park — Photo: Andrew Whittaker LEADERS: ANDREW WHITTAKER & FERNANDO DIAZ LIST COMPILED BY: ANDREW WHITTAKER VICTOR EMANUEL NATURE TOURS, INC. 2525 WALLINGWOOD DRIVE, SUITE 1003 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78746 WWW.VENTBIRD.COM Sensational, phenomenal, outstanding Chile—no superlatives can ever adequately describe the amazing wildlife spectacles we enjoyed on this year’s tour to this breathtaking and friendly country! Stupendous world-class scenery abounded with a non-stop array of exciting and easy birding, fantastic endemics, and super mega Patagonian specialties. Also, as I promised from day one, everyone fell in love with Chile’s incredible array of large and colorful tapaculos; we enjoyed stellar views of all of the country’s 8 known species. Always enigmatic and confiding, the cute Chucao Tapaculo is in the Top 5 — Photo: Andrew Whittaker However, the icing on the cake of our tour was not birds but our simply amazing Puma encounters. Yet again we had another series of truly fabulous moments, even beating our previous record of 8 Pumas on the last day when I encountered a further 2 young Pumas on our way out of the park, making it an incredible 9 different Pumas! Our Puma sightings take some beating, as they have stood for the last three years at 6, 7, and 8. For sure none of us will ever forget the magical 45 minutes spent observing Amber meeting up with her four 1- year-old cubs as they joyfully greeted her return. Or the whole family of 5 Pumas sleeping off a big Guanaco meal, plus a lone 1.5 year female only some 100m away. There is no other place on our planet where you could stand and observe 6 Pumas in one field of view! Better still, they were completely unperturbed by our presence, behaving normally and showing off the fascinating antics of a Puma family. Despite the bitter cold and dampness on the remote hillside, this moment will forever live etched in our memories. Sadly, the youngster playing with a stone was so unique that not even the trackers had seen this behavior before and were elated at being able to document it. Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 2 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 Chile is full of spectacular scenery especially in the world-famous Torres del Paine National Park, rightly often described as the 8th Wonder of the World — Photo: Andrew Whittaker Our Chile trip also offers the unique opportunity to experience not one but TWO springs in a year, always providing a super abundance of colorful and exotic wildflowers from orchids and incredible Puya Bromeliads to the dainty and exquisite Calceolaria species, plus mostly glorious sunny spring weather. Topping off these delights of Chile were the scrumptious and plentiful seafoods, barbecued lamb, and wine—really, can life get any better! Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 3 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 A fine barbecue of Golden Lamb prepared in Chilean style! – Photo: Andrew Whittaker Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 4 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 Chile, to me, is very similar to some European countries, really unlike any other South American country, and a trip to enjoy its abundant wildlife alone is truly a must. However, there is so much more to this delightful country other than its wildlife: experiencing its incomparable Andean and Patagonian scenery, especially at the famous Torres del Paine National Park (often described as the 8th Wonder of the World); crossing the famous Magellan Straits to visit and bird Tierra del Fuego, “the land of fire”; and the region’s stunning wilderness of the Patagonian Steppe. Chile simply rocks! It is a must destination for any nature lover to put on their bucket list, as they will instantly fall in love with this spectacular country and its wildlife. Migrating south from Brazil to Chile is always such a privilege. I just love being able to share this wonderful country and its incredible nature. Even though this year’s Chilean spring was a little later than normal, we had almost perfect weather apart from a wet day and a half in Patagonia. However, it was warmer than normal in the far south, despite a later spring! Our action-packed Chile tour surpassed my greatest expectations, and Fernando and I enjoyed every moment sharing it with you all. We began on a high note in the delightful scenic Andean slopes just outside Santiago, first scoring on a quick trio of cool endemic tapaculos: the great sounding and cool-looking Moustached Turca, the skulkier White- throated Tapaculo, and then we nailed the Dusky Tapaculo too! Sadly, the incredibly dry spring caused us to miss the Chilean Tinamou. What a fine first few hours of birding, including the Mockingbird and Dusky-tailed Canastero—5 endemics, not too shabby a start at all! Endemic and enigmatic Moustached Turca has such a great song — Photo: Andrew Whittaker Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 5 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 This year the spring flowers were again to die for, a vibrant kaleidoscope of amazing colors and hues; we enjoyed countless California Poppies, great studies of several orchid species, and not one but 3 different colorful flowering Puya bromeliads! Our magical Bluetooth speakers worked a treat on some skulkers, and just before lunch we managed to find a magnificent Magellanic Horned Owl on its daytime roost. For lunch we arrived at a wonderful restaurant with a panoramic view of the snow-capped peaks of Valle Nevado (the valley of snow). Here we had our first soaring Andean Condors of the day. Plus, the cute Mountain Viscacha was found on nearby rocks sunning itself. What a bizarre critter—half wallaby, half rabbit, with something more thrown in! After a great meal we continued upwards past blue-hued mountain streams for another exciting stop at 3,000m, which produced good studies of an array of miners including an exceptionally confiding Creamy-rumped Miner, Black-fronted Ground-Tyrant, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, and flocks of Greater Yellow-Finches. Sadly, this year we only heard an almost certain as yet unnamed tapaculo species singing at 3,000m surrounded by snow! Here instead we enjoyed our first close-up Andean Condors and the odd Coruro (an all black groundhog look-alike with long yellow canines) colony doing some spring cleaning of their burrows. On our way down we enjoyed great studies of the impressive White-sided Hillstar feeding unperturbed at flowers and offering great studies. We also enjoyed great looks at the very cute Culpeo Fox along the roadside as we descended back into Santiago. We enjoyed magnificent views of the enormous Andean Condor — Photo: Andrew Whittaker Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 6 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 The next day we left the capital, traveling south on the wonderful modern freeway and passing through the rich central valley, a famous wine producing area with stunning snow- capped peaks to our left forming the backbone of this lovely country. At our next stop we enjoyed flocks of Black-faced Ibis in a field and colorful Chiloe Wigeons on a lakeshore. However, the exotic Burrowing Parrots displaying their glorious colors won our hearts as they commuted back and forth to nesting burrows in the river bank! We even had several flocks pass so close just above our heads! Our search for the magnificent Torrent Duck rewarded us with great scope views of a lovely pair. We also enjoyed a neat couple of pairs of cool-looking and extremely localized Spectacled Ducks and some truly neat terrestrial orchids. While enjoying a close view of one of these magnificent green Puya flowers, a Giant Hummingbird obligingly arrived (one of its favorites) – Photo: Andrew Whittaker Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 7 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 Spectacular Andean peaks loomed in the distance as we climbed through the scenic forested slopes of Southern Beech to arrive at our comfortable forested lodge in the magnificent Altos de Lircay National Park. Here we enjoyed the late evening in the lovely gardens with White-throated Treerunner, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, and Patagonian Sierra- Finch, as well as the swarms of Firecrowns on the hummingbird feeders before being treated like kings to a great family-prepared banquet. The amazing male Green-backed Firecrown is well named and at the feeders. We enjoyed several great looks at spectacular males! — Photo: Andrew Whittaker We had nonstop action the next day in these stunning old growth Nothofagus forests, home to one of the world’s classiest woodpeckers, the Magellanic, of which we managed breathtaking views! Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 8 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 We enjoyed observing the antics of a pair of the magnificent Magellanic Woodpeckers foraging in these awesome forests — Photo: Andrew Whittaker The forest floor was often covered with tiny, delicate white dog orchids as the wondrous songs of the highly sought-after Chestnut-throated Huet-huet echoed through the valleys. After some hard work we managed terrific views of this dramatic, normally skulking brightly colored beast of a tapaculo not just once but twice, right out in the open crossing the road to our pair of speakers! Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 9 Wild Patagonia & Central Chile, 2019 Inviting well-kept forested trails rewarded us with a magnificent variety of species: Austral Parakeet, Striped Woodpecker, several odd-looking Patagonian Tyrants, Chilean Pigeon, and, best of all, a great soaring White-throated Hawk! After our scrumptious picnic, we found the exorbitantly colored Green-tailed Tree Iguana.