Drive to Valparaiso

Maipu River Outlet

Today we drove to Valparaiso with lots of birding stops along the way. The first step was the edge of a farmers field near the Maipo River Estuary.  We were here to find a black rail and we did. No photo though.  Heard but would not come out!

The thing that interested us here was the nature of the weeds.  

Flowers!

We saw the Chilean version of a Redwing blackbird:

Yellow-winged blackbird

And the grassland yellow-finch.

We moved onto a beautifully maintained nature sanctuary at the Maipo River Estuary.

A giant yellow lupine!

Some bird-themed artwork here.

Lots of gulls, terns and shorebirds to be seen.

Elegant terns

Also a rufous-tailed plantcutter.

Xx

And the much sought after many-coloured rush-tyrant, truly a beauty.  Which we don't have picture of, alas.  Not your usual drab flycatcher.

More attractive infrastructure at the

Our next stop was lunch at Puesta de Sol, a seaside restaurant in Las Cruces.

Here we had a really good seafood stew out on the deck

With a view of the beach

And the promise to see a lifer from our table.

Seaside Cinclodes

An endemic found only on the rocky north and central coasts of Chile. Also the biggest Chilean cinclodes.

Well, in that case, definitely worth a second photo!

We then drove a short distance to a marina where could see the Islote Pajaros nines.

Unfortunately, a causeway was built to the small colony of Humboldt's penguins that live there, allowing rats and other predators access.

My birthday present, a view of penguins through our guide's scope.

Onward to the Estero San Jeronimo in Algarrobo.

Here we walked over the bridge, peered down and saw the plumbeous rail with its handsome multi-coloured bill.

A Chilean mockingbird sat on the fence with an enormous apartment building behind.

We were delighted to call out this tiny striated bittern.

We then moved on higher up along the San Jeronimo River

In search of tapaculos.  I have to admit my patience was sorely tried as we waited for  these stealthy little birds to respond to our playback this late in the afternoon.  They respond to the call and start circling around you but never coming out of the underbrush for more than a second if at all.  

Fortunately we saw a few other cool birds, like this great shrike-tyrant, a really big flycatcher that hunts lizards.

 And the fire-eyed diucon, our first sighting of a bird we'd see often during the rest of our trip.

Flycatcher with a bright red eye

It was just getting dark when we arrived in Valparaiso, famous for its steep hillsides and funiculars and the home of Chile's great poet, Pablo Neruda.

We stayed at the Ibis hotel right on the harbour and a short walk from our boat trip tomorrow.

Dinner was at a fancy Peruvian restaurant.  The ceviche was excellent.  I had tacu tacu a lo macha

Which was a seafood sauce over a rice and bean pilaf, good but too salty, and Leo had a fettucine dish.

Then I got birthday cake and Feliz Cumpleanos sung by 4 professional waiters!

Image stolen from internet

Count: 69 species, 32 lifers