Valparaiso Pelagic Trip

We were up early and walked from our hotel to the Wharf where our pelagic trip was to begin. I took my Gravol and steeled myself for the trip. Apparently this trip is usually much rougher than our first trip.

Guide Nelson Contardo on the right with some of our co-birders

We met a group of seven Chileans and their guide Nelson.  The plan was that Nelson would be the Spanish speaking guide and Lalo would be the English guide.  In the event, Lalo got pretty excited about the birds and would forget what language he was speaking, and Nelson would step in with the English.

Heading out the harbour we passed the tall ship Esmeralda, a training ship for the Chilean navy that has travelled the world.

Note the Esmeralda's figurehead:

The closest look we got of an Andean condor.

I just now read of the Esmeralda's dark past. She was a torture ship during the Pinochet years.

I did much better on this trip, hardly felt seasick at all and spent most of the trip on my feet looking at the birds.

Also they attracted the birds by chumming, throwing fish guts over the side of the boat.

(Apparently chumming doesn't work in the north).

The pelicans and gulls come flying in on a feeding frenzy.

It was fun to watch. The albatrosses are then attracted by other birds and fly in.

We saw 5 kinds of albatrosses. I can't honestly say I could distinguish them in the frenzy. But they are impressively large and magnificent.

 

Think this is a black-browed albatross with a sooty shearwater in the background.

Although this was a much better trip for me, 6 hours is still a long time on a boat.

Peruvian pelican landing

Salvin's albatross?

Pelicans at rest

Below is a royal albatross, one of the really big ones with a giant wingspan:

Gulls, pelicans and an albatross in front:

We also saw a large school of dolphins following a fishing boat. Too far away for a photo.

A highlight was seeing Humboldt's penguins in the water.

Cruising back into harbour:

Afterwards we had lunch at a seafood restaurant right on the wharf.

Nick enjoys caldillo de congrio and a last pisco sour before he flies home.

I had fried congrio (conger eel). Unlike the eel they smoke for unagi the flesh is not oily at all.  It's a delicious, meaty white fish.

Nick and Lalo had caldillo de congrio, a traditional fish stew, that Pablo Neruda wrote an ode to!  Had I only known!  In his home city!  But I was getting a little od'ed on seafood at this point. 

With an avocado and heart of palm salad on the side.

We then drove back to Santiago, stopping at the Parque Bicentenario to nab this guy:

The spot-flanked gallenule

This was a really beautifully landscaped park with ponds and planted marshlands.

They introduced some black-necked swans, native to Chile, but we were strongly cautioned by our guide not to count them on our species list!

Leo snuck a picture anyway!

The rest of the birds came here naturally, so counted:

Chiloe widgeon

Shiny cowbird

Monk parakeets are not native but have an established population so we could count them.

Monk parakeet feeding on jacaranda seedpods

Couldn't count the coi either!

Dinner was at Le Due Torri, an Italian restaurant.  Leo had gnocchi (fun fact, Chilean for gnocchi is ñoquis).

I had seafood canneloni, very good, but quite salty and the portion was enormous especially after having a large lunch.

And very pretty!

Total species seen: 41, Lifers:  10

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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