Southern Argentina part 4: Puerto San Julian to La
Angostura (23-24 November)
A continuation of my blog giving my take on a very enjoyable Ornis trip to Southern Argentina. Made so by a very high success rate and excellent leaders Chris Venetz and top Argentinian guide Hector Solongo, driver extraordinaire Pedro Chiesa the other participants very long time friend/travelling companion Nick Preston, Magnus Aurivillius, Lyn Capalad, Gordon Beck and Eric Shaw. We were getting to the make or break stage of the trip, at least for Nick and me, so tensions were rising.
Saturday 23 November 2024. Mostly a travel day, we departed at 07:15 and
drove over 300km west to Gobernador Gregores for an early lunch. Scenery was
generally monotonous for much of the journey although a few distant buttes made
the endless horizon more interesting and wouldn’t have looked out of place near
Monument Valley in Arizona. It was another 100km to Estancia La Angostura
where we were staying for two nights. Nine adult and 4 young Lesser Rheas,
2 flighty Chocolate-vented Tyrants and 12 Silvery Grebes were the most notable birds
seen on the journey. The latter were on a small roadside lake not far from our
destination although it wasn’t until we were out of the van that I realised how
strong (and cold) the wind had become. It made viewing/counting the grebes tricky
as they kept disappearing into troughs and hindered photography as I couldn’t
keep my camera still, not encouraging for our Hooded Grebe search the following
day. After a short diversion due to a locked gate we arrived at the very
pleasantly situated Estancia mid afternoon. After settling in we spent
the rest of the afternoon birding in the immediate vicinity concentrating on the
reed edges of the pools/overflowing creek beside the approach road in the hope
of seeing Austral Rail. The high water level left virtually no reed edge for
one to appear on and the strong wind probably wasn’t helping but an Austral Rail was enticed into view. My views were always at least partly
obscured although it did stick its head out nicely. Other birds seen during the
day, mostly at the Estancia, were 200 Upland Geese, 10 Crested Duck,
2 Silver Teal, 6 Chiloe Wigeon, 3 Yellow-billed Pintail, 2
Lake Duck, Eared Dove, 2 Red-gartered Coot, 2 Magellanic
Oystercatchers, 15 Southern Lapwings, Least Seedsnipe, Greater
Yellowlegs, a very distant Baird’s Sandpiper, 5 Black-faced Ibis,
3 male and 2 female Cinereous Harriers, Black-chested Buzzard Eagle,
3 Crested and 10 Chimango Caracaras, 4 Austral Negrito,
Spectacled Tyrant, 2 Chilean Swallows, Black-chinned Siskin,
4 Rufous-collared Sparrows and a Yellow-winged Blackbird. Hector and Pedro had arranged to drive us in two 4WDs onto the Strobel Plateau the following day as it would be ‘Hooded Grebe Day’. The species most of us wanted to see more than everything else and for Nick and me the main reason we’d returned to Argentina. A
rather tense evening followed as our guides weren’t as confident as we’d hoped. Melting heavier
than usual snowfall from the winter following years of drought made the grebes
much harder to find as there were many more pools on which they could be breeding. Hector
and Pedro were contacting surveyors working on the plateau but phone signals
were very erratic. The news they discovered we later learned was that only one Hooded
Grebe had been seen there in recent days and they couldn’t find out precisely
where it had been.
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| Buttes from the road to Gobernador Gregores |
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| male Cinereous Harrier at Estancia La Angostura |
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| male Cinereous Harrier at Estancia La Angostura (photo: Chris Venetz) |
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male Upland Goose at Estancia La Angostura (photo: Chris Venetz)
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Sunday 24 November 2024. Hooded Grebe Day, we hoped! After an early
breakfast we left Estancia La Angostura at 04:30 to drive up onto the
Strobel Plateau. Despite it still being fairly dark were pleasantly surprised
that the wind appeared to have dropped, although we were told it often picked
up as the day progressed. The grebes traditionally bred on small lakes high up on
the Strobel Plateau but were notorious for moving around depending on water
levels and the presence of reeds. The lakes were within two huge ranches that
made most of their money from luxury fly-fishing lodges for rich anglers after
introduced Rainbow Trout. They appeared to have limited interest in the grebes (trout
after all eat young grebes) but we’d permission to visit one of the ranches, at
a price, although not before 09:30. We had plenty of time for general birding and
Hector decided to have a look at a lower lake where he’d a grebe some years
before. We followed a rough track for some distance before reaching the northern
edge of a lake. It was about 2 x 0.5 km in size, flat as a mirror (no wind at
all!) with some birds on it. We started scanning and after a few minutes Chris
shouted ‘Hooded Grebe’ and got us onto a pair half way across the lake
and swimming our way! Fantastic and a huge relief all round. The grebes were
absolutely stunning with views exceeded all expectations. We spent about 90
minutes with the grebes considering there to be ten birds present in the
northern part of the lake. They were easy to pick up at distance thanks to the
mirror like condition of the lake but we couldn’t see past the middle where it
narrowed. We drove part way down but about half way the track deteriorated and
we walking to a ridge from where we could see the southern part of the lake. The
grebes weren’t any closer and all appeared to be to our north, including a very
loose group of seven. We returned to our original position and spent another
hour with the Hooded Grebes, obtaining even better views (something I’d
not thought possible) and again counting ten although there could have been
more present. They seemed to be well advanced in forming pairs. Hector thought
this was a transitory stop for them before heading up to the plateau proper as
the lake didn’t appear suitable for breeding due to a lack of reeds. Also on
the lake was a selection of wildfowl that I didn’t pay much attention to and 15
Silvery Grebes, themselves quite smart until compared to Hooded. We
returned to the Strobel plateau access road which became increasingly rough and
stopped at a much smaller lake for a lunch break before slowly heading back. I
saw 5 Lesser Rheas, 2 Flying Steamer Duck, 19 Tawny-throated
Dotterel (one with two chicks), 10 Two-banded Plover, 13 Hudsonian
Godwits, 3 Wilson’s Phalaropes, 75 Baird’s Sandpipers, 6 Least
Seedsnipe, 2 Andean Condors, White-throated Caracara, 4 Common
and a Short-billed Miner, 2 Scale-throated Earthcreepers, Cordilleran
Canastero, Cinnamon-bellied Ground Tyrant, excellent views of 2 Chocolate-vented
Tyrants and 2 Greater Yellow Finches. We returned to Estancia
La Angostura at 17:30 and tried again for Austral Rail although I only
heard one. Other birds seen were 20 Coscoroba and 2 Black-necked
Swans, 100 Upland Geese, 40 Crested Duck, 5 Chiloe Wigeon,
10 Yellow-billed Pintail, 3 Eared Doves, 2 Red-gartered Coot,
40 Chilean Flamingos, 10 Southern Lapwings, Black-faced Ibis,
male and female Cinereous Harriers, 5 Chimango Caracaras, 5 Austral
Negritos, 2 Spectacled Tyrants, 2 Chilean Swallows, 6 Rufous-collared
Sparrows and 4 Yellow-winged Blackbirds.
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