Birds of the Centre and the South

Santiago

You are met on arrival and taken to your hotel in Santiago where you stay for three nights. As part of your transfer from the airport your guide introduces you to the area around your hotel, restaurants and places of interest. Relax, or perhaps take a birding walk in Parque Forestal.

Yerba Loca, Farellones and Batuco Wetlands

You are collected from your hotel by an English speaking local naturalist guide with a specialism in bird watching for a day of birding at three sites outside Santiago: Yerba Loca Sanctuary, Farellones and Batuco Wetlands. Target species are Giant Hummingbird and White-sided Hillstar, Chilean Tinamou, Tapaculo, endemic Moustached Turca, Andean Condor, endemic Crag Chilia, California Quail, Spot-billed White-browed and Cinerous Ground Tyrant, Great-shrike Tyrant, Grey-hooded and Band-tailed Sierra Finch, Scale-throated Earthcreeper, Rufous-banded and Creamy-rumped Miner, Burrowing Owl and Magellanic Horned Owl.

Maipo Canyon and El Yeso Valley

Today your bird guide takes you into the windy Cajón del Maipo canyon with rocky ridges studded with cacti and glacial springs, and then up to El Yeso Valley at 2500m for Torrent Duck and Diademed Sandpiper Plover. Other target species of the day include Chilean Mockingbird, Black-winged Ground Dove, Grey-flanked Cinclodes, Mountain Caracara, Red-backed Hawk, Mourning Sierra Finch, Grassland Yellowfinch, Yellow-rumped Siskin, Black-chested Buzzard Eagle, Grey-hooded Sierra Finch and second chances for Andean Condor, Magellanic Horned Owl, Crag Chilia and Moustached Turca.

Lake District: Vicente Pérez Rosales NP

You are collected from your hotel this morning by a Spanish-speaking driver and taken to Santiago airport for your flight to Puerto Montt where you are met by a local English speaking naturalist guide who specialises in bird watching. Your start your Lake District birding in the Vicente Pérez Rosales NP and end the day in Puerto Varas on the shore of Lake Llanquihue where you stay for two nights. You mainly focus on the target species of the region’s Valdivian forest. You should see Rufous-banded Miner, Des Mur´s Wiretail, Chucao and Magellanic Tapaculo, Chilean Pigeon, White-throated Treerunner, Black-throated Tapaculo, Magellanic and Striped Woodpecker, Chilean Flicker and Slender-billed Parakeet

Alerce Andino NP and Lahuen Ñadi

Your second day of birding in the temperate rainforest, this time in the beautiful Alerce Andino NP and Lahuen Ñadi Reserve where there are impressive stands of Fitzroya cypress which can live for thousands of years. Look for Black-throated Huet Huet, Ochre-flanked Tapaculo, Patagonian Sierra-Finch, and second chances for species missed yesterday. You could also see Darwin’s toad, colocolo opossum or monito del monte, hare and the best-avoided hog-nosed skunk or chingue.

Caulín, Chacao, Puñihuil and pelagics

Taking the ferry to Chiloé Island at Chacao you travel to Caulín Bird Sanctuary and beyond to bird along the intertidal coast and wetlands of this north part of the island. You visit the penguin colony of Puñihuil and take a pelagic trip into the Pacific. The day’s targets are Hudsonian Godwit, Franklin´s Gull, Pincoya Storm-Petrel (a new species), Ringed Kingfisher, Dark-bellied Cinclodes, Black-necked Swan, Speckled Teal, Chiloé Wigeon, Black Skimmer, Humboldt and Magellanic Penguin, Rock Shag, Imperial and Red-legged Cormorants, Black-browed and Salvin’s Albatross, Pink footed Shearwater, and Wilson´s Storm Petrel among others. You overnight on the island at a homestay in the Chepu area well-located for tomorrow’s birding; your room has a private bathroom.

Chepu River, Coluco, and wetlands

You start the day with a boat trip along the curious tidal Chepu river whose valley was created by an earthquake in 1960 when the ground sank by two metres. Here there are White-tufted and Great Grebe, White-necked Heron, Red-gartered Coots, and Great, Snowy and Cattle Egret. You navigate to Laguna Coluco for Brown-hooded Gull, Red Shoveler and other ducks. Your guide will help you choose which of three wetlands you should visit: Quilo or Pudeto on Chiloé on your way to the ferry, or Quenuir on the mainland after the crossing. Some of today’s other sightings might be Thorn-tailed Rayadito, Tufted Tit-tyrant, Flightless Steamer Duck, Southern Crested Caracara, Seaside Cinclodes, and South American Tern. Back on the mainland you are driven to Puerto Montt for your flight south to Punta Arenas, where you pick up your hire car at the airport for the short drive to your hotel in town.

Tierra del Fuego

An early start to be in line at the ferry terminal for the car-ferry over the Strait of Magellan to Porvenir, a small fishing town on the main island of Tierra del Fuego, where you stay for one night. There are good places for independent birding close to town at Laguna Santa Maria and Laguna Verde.

King Penguins

Taking the only road south out of town you drive to the King Penguin colony on the north shore of Bahia Inutil (see Day 8 of ‘Wildlife of the Far South’ on p44). Afterwards, you drive on, turning north to Cerro Sombrero and your hotel. The penguins are the day’s big attraction, but on your journey you may pick up common birds of the ‘cold steppe’.

Puerto Natales

You cross the narrowest part of the Strait of Magellan to Punta Delgada by car ferry, still in Chile. There is no fixed timetable, the ferry waits until it has enough vehicles. Back on the mainland you drive west by the main roads across the grasslands of the Patagonian steppe and up to Puerto Natales–a drive of 4h if you don’t stop. The roads are straight and open with light traffic so you should take breaks each hour to stay fresh: small lakes with flamingo, and rheas running across the steppe provide excuses. Arriving in Puerto Natales you check into your hotel with the rest of the day birding on the shore of the magnificent Last Hope Sound.

Torres del Paine NP

You have three days in Torres del Paine, amid spectacular scenery. Given plenty of notice we can arrange for you to be joined by a puma specialist guide for one of these days at extra cost. Driving into Torres de Paine NP at the western entrance at Rio Serrano you should stop at the Milodon Cave early on, and once in the park head up to the more forested, Lago Grey region, for most of today’s birding. Later, make your way across to your hotel in the eastern section where you stay for two nights.

Birding in Torres del Paine NP.

You could bird the whole day in the park or drive to an area of the Sierra Baguales along the Argentine border, for a hard chance of White-throated Caracara. End the day in Puerto Natales.

Humedal Tres Puentes, fly to Santiago

Birding on the shore of Last Hope Sound, then drive back to Punta Arenas. Try to allow time to stop at Humedal Tres Puentes, just north of Punta Arenas, for Ruddy-headed Goose. Drop your hire car at the airport and check-in for your flight back to Santiago. You are met on arrival and driven to a different section of the city for your final night.

Free to relax on your hotel’s rooftop terrace or explore the local neighbourhood. At the appropriate time you are collected from the hotel and transferred back to the international airport for your flight home.