birding-aus

South Atlantic and Chile

To: "birding-aus" <>
Subject: South Atlantic and Chile
From: "Peter Madvig" <>
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 16:45:44 +1100
Penny Drake-Brockman wrote marvellously in late 2004 about her trip to the Antarctic and parts of South America.
 
I shall therefore only give a brief glimse of our trip in Jan/Feb of this year, but please feel free to contact me directly should you require information on field guides or the wonderful folk (publishers themselves) who looked after us in Chile. We did that second trip rather exclusively, with my in-laws from Botswana, and even tho' we did not want to rush from bird to bird, taking time to photograph or simply to savour the birding moments (such as Torrent Ducks in 'action'), scenery, and even places in towns with hospitable Chileans, there is hardly a bird we 'missed out' on!!
 

We flew to Ushuaia in the very south of Argentina, in Tierra del Fuego at ?Fin del Mondo? ? the end of the world! Here we boarded the 54 passenger, Russian ?Polar Pioneer? and sailed forth on a 19 day cruise exploring the South Atlantic ? more specifically parts of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, the South Orkneys and South Shetlands, and finally the Antarctic Peninsula. 

 

The scenery was magnificent ? words fail me! We have seen Penguins that we shall never forget, big and small, young and old ? King, Gentoo, Chinstrap, Adélie, Magellanic, Rock-hopper, Macaroni ? the sight and sounds are indelibly imprinted on our memories?..as are the smells! We made something in the order of 22 landings in Zodiacs, climbing past vast numbers of Fur ? and Elephant Seals to get to the nesting places of immense Wandering Albatross and courting, charming Light-mantled Sooty Albatross.

 

We visited the places where Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men had been on that fateful expedition with the ?Endurance? in 1914-17:- Elephant Island, as well as the bays in the north of South Georgia which formerly harboured the Norwegian whaling and sealing stations. At Grytviken, most of the rusting remains of that industry which bear witness to this gruesome trade have been removed. What still stands, appropriately, is the restored and rededicated Norwegian timber church from 1913; visitors are encouraged to ring the bells which sound most beautiful and carry over the fjord. The scientists of the British Antarctic Survey station nearby no doubt make use of the church.

 

We Zodiac-cruised in Antarctic fjords among icebergs and the odd Humpback Whale. The peace and quite were almost audible in this pristine wilderness. Visiting both an Argentine and British scientific stations (posting cards in Port Lockroy?s red mailbox ? might take months for them to be processed!), we reached our most southern point at 64ْ 58? 336? S. When returning to Ushuaia, we passed the ominous bastion of Cape Horn. 

 

Well, being in that part of the world, we had decided to see some more of South America and duly set out on a 19 day guided, birding trip of Chile, from south to north, from Patagonia?s windswept steppes and the spectacular Andean mountains and fjords, from Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine?s peaks to Puerto Montt?s volcanic cones, to central Chile with Santiago, Valparaiso and an imposing Cordilleran range. To the arid desert lands of Arica and heights of the north, interspersed by oasis-like valleys; we even ascended to over 4.500 meters to reach the Altiplano in search of birds. We saw all manner of ?aves?, Hummingbirds and geese, amazing Magellanic Woodpeckers and Inca Terns, rare plovers and plunging Torrent Ducks, and?the giant, Andean Condor!

 

 
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