February 28, 2016
We decided to take today off last night. We had done an ‘extra’ scan last week and didn’t have any place scheduled for today. As we talked about options last night about where to go we realized - we were both exhausted!
We spent the morning sleeping in. G made up a scrumptious breakfast burrito (eggs, potatoes, and avocado). We entered a backlog of data together and then decided to go have some fun!
As we drove North from Castro, we talked about everything we wanted to make sure we did before we leave whether because we never got around to it or because we wanted one last memory. At the top of G’s list was birding 4-5 places - including a couple we’d never been to. We decided to spend the afternoon birding and getting one last “pie de limon” at our favorite cafe.
First stop - the humedales in Ancud. At our first stop, G found us a new Chile species almost immediately. It was behind a sand bar and G tried to get me to ID it.
I saw it briefly pop it’s black and white head up before ducking back down. I couldn’t place it. It flew and then I was able to see the whole bird - a Black-necked Stilt!! I’ve never seen one molting before, so I hadn’t recognized it.
We kept birding at a few spots - G found another Spot-flanked Gallinule - before we headed into town. We shared a pot of tea and a slice of lemon meringue pie (pie de limon) before picking up some groceries. G had a few more stops he wanted to make…
At the local shellfish market and fishing docks, G scanned the Peruvian Pelicans, Imperial Cormorants, and gulls. He spotted a few Dolphin Gulls (my first lifer of the trip that I found a few minutes after arriving on Isla Chiloé) and Magallenic Cormorants (which we see only here and on the big ferry crossing to Chiloé). I was entertained by the four guys fishing nearby. They were having quite a bit of success despite the lack of fishing poles! I was impressed by their skill with just some fishing line and bait - one fish after another!
G called me over to look at the spectacle of Sooty Shearwaters. We see these at nearly all the bays flying over the deep water at horizon or the mouth of the bays. They’re a common seabird in the Western Pacific Ocean as well as in the Atlantic Ocean. Here we’ve seen thousands, so I was a bit surprised he was calling me over to see them. But once I looked into the scope I understood, he was right - I’ve never seen numbers like this before. G estimated a constant stream of 1,200 shearwaters a minute - he put over 20,000 onto the eBird checklist. It was a very impressive showing!
We decided to take today off last night. We had done an ‘extra’ scan last week and didn’t have any place scheduled for today. As we talked about options last night about where to go we realized - we were both exhausted!
We spent the morning sleeping in. G made up a scrumptious breakfast burrito (eggs, potatoes, and avocado). We entered a backlog of data together and then decided to go have some fun!
As we drove North from Castro, we talked about everything we wanted to make sure we did before we leave whether because we never got around to it or because we wanted one last memory. At the top of G’s list was birding 4-5 places - including a couple we’d never been to. We decided to spend the afternoon birding and getting one last “pie de limon” at our favorite cafe.
First stop - the humedales in Ancud. At our first stop, G found us a new Chile species almost immediately. It was behind a sand bar and G tried to get me to ID it.
I saw it briefly pop it’s black and white head up before ducking back down. I couldn’t place it. It flew and then I was able to see the whole bird - a Black-necked Stilt!! I’ve never seen one molting before, so I hadn’t recognized it.
We kept birding at a few spots - G found another Spot-flanked Gallinule - before we headed into town. We shared a pot of tea and a slice of lemon meringue pie (pie de limon) before picking up some groceries. G had a few more stops he wanted to make…
At the local shellfish market and fishing docks, G scanned the Peruvian Pelicans, Imperial Cormorants, and gulls. He spotted a few Dolphin Gulls (my first lifer of the trip that I found a few minutes after arriving on Isla Chiloé) and Magallenic Cormorants (which we see only here and on the big ferry crossing to Chiloé). I was entertained by the four guys fishing nearby. They were having quite a bit of success despite the lack of fishing poles! I was impressed by their skill with just some fishing line and bait - one fish after another!
G called me over to look at the spectacle of Sooty Shearwaters. We see these at nearly all the bays flying over the deep water at horizon or the mouth of the bays. They’re a common seabird in the Western Pacific Ocean as well as in the Atlantic Ocean. Here we’ve seen thousands, so I was a bit surprised he was calling me over to see them. But once I looked into the scope I understood, he was right - I’ve never seen numbers like this before. G estimated a constant stream of 1,200 shearwaters a minute - he put over 20,000 onto the eBird checklist. It was a very impressive showing!