February 20, 2016
We surveyed two of our favorite bays today: Manao and Linao. A fair number of godwits but no FEGs.
We did get a bit of a treat today though. As we were leaving for our evening scan, we checked the bridge (as always) for good birds. I spotted a Plumbeous Rail off to our left. As I was trying to get G’s attention to show him he said, “Look Rose! Quick!”
There was a smallish mammal pulled out on a tree root/log. We watched it’s grayish face and webbed back feet as it gave itself a bath and groomed it’s right thigh. What a sight! We looked it up in our ‘Wildlife Guide to Chile’ when we got back - a Coipu!
Coipu is a species of rodent native to South America (also known as Nutria) and introduced into parts of the US. Myocastor coypus is the only member of the family Myocastoridae and Chiloé island has its own recognized subspecies! They were once hunted for the fur trade and have been introduced to several continents including the SE USA usually as part of failed fur farms.
At Linao, we were also treated to beautiful views of a cooperative Long-tailed Meadowlark. This was a species we had seen mostly from the car and we hadn’t gotten to spend any quality time with one. We were happy to find one perched on a fence post near where we wanted to park and spent ten or fifteen minutes watching him. They’re beautiful with dark brown backs and tails with a bright red breast and chin.
We surveyed two of our favorite bays today: Manao and Linao. A fair number of godwits but no FEGs.
We did get a bit of a treat today though. As we were leaving for our evening scan, we checked the bridge (as always) for good birds. I spotted a Plumbeous Rail off to our left. As I was trying to get G’s attention to show him he said, “Look Rose! Quick!”
There was a smallish mammal pulled out on a tree root/log. We watched it’s grayish face and webbed back feet as it gave itself a bath and groomed it’s right thigh. What a sight! We looked it up in our ‘Wildlife Guide to Chile’ when we got back - a Coipu!
Coipu is a species of rodent native to South America (also known as Nutria) and introduced into parts of the US. Myocastor coypus is the only member of the family Myocastoridae and Chiloé island has its own recognized subspecies! They were once hunted for the fur trade and have been introduced to several continents including the SE USA usually as part of failed fur farms.
At Linao, we were also treated to beautiful views of a cooperative Long-tailed Meadowlark. This was a species we had seen mostly from the car and we hadn’t gotten to spend any quality time with one. We were happy to find one perched on a fence post near where we wanted to park and spent ten or fifteen minutes watching him. They’re beautiful with dark brown backs and tails with a bright red breast and chin.