January 22, 2016
We took the morning off to go birding while we were on the mainland. The tide times weren’t conducive to where we needed to survey anyway. And, the mainland has a few ‘lifers’ for me that are either really hard to get on Chiloé or don’t occur there.
We drove north of Puerto Montt towards Lago Llanquihue. It’s a huge lake with a couple of communities around it including the tourist destination of Puerto Varas, which looks out over the lake to Volcan Osorno.
We headed just north of there to Río Maullín where there are some nice wetlands. We were looking for lots of marsh birds. Most specifically a species I had really wanted to see last year after looking through the field guide: Many-colored Rush-Tyrant.
Sounds cool doesn’t it? It’s aptly named as its a yellow bird with a red crown and vent and blue and black mask on its face. With bold black and white markings. Many colors indeed. It’s a type of flycatcher but it behaves a lot like some of North American wrens hanging out in reeds, sedges, and rushes. Google a photo - both the male and female are brightly colored!
We did well at the marsh finding a couple of the Rush-Tyrants, some Yellow-winged Blackbird males, and G’s favorite bird of the day (even though it’s a species we’ve both seen a ton): a White-tailed Kite. 3 new country birds (2 lifers for me)!
After a successful birding venture, we headed in to Puerto Varas to play tourist. We had a nice lunch at a café with a view of the lake and volcano - G enjoyed a berry smoothie with his lunch. Walked through the artisan market and found the smallest Patagonia store ever. Despite their sale and the favorable exchange rate we left empty handed. Can you tell we’ve been a bit homesick for America today?
All in all we enjoyed playing tourist and doing some birding. We had a successful evening scan at one of the mainland sites finding two more new godwits from my breeding population. We’re up to 19 - so close to my goal of 20!
We took the morning off to go birding while we were on the mainland. The tide times weren’t conducive to where we needed to survey anyway. And, the mainland has a few ‘lifers’ for me that are either really hard to get on Chiloé or don’t occur there.
We drove north of Puerto Montt towards Lago Llanquihue. It’s a huge lake with a couple of communities around it including the tourist destination of Puerto Varas, which looks out over the lake to Volcan Osorno.
We headed just north of there to Río Maullín where there are some nice wetlands. We were looking for lots of marsh birds. Most specifically a species I had really wanted to see last year after looking through the field guide: Many-colored Rush-Tyrant.
Sounds cool doesn’t it? It’s aptly named as its a yellow bird with a red crown and vent and blue and black mask on its face. With bold black and white markings. Many colors indeed. It’s a type of flycatcher but it behaves a lot like some of North American wrens hanging out in reeds, sedges, and rushes. Google a photo - both the male and female are brightly colored!
We did well at the marsh finding a couple of the Rush-Tyrants, some Yellow-winged Blackbird males, and G’s favorite bird of the day (even though it’s a species we’ve both seen a ton): a White-tailed Kite. 3 new country birds (2 lifers for me)!
After a successful birding venture, we headed in to Puerto Varas to play tourist. We had a nice lunch at a café with a view of the lake and volcano - G enjoyed a berry smoothie with his lunch. Walked through the artisan market and found the smallest Patagonia store ever. Despite their sale and the favorable exchange rate we left empty handed. Can you tell we’ve been a bit homesick for America today?
All in all we enjoyed playing tourist and doing some birding. We had a successful evening scan at one of the mainland sites finding two more new godwits from my breeding population. We’re up to 19 - so close to my goal of 20!