Woke up sunburnt and feeling like I’d been staked out on a sunbed in Benidorm for 2 weeks!
It’s a loooooong days drive from El Calafate to the estancia where we were staying tonight, with numerous roadside stops along the way. After dropping the rental car at the tiny airport, our guide, Alejandro picked us up in his 4WD and we headed north. Our pilgrimage to see one of the Holy Grail birds was now gathering pace....
At our first stop along the Santa Cruz River gave us Patagonian Yellow Finch and a flock of Least Seedsnipe flew past and landed nearby.
Patagonian Yellow-Finch
Further stops en-route yielded Cinnamon-bellied Ground-Tyrant, Variable Hawk, Common Miner, Sharp-billed Canastero and Common Diuca Finch.
Common Miner
Plus 2 more lifers: Grey-bellied Shrike-Tyrant and Band-tailed Earthcreeper.
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| Band-tailed Earthcreeper |
There’s a 70kms stretch of road that isn’t paved and it really slows you down, as well as being a little rough on your back. All the while we were scanning for Patagonian Tinamou but didn’t have a sniff of that today despite oceans of suitable habitat. It’s literally a needle in a haystack.
We eventually arrived at the famous La Angostura around 7pm, just in time for dinner, which we shared with some Argentinian, Dutch and French tourists, who were very nice people indeed. Copious amounts of wine and beer washed down a heavenly meal before the 3 of us tried Austral Rail, again without a murmur from the enigmatic beastie. An albino Chilean Swallow flew around us and looked stunning in the last of the evening suns rays, plus Silver Teal was a trip tick. We had a late evening walk looking for Lesser Horned Owl, which turned out blank although I did make friends with the lodge's dogs, cat and horse!
Pretty sure I’m not going to sleep well tonight (just for a change) as I’m really too excited with the prospect of what tomorrow could well bring….
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