EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: PRE-CRUISE EXTENSION DAY 2

This morning we left the hotel at 6.30am and headed around an hour to the start of the winding road up to approx. 3,000m to the ski resort at the top of the Farellones. We had a pair of Moustached Turcas on the road in front of us giving mind-blowing views, even when we all piled out of the minibus and started clicking away with cameras… Wow! 

The endemic Moustached Turca is my new favourite bird!

Just up around the corner several Black-chinned Siskins were hanging around roadside telegraph wires, prompting another quick vehicle exit. There was also a close and I mean close, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, we scoped a Great Shrike-Tyrant, had another Rufous-tailed Plantcutter, saw many Grey-hooded Sierra-Finches, more Rufous-banded Miners, and our first Band-tailed Sierra-Finches. 

Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant

Not too far away we had a nice hour or so walking along a dirt track where we found a pair of Scaly-throated Earthcreepers, a close Cordilleran Canastero and eventually we tracked down 2 pairs of Sharp-billed Canasteros. 

Andean Condor

Leaving here we drove up to the ski resort right at the top of the road where we enjoyed nice close views of several Andean Condors flying overhead. There was also Aplomado Falcon, several Mountain Caracaras and a pair of Spot-billed Ground-Tyrants. Dan explored up the hill and found Creamy-rumped Miner but despite everyone searching for this species we had to give it up and go for lunch.

White-throated Hawk 

Dropping lower down for lunch we were all amazed when a White-throated Hawk flew in and landed in a large tree next to us! Wow again! A few Plain-mantled Tit-Tyrants were in nearby trees as well. Driving much lower we found our first Austral Blackbirds along the roadside, and a Chilean Tinamou was seen briefly. We then spent the last couple of hours trying in vain to find a White-throated Tapaculo before returning to the hotel for 6.15pm.

EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: PRE-CRUISE EXTENSION DAY 1

What better way to start the day than with a female Torrent Duck giving close views along the Maipo River? Also here were a few Chilean Elaenias, several Chilean Mockingbirds, Austral Thrush and Tufted Tit-Tyrant. 

The Maipo River, home to Torrent Ducks....

Female Torrent Duck

Our next stop along the Yeso Road was at stakeout for the endemic Crag Chilia where a pair showed well after a little wait, along with the endemic Moustached Turca that flew in and scuttled away up the hillside, and a Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle flew low over our heads. 

The endemic Crag Chilia

We left here and drove higher up, stopping at a bend in the road where numerous flowering bushes were attracting several stunning White-sided Hillstars and we enjoyed very nice views as they fed on nectar right in front of us. Getting a good photo proved difficult but we contented ourselves with simply watching all of the action, and as if that wasn’t enough we had superb scope views of another Moustached Turca feeding on a lizard on the slope above us. 

White-sided Hillstar

Another short drive higher up the road saw us scoping over 50 Andean Condors feeding on a carcass on a distant hillside. It was an unbelievable sighting and it was hard to leave here! Our next stop produced several Grey-hooded and Mourning Sierra-Finches, an extremely confiding Rufous-banded Miner and a group of distant Mountain Parakeets were scoped.

Grey-hooded Sierra-Finch

Rufous-banded Miner

Beyond the reservoir we searched for Diademed Sandpiper-Plover without joy, but did get a few Grey-breasted Seedsnipe, White-browed Ground-Tyrant, Plumbeous Sierra-Finch, many Greater Yellow-Finches, Dark-bellied and Buff-winged Cinclodes, Yellow-rumped Siskin, and a small group of Andean Goose. 

Watching seedsnipe....

Grey-breasted Seedsnipe

The next marsh gave us the Holy Grail of Diademed Sandpiper-Plover (DSP), which we watched for ages and a flyby Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant. 

There's a DSP in this photo......

DSP habitat...

It was around this time the final member of our group, David H, managed to catch up with us in a taxi and we revisited many of the previously seen species. 

Mountain Parakeet

Our final stop of the day also gave us our first Rufous-tailed Plantcutter and some exceptionally close Mountain Parakeets to round off a fine day in the Andes.

EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: SANTIAGO ARRIVAL DAY

So this was it, a trip we'd all been waiting for, for a very long time. Pre-Covid in fact and there were 11 very excited birders today. So, after last night’s overnight flight to Santiago, Chile we arrived this morning and checked in to the Holiday Inn Hotel based at the airport. It had been a long haul getting here but we’d made it and as this was purely an arrival day we, of course, went birding. With Dan & Michel from Canada already here and out birding in the hills north of Santiago, Chile, the British and Swedish contingent were eager to get their bins on something today. Anything really!  With Laguna Caren a mere 15 minutes cab ride away it was just too much to bear! 

We spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering along the shoreline not expect too much as it was early afternoon and rather hot & windy but we ended up doing pretty well. An easy walk scanning the lagoon and surrounding bushes began with a pair of Diuca Finches flying into a nearby tree, with Picui Ground-Doves and West Peruvian Doves also being noted early on. A Variable Hawk patrolled a hillside, whilst a few Chilean Swallows flew overhead. A pair of Striped Woodpeckers gave close views in some leafy small trees and a Chilean Elaenia appeared briefly, plus a few Neotropic Cormorants were noted flying over the water. The strong wind certainly didn’t help us but definitely kept the temperature bearable, and it really didn’t bother a Giant Hummingbird perched right on top of a dead tree. A large open field held a pair of Long-tailed Meadowlarks and up to 8 Southern Lapwings too. 

Great Grebe

At a bend in the lagoon we scoped a few Great Grebes, with an adult and 3 large chicks being seen. As we scanned the far bank a White-winged Coot was spotted, followed by several Red-fronted Coots, some Yellow-billed Teal were present and further scanning revealed at least 4 Yellow-billed Pintails, a Cocoi Heron and a Snowy Egret. We kept on scanning and eventually a Plumbeous Rail was seen and on the walk back a pair of Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetails, so a pretty satisfactory couple of hours. 

Let the drinking begin...

The view from Sky Costanera is awesome

With a few hours still spare before dinner a few of us headed into downtown Santiago and visited Sky Costanera, the tallest building in South America and gives superlative views across Santiago. It was a perfect end to our first day in amazing Chile and we celebrated with some local beer and mojitos!

SAUDI ARABIA DAY 6 AL BIRK to SABYA

 We decided to leave early as we just didn't like Al Birk - getting dinner last night was a chore and the mangroves weren't holding our interest. So we headed south to Jazan and aimed for the Either Mangroves. This was much better as we nailed a close Mangrove Reed Warbler very easily. We also had Lesser Flamingo and Pink-backed Pelicans, as well as some confiding Black-crowned Sparrow-Larks here giving decent scope views to add a bit of variety to our lists. 

From here we headed inland towards Sabya and on to the villages around Abu Arish for our negative search for Arabian Golden Sparrow. They just aren't around at this time of year and apart from one or two Ebird sightings this is really a summer bird. But we gave it a damn good go and in hindsight I think we should have concentrated on the Sabya Farms, which we'd be doing tomorrow. Nevertheless we drove, we walked and we drove some more, checking out various sites finding large flocks of House Sparrows, with more Black Bush Robins, and more of everything that you can label "common" at but no Arabian Golden Sparrows. We spent a fair chunk of the day searching in vain before deciding go and see some different birds over at Jazan Dam Lake. 

This is a hell of a birding site and the chances of finding something good are actually quite high. We liked this place, despite several new road systems causing Google Maps to struggle a bit. And we met some very friendly locals who insisted on plying us with some delicious tea! Well, the upshot was that we found an African Openbill, a rare bird here and probably left over from last year's influx. There were plenty of birds and we saw Intermediate Egret, Gabar Goshawk, loads of Glossy Ibis, a ridiculous number of Eurasian Spoonbills, Arabian Green Bee-eaters, Arabian Babblers, some close Hamerkops and lots of other 'waterbirds'. 

Hamerkop

With time pressing and that damn sun sinking way to fast, we raced around to the southern end and of-roaded a bit to get close to a nice reedbed. We still wanted better waxbill views and sure enough this is the place. With at least a dozen coming in to roost we thoroughly enjoyed the closer views, along with a very close sumplum White-winged Tern parading in front of us. And so we waited for dusk, but no Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse appeared to drink but the best was yet to come. 

Nubian Nightjar

As soon as it was dark Nubian Nightjars began calling and in no time at all we had a pair in the spotlight. it's been many years since i've seen this bird and to get within a few metres of one was incredible. So with that in the bag we drove an hour back to the hotel, which was ok tbh and we even had minimal trouble finding a pokey little restaurant nearby for dinner and enjoyed pizza of all things to round off a decent day.

SAUDI ARABIA DAY 5 TANOMAH to AL BIRK

Well, this isn't a day i'd do on a proper tour..... We began at Wadi Dahna and didn't see anything new here but it's a really, really good place for Philby's Partridge. I could have got an awesome photo of a close calling bird but messed the opportunity up again! However, we saw at least 2 groups of approx 8 or 9 birds in each, with further calling birds higher up in the hillsides that remained unseen. There was also a flyby Arabian Woodpecker that we didn't bother trying to get  views of after yesterday's point-blank views, and there were many Arabian Babblers, Arabian Wheatear, Arabian Green Bee-eater, Yemen Warbler, with the only new bird of note an Arabian Warbler. 

The reservoir......

We were fixated on finding Arabian Waxbill and I located the small reservoir at the far end that had some water and vegetation around it but no waxbills. We waited a while before deciding to call it quits and return to the car up in the village for some coffee and breakfast. 

Great scenery coming down the escarpment...

So what to do next. There's a bunch of other sites up here but we felt we were just repeating sightings now and the chances of waxbills seemed remote. So we decided to set out on the 3 hour drive to the coast, driving down the very steep escarpment into the lowlands. It's a very scenic drive down and we saw more Arabian Wheatears and a fine Bonelli's Eagle.

Once in the hot lowlands we saw our first of many Namaqua Doves on roadside telegraph wires before reaching Wadi Hali, a great birding site where Black Scrub Robin was numerous with 11+ birds seen and more heard. 

Black Scrub Robin

And amazingly a pair of Arabian Waxbills flew in and landed at the top of an acacia right in front of us. I think my hysterical directions made it difficult for the others to get on the birds quick enough and they only stayed put for maybe 40 seconds before flying away. But they were at the top of the tree right in front of us guys...! 

Masked Shrike

Anyway, we also saw our only Masked Shrike here, many Nile Valley Sunbirds & some other common species. It was nice to see some different birds! 

So leaving here we drove to Wadi Hali and checked out a site for Arabian Grosbeak. It was early afternoon by the time we reached here but the site looked good despite no grosbeaks. There was a small water hole attracting more Black Scrub Robins, Blackstart and all the usual suspects and we had our picnic lunch here and more coffee. Then we set off towards the coast. Google Maps threw a wobbly and couldn't cope with the very, very new 3 lane highway that we were on and we weren't sure if it was the right road for a long time but we were heading west.... So it had to be alright. Right? All of a sudden the road ended with a barrier across it. Bugger! So i parked by the roadside and stared blankly at zero options apart from retracing our steps about 60 minutes... That was until a small van appeared (the road was devoid of traffic up until this point) and went down the side of the embankment and continued on west, so I decided to follow. Well, we were closer to the coast than I realised and pretty soon all was ok and we had the red Sea to our right as we drove south. We stopped to view a mixed group of Common, Caspian, Whiskered, Gull-billed and White-winged Terns and our first Sooty Gulls in Saudi. We continued south to Al Birk, found the digs (what a weird place) and then drove further south to the mangroves. We did get Mangrove Reed Warbler briefly before 4 policemen insisted I accompany them to their van and questioned me. But it was all good natured and we stayed scrutinising the mangroves until dusk, seeing Clamorous reed Warbler and some distant flamingo's and pelicans. Getting dinner in the small town was a nightmare tonight and it was rubbish - when we eventually found somewhere. What a day!

SAUDI ARABIA DAY 4 RAIDAH PRESERVE to TANOMAH

This was the BIG day as we ventured into the famous Raidah Preserve, where according to previous reports all dreams are possible. It's literally meant to be the promised land but I must admit i'm not a fan! Well we got to the entrance well before sunrise and listened for Abyssinian Nightjar.... nothing. Tried the call..... again nothing. So I drove up to the barrier and filled out some paperwork before the guards would let us in and then we were off. And boy this is undoubtedly the steepest road i've ever driven on. I mean it's crazy and shouldn't be attempted in anything other than a four-wheel drive. I didn't have one and struggled coming back up with the engine overheating constantly, but more of that later. So in the dark we tried a few times for nightjars and the only bird we heard was an Arabian Scops Owl bit none of the trees seemed to be close enough to the road to try spotlighting, so we just kept driving lower. As soon as it became light enough to bird we parked up and had a look around. As ever, things are very slow until the sun is a bit higher and it gets warmer, so we waited and could hear a great dawn chorus of weird and wonderful songs! An African Grey Hornbill put in an appearance, we had several views of Arabian Partridges throughout the morning, there were more nice views of Yemen Warbler and Yemen Thrush etc etc. The song of Brown Woodland Warbler rang out from the hillsides, a pair of Little Rock Thrush were exceedingly confiding, and the first of many Arabian Sunbirds put in an appearance. 

Little Rock Thrush

Once at the bottom of the valley we wandered around hoping for Arabian Waxbill, but all we could find were many more sunbirds, Long-billed Pipit, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting and some other common species. But no waxbills. So the journey back up the ridiculously steep road gave us all the same species and we nearly had Arabian Woodpecker. We heard one in a couple different locations but they just weren't responsive. So feeling a little naffed off we decided to drive back into town, check out of the hotel at 11.30am and had some lunch. 

Regrouping over a nice burger we decided to head north towards Tanomah  and look for Saudi's one and only true endemic, Asir Magpie. It was just around a 90 minute drive on good roads before the turn-off towards Billasmer and within 100m of the junction I spotted a magpie on some telegraph wires ahead. A nice big pull-in was just past the bend and we jumped out, eventually finding up to 4 birds in the area. it's a distinctive looking bird and very different to the magpies in Europe. 

Asir Magpie

We spent quite some time watching them and trying for a good photo, but that never did happen! We were all ecstatic to get this "quick win" as I put it and we were enjoying the sunshine, surrounded by lots of birds. there was a large group of over 15 Arabian babblers, more linnets, several close brown Woodland Warblers and a group of Abyssinian White-eyes came in to my owlet impersonation. And then... a woodpecker called. A quick burst of tape and it flew right at me and landed in a close tree. The views were out of this world and we lapped up every detail of this cracker. 

Arabian Woodpecker

We left here and headed to our next digs in Tanomah, a delightful private 3 bed villa. Except 2 of the bedrooms were children's, kitted out in Hello Kitty bright pink walls etc. 

A short distance away is Mahfar Tourist Park and we dived up there for dusk and waited for the resident Arabian Eagle Owl to fly onto the roof of the large building next to the car park..... Which it duly did. What a stunner and we had several views of it flying around and perching in surrounding trees. 

Arabian Scops Owl

There was also several Arabian Scops Owls calling and we managed to entice one into a nearby Juniper for some stunning views.