EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: PRE CRUISE EXTENSION DAY 3 & MAIN CRUISE START DAY

We left Santiago early doors and headed to the coast some 90 minutes away to a shoreline called Renaca, which is north of Valparaiso. Our main target of Chilean Seaside Cinclodes fell almost immediately and nice views were had of a couple pairs along the rocky coastline. 

Chilean Seaside Cinclodes

But there was so much activity it was hard to know where to look first, with Peruvian Pelicans, Peruvian Booby, several Inca Terns, a flock of Surfbirds, a few Blackish and many more American Oystercatchers, Hudsonian Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Neotropic Cormorant, a few Red-legged Cormorants and masses of Kelp Gulls. 

Blackish Oystercatcher

Surfbird

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Just around the corner Inca Terns were almost within touching distance and brought the wow factor to proceedings, a flock of Franklin’s Gulls were seen on the beach and finally a group of Grey Gulls were found just before boarding the minibus.

The extraordinary Inca Tern showed rather well

Moving on to Estero Mantagua we searched for Stripe-backed Bittern in vain but had Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant, Wren-like Rushbird, Red-fronted and Red-gartered Coots, Spectacled Tyrant, a superb Spot-flanked Gallinule, Magellanic Snipe, many West Peruvian Doves, Fire-eyed Diucon and a pair of displaying Green-backed Firecrowns. 

Magellanic Snipe

Spot-flanked Gallinule

Some familiar shorebirds were present with both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a flock of Baird’s Sandpipers. We finished off with brief looks at Dusky Tapaculo and Austral Negrito before having to leave. 

Baird's Sandpiper

Our final spot was Quirilluca where we nailed the endemic Dusky-tailed Canastero quickly and had views of Green-backed Firecrown, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, another Moustached Turca, Chilean Mockingbird, Long-tailed Meadowlark and Picui Ground-Doves, but failed to find White-throated Tapaculo.

 

All that remained was a 2 hour drive to the port of San Antonio to catch our cruise ship Sapphire Princess and the real start of our Cape Horn Cruise adventure! Upon arrival, check-in was a breeze ( we needn’t have bothered with QR Codes or Green Lane authorisation on the App!) and we were onboard by 4.15pm and had time to mooch around the ship and everyone could explore a little bit. 

Sapphire Princess - our home for 14 nights...

The buffet was enticing to everyone and that was when Lynzi showed us a photo of a pale grey petrel sat on one of the decks that she and David T had found. We all rushed to see it and spent a good while figuring out that it was in fact a rare Masatierra Petrel. Wow! 

This Masatierra Petrel was a surprise. it is also known as DeFilippi's Petrel.

Unfortunately, our departure was delayed an hour and was pretty frustrating but in the meantime we saw an Inca Tern, Guanay Cormorant and some Peruvian Pelicans, with distant Elegant Terns fishing way out and David T even saw Humboldt Penguin in the harbour. Eventually our cruise ship was being pulled out of its mooring by a couple of tugboats and we were heading out into open water, passing many South American Terns along the way, plus Franklin’s Gulls and a few SouthAmerican Sealions. Once we’d left the sheltered port, the first of 5 Arctic Skuas appeared, along with a few Peruvian Boobies. 

Pink-footed Shearwater - our first 'proper' seabird and very common as it turned out!

And then everything went quiet and we wondered if that was it for the day. However, all of a sudden a Pink-footed Shearwaterappeared, and then another, followed by a couple of Sooty Shearwaters, more pinkfeet, and then a smaller shearwater with faster wingbeats – unbelievably it was a Manx Shearwater (in the Pacific Ocean!). it was only the second time I’d seen one in this part of the world! And then it all kicked off with a flurry of more shearwaters, and then the shout of “ALBATROSS” went up and our first couple of Black-browed Albatrosses were seen. 

Black-browed Albatross - another very common sighting

As if this wasn’t enough, a Buller’s Albatross flew by and shortly after a very close Chatham Albatross was spotted sat on the sea really close to the ship. As we neared it, the bird flew away a short distance and settled on the water once again allowing a few record shots. 

Chatham Albatross

More shearwaters of both species appeared, and then our first of several Fuegian (Wilson’s) Storm-Petrels appeared, and Keith even managed a view of a Peruvian Diving-Petrel. Events only came to an end when the light faded too much but we still managed a few close Sooty Shearwaters before close of play. What a day! And what was pleasing to everyone was that the views we were getting of these seabirds were very, very good. We had scopes set up and could scan the horizon but many of the birds seemed to want to pass close in front of the hull. Amazing! 

So this was our first evening onboard a cruise ship and we had dinner in the large buffet area, where an amazing variety of different dishes was available. A few of us retired to one of the numerous bars a little later to toast the day’s successful sightings but I think no-one was too late in bed as tomorrow promised to be epic!

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!