EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: DAY 11 PUERTO MADRYN

This was truly an epic day ashore as we docked in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Once we were allowed to walk off the ship, we found it to be a fairly long walk along the pier to our waiting minibus. Along the way we saw Great Grebes and several numerous & very close South American Terns. Our first stop was just along the coast a few minutes away to view a high tide roost of gulls and shorebirds, but not the hoped for (and definitely a long shot) Chubut (White-headed) Steamer-Duck that had been reported a few days ago. We just saw some Crested Ducks, American and Blackish Oystercatchers, Grey-hooded Gulls etc etc. Moving north towards the Valdes Peninsula we made a few quick stops to view Variable Hawk, Chalk-browed and Patagonian Mockingbirds, Southern Martin and Chiguanco Thrush. 

Patagonian Mockingbird

Veering inland slightly we entered steppe country covered in bushes and pulled up beside an isolated house. There were several Elegant Crested Tinamous present and we had nice views of these and a couple more over the next hour. 

Elegant Crested Tinamou

As well as this superb species, one of the non-avian highlights for some in the group was the Lesser Cavy! However, we were here for one special bird – White-throated Cachalote, an Argentinian endemic. 

White-throated Cachalote

It took a while to locate it but with the breeding season over, I think we were extremely fortunate to get the crippling views we did. What a bird! So, moving on we had Rufous Hornero, Burrowing Owl, Harris’s Hawk and other common species before arriving at a lake in Trelew, about an hour south of the port. This was choc full of waterbirds and we thoroughly enjoyed sifting through all the ducks and other goodies present. The main stars for ‘duck’ enthusiasts comprised Black-headed Duck, Lake Duck, Red Shoveller and Yellow-billed Pintail, with many White-tufted and just a couple of Silvery Grebes also in the mix. 

Black-headed Duck

Lake Duck (female)

Lake Duck (male)

All three species of coot were here: White-winged, Red-fronted and Red-gartered Coot, and we saw them all at close quarters. 

Red-fronted Coot

Red-gartered Coot

White-winged Coot

At the far end a few Chilean Flamingo’s were largely ignored in favour of Picui Ground-Dove, Great Kiskadee, Shiny Cowbird and a very confiding Southern Lapwing!

White-tufted Grebe

Southern Lapwing

Leaving here we drove even further south and inland, into the wild and remote Patagonian Steppes, passing Lesser Rheas along the roadside. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to nail Carbonated Sierra-Finch – yet another Argentinian endemic. But we did! 

Carbonated Sierra-Finch

Our next major target was at a seemingly random place amidst this vast landscape where, despite the strong wind, we located a party of the endemic Rusty-backed Monjita. A Chocolate-vented Tyrant was also found and scoped. After the disappointment of dipping on this mega at Punta Arenas, this was a particularly thrilling encounter. So with better views of the monjita for everyone we continued to another spot for Mourning Sierra-Finch before hitting the coast for a last throw of the Chubut dice. 

Patagonian Canastero

A walk along a sandy cliff top path to view a beach yielded nothing, but the walk back gave us the endemic Patagonian Canastero and this bird proved to be rather inquisitive! A few Royal Terns also flew by before we reached the minibus. Amazingly, Dan picked up a pair of steamer-ducks about a mile further along the beach, so with inconclusive views we pushed our luck (and time) to drive around and get closer. 

Chubut (White-headed) Steamer-Duck

With Flying Steamer-Duck also a possibility even this far north, we just had to be sure and sure enough the views were much better and we could high-five each other with our lifer Chubut (White-headed) Steamer-Duck. What a result! And all that was left was to hightail it back to the ship and go get some food and coffee, despite having the best packed lunch of the trip so far!

 

As we walked along the pier to the ship, some Cayenne Terns flew over. Now, depending on your taxonomy (or religion as I sometimes say!) this is either a new species for you or just a race of Cabot’s Tern (and we had these as well) and according to the IOC is a sister species to Elegant Tern and not Sandwich Tern. So there you go! Anyway, as we sailed away from Puerto Madryn we all met at the front of the ship to see what was about. You are actually in a vast bay and sheltered from northerly and southerly winds, so this may have been why we had Pomarine, Long-tailed and Arctic Skuas here! Sailing further out we were surrounded by many Sooty and Great Shearwaters, as well as a surprising number of Manx Shearwaters. Oh and of course there were the usual Black-browed Albatrosses present as well. Nice!

EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: DAY 10 AT SEA

A rather quiet day as we continued our slow sailing towards the Argentinian coast and Puerto Madryn. The undoubted highlight being our 3 Grey Petrels seen at various stages throughout the day. 

 

Today’s Totals:

5 Southern Royal Albatross

20 Black-browed Albatross

3 Grey Petrel

7 Southern Giant Petrel

9 White-chinned Petrel

8 Great Shearwater

12 Sooty Shearwater

4 Brown Skua

 

EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: DAY 9 SHOULD HAVE BEEN FALKLANDS...!

 Yes, we should have been in the Falkland Islands ticking Falkland Steamer-Ducks, visiting the penguin colony at Volunteer Point etc etc. But our captain in his infinite wisdom decided the weather was too rough to dock, even without consulting the port authorities in Port Stanley. So he informed us that we would sail towards our next port of call at Puerto Madryn very slowly. Anyway, what can you do apart from carry on sea-watching and it did prove to be rather productive with a count of 55+ Soft-plumaged Petrels today. 

Soft-plumaged Petrel

In August 1988 as a 20 year old manic twitcher I was sea-watching at Porthgwarra when Peter Harrison uttered those immortal words “SOFT-PLUMAGED PETREL” and this was, at that time, possibly my most exciting moment as a birder. Subsequently this Pterodroma complex has been split into several species and I’ve been fortunate to see Desertas Petrel & Zino’s Petrel over the past few years. And so Soft-plumaged Petrel remained a mythical being for me as it inhabited the far away South Atlantic Ocean. That was until today when this species was our constant companion all day as we sailed north towards the Argentinian coast.

Slender-billed Prion

Subantarctic Shearwater

Peale's Dolphin

Other keynote species from today were a single Subantarctic Shearwater that just Dan and I saw, 1 probable and 1 confirmed Blue Petrel, 8 Slender-billed Prions, and some extremely acrobatic Peale's Dolphins.

Todays count:

3 Southern Royal Albatross

12 Great Shearwater
1 Subantarctic Shearwater
1 Blue Petrel
55 Soft-plumaged Petrel
15 Southern Giant Petrel
8 Slender-billed Prion
3 Brown Skua

EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: DAY 8 CAPE HORN

We left Ushuaia port well after midnight due to high winds and several hours later than scheduled and we woke around 3 hours north of Cape Horn, our destination this morning. Unbelievably this normally rough Southern Ocean was extremely calm and unfortunately rather quiet with just a few Black-browed Albatross and Sooty Shearwaters for company. 

Cape Horn...

As we neared the Cape more and more of the same two species appeared before we began the journey north-east towards The Falklands. This is very deep water and not conducive to good seabird movements or observations, so we all took plenty of ‘time off’ up until around 5pm when things really kicked off. First of all we had a superb Black-bellied Storm-Petrel along the starboard side of the boat, which not everyone managed to get on. But we had a better and much closer individual a bit later that even lingered long enough for a couple quick record shots. And a little while later a couple Cape Petrels flew by.

Black-bellied Storm-Petrel

But the most amazing sighting was of a Sooty Albatross that flew 200m from right to left and right across in front of us. 

The best pics I have of Sooty Albatross

And this most extraordinary sighting pre-empted an absolute albatross-fest, with maybe over 150 individuals of mainly Southern Royal Albatross, but with the some Snowy Wanderers and the extremely common Black-browed Albatross in amongst them all in view at one time. It was a fantastic experience to see the sea alive with these magnificent birds, undoubtedly drawn in by a nearby fishing vessel. Add to that a couple pods of Pilot Whales as well....

Black-browed Albatross

Fuegian Storm-Petrels

Snowy Wandering Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross

 

So today’s totals:

210 Black-browed Albatross

19 Snowy Wandering Albatross

95 Southern Royal Albatross

1 Grey-headed Albatross

1 Sooty Albatross

110 Fuegian/Wilson’s Storm Petrel

2 Black-bellied Storm Petrel

45 Southern Giant Petrel

6 Northern Giant Petrel

2 Cape Petrel

575 Sooty Shearwater

75 White-chinned Petrel

4 Westland Petrel

200+ White-chinned/Westland Petrel

1 Brown Skua

4 Chilean Skua

100+ Imperial Cormorant 

EPIC CAPE HORN CRUISE: DAY 7 USHUAIA

We sailed through the Beagle Channel to the most southerly town in the world of Ushuaia, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and looking as beautiful as I remembered it form my first visit in 2009. Along the Beagle Channel to the west of Ushuaia Michel picked up a group of Andean Condors perched by the shoreline on a small island and the views through scopes were very nice indeed! There was also Magellanic Oystercatcher, Kelp Goose, Magellanic Diving Petrels, Magellanic Penguins, even a couple distant Snowy Sheathbills, and a few Chilean Skuas. 

Ushuaia is surrounded by beautiful mountains

Scenery was pretty spectacular as we sailed to Ushuaia

Ushuaia

The sailing in to the port was very scenic and as we neared the town we were very fortunate to spot a King Penguin on a rocky beach absolutely dwarfing the Imperial Cormorants and Dolphin Gulls alongside it. With members of the group dispersed and preparing for our next shore excursion our WhatsApp group announcements certainly helped and eventually everyone saw it and enjoyed decent scope views from the front deck. With that excitement boding well for a good day ashore in Tierra del Fuego National Park we met up with our local guide and set off in a minibus into the national park. Our first stop was at a forest trail where we walked for around a kilometre hoping to find Magellanic Woodpecker….. but we didn’t. On return to the minibus we met a Danish birder who had seen a pair of woodpeckers along the same trail but a little further on, so we walked back up the hill and down the other side. Well, we met at least 3 other groups of walkers who had all seen woodpeckers and we staked out the area for a good while, but it was apparent that the birds had moved on. Unbelievable! 

Tierra del Fuego National Park

So we walked a different trail, drove to a lake and walked a bit more, drove to another spot and walked some more. All futile! I may well be the only birder to visit here on two separate occasions and dip the woodpecker! I cannot explain our miss except to say we were extremely unlucky. 

Thorn-tailed Rayadito

A soggy Tufted Tit-Tyrant

We did see some Chiloe Wigeon, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, White-throated Treerunner, Flightless Steamer-Duck, Upland Goose, Blackish Oystercatchers, Great Grebe, Chilean Elaenia, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, Fire-eyed Diucon, Austral Thrush, Patagonian Sierra-Finch, and even a Culpeo Fox. So we ended our birding at the nearby landfill site and ticked the localised White-throated Caracara, which was a nice way to end our time in Ushuaia.

Chile Wigeon

Upland Goose - male

Back on board Sapphire Princess, the usual procedure of getting a bite to eat and a coffee pre-empted our anticipated departure from port and everyone was on deck. The captain then made an announcement that high winds would delay our departure, so that meant we had some down time to enjoy onboard facilities, visit a few bars onboard and generally relax!