25 May 2010

Located off the southern tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego is the self-proclaimed ‘El Fin del Mundo’ or ‘End of the World’. While perhaps not technically true – I guess Antarctica has that honour – at only 1,000 km from the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, this archipelago is probably as close as the average punter can get.

For my trip, I was based in Isla Grande’s major settlement, Ushuaia, an Argentinian town of about 60,000 located on the southern side of the island. Hemmed in by craggy snow-capped peaks to the north, the Beagle Channel to the south and at about 55ºS (the southern tip of Tasmania is about 43ºS), it is not surprising that Ushuaia is subject to a fairly harsh climate.

The main island of Tierra del Fuego, Isla Grande, is separated from mainland South America by the narrow Straits of Magellan. It was Ferdinand Magellan who gave the islands their name in 1520 when he was the first European to sail through the straits on his way to circumnavigating the world. He reportedly named the islands Tierra del Fuego or ‘Land of Fire’, after the fires he could see burning on the shores as he sailed through, fires belonging to the indigenous tribes who lived in the area.

Bird-wise, Tierra del Fuego is not what you would call a diversity hotspot. If Ushuaia had a twitchathon, a 24-hour total of 60 species would probably see you romp it in. But, what it lacks in diversity it makes up for in quality and scenery. This is birdwatching in one of the most spectacular settings you can imagine, and some of the birds are excellent.

My favourite birding experience is getting to a place you have never been before and seeing those first few new birds. Before you realise these lifers are going to be dirt birds in a couple of days, the excitement is fantastic. Things down here were no different. Minutes after arriving, and on our first trip into town, first cab off the rank was Upland Goose, with a small group feeding by the roadside, accompanied by a Southern Lapwing . The nearby mudflats yielded Dolphin Gull, Kelp Gull (same as in Australia), Crested Duck and Yellow-billed Pintail . Closer to town a dilapidated old boat sheltered half-a-dozen Black-crowned Night-Herons, while the nearby breakwater had a resting pair of Kelp Geese; the snow white male and elaborately patterned female looking like different species. My first passerine was a Black-bellied Cinclodes, a sort of aquatic Magpie-Lark, nearly always found foraging amongst rocks at the water’s edge.

We were soon on a boat and on our way to Harberton Island in the Beagle Channel, a narrow strait which separates Isla Grande from the smaller Chilean islands to the south. It was named after the HMS Beagle which conducted hydrographic surveys here in the late 1820s and would return in 1833 with a young Charles Darwin onboard. We had barely left the harbour before I got Black-browed Albatross and Brown Skua . There were many skuas around, and most were fairly dull birds, but one stood out with a much richer, cinnamon brown plumage; I would later identify it as Chilean Skua.

It was around this time that a Magellanic Penguin had been reported from central NSW. One of four species of Spheniscus penguins, the Magellanic is highly migratory, and has been recorded in Australia at least once before.

We approached Harberton Island, and were welcomed by rafts of Magellanic Penguins fishing in the surrounding waters. The boat pulled up to the beach, and although not allowed off, we were within metres of hundreds of penguins both on the edge of the water and back  into the scrub behind. March is the tail end of the breeding season so numbers were down from the breeding season peak of 4000 birds, but there were still plenty around, including a small population of Gentoo Penguins which reside and breed here.  On the way back to Ushuaia and with a 40 knot headwind even I wasn’t going to brave the wet and windy deck, so it was the end of an exciting first day in Tierra del Fuego.

March 30, 2010 : Parque Nacional Tierra Del Fuego
The following day we were out to Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. About 15 kilometres west of Ushuaia, this park is best known for its amazing scenery. With snow capped mountains, sheltered bays and dense beech forests, it is a must see for the tourists. With most of the habitats found on the island represented, it is also a good spot for birding. We started around 9:30am, at Bahia Ensenada, a small bay on the Beagle Channel. The first bird was Southern Caracara , a fantastic bird of prey.

I birded a small area of low shrubs, scoring fleeting glimpses of one of my target birds Green-backed Firecrown, the most southerly occurring hummingbird. At the edge of the water were a pair of steamer-ducks but there are two possible species, Flying and Flightless. It was here that I began to realise the limitations of my field guide. The illustrations were average at best, with no apparent difference, and scant text on how to separate the two. I went for Flightless, but would have to confirm later.

After a good start the good day continued. I soon had my first group of Thorn-tailed Rayaditos, an absolutely brilliant little bird, full of character, like a long-tailed thornbill that’s had too much red cordial. They move through the forest in small groups, their constant high-pitched contact call always somewhere nearby, and forage like sittellas. After completing our trek and scoring a few other new birds like Patagonian Tyrant, Spectacled Duck, Chimango Caracara and White-throated Treerunner, we were on our way back to town. On the bus though, we ran into a couple of Irish girls that told us they had seen some ‘cool woodpeckers that were really big and had red heads’. In these parts, that can only be one bird; an icon of the Patagonian Bahia Lapataia, Magellanic Woodpecker. I couldn’t go back to town when they had seen them and I hadn’t, so it was off the bus and into the forest to find them.

Magellanic Woodpeckers are huge birds, over 40 cm long and from the same family as the famous Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The males have the bright red head, while the females have a mostly dark head, but with a brilliant forward curling floppy crest.

I was circling the edge of a swamp when I heard some muted tapping, stopped, listened, heard it faintly again, then strained to see any sign of movement. After a few tense minutes I finally caught sight of a male Magellanic Woodpecker about 20m away. He was low on the trunk of a dead tree. One bird became a party of three and we had a good 10 minutes watching two males and a female bashing away ferociously at the tree trunks with their large bills. I was elated – this was a bird I very much wanted – and on that note I was happy to call it a day.

Then on the way back to the bus stop I spied a distant dot soaring high above the nearby mountains. As it got closer and I gained some perspective I was able to make out the enormous size, rectangular wings with distinctive ‘fingers’ and then the white ruff around the neck; a magnificent adult Andean Condor. Down south these birds are actually fairly common (I would see 16 feeding on a dead cow a week later in Chile). As the bird drifted overhead it was joined by another, and then we saw two more birds that were very distant. Not great views, but like the Wedge-tailed Eagle, a bird I will always stop to look at no matter how many times I have seen them before.

We had a few more days in Tierra del Fuego, and these first couple really just give you a taste of what possibilities exist. In summary ‘El Fin Del Mundo’ had lived up to my expectations. The main reason we had come down here was for the scenery and it didn’t disappoint. You would probably not come here for a dedicated birding trip, but if it was your stepping off point for a cruise down to Antarctica, or a trip through South America, there is enough around to make a couple of days worthwhile. I ended up with 53 species (according to the latest Clements taxonomy) which included 36 lifers.

For the traveller, it is definitely unlike anything we have in Australia: magnificent, spectacular and breathtaking are all suitable adjectives, and it makes finding the birds a pleasure! The birding itself can be a little slow, but birds like Magellanic Woodpecker and Andean Condor make it truly worthwhile.