I made a return trip to Río Gallegos in November 2015. This time it was for work (to give one or two talks at a local teachers’ conference) but it was a good chance to meet up with my friend Emanuel Tiberí and do a little birding.

We took a half day and went out to Punta Loyola, an area that Emanuel knows well as he is working on the reserve there. I was lucky enough to see one or too lifers while there (Least Seedsnipe, Chocolate-vented Tyrant, Collared Plover and Tawny-throated Dotterel) , so it was a good outing.

Here are a few photos I took on the morning outing:

monjita chocolate (Chocolate-vented Tyrant) Neoxolmis rufiventris

chorlo cabezón (Tawny-throated Dotterel) Oreopholus ruficollis

chorlito doble collar (Two-banded Plover) Charadrius falklandicus

agachona chica (Least Seedsnipe) Thinocorus rumicivorus

bandurrita comun (Scale-throated Earthcreeper) Upucerthia dumetaria

In the afternoon I walked out along the costanera before taking my flight back north and took my final shot of the trip: possibly the most common bird in Patagonia, but always a delightful one: the chingolo.

chingolo (Rufous-collared Sparrow) Zonotrichia capensis