This was not the trip it was meant to be. I had got myself to Mar del Plata, on the eastern coast of Argentina, with a pocketful of Dramamine and all intent on doing a pelagic trip – 50km into open sea, with dreams of albatrosses and other exotics. But as the day dawned the harbour master decided that the weather was too unreliable, and the trip was cancelled.

So with time to kill, I wandered around the nearby Natural Reserve Mar del Plata Port. It was a couple of kms from the port area and quite hard to find the entrance; it was also in a very isolated area and several of the people I asked for directions cautioned me about entering the Reserve alone for fear of muggings or worse. So I stayed on the edges and peered in, feeling safe but silly.

A male pico de plata (Spectacled Tyrant), Hymenops perspicillatus

First up, as I entered, I saw this pair of Spectacled Tyrants, male above and female below.

And the female pico de plata (Spectacled Tyrant), Hymenops perspicillatus

In fact, I didn’t really see much in the way of birds at this Reserve, but then again I didn’t really penetrate it either. I find from the photos I took I saw mainly common species such as the Chimango Caracara (chimango), Milvago chimango; the Rufous-collared Sparrow (chingolo), Zonotrichia capensis and the House Wren (ratonera común), Troglodytes aedon.

House Wren (ratonera común), Troglodytes aedon.

Rufous-collared Sparrow (chingolo), Zonotrichia capensis

Chimango Caracara (chimango), Milvago chimango

I returned to the Port area to see what might be on the water front. Here I saw many gulls, including an Olrog’s Gull (gaviota cangrejera) Larus atlanticus; Snowy Sheathbill (paloma antartica) Chionis albus; and Southern Giant Petrel (Petrel Gigante Comun) Macronectes giantess.

Olrog’s Gull (gaviota cangrejera) Larus atlanticus

The Olrog’s Gull is known in Spanish as the crab gull, and this is what they eat:

Neohelice granulata, staple for the Olrog’s Gull

Snowy Sheathbill (paloma antartica (Chionis albus

Southern Giant Petrel (Petrel Gigante Comun) Macronectes giantess.

Marine mammals were in evidence too; here are a few sea lions.

Male sea lion in Mar del Plata harbour

Part of a small colony of sea lions in Mar del Plata harbour

As I started by saying, this was not the day it was intended to be but it was a pleasant enough day all the same, even if a little light on wildlife sightings.

Today I went with Scarlett and new friend Ricardo to the Cotesma Reserve in San Martín de los Andes. The purpose was not so much to see birds as to do a population study.

We divided the area up into eight sectors and spent time on each sector, seeing which species were in evidence and attempting to record the number of species per sector. Bird mobility didn’t make our task any easier, but I think in the long run the data we recorded will be useful.

It was a great chance to be reunited with my birding friend Scarlett and with some of my local bird friends. A few photos follow, indicative of what we saw today.

Ashy-headed geese, a pair. Very common in San Martín de los Andes.

Upland aka Magellan Geese, male with white head.

Black-faced Ibis, recently chosen as emblematic bird of San Martín de los Andes.

As usual, there were a number of cinerous harriers flying low over the wetlands

A pair of Southern Wigeon in flight

Among the many ducks on the water was this pair of Silver Teal

The ubiquitous Southern lapwing, in fine voice

Austral Thrushes were out in abundance

An early arrived pair of Austral Negritos were in evidence – this is the male

Not too sure what this was – decided it must be a Grass Wren

Not a conventional day’s birding but an enjoyable day nevertheless, with good weather and pleasant company.

I found myself with a day to spare in Buenos Aires, en route from Lima, Peru to San Martín de los Andes, in Northern Patagonia. I spent a few hours in the Reserva Ecólogica Costanera Sur (RECS) – had lunch and then went up to the Northern Suburbs to the Vicente Reserve. It was a gorgeous day – hot and clear, with a light shore breeze. This time I was on my own.

I found a few life-listers: at least the giant wood rail costanera, the stripe-cheeked sparrow (tbc) and the The greenish yellow finch (tbc) at the RECS and the limpkin and fawn-breasted tanager (tbc) at the Vte. Lopez Reserve. Some of these and some others are still to be confirmed (tbc). Pictures of these follow immediately, and then I have posted a selection of some older friends.

As usual, click on any photo to access the slide show facility.

Giant Wood Rail

Stripe-cheeked sparrow? (tbc)

Greenish yellow finch (tbc)

Limpkin

Fawn-breasted Tanager (tbc)

Some of my older friends follow.

House Sparrow

Gilded Sapphire

Green-barred Woodpecker (re-identified)

Black-crowned night-heron

Rufous-bellied Thrush

Ringed Teal (male)

White-tufted Grebe

Rufescent Tiger-Heron

Guaira cuckoo

Ear dove

Monk Parakeet

Rufous-collared sparrow

Great Kiskadee

Rufous Hornero aka Red Ovenbird

Streaked xenops (Xenops rutilans) – tbc

Starling

All in all a gentle and pleasant day’s birding.

My third and final birding trip during my trip to Peru was to La Punta, in the old port of Callao – now incorporated into Greater Lima. I saw half a dozen new species here – and still have a number of unknowns to sort out.

Photos of the new life-listers follow – as always, click on any pic to access the slide show. We saw a lot of other birds but I did not keep a complete list on this occasion.

Black-bellied plover (Pluvialis squatarola), aka Grey plover

Semipalmated plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)

Semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)

Peruvian booby (Sula variegata)

Ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Parque El Olivar is in the San Isidro district of Lima, Peru, and is a great place to see local bird species. I went there with my friend Andrew Sheehan and saw a fair number of birds (I didn’t keep a count) including six life-listers for me (details below). We were staying in Miraflores so the park was very easy to get to and was a relaxing moment to take our minds off the conference lectures we had come to give.

I am including below only the new species that I saw. The first was the Amazilia Hummingbird (Amazilia amazilia), known locally as amazilia costeña or often simply picaflor. These are common in Lima, and we saw several in the Olivar Park. Never easy to photograph, though! I had to use the flash extender to reach this one through the bushes.

Amazilia Hummingbird

Amazilia Hummingbird

I noticed a pigeon/dove that I hadn’t seen before, with strange bright blue-coloured hard skin around the eyes. This was the West Peruvian Dove (Zenaida meloda), of which we saw many – its wings are edged with white, which make it very distinctive when flying.

west peruvian dove

Also in abundance were Vermilion flycatchers (Pyrocephalus rubinus). We found that these came in a number of colours – here I am including the most common brilliant red bird and its sooty morph, but we saw other colours too.

vermilion flycatcher

vermilion flycatcher (sooty morph)

The bird below is the Long-tailed mocking bird (Mimus longicaudatus); these two were present in large numbers. Cheerful birds, and with their long tails well named.

long-tailed mockingbird

long-tailed mockingbird – with its long tail clearly visible.

A bright yellow bird flying all over the park turned out to be the Tropical kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus), a cheerful fellow whose intense yellow was a match for the vermilion flycatcher’s bright red.

tropical kingbird

The last of my six life-listers at the parquet de Olivar was the Pacific parrotlet (Forpus coelestis). We only saw the one pair, which are dimorphic as in the photo below; the male is on the right. Pretty little birds, very colourful.

Pacific parrotlet

All in all, a mini-trip but an enjoyable one, and for anyone in the Miraflores/San Isidro area of Lima with a couple of hours to kill a birding site I can whole-heartedly recommend.