Argentina & Chile Day 6; Porvenir, Reserva Natural Pinguino Rei & Rio Grande

   Our second day in Chile started with a return to the Porvenir headland to try find the dolphins again, but once again we struck out with nothing being observed. There was a nice and confiding Short-billed Miner on the clifftop, so I got some photos taken, but otherwise it was a short stop and then onwards.

  It was a two-hour drive to the King Penguin colony, the only one on the mainland and in Chile. We anticipated that the birds would be distant and have to view only with optics, but in the end they were only about 20 metres away on the other side of a small channel. We got some great looks at the birds including an attempted copulation. In the end we could only stay an hour due to the way the site is managed, but it was a worthwhile visit.

   In addition to the penguins, there were a few other birds to enjoy. Three Chiloe Wigeon landed on the side of the path and I had the first Correndera Pipits of this trip. Otherwise it was the usual species from this southern region of the Patagonian desert. When we returned to the park office there was also a young mouse hopping about, which we were told was an Olivaceous Field Mouse. It did not look well, so it wasn’t a happy sight. 

  The drive back to Ushuaia then consumed the rest of the day, taking the best part of five hours with the various stops for fuel. Fortunately the return border crossing was very smooth, taking very little time at all. We arrived in Ushuaia at 18:00 and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

-Short-billed Miner

-King Penguin

-Chilean Wigeon

Argentina & Chile Day 5; Porvenir

   It was simultaneously a very eventful and very uneventful day out in Chile today. We set off early, at 06:00, in order to be at the border nice and early, only to discover that it would not open until 08:00. Since we arrived at 07:00 this left us at a loose end for an hour, either waiting in the queue or maybe driving down the beach road to see if anything was around. We opted for the latter and were rewarded with finding Double-banded Plover and Small-billed Miner. 

  It took an hour to cross the border due to the cars building up during the early hours, and the various stations required to get the vehicle through. That said, it passed by without too much incident, and we were soon on our way. This is when we discovered the King Penguin colony we wanted to visit was in fact closed on Mondays (we had originally planned on visiting on a Sunday in the original itinerary) and this meant that our rushed day trying to complete everything we wanted in Chile and returning before the border closed, suddenly became much more relaxed. We decided to stay in Chile for the night and then see the Penguins in the morning. 

  As such we continued driving on the road to Porvenir where there were a few things to see. We started by checking out a spot I had marked for Peales Dolphin being regularly seen on the coast, but nothing was doing despite an hour moving up and down the coast. But it was a relief to find my first Patagonian Yellow Finches here, as well as having excellent views of Double-banded Plover and Baird's Sandpiper.

  With no sign of the dolphins, we continued to the next destination, the Laguna Verde which I had marked for Magellanic Plover. We spent about an hour searching along the beach, seeing many Guanacos and a Culpeo, as well as a few birds, but no sign of the plover. In the end we were exploring the wrong area of the beach, and not long after we started searching the right area Jonah spotted once nestled among a flock of Baird's Sandpipers. With some crawling I was able to get some very nice views of one of my most wanted birds for the trip. Smaller than I was expecting, but all the sweeter for it.

  After another unsuccessful trip to try for the dolphins, we found a hostel in town and crashed to relax, after a pleasant, if not rather logistically challenged, day.

-Magellanic Plover

-Baird's Sandpiper

-Patagonian Yellow Finch

-Culpeo