Leif Rydell

Argentina part 1 2022, Buenos Aires and Punta Rasa area.

Part 1 (3 days around Punta Rasa and Buenos Aires)

Finally after missing this trip because of Covid, we (my good friends Nick and Per) finally made it. The ticket were bought just before outbreak of Covid and now 2,5 years later we flew off. Argentina has for long been on my wishing list. Both because of the high concentration of Shorebirds hard to see elsewhere but also because of its dramatic landscapes. Potentially I could get 18 new Shorebirds! This first part will describe our 3 days in B.A and the areas around Punta Rasa which is a north pointing tip about 340 km south (SE) of Buenos Aires. The area is both at the sea but also som localities a little bit inland. Going there you pass some areas of the famous Pampas. For Swedish people names like Samborombon and Rio de la Plata has a special meaning because of Taube's famous songs. After these first 3 days I had seen 5 new shorebird out of 6 possible. A good start.
We arrived early in the morning July 20th after a long flight from Europe. KLM was a pleasant carrier to use and service was good. Our guide for two days, Diego Gallegos picked us up and off we went. Going south we stopped at a few places when we saw some birds. One of the most handsome birds during the trip was this Long-winged Harrier which showed up a few times these two days.

As we came closer to Punta Rasa we made a few stops, essentially the one at Tuyu-Palenque which is a combined area of drier grasslands and wetter areas with ponds and smaller lakes. Here we saw many birds and especially one of my most sought after species, the Tawny-throated Dotterel. I was quite nervous as this would be our best chance. Our guide Diego Gallegos made his work and found a flock of at least 16 birds, which is a good number. Approaching them by foot for a photo would be almost impossible  but as the ground was hard and rather flat we made it by car. One of my top 3 for the trip, what a bird!

At the wetter areas, we saw many new birds. Among these were the handsome Coscoroba Swan, the rather handsome Red Showeler and the tiny but active Sooty Tyrannulet.

One of my target birds was the S. Am. Painted Snipe which is a beautiful but hard bird to see. Very sensitive to water level during non breeding season, we did not make it. Water was to high. Anyway, we saw our first Rufous-chested Dotterels. They were all in some kind of non-breeding plumage but not expected anything else. Later during our trip in Patagonia we saw some more of them and a few on their way to become stunning. We also saw quite a few Southern Screamers and many Crested Caracaras. 

Next are two rather strange photos of birds I saw in this area. The one at Many-colored Rush Tyrant was taken in a rush (ha ha) when the setting at the camera wasn't right and the second was at a small flock of Monk Parakeets passing through. It's not a good picture but quite a strange one as I later saw the head and a wing of a Chimango Caracara just behind the flock which gives a "funny" and unusual picture.

As the afternoon came closer we had to turn back towards our hotel in General Lavalle we saw some more nice birds as this Burrowing Owl, Bare-faced Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill and several Red-fronted Coots. We checked in and had our first evening by the dinner table with some good local wine and many laughs. Good to be on a tour again.

Next day we left the town by driving slowly at the outskirts. We were lucky to see a few Plumbeous Rails feeding at the edge of some ditches next to the road. Not a very secretive bird (compared to the ones in Europe) we managed to come pretty close.

The journey continued slowly towards Punta Rasa ( it's a tip pointing north by the coast). Here usually some interesting birds winter every year. I must say we were lucky as we had nice and close looks at several shorebirds I wasn't sure to at all. Shorebird bonanza as follows; Hudsonian Godwit, Red Knot (a decently common bird in Sweden), Two-banded Plover both in breeding and non breeding plumage and the strange looking Snowy Sheatbill. This species is now considered to belong to the shorebird family. 3 new shorebirds in just a few minutes. A strong and big moment for me, wanting to see as many of the shorebirds as possible.

Next to the shorebirds we also found Olrog's Gulls, Brown-hooded Gulls and some Royal terns. Before going, I didn't know who Claes Christan Olrog was but Diego told us he is called the founder of Argentinian field ornithology . He was actually a swede who lived and worked most of his life in Argentina. He wrote the first field guide and has given name to many birds including this gull.

These are the happy guys, Nick (middle) and Per (right), (me missing) and our excellent guide Diego Gallegos (left) after seeing all the awesome shorebirds and other species adjacent to the shore. You can see the Sheatbills to the left just by the shore line.

After a 3 hours drive back, Diego dropped us at our hotel in the centre of Buenos Aires. Next day we took a walk down to Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur. This is a fantastic oasis more or less in the centre of the town next to the famous Rip de la Plata. To walk around this site takes 2-4 hours depending on speed when birding. It has a massive list of 352 species. Walking on our own we spotted quite a few birds among them these; Picazuro Pigeon, Grayish Baywing and the common Patagonian Mockingbird.

As we walked many other species appeared of which some were kind enough to let me have a pic. The following are Cattle Tyrant, Red-crested Cardinal and Rufous-bellied Thrush, all rather common.

My absolute favorite group of birds are the shorebirds but I also have a weakness for warblers and other smaller passarines. Her yo can see the Tropical Parula, the handsome Masked Gnatcatcher and the simply , but still beautifully patterned S. Beardless Tyrannulet.

As we left the reserve we stopped close to Nick's favorite ??!! bird, the Rufous Hornero. You can see it here but also Nick enjoying its presence and filming it with his phone.

The last pictures from this part of the trip are me and Nick at the reserve with the city skyline behind and two pics from the centre of the town which is supposed to have around 12 million people.

Next; the north west and the Andes!

2022-09-10 22:09   Lena Holm

Hej Leif,
otroligt intressant att få ta del av ditt kunnande och dina bilder. Jag är en amatörskådare jämfört med dej men försöker se och fota så mycket jag kan när vi reser. Det är kul att se arter som är lika de vi har hemma men ändå inte exakt samma, men man känner igen dem både till utseende och beteende. Jag ser fram emot fler inlägg från din resa.
Hälsningar Lena

Svar från Leif Rydell 2022-09-11 12:42

Tack Lena.
Jag har så sakteliga påbörjat del 2 som handlar om den nordvästra delen i Anderna och dalarna nedanför. Om typ 2 veckor är jag nog klar