Photo Gallery
Photos by Steve Howell
The contrasting landscapes of Chile are epitomized by comparing the breathtaking vistas at Lago Chungara, at an elevation of 15,000 feet on the Bolivian border…
…with Santiago, Chile’s modern capital with its spectacular eastern skyline defined by the Andes, and…
…the vast wilderness of Tierra del Fuego, where herds of Guanacos roam…
…and Darwin’s Rheas raise their families on the grasslands.
Outside our hotel on the Straits of Magellan, giant-petrels and silvery Antarctic Fulmars feed right off the beach, where we’ll also see…
…the handsome Dolphin Gull.
We’ll also visit a nearby Magellanic Penguin colony.
Southern Chile’s numerous waterbirds include the beautiful White-tufted Grebe…
…the ubiquitous Upland Goose…
…and the endangered Ruddy-headed Goose.
The handsome Rufous-collared Sparrow occurs throughout Chile. This individual is of the southern race australis, with reduced black head stripes—and yes, it can be windy in Patagonia!
Aberrant austral shorebirds include the enigmatic Magellanic Plover, classified in its own family…
…and there’s always a chance for the stunning Tawny-throated Dotterel.
But then it’s time to leave the wide-open Patagonian steppes…
…home to the striking and delightfully named Chocolate-vented Tyrant…
…and head north to the picturesque lake district…
…home to the impressive Magellanic Woodpecker, which we’ll seek in the old-growth forests around our hotel…
…and to the iconic Torrent Duck.
Back in central Chile, Giant Hummingbirds are among many species nesting during our tour…
…and Chilean Mockingbirds sometimes dust their heads with golden pollen.
One morning we take a short pelagic trip into the riches of the Humboldt Current, where birds following the boat include Black-browed and Salvin’s Albatrosses, Pink-footed Shearwaters, Pintado and White-chinned Petrels—and you never know what else might be in there.
Here a Buller’s Albatross from New Zealand meets Peruvian Pelicans in Chile’s Humboldt Current…
…and here a Northern Royal Albatross from New Zealand flies past a local Inca Tern.
One year, Inca Terns landed all over our boat, some just a few feet from where we sat.
The Peruvian Diving-Petrel, a tubenose counterpart to the northern hemisphere auklets, is one of several seabirds endemic to the Humboldt Current.
A happy group of birders after another fabulous pelagic.
Our coastal hotel in Quintero is a great place to relax after the pelagic trip and between our land-birding excursions.
Just another picnic lunch in the stunning Andes, where it’s always a good idea to look up…
…as Andean Condors often pass overhead.
Species we’ll seek in the central Andes include the endemic Crag Chila…
…the brazen Moustached Turca (look at those huge feet!)…
…and the superb little Diademed Sandpiper-Plover.
In addition to its amazing birds, central Chile is home to a spectacular flora, including this Puya, a large terrestrial bromeliad.
And lastly we move to northern Chile, where the starkness of the Atacama Desert is accentuated on meeting lush irrigated valleys.
Species in these northern valleys include the cryptic Peruvian Thick-knee, a large nocturnal shorebird…
…the locally common Chilean Woodstar…
…and the handsome Peruvian Meadowlark (redowlark?).
Our base for three nights is the town of Putre, nestled amid alfalfa terraces at 11,500 feet elevation…
…where the local White-throated Earthcreeper occurs around our hotel.
The striking Black-hooded Sierra-Finch is a regular feature at our picnic lunch by….
Lake Chungara, which is home to thousands of waterbirds, as well as to…
…the handsome Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch…
…and the scarce White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant.
Mammals in the northern Andes include sleepy Vizcachas, which often sun themselves on roadside rocks…
…and the elegant Vicuña, a common sight grazing on bogs (or bofedales).
Back on the coast, flocks of the handsome Gray Gull and the sound of surf serenade us to sleep for our last night, and then, all too soon, it’s over.