Chile – Batuco Wetlands [2]

Santiago, 13 May 2012

May 1^st in Chile is Labour Day, a public holiday. So, taking advantage of the empty streets I took my camera and walked to the large patch of lawn at the end of my street, on which there are always some of the common birds in urban Santiago as I walk to work. I was not disappointed and got some good shots of Eared Dove and Austral Thrush.

Yesterday, 12^th May, two weeks on from my walk in the snow at Yerba Loca, I headed again to the Batuco wetlands. My assumption was that the exceptionally low altitude snow for early in the season would have melted and boosted the water level in the wetlands, as well as accelerated the passage of high- to low- altitude migration. I was right on both counts, but this did present problems. It meant that I could not get as close to the birds, huge flocks of some species, because of the higher water level. Most of my photos were pushing the limits of my telephoto lens.

While there were some familiar faces from my first visit, such as White-winged Coot, Chimango Caracara, Yellow-billed Pintail, Red Shoveler, Lesser Yellowlegs, White-backed Stilt, Chilean Swallow, Buff-winged Cinclodes, Many-colored Rush Tyrant and Coscoroba Swan, I was able to add some new species.

These included Cinnamon Teal, Yellow-billed Teal, Yellow-winged Blackbird, Black-necked Swan, Red-gartered Coot and Snowy Egret.  

My Chile bird list now stands at 80 species.