Argentina West Birding Trip Report (Part Two of Three) Home » Forums » Birding » Trip Reports

There are as many a dozen normal Argentine birds like the Southern
Lapwing and Rufous Hornero that I have grown so accustomed to that I
won't list here. And probably another set of North American birds, like
the Black Vulture, that I wouldn't list either.

I had heard Bariloche and the seven lakes district was among the most
beautiful in Argentina, so we took an overnight bus to Bariloche. The
bus made the slow climb through the Patagonian 'estapa', the flat dry
scrub landscape that covers much of Argentina. During my various bus
trips through this type of area I saw a lot of Chimango Caracara,
sometimes lined up on fence posts. In total I saw about six Greater
Rheas, and a few other hawks and eagles I couldn't identify with 100%
certainty. I wouldn't call Bariloche a great birding destination.
The best place to go is the large municipal park. Near the hotel and
golfcourse in the park you will find Ashy-headed Geese and Black-faced
Ibis. The Black-faced Ibis is really cool; it is a large ibis with
thick feathers. Probably if you go to the edge of the lake away from
the city, you will see birds like the Andean Gull and other
Andean/Austral species. I only had this idea after seeing various
birds on the bus leaving.

In the park on the trails the most interesting bird is the Chucao
Tapaculo (Scelorchilus rubecula). It is a passerine, and has a very
loud call. The bird is sometimes very curious and other times very
skittish. After having one pop out and pose while I tried to get off
my bike and get my camera out, I made it my mission of this trip was
to get a good photograph. Alas I got one weak picture, and had the
bird pose a second time right after I put the camera away for the
evening. If you walk on the main road as the sun goes down, you will
see many Tupaculos. The Bar-winged Cinclodes was another common bird
I didn't get a pic of.

Neuquen is one state to the north, and Neuquen city is a sprawling
city, with 100% employment and clean streets. I only passed through
here, and took a short bus trip to the local zoo. A 2 km walk to the
zoo revealed an area with water and green, and various song birds,
which is nice to see in often dry Patagonia. The zoo is a private
zoo, and is run by an old couple with good intentions (meaning they
are trying to rehabilitate animals). They had been promised a real
location by the government, who did not come through. The result is a
lot of animals caged in small cages. Apparently three Mora Eagles
were bred here, and they can't be released since they haven't learned
to fly and hunt properly. The owner recently released some mountain
lions which quickly died. Better than visiting this zoo would be to
visit the local government office and plead for a better facility.

Villa Peuhenia was the place to see, according to everyone we talked
to in Neuquen. A nine hour bus ride into the Andes brings you to
a small tourist village on the border with Chile. There is a lot
of nature here, including ponds, lakes, and many trees. The Austral
Parakeet is present in great noisy numbers. I recommend walking about
8 kilomters to the four ponds, and you shoud see many of the 'Austral'
and 'Andean' species like the Austral Blackbird and Andean Ruddy Duck.
The downside to this town is it is difficult to pass to Chile, so
you are left returning the same way, on a long nine hour bus ride.

The bus ride to Peuhenia took us past Laguna Blanca, the national park
which is the home of the Black-necked Swan. I saw the nature center
and blind I had read about, but this park is in the middle of the dry
treeless Patagonian Step, and I am not sure it is a great place for
viewing or photographing birds.

Mendoza is another tourist city in the midst of the Argentinian wine
country. There is large park with open fields next to the city, where
you will see the normal city birds like the Cattle Tyrant and the
Red-crested Cardinal. The zoo is inside this park, and is worthwhile
because it sits in a large piece of land on the side of a mountain,
and has many walking paths through wooded areas. The only noteworthy
animal in the zoo are the Andean Condors, who are in a cage large
enough to fly. Watching these gigantic birds take to the air is truly
amazing. I also took a trip to the hot springs, but that area is very
dry and not a good birding destination.

Our plan was still to go to Igauza, and that this segment on the west
side was just to avoid a really long bus ride. Our bus went north
through Tucaman, through an area knows as 'las yungas', which is a
cloud forest. This area was impressive! We went through miles of
heavily forested mountains with no development in site. Only one
stretch had a mile long area of active deforestation. At the end of
this segment of the bus ride, we were in Tucaman, and decided to stop
there. We did a day trip to a small rural town called Callao (XZX
check spelling) where there is a zoo of sorts and a lot of green.
There are no real hotels here, but if you can find a place to stay you
have a good chance of seeing many of the birds of 'las yungas'. The
next day we tried to visit the San Javier park, but totally failed
trying to find the official entrance or walking trails.

People here were all talking about Salta, so without doing any
research we took a bus to Salta. The areas betwwen the cities in
northwest Argentina are very green, and the Narosky book indicates
there are 100's of species of birds that are only in this part of
Argentina, and probably Bolivia as well. Salta is a very dense
populated city. The best advice I can give you is to stay in
San Lorenzo, a green suburb close to several reserved areas. I only
did one hike here in one of the reserves, in the middle of the day,
and didn't see many birds. The park attendant said most of the birds
were in the city, where there were more fruit trees. We left Salta the next day, as we hadn't planned to spend much time in the west, but in retrospect I think
this area, the Yungas cloud forest, deserved much more attention.