According to the Log of the Cruise, last night we had cruised back through the Straits of Magellan, then along the fjords predominantly through the Magdalena, Cockburn, Brecknock, Union, Ballenero, O’Brien and, finally, the Beagle Channels.
We met at 8:00 am at the bow mostly to photograph the scenery as we approached Ushuaia.
About noon we walked off the ship onto the dock and met our bus.
Our first stop was the Ushuaia dump. The dump was swirling and noisy with caracaras (including our first and only White-throated of the trip), gulls, Chilean Skuas, and a few Black-chested Buzzard Eagles.
After about a half hour at the dump, we drove to Tierra del Fuego National Park spending the rest of the afternoon in the forest. We observed flocks of small birds, the exotically named but friendly Thorn-tailed Rayadito, Black-chinned Siskins that reminded me of Lesser Goldfinches at home, and the aptly behaved White-throated Treerunner, but there was no sight or sound of the Magellanic Woodpecker, the big bird we were searching for.
Before we left the park we did have a young beggar, a Chimango Caracara, close enough to photograph.
We had pleasant sunny weather all afternoon despite the dark and cloudy morning.
My Birds for the Day:
Kelp Goose
Spectacled Duck
Crested Duck
Great Grebe (a pair with 2 young)
Black-browed Albatross
Southern Giant-Petrel
Imperial Cormorant (1000 +)
Black-faced Ibis
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle
Southern Caracara
White-throated Caracara
Chimango Caracara
Chilean Skua
Kelp Gull (2000 +)
South American Tern (100 +)
Austral Parakeet
Thorn-tailed Rayadito
White-throated Tree-runner
Austral Thrush
Patagonia Sierra-Finch
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Black-chinned Siskin
Others in the group saw: Upland Goose, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Southern Lapwing, Dolphin Gull, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, Chilean Swallow, House Wren, House Sparrow
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