Car Hire – I prearranged car hire for each location. After much surfing and many phone calls we found the best deals at Travelocity for cars in Iguazu and Ushuaia. We had a Localiza car at Iguazu and an Avis car in Ushuaia.

I booked direct with Hertz for Buenos Aires.

I arranged comprehensive insurance with collision damage waiver for each car.

4 days at Iguazu with Localiza at US$213, with 100km free per day.

8 days at Buenos Aires with Hertz at US$377, with unlimited free mileage.

5 days at Ushuaia with Avis at US$230, with 100km free per day.

As usual, car hire is a minefield for the unwary. Always check the small print and take print outs of any agreements and contracts.

With hindsight I would not advise anyone to drive in Buenos Aires. Argentina has the highest per capita road accident rate in the world, and most of their cars are in Buenos Aires.

Exchange Rate – The US dollar is linked to the Peso and is accepted everywhere, change is often given in a mixture of the two currencies.

Visa credit cards are accepted at many hotels and filling stations but it cash is required at some.

Weather & Climate – Iguazu was mainly sunny and hot with temperatures in the high eighties.

In Valdez we had a mixture of cool but sunny weather, rain and sea fog.

In Buenos Aires we had cold but sunny mornings and pleasantly warm afternoons.

The Pampas was generally warm and pleasant but we had an exciting drive through a violent thunderstorm on the 11^th.

Tierra del Fuego was mostly cold and wet, or wet and cold. Warm waterproof clothing is required here.

1. Iguazu. Had a double room at the Hotel Alexander in Puerto Iguazu. The room was US$30 per night including breakfast. 3* 20 minutes from the airport and National Park.

2. Valdez Peninsula. Lucky to find a room in the Estancia del Sol, in Puerto Piramides, at US$50 per night including breakfast, 2*. The drive around the peninsula takes around 5 hours so staying in Puerto Piramedes saves a lot of travelling.

3. Bahia Blanca. One night in the ACA Hotel south of town, double room including breakfast US$60. 4* The ACA is the Argentine version of the Automobile Association; the guidebook says that you must be a member of the ACA to use its hotels, in practice if they have rooms available you are ok.

4. San Clemente Hotel Coral. We paid US$30 including breakfast. Close to the town centre and an easy 20-minute drive to Punta Rasa. 3* The people here were friendly and helpful.

5. Buenos Aires Cambremon Hotel. Not cheap at US$130 per night including breakfast. Ok it was way OTT but I was tired. 5*

6. Ushuaia Two nights in the Hostel Cesar at US$60 per night, 3*, then two nights in Hotel Maiten at US$50 per night. 2*

The Cesar is not a hostel as such; it is just not big enough to be called a hotel.

Reports and references – We used the following reports / maps:

Where to watch birds in South America, Nigel Wheatley. The Argentina section is less than helpful!

Collins illustrated checklist, Birds of South America and Antarctica. Currently the best field guide there is for the area, but it is woefully inadequate.

Argentina Handbook by Charlie Nurse. This is in the Footprint guidebook series and is currently the best.

We also used several of the reports that are freely available on the Internet.

Nelles 1:2500000 Map of Southern Argentina and Nelles 1:2500000 Map of Northern Argentina. Both are years out of date and useless.

Sergio Corbet email sergiobirdfan at surfbirder.com

 

Fri Nov 3 Flight from London Heathrow at 1645, and arrived Madrid 2200 to connect with the 2300 flight to Buenos Aires.

Sat Nov 4 Arrived at Buenos Aires International airport at 0730, we were transferred by Aerolineas free of charge to the Jorge Newberry domestic airport across town and flew to Iguazu at 1345, arrived there at 1600.

Picked up the Localiza car from within the airport and birded the short drive to Puerto Iguazu. The National Park and falls are an easy 20 minutes drive from here. We tried several mid range hotels on the main street, all of which were full. We eventually found a room at the Hotel Alexander opposite the bus station.

Sun Nov 5 All day in Iguazu National Park. We did the upper falls trail first, and then the lower falls trail and then the Macuco Trail. The falls are spectacular. The trails here were fairly busy but produced most of the day’s birds including several Toco Toucans and hundreds of Great Dusky Swifts. The Macuco trail had fewer birds and was plagued by mosquitos, highlights there were 10 or so lekking White-bearded Manakins with loud calls resembling petrol driven chainsaws.

Mon Nov 6 We had intended to bird a marsh we had heard was good south of Iguazu off route 12. In the event we didn’t get further than the Police roadblock near Wanda. One of our two-man team had left his passport in the hotel (it was me!) and we were turned back. However we had noticed a roadside marsh 5kms back up route 12 so we spent a couple of hours there with Blue-winged Parrotlet, Ashy-tailed Swift, and Wattled Jacana etc.

We returned to Iguazu and birded the road into the park, as well as several side trails. Later we birded the riverside park and gardens in Puerto Iguazu. We had some good birds here including White winged Swallow, Blue-tufted Starthroat and several new Finches, Seedeaters and Tanagers.

Tue Nov 7 We spent the morning in the Park and along the riverside in Puerto Iguazu.

We then flew to Buenos Aires at 1245 arriving at 1435. We picked up our Hertz hire car and boldly set out through the city traffic. The road was blocked however by a major accident and we spent hours going round in ever widening circles trying to find a way out. It was with great relief that we eventually found route 3 and headed south through the night to the Valdez Peninsula, a distance of some 1300kms arriving there at 1100.

We booked into the Estancia del Sol in Puerto Piramedes after trying several other hotels that were full and then headed for Punta Delgado. Unfortunately this is a closed military area and can only be entered by organised groups, so we carried on up the coast road to the reserves at Puerto Valdez and Caleta Valdez.

At Puerto Valdez we felt as if we had walked onto the set of Wildlife on One. Elephant Seals and Fur Seals lay on the beach before us. Southern Right Whales spouted and breached out to sea and Dolphin and Kelp Gulls competed with Giant Petrels for airspace.

In the afternoon a huge bank of sea fog rolled in and blanketed the coast and we had no option but to head back inland and bird the arid interior. Our reward was several Elegant-crested Tinamous, White-throated and Mourning Sierra Finch and Patagonian Mockingbird.

Wed Nov 8 Today we drove around the coast road calling at Puerto Valdez, Caleta Valdez and Punta Norte. Highlights included 10 or so Southern Right Whales, some with calves and a small pod of Orcas just offshore.

We had several Chubut Steamers near the Penguin colony at Caleta Valdez, and watched an American Kestrel mob a much larger Aplomado Falcon.

Thu Nov 9 This morning we saw several groups of Lesser Rhea including a male with 18 young along the central road through the peninsula. The coast road near Puerto Valdez produced a pair of Lesser Seedsnipe, and two Darwin’s Tinamous.

Then it was back to the coast including the cliffs at Puerto Valdez for Rock Shag and King Cormorant, and the rocky shore for all three Oystercatchers and Snowy Sheathbills.

Fri Nov 10 This was decision day, do we move south to Trelew and Punta Tomba or head back through Patagonia towards the Pampas. As there were more birds waiting in the north, that’s the way we went.

We had a leisurely drive up to Bahia Blanca, wasting time searching for sites from the Where to watch book. We had hundreds of Burrowing Parrots along the way and some good wader watching on roadside pools south of Bahia Blanca.

Sat Nov 11 Another day of mechanised birding on the way to San Clemente. The Patagonian steppe gives way to the wet grassland of the Pampas. The change in habitat brought many new birds. Spotted Tinamous were common at the roadside, and the road between San Clemente and route 11 hosted several pairs of Southern Screamers. In the Pampas a stop at any likely looking pond produced good birding.

Sun Nov 12 The early part of the day was spent at Punta Rasa on both sides of the creek, first the south side with its tidal lagoons and sand dunes and at low tide a large expanse of sandy beach. At high tide Gulls, Skimmers, waders and Flamingos rest here.

The north side of the creek is the Punta complete with lighthouse. This area is now a pay to enter Theme Park. At US$7 each it’s still worth a visit as long as there aren’t too many visitors. We had three Whistling Herons at the point feeding on Fiddler Crabs.

A visit to the nearby harbour was rewarded with an Olrogs Gull seen cruising the creeks.

In the afternoon we again did the drive out to the Pampas along route 11. This time we had several groups of Greater Rheas, 20 Southern Screamers, 20+ Maguari Storks, 60 Snail Kites, 12 Long winged Harriers as well as many other Pampas specialities.

Mon Nov 13 We had an early visit to the south side of Punta Rasa. Among the Tern flock on the beach we saw 1 Royal, 10 Snowy crowned, 12 Cayenne and hundreds of Common Terns.

We then had a leisurely drive through the Pampas to Buenos Aires, and another nightmare for the navigator (it was me). My excuse is that only the international airport is signposted. The local airport has a small sign over the door, or so it seemed.

The result of once again getting lost was that we had no time left for a visit to Costanera Sur, and also ended up in an ott city centre 5* Hotel costing US$130 per night. At least we did the grand tour of the city.

Tue Nov 14 An early start and Costanera Sur at last, only it doesn’t open till 0800, and that’s not in the book either. We queued at the gate along with dozens of joggers and cyclists and were almost swept along when the gates were finally opened.

Once inside the best bit seemed to be the central path between the two large lakes that are actually within the park.

This area of reeds, Pampas Grass and scattered trees is off limits except for the footpath. We spent the morning eyeballing several Many-coloured Rush Tyrants, Pied water Tyrant, Masked Gnatcatcher, Black and rufous and Black capped Warbling Finch, Variable Antshrike etc.

The lakes at either side of the path held White-tufted , Pied billed and Great Grebe, Coscoroba and Black necked Swans, Red gartered, White winged and Red fronted Coot and several species of Duck.

All too soon we had leave for our 1510 flight to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, arriving there at 1900 after a brief stop at Rio Gallegos.

Wed Nov 15 Spent all morning in the National Park, the afternoon up the glacier behind the town and the evening along the harbour.

Just out of town on the way to the park we were straight in to groups of Upland and Ashy headed Geese.

At the entrance to the park the rangers provide a map and general information. The dirt roads are well maintained and it is easy to get around in a small front wheel drive car.

We had a noisy group of Austral parakeets near the park entrance, and then mostly birded around the campsites and around the police post.

At the campsite at Lago Roca we saw a pair of Spectacled Ducks flying across the lake, and 4 Andean Condors soared over the mountains in the distance.

Across the car park a wooded area close to the lake held several Thorn tailed Rayaditos and White throated Treerunners. A wishfull attempt at tapping on a tree with two stones a la Sir David Attenborough produced not one but three Magellanic Woodpeckers, two males and a female, you could have knocked me down with a feather.

The males began a frantic display spiralling around tree trunks and playing a sort of hide and seek. The female looked disinterested as they tried to out tap each other with the tip-tap we had just imitated.

We tore ourselves away from the park and drove to the ski lift in Ushuaia. The lift takes you to the scree slopes at the foot of the Martial glacier. From here we walked uphill to where the valley does a right hand turn, we saw 4 White bellied Seedsnipes here.

The harbour at Ushuaia holds both of the Steamers, Southern Fulmar, Black browed Albatross, White chinned Petrel, Chilean and Southern Skuas, South American and Antarctic Terns etc.

Thu Nov 16 We spent the morning in the National Park. Highlights included Austral Thrush, Austral Parakeet, Fire eyed Diucon and Chilean Swallow.

We arranged a cruise on the Luciano Beta to Habberton and the Penguin rookery for the afternoon. Five pairs of Gentoo Penguins are nesting in the Magellanic Penguin rookery and at least three nests can be seen from the top deck of the boat.

The trip cost US$65 each and sailed at 1430 and returned to Ushuaia at 2100. Out in the Beagle Channel, we saw 30+ Magellanic Diving Petrels at close quarters along with hundreds of Black browed Albatross and 30+ White chinned Petrels.

It rained the whole day. No time left so transferred to Hotel Maiten in downtown Ushuaia.

Fri Nov 17 An early start for the drive to Rio Grande. The road out of Ushuaia quickly deteriorates into a muddy potholed track that goes on for 50kms or so before it is again a metalled road.

The drive was largely uninteresting as was the oil town of Rio Grande. Once there the highlights were 2 Ruddy headed Geese near the police checkpoint just south of Rio Grande and a few Two banded Plovers on nearby pools along with two Magellanic Plovers. Two South American Snipe were seen on a roadside pool across from the Christian mission just north of town.

Sat Nov 18 We flew from Ushuaia at 0940 and arrived back at the domestic airport in Buenos Aires at 1400. We were transferred to the international airport and flew to Madrid at 2200.