The Schwabs Go South: Dec. 7 - As promised, the Tale of the Skulking Rail, etc.

About this blog . . . .

In the introduction to his book, PATAGONIA - At the Bottom of the World, Dick Lutz wrote: "Patagonia is a region, not a country. It spans the southern third of Chile and Argentina, stretching between the Pacific and the Atlantic roughly from Puerto Montt, Chile and Peninsula Valdes, Argentina south [until] it meets the famous waterways of the Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, and Drake Passage (or Drake Strait). The northern limit of Patagonia is ill-defined, while the border between Chile and Argentina divides the region." Patagonia is sparsely populated, so much so that in 1991 the Hudson volcano erupted and no human was injured, even though this eruption was larger than that of Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

Ivan and I have been eyeing this area for a visit for quite some time. The possibility is great that we will see penguins, guanacos, Steamer Ducks (Flightless as well as Flying!), as well as many dozens of other remarkable animals and birds, to say nothing of the insects, reptiles, mountains. I'd better stop here. Writing these blogs has been a source of much pleasure for me, so if you follow us on our trip, my hope is that you will learn something about this unusual place, and will have a bit of fun reading of our adventures and, in some cases, misadventures!

REMEMBER TO READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP! The latest post will be at the top of the page, with earlier posts below it.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Dec. 7 - As promised, the Tale of the Skulking Rail, etc.

After struggling to get back to our vehicle in the "fuertes vientos," we drove to a nearby place called Camping Pehoé. Enrique whistled a couple more times for the Pygmy Owl, accomplishing little more than irritating many different tiny birds (see earlier post for photos - the same group of irate little birds showed up). Then he said we were going to look for the Plumbeous Rail. For the many of you who are not into birds, rails, because of their elusiveness and shyness, are often difficult to find and observe well. They have an interesting lifestyle, living near water and lurking in grasses, often at the edge of the water and hunting for aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates. Our good luck here was that the Plumbeous Rail can often be fairly easily spotted by a quiet observer. We dove into thick vegetation at the edge of a lake and stood quietly while Enrique played the call of this rail. Within a minute or two we saw one, then two more of these birds, that had come to see who the new kid on the block was. They stayed in fairly dense grasses and moved with surprising quickness, and, after seeing us, they decided that we were not edible, and were no threat to them, so they moved off. Ivan was unable to get any decent photos, so I lifted this one from the web:

When you were a kid and your Mom forbade you to do something, did it acquire a greater degree of interest for you? For me, rails are a bit like that. Their elusiveness and stealth makes them desirable targets to see. We were really happy to have seen three of these small, but very captivating birds.

We continued north on the red-dotted road, stopping at many of the little lakes and ponds seen on the map, looking for whatever birds were there. We arrived mid-afternoon at our digs for the next 2 nights, Hosteria Las Torres. Here are some of the FFCs (Fine Feathered Creatures - with a nod to Bob Sahara) we saw on some of those ponds:

Upland Goose
(This is a male. His completely white breast indicates that he is from the Falklands.
The ones from Chile have the black and white barred pattern continuing across the breast.)