Dec. 8 - Far Away From Everything

We continued driving north and west on the rutted road and were now east and a bit north of Torres Del Paine. We now had a river far below us and high, steep cliffs across the river, like this:

The hills looked like someone had spilled vast quantities of curry powder on them. We were now in search modes for two birds - the Andean Condor and possible nest sites, and the Torrent Duck in the fast-moving waters below. We had started our search for Torrent Ducks at this waterfall we had seen earlier in the day:

This was a beautiful spot, so much so that tour buses stopped regularly to allow the tourists to see it. Enrique told us that this kind of area with the fast-moving water is where the Torrent Duck likes to hang out. I walked up and down the bank area here looking and looking, but never saw one. My hopes were still high, though, because we had just started looking. We also looked along the river at the bottom of the terrain in the first photo with no luck. I was beginning to think we would not see them because we were heading back to Punta Arenas in the morning and wouldn't have a lot more time for searching.
On our drive back to Hosteria Las Torres, we noticed what looked like a person dressed in black atop a small (but accessible!) cliff. After getting the binoculars on the 'person,' we realized it was a female Andean Condor and there were 11 more Condors circling high in the air above. Additionally, there were 13 Southern Crested Caracaras, most on the ground, but some in the air nearby. We decided to get out of the car and investigate. There was a dead guanaco about 150 yards from the road, and, as we climbed the small rise to get a closer view of the Condor, she became aware of how close we were and got ready to fly. Ivan and Enrique were snapping photos so fast, it sounded like popcorn popping! Here is one of Ivan's - the other bird is the Southern Crested Caracara, which you may remember, stands 2 feet tall:

Southern Crested Caracara (L) and Andean Condor (female)

I was dumbstruck at the size of the Condor. This is a BIRD, for heaven's sake! When she flew, this is the photo Ivan got:

Those primary feathers, the ones that stick out like fingers, are 1.5 feet long!! Some whole birds aren't even that big! Yet another crippler, eh Lar?
We did see some wonderful other birds about which I have no stories, but I would like to share some of Ivan's photos. All will be identified and, if I have a tidbit, it will be included!

Chilean Flicker
(Yes, this bird appears elsewhere on this blog, but this is a better photo and we did see one on this day.)

Flying Steamer-Duck
This bird, too, appears elsewhere, but it's the blog namesake!
Plus, it had Steamer-Ducklings at Laguna Azul, where the Silvery Grebe family was.

South American Snipe

Lesser (Darwin's) Rhea
The Chileans call this bird Ñandú.

Gray-breasted Seedsnipe

White-crested Elaenia
This too is a second photo of this little charmer.
This is a tiny bird with no fear of anything.
This one has his crest raised, and looks so cute even though he's trying to look fearsome.