After checking out of the Hosteria Las Torres, Enrique wanted to give a last go at calling up a Pygmy owl and at finding a Torrent Duck. We walked on a trail at the hotel that took us into a heavily wooded part of the property. Enrique started whistling and all the usual little and very peeved birds came out to see who was making the racket. We were standing at the top of a small hill with trees to one side and a step uphill section to the other side of the trail. Suddenly, and completely silently, a small feathered creature landed in a snag about 20' from us. He also wanted to see who was making the call because he was the Austral Pygmy Owl who owned this bit of property! I thought Enrique was going to faint when the owl sat on the branch and simply stared down at us. Ivan took this photo:
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| Austral Pygmy Owl |
After watching this owl, who was now being threatened by the likes of this Tufted Tit-Tyrant, among others:
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| Tufted Tit-Tyrant |
we turned around and loaded into the van. I was surprised when Enrique directed Alvaro to drive through a gate and away from the road which would take us back to Punta Arenas. We were headed toward the rear of the Hosteria property and near a glacial runoff that formed about a 50' wide, fast-flowing river. Enrique pointed out a couple of birds we had seen before and told Ivan and me we were going to check one last time for Torrent Ducks. I had pretty much accepted the notion that we would not see these beautiful ducks, so I felt a bit heartened. As we approached the river, Enrique set up his scope and began surveying the rock face on the other side of the river. His big smile when he turned around was all I needed to see! I rushed at the scope and there was a male Torrent Duck tucked into a little niche of the cliff face, right at the water level. I grabbed my camera and tried for a digiscoped photo and got this:
See that little black thing in the center of the photo? That's a male
Torrent Duck and his wife is to the left. In case you're wondering, this is a photo of where we were when the photo was digiscoped:
That's Enrique moving the scope closer to the river. It was taking every ounce of willpower to keep from jumping for joy at this sighting. I knew we had to be quiet and move slowly so as not to frighten these birds. I desperately wanted to have better views, so I went slowly and quietly, but my heart was filled with joy at seeing these ducks which are, in my opinion, the most beautiful duck anywhere. So we approached the river, setting up the scope periodically and I digiscoped another photo:
When I saw the above photo, I realized that they had BABIES!! Two of them! I later came to realize that they had three little ones! Unfortunately, Ivan and Enrique were now at the river's edge and I was not about to shout to them. I figured they had a better view than I did anyway, so I cautiously crept forward toward them.
You can see the ducks on the far left of this photo. Ivan was right at the water's edge and Enrique was right behind him. The next few photos are Ivan's.
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Torrent Duck (male)
He had jumped in the river and swam to our side of it about 30' from Ivan! |
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Torrent Duck (female)
These are very small ducks, only 18" long. |
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| Two of the three ducklings at Ivan's feet!! |
All four of us were completely enchanted by what happened next. All five of the ducks had awakened and jumped into the river. This is what Alvaro Jaramillo says about them: "The way this duck handles torrents, even as a chick, is truly spellbinding." The parents were very watchful, but allowed two of the ducklings to swim right over to Ivan, where one of them jumped onto a rock and gave him a good look-see! The two ducklings then jumped back into the river, dived underwater and re-surfaced right next to their dad. I have a video of this entire encounter, which took all of 59 seconds, but have been unable to upload an un-pixellated copy of it to this blog. I tried emailing it to myself - pixellated. I tried putting it on YouTube - pixellated. I tried putting it through iMovie and uploading it - pixellated. I took the video with my little point & shoot camera, and have no idea what I'm doing wrong. The video is surely one of the cutest 59 seconds you'll ever see! If anyone knows how I can resolve this, I am very interested to know! I would love to post it!
I want to tell you a bit about Torrent Ducks. As you might imagine, their name comes from the type of rivers where they live. They like cold, fast-moving streams, preferring clear water, but adapting readily to this glacial run-off. They are non-migratory, living on the west coast of South America, from sea level to elevations as great as 4500 meters. They hunt for aquatic insects, and maybe even small fish, sometimes by putting only their heads underwater and sometimes by diving, showing remarkable skill from the first time they jump in after hatching. The parents are monogamous, and both have a hand in raising their young. If you saw the video, you would see the thick legs and enormous feet the ducks have, presumably an adaptation to life on and in fast-moving water.
We watched this little family for at least an hour, then we had to get going. This was an encounter I will never forget!
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