Birding Córdoba's Sierras Grandes.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I visited Córdoba (central Argentina) attending an academic event some days ago.  After the event, I had some spare time for birdwatching.  Previous to my trip, I tried to contact a birding pal or professional tour guide to maximize my time finding the key species of the region... the first one to answer my beg was Jorge Martín Spinuzza (of avespampa.com.ar).  Kindly, Jorge offered to take me along several different habitats in order to find as many species as possible in the limited amount of time available.  His plan was to visit Córdoba's Sierras Grandes, a mountain range running from north to south, older than the high Andes and with a distinct avifauna.  The road to the higher parts crossed several different habitats, giving me the chance to see many species.  I'll focus  on those species seen in the highest parts of the sierras, those seen at the extensive foothills (piedemonte) and in the high plateau known as the Pampa de Achala, above 1800 meters above sea level (masl).  From there, several peaks elevate reaching over 2200 masl, including Los Gigantes (2350 masl), pictured in the background of the first photo.

The foothills were impressive... hundreds of kilometers of unobstructed view of the horizon, covered in grass, shrubs and some scattered trees, most of them introduced, around the houses and the estancias.  It was pretty good for raptors, like American Kestrel, Chimango Caracara and Southern Caracaras.  The above individual seemed to be nesting in those trees.  Compared to our Crested Caracaras, these birds looked larger, with more evident barring in the underparts and back.  We also saw a Variable Hawk perched on a rock fence... what a bird!

Certainly, this species have the most variable plumage of all the hawks... this is, evidently, of the "red-backed" form, perhaps a female due to its hugeness.  With all those raptors around, it is no surprise why this Spotted Nothura was crossing the road at full speed.

In contrast to our tinamues, this species was quite easy to spot... at least for some seconds before disappearing into the grass.  In fact, due to the habitat, most of the birds were quite easy to see.  In a quick succession we saw Southern Lapwings, Hellmayr's Pipit, Grassland Yellow-Finches, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, among others.  However, the most striking so far were the Long-tailed Meadowlarks.

This species, locally known as Loica, is represented up there by the endemic subspecies obscura... the first of many endemic forms we were about to see restricted to this mountain range.  In general, the birds of the higher parts (Pampa de Achala) recall those found in the high Andes.  For example, you  know you're not anymore in Panamá when a young Andean Condor soars above you!

Or this Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant that allowed great photos in the highest part of the road (Cuchilla Nevada)... compare both species with my previous photos from Ecuador.

But there are BIG differences with the Andes.  The isolation of this range is the reason why there are so many distinct forms and even endemic species (more about them in my next post).  Take for example the sierra-finches (yes, if you are birding the sierra you expect sierra-finches).  The most common, sometimes in flocks of 15 - 20 birds, were the Ash-breasted Sierra-Finches.  Not an endemic species (I had seen this -and the next species- in the Andes of Perú and Ecuador), but represented there by the endemic subspecies naroskyi.  The same for the Plumbeous Sierra-Finch, represented in these sierras by the endemic subspecies cyaneus (compare with my previous photo from Ecuador).

I posted the photos of these two species next to each other so you can notice the faint facial marks and blurry streaks on the back of the Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch, and the more uniform bluish-gray color of the Plumbeous Sierra-Finch... field marks to ID correctly these guys.  But we saw another species of sierra-finch... not in the highest parts, but in the foothills.  Jorge was excited about the finch we were photographing.  Notice the lack of rufous or chestnut in the ear covers of the female and the extensive black underparts of the young male.

Carbonated Sierra-Finches!  This species is endemic of Argentina, and not that common for that place.  The field marks pointed above separate this species from the similar Mourning Sierra-Finch (that I saw in Perú many years ago).  The curious thing is that I just realized this bird is a national endemic... in the field it was just another lifer!  The Carbonated Sierra-Finch was the last endemic I saw that day... if you want to know the endemics we got earlier, don't miss my next post.

Visiting the paramo. Part II

So, Rafael Luck, José María "Chema" Loaiza, Washington and me already were having a great time finding great birds around the paramos of the Papallacta Pass and the Antisana Ecological Reserve, in Ecuador, but we still had to visit some others places around.  We eventually reached a huge andean lake, called La Mica, and Chema managed to get us in with the car all the way to the shores of it in the far side.  Our main target was the resident Silvery Grebe, and as soon as we got there, we spotted a pair of these lovely birds, swimming along dozens of Andean (Slate-coloured) Coots.

In the way out, we follow a secondary road that reached the shores again, but this time closer to the gates. The wildlife around this spot was great: hundreds of Andean Coots and many Andean Teals were present, but also got a group of Andean Ducks and even a lonely Yellow-billed Pintail.  However, this part of the lake was off-limits, and soon a pair of park rangers riders kindly ask us to leave the place, so we did.

In the way out through the paramo, we saw again the Andean Gulls, Carunculated Caracaras, Black-faced Ibises, Paramo Ground-Tyrants and an Andean Lapwing.  We saw also Peregrine Falcon, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle and Variable Hawk high in the sky.  But the king of these paramos definitively is the Andean Condor.  We saw many individuals, both adults and immatures, at least 21 different birds... only got some distant, flying shots.

It was getting late, and we followed Chema to a nice "hacienda" (the Guáytara Inn) close to the reserve in order to have a late lunch (or an early dinner?).  The long entrance road crossed a field with tons of flowering Chuquiraguas, and the hummingbird activity was simply great:  many Black-tailed Trainbearer, more Shiny Sunbeams and a female Ecuadorian Hillstar were around... but it was the Sparkling Violetear who allowed photos... sparkling indeed!

At the restaurant, a Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant welcomed us sitting at the warmer place... in the top of the chimney.  

We enjoyed our meal while watching videos about the wildlife of those paramos, specially about the Condors.  We were watching also the activity at the several hummingbirds feeders around the property... specially Sparkling Violetears, but also an impressive Giant Hummingbird through the windows... notice its size in comparison with the feeders... it looked more like a swift!

Suddenly, the cooker and the manager of the restaurant went out saying "the condors are passing!"... we grab our binoculars and ran to the garden and there they were... at least twelve Andean Condors ascending in a thermal, flying to their roosting places.  Chema knew a cliff were he had seen before roosting condors, so we headed that way, saying good bye to all the restaurant staff.  

We stopped in a stretch of road facing directly the cliffs... and we were able to see the condors circling above it. We chose our seats and waited. One by one, the condors started their fly to the cliffs... what a show! To see them approaching rapidly to the rocks, landing on them after a huge aerial "U", was incredible! It seemed that a young condor flew to close to the nest of a Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, who chase it for a while, but then an adult condor flew so close to the buzzard-eagle that it had to make an acrobatic maneuver... amazing! The photo shows the cliffs where the condors were roosting... and trust me or not, that white dot right in the center of the photo is an adult Andean Condor! That day had officially two birds-of-the-day: the Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe at Papallacta and the Andean Condors at Antisana... a show that I will remember forever!

This trip was not over, the next destination was simply magical!