As we sat about 50 feet away, a lot of birds visited this set up, which allowed natural looking shots like the following:
Tropical Parula
Saffron Finch
Golden-winged Cacique
The Epaulet Oriole
The Red-Crested Cardinal
Being this close allows clear frame filling head shots that just can't be done without some kind of control.
The Blue-Grey Tanager
A few of them didn't get up on the perches, but were nearby on the ground.
The Southern Lapwing, showing it's spurs.
The very large, Spot-winged Dove
And the Argentine National Bird, the Rufous Hornero
Interestingly, there were also birds that would not come down to the feeders, but were perched in trees nearby, and allowed some pretty close shots.
The Tropical Kingbird
And the Gilded Sapphire Hummingbird, who was even kind enough to hover nearby!
Over head we had a fly by from a Yellow Headed Vulture
And a Southern Crested Caracara
One of the fun things to watch are disagreements among birds. Sometimes they happen between different species,
But more often, you see what I presume are siblings or family members squabbling. This pair started by yelling at each other...
And soon escalated into full blown chest bumping...
And ending with them all yelling at something else?
All of this while sitting in a chair for about 1 hour and never having to move. I love that kind of bird photography. I also love striking out to search for stuff, but sometimes it is just fun to be able to see so much happening without having to move the gear.
Mid morning we loaded up and headed back to the south along the road that brought us up to Pellegrini, down to Rincon del Siccorro. This was a very productive trip as we had much better weather than the day before when we were actually birding the same area. A couple of shots taken from the car window.
A Pair of Crested Caracara
A lone young female Strange-tailed Tyrant.
And an incredible opportunity to catch a Long Winged Harrier flying along side the vehicle.
I will write more about the incredible Rincon del Siccorro in a subsequent post, but suffice it for now to observe that it was a very different enviornment that what we had been seeing anywhere else. Upon arrival we were met by the Ostrich like Rhea. This is a comical bird, flightless, but it flaps it "wings" as it runs either at or away from each other.
One of my favorite things about the Rhea is their crazy ears.
One of my most memorable experiences of the whole Argentina trip, was the Rufescent Tiger Heron just across the road from our rooms. It was working a swampy area, and really rewarded an hour long stake out. Check out this amazing bird.
He finally got the catfish speared, and.......
Fun. This was a very fun spot. Very flat, and seemingly sparse as can be seen in this photo of Paula, but an amazing diversity of birds.
On this day, we saw all three of the Caracara resident in this area.
Our friends the Southern Crested
The smaller Chimango
And the subtle but gorgeous Yellow-headed Caracara
The Monk Parakeet were plentiful
And another of my personal favorites, the Purple Throated Eleania
Another of my favorite birds is actually mechanical. I love to fly, and was surprised to see a hanger which had among other birds a Cessna just like the one I fly at home. I was laughing at the Field Flickers fighting with themselves in the reflection of the chrome on the plane. This is actually a common behavior that we often see, when birds fight with themselves in the window, a car mirror or a chrome object.
Ok, time for the mystery critter. This interesting rodent shares its burrow (that's a hint) with the Burrowing Owl. For $10 grandchildren, what is this?
Later in the evening we were treated to a Grey Fox couple.
And in the trees right outside our room, another Tropical Screech Owl was patient as we hit him with the strobe.
Just a few more posts will finish off this incredible Argentina experience. The next one will talk more about the amazing place called Rincon del Siccorro. Peace out.
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