PO Box 9021, Wilmington, DE 19809, USA
E-mail: font@focusonnature.com
Phone: Toll-free in USA 1-800-721-9986
 or 302/529-1876; Fax: 302/529-1085

 

An Extension following our ARGENTINA TOUR FON/AR-2,
that can be done either in conjunction with it,
or independently,  


 The CHILE

SHORT-STAY
 
BIRDING TOUR

(tour: FON/CH-SS ’11)

December 2-5, 2011

Including the High Andes
a Pelagic Trip on the Pacific,
and birding elsewhere in between.


Among the birds we'll aim to see: 

Diademed Plover, Moustached Turca, Crag Chilia, Andean Condor, 
and the South American Painted-Snipe, 
in addition to some Chilean endemics, 
and birds at sea during the pelagic trip including: 
some albatrosses, pterodromas, other petrels, shearwaters, storm-petrels, 
penguins, boobies, skuas, and more. 

Tour to be led by Armas Hill.

From Previous Chile Tours, Lists of: Birds  Mammals

Previous Chile Tour Highlights

Chilean Albatrosses & Other Seabirds

Birds during Previous Chile "Short-Stay" Tours 

South American Mammals & Other Wildlife

Photo Gallery of Southern South America Birds

Itinerary (price follows):

Tour CH-SS: in Central Chile   

Fri: Dec. 2  Arrival mid-day in Santiago, Chile (those coming from tour FON/AR-2 would be on a flight from Buenos Aires). From the Santiago airport, travel west, with some birding enroute, to Vina del Mar, along the Pacific Coast. Birding, that afternoon, along that coast will provide us with our first penguins (the Humboldt), along with pelicans, and an assortment of other seabirds and shorebirds. Among them: the distinctive Inca Tern, the subtle, yet attractive Gray Gull, Surfbirds (having come from Alaska), and the resident Chilean Seaside-Cinclodes. We’ll enjoy a wonderful seafood dinner, at the ocean’s edge, by the birds. Our overnight in Vina del Mar.


  Buller's Albatross

Sat: Dec. 3   A morning pelagic birding trip, on the ocean (to about 10 miles offshore). On this annual pelagic trip during previous tours, as many as 7 species of albatrosses have been seen, in addition to numerous other pelagic species. Not only will we see many oceanic birds, we will see them close to the boat, as our chumming will attract them well. (A complete list of the pelagic species seen on these trips is available from FONT, or can be found elsewhere in this web-site.) In the afternoon, we'll do some morning birding along the seacoast, particularly at a marsh where during our previous tours,  in addition to numerous waterbirds, we've seen Stripe-backed Bittern and nesting Many-colored Rush-tyrant. Overnight again in Vina del Mar. 

Sun: Dec 4   Some of our birding, this day, will be in the Andes, a couple hours or so southeast of Santiago. We'll visit in the area of Reservoir el Yeso.  In this area of beautiful scenery, we'll see a number of high Andean birds. Among the birds there, we'll seek the rare and attractive Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, that's been seen during 11 FONT tours since 1990. But also, there should be the endemic Crag Chilia a denizen of cliff-sides. While on the ground there will be be various ground-tyrants, the Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, and the Chilean tapaculo known as the Moustached Turca. In the overhead sky, we’re apt to see large Andean Condors soaring in the thermals. After a full-day of birding, mostly in the mountains, we'll overnight in a setting of hilly Chilean countryside southeast of Santiago.

Mon: Dec. 5  More birding, this day, in the mountains and hills east of Santiago. We'll ascend a paved road high into the Andes, where we should see more turcas and tyrants, and an assortment of finches and furnarids, in addition to such targets as the Giant Hummingbird, Dusky-tailed Canastero (a Chilean endemic), and Mountain Caracara. More condors should also be seen as we have another good day in the Andes. 
In the afternoon, we'll visit a fresh-water marsh near Santiago, where again, there will be waterbirds (numerous ducks & coots), and where we'll have a chance to the South American Painted-Snipe (a bird that can be hard to see, but we've seen it there more than once in the past). 
Departure, from the Santiago airport, on overnight flights departing from Chile, for home.
 

Prices:

Tour CH-SS (in Central Chile): 
Dec. 2-5:  
 US $1,395 per person.
 Single supplement: US $255.

Includes:  
All overnight accommodations.
Ground transportation in Chile. 
Meals: Breakfasts & Lunches. 
The pelagic trip from Vina del Mar.
Services of an expert birding leader, familiar with the birds and the localities.

Does not include:  
Air transportation to/from and within Chile. 
Dinners.
Drinks and any items of a personal nature. 
Airport taxes. 
Gratuities.


 A deposit of US $400 is required to reserve a place 
on the tour CH-SS.


 Birds seen during previous FONT  "Short-Stay" Tours
in central Chile

 

   (CHe): endemic to Chile
   (CHi):  introduced in Chile
   (CHr):  rare in Chile

    (p):      during pelagic trip from Valparaiso

   (t):  threatened species globally, according to Birdlife International
            (t1): critical    (t2): endangered    (t3): vulnerable
   (nt): near-threatened species globally

  

  1. Chilean Tinamou (CHe) ______

  2. California Quail (CHi) ______

  3. Black-necked Swan ______

  4. Andean Goose ______

  5. Torrent Duck ______

  6. Chiloe (or Southern) Wigeon ______

  7. Speckled Teal ______

  8. Crested Duck ______

  9. Yellow-billed (or Brown) Pintail ______

  10. Cinnamon Teal ______

  11. Red Shoveler ______

  12. Rosy-billed Pochard ______

  13. Black-headed Duck (nt) ______

  14. Lake Duck ______

  15. Humboldt Penguin (t3) ______ (p)

  16. Magellanic Penguin (nt) ______ (p)

  17. Northern Royal Albatross (t2) ______ (p)

  18. Southern Royal Albatross (t3) (CHr) ______ (p) 

  19. Black-browed Albatross (nt) ______ (p)

  20. Gray-headed Albatross (t3) ______ (p)

  21. Buller's Albatross (t3) ______ (p)

  22. Salvin's Albatross (t3) ______ (p)

  23. Shy Albatross (nt) ______ (p)

  24. Chatham Islands Albatross (t1) (CHr) ______ (p)

  25. Southern Giant Petrel (t3) ______ (p)

  26. Northern Giant Petrel (nt) ______ (p)

  27. Southern Fulmar ______ (p)

  28. Cape Petrel (or Pintado) ______ (p)

  29. Juan Fernandez Petrel (t3) ______ (p)

  30. DeFilippi's (or Masatierra) Petrel (t3) ______ (p)

  31. Slender-billed Prion ______ (p)

  32. White-chinned Petrel (or "Shoemaker") (t3) ______ (p)

  33. Westland Petrel (nt) ______ (p)

  34. Gray Petrel (or "Pediunker") (nt) ______ (p)

  35. Pink-footed Shearwater (t3) ______ (p)

  36. Sooty Shearwater ______ (p)

  37. Subantarctic Little Shearwater ______ (p)

  38. Wilson's Storm Petrel ______ (p)

  39. Black-bellied Storm Petrel ______ (p)

  40. White-bellied Storm-Petrel ______ (p)

  41. Peruvian Diving Petrel (t2) ______ (p)

  42. Pied-billed Grebe ______

  43. White-tufted Grebe ______

  44. Silvery Grebe ______

  45. Great Grebe ______

  46. Cocoi Heron ______ 

  47. Great Egret ______

  48. Snowy Egret ______

  49. Cattle Egret ______

  50. Black-crowned Night-Heron ______

  51. Stripe-backed Bittern ______

  52. Peruvian Pelican ______ (p)

  53. Peruvian Booby ______ (p)

  54. Neotropic Cormorant ______ 

  55. Guanay Cormorant ______ 

  56. Red-legged Shag (nt) ______ 

  57. Andean Condor (nt) ______

  58. Turkey Vulture ______

  59. Black Vulture ______

  60. Mountain Caracara ______

  61. Southern Crested Caracara ______

  62. Chimango Caracara ______

  63. American Kestrel ______

  64. Aplomado Falcon ______ 

  65. White-tailed Kite ______

  66. Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle ______

  67. "Red-backed" Variable Hawk ______

  68. Bay-winged (or Harris's) Hawk ______

  69. White-throated Hawk ______

  70. Cinereous Harrier ______

  71. Plumbeous Rail ______

  72. Spot-flanked Gallinule ______

  73. White-winged Coot ______

  74. Red-gartered Coot ______

  75. Red-fronted Coot ______

  76. American Oystercatcher ______

  77. Blackish Oystercatcher ______

  78. White-backed Stilt ______

  79. Southern Lapwing ______

  80. Collared Plover ______

  81. Diademed  Plover (nt) ______

  82. South American Painted Snipe ______

  83. Gray-breasted Seedsnipe ______

  84. Marbled Godwit (CHr) ______ 

  85. "American" Whimbrel ______

  86. Greater Yellowlegs ______

  87. Lesser Yellowlegs ______

  88. Ruddy Turnstone ______

  89. Surfbird ______

  90. Sanderling ______

  91. Baird's Sandpiper ______

  92. White-rumped Sandpiper ______

  93. South American Snipe ______

  94. Red (or Grey) Phalarope ______ (p)

  95. Chilean Skua ______ (p)

  96. Parasitic Jaeger ______ (p)

  97. Gray Gull ______ (p)

  98. Kelp Gull ______ (p)

  99. Franklin's Gull ______ (p)

  100. Brown-hooded Gull ______

  101. Sabine's Gull ______ (p) 

  102. South American Tern ______ (p)

  103. Arctic Tern ______ (p)

  104. Common Tern ______ (p)

  105. Snowy-crowned Tern ______ (p)

  106. Elegant Tern (nt) ______ (p)

  107. Inca Tern ______ (p)

  108. Black Skimmer ______

  109. Common (or Feral) Pigeon  (CHi)  ______ 

  110. Chilean Pigeon (nt) ______

  111. Eared Dove ______

  112. Picui Ground Dove ______

  113. Black-winged Ground Dove ______

  114. Mountain Parakeet ______

  115. Monk Parakeet  (CHi) ______

  116. Barn Owl ______

  117. Burrowing Owl ______

  118. Band-winged Nightjar ______

  119. White-sided Hillstar ______

  120. Giant Hummingbird ______

  121. Chilean Flicker ______

  122. Striped Woodpecker ______

  123. Rufous-tailed Plantcutter ______

  124. Great Shrike-Tyrant ______

  125. Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant ______

  126. Fire-eyed Diucon ______

  127. Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant ______

  128. Ochre-naped Ground Tyrant ______

  129. White-browed Ground Tyrant ______

  130. Black-fronted Ground Tyrant ______

  131. Cinereous Ground Tyrant ______

  132. Spot-billed Ground Tyrant ______

  133. Patagonian Negrito ______

  134. Warbling Doradito ______

  135. Spectacled Tyrant ______

  136. Many-colored Rush Tyrant ______ 

  137. Tufted Tit-Tyrant ______

  138. White-crested Elaenia ______

  139. Moustached Turca  (CHe) ______

  140. White-throated Tapaculo  (CHe) ______

  141. Dusky Tapaculo ______

  142. Common Miner ______

  143. Rufous-banded Miner ______

  144. Straight-billed Earthcreeper ______

  145. Scaly-throated Earthcreeper ______

  146. Bar-winged Cinclodes ______

  147. Dark-bellied Cinclodes ______

  148. Gray-flanked Cinclodes ______

  149. Chilean Seaside Cinclodes (CHe) ______

  150. Crag Chilia  (CHe) ______

  151. Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail ______

  152. Sharp-billed Canastero ______

  153. Cordilleran Canastero ______

  154. Dusky-tailed Canastero  (CHe) ______

  155. Wren-like Rushbird ______

  156. Chilean Swallow ______

  157. Blue-and-white Swallow ______

  158. Barn Swallow ______

  159. Sedge (or Grass) Wren ______

  160. (Southern) House Wren ______

  161. Chilean Mockingbird (CHe) ______

  162. Austral Thrush ______

  163. Correndera Pipit ______

  164. House Sparrow  (CHi)  ______ 

  165. Black-chinned Siskin ______

  166. Yellow-rumped Siskin ______

  167. Shiny Cowbird ______

  168. Austral Blackbird ______

  169. Yellow-winged Blackbird ______

  170. Long-tailed Meadowlark ______

  171. Rufous-collared Sparrow ______

  172. Gray-hooded Sierra Finch ______

  173. Mourning Sierra Finch ______

  174. Plumbeous Sierra Finch ______

  175. Band-tailed Sierra Finch ______

  176. Greater Yellow-Finch ______

  177. Grassland Yellow-Finch ______

  178. Common Diuca-Finch ______