As the morning dawned clear of fog, we returned to Punta Rasa with the hope of more exciting seawatching. Unfortunately, the improved weather conditions resulted in no seabird passage whatsoever, not a single bird passed the point! The mudflats and sandbars still held plenty of interest with Olrog’s Gulls, Snowy-crowned Terns and Two-banded Plovers being the highlights. We did our good deed for the day by helping a local Argentinian dig his car out of the soft sand where he’d managed to plough into it right up to his axles. This took some time but we were rewarded walking back to our car (smugly parked up on harder sand a safe distance from the strandline!) with incredible close-up views of a male Many-coloured Rush-tyrant feeding in some windswept pampas grass. What a gorgeous bird, the South American equivalent of a Firecrest and even more colourful. What a shame he hardly stayed still long enough for a photograph.
We then headed west from San Clemente to the reserve of Campos del Tuyu. We’d visited this site briefly yesterday in the fog so already knew that the road into the reserve was impassable. Thick mud would have made life impossible for a 4x4, never mind our trusty Peugeot 205. We walked a short way down the track and did manage to see a few good birds: Austral Negrito, Sooty Tyrannulet, Correndera Pipit and a pair of Chiloe Wigeon, all new for the year. We also enjoyed watching Spectacled Tyrant, Brown-and-yellow Marshbirds, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Cinereous Harrier and Greater Rhea. With time ticking away as ever, we then had to head back towards Buenos Aires to drop off our hire car early evening. A few brief roadside stops produced no new birds for the year, though we did see White-faced and Fulvous Whistling-Duck, lots more Chiloe Wigeon and three White-tailed Kites.
Bird Species list: 2645
Posted 5th July, Buenos Aires, Argentina