I was in Buenos Aires at the end of October 2015 for a teachers’ conference and when it was over my good friend Alec Earnshaw invited me up to Ceibas for a day’s birding. It was a long day too –Ceibas is in the Province of Entre Ríos and we left the northern suburbs at about 04.00, getting back to BA at about 23.00– but it was an excellent day, and I had myself an excellent guide, one of Argentina’s very best. Thank you again, Alec, for a wonderful day’s birding.
Alec knew this area really well, and was able to guide me to a a great many birds, twenty-eight of which were lifers for me. Below are some of the birds we saw – there were so many birds everywhere that I didn’t bother to take photos of birds I know in order to save my batteries for new ones.
Lifers of the day were Savanna Hawk, Grassland Sparrow, Chestnut-capped Blackbird, Wood Stork, Screaming Cowbird, Suiriri Flycatcher, Yellow-browed Tyrant, Solitary Sandpiper, Sooty Tyrannulet, Grayish Saltator, White-browed Meadowlark, Brown-and-yellow Marshbird, Straight-billed Reedhaunter, Curve-billed Reedhaunter, Nacunda Nighthawk, Bran-colored Flycatcher, White Monjita, Firewood-gatherer, Brown-chested Martin, Scarlet-headed Blackbird, Freckle-breasted Thornbird, Roseate Spoonbill, Warbling Doradito, Yellow-chinned Spinetail, Stripe-crowned Spinetail, Chotoy Spinetail, Whistling Heron and Snail Kite. That’s a total of 28 – not bad for one day’s birding, and I’m no longer a beginner.
The photos below follow, for some inexplicable reason, a not quite perfect inverse alphabetical order. This was obviously not the order we saw them, but some months later it would be time-consuming to reconstruct that order, and it’s not that important anyway.
varillero congo (Chestnut-capped Blackbird) Agelaius ruficapillus
tuyuyú (American Wood Stork) Mycteria americana
tordo pico corto (Screaming Cowbird) Molothrus rufoaxilaris
siriri pampa (White-faced Whistling-Duck) Dendrocygna viduata
siete vestidos ( Black-and-rufous Warbling-Finch) Poospiza nigrorufa
pitotoy solitario (Solitary Sandpiper) Tringa solitaria
piojito gris (Sooty Tyrannulet) Serpophaga nigricans
[female] pico de plata (Spectacled Tyrant) Hymenops perspicillatus
[male] picaflor comun (Glittering-bellied Emerald Hummingbird) Chlorostilbon lucidus
domesticated version of pato real (Muscovy Duck) Cairina moschata
pepitero de collar (Golden-billed Saltator) Saltator aurantiirostris
[not to be confused with long-tailed meadowlark!] pecho colorado (White-browed Meadowlark) Sturnella superciliaris
pecho amarillo común (Brown-and-yellow Marshbird) Pseudoleistes virescens
ñacundá (Nacunda Nighthawk) Chordeiles nacunda/Podager nacunda
federal (Scarlet-headed Blackbird) Amblyramphus holosericeus
espinero pecho manchado (Freckle-breasted Thornbird) Phacellodomus striaticollis
espátula rosada (Roseate Spoonbill) Ajaia ajaja
doradito común (Warbling Doradito) Pseudocolopteryx flaviventris
curutié colorado (Yellow-chinned Spinetail) Certhiaxis cinnamomeus
curutié blanco (Stripe-crowned Spinetail) Cranioleuca pyrrhophia
cortarramas (White-tipped Plantcutter) Phytotoma rutila
chotoy (Chotoy Spinetail) Schoeniophylax phryganophilus
chinchero chico (Narrow-billed Woodcreeper) Lepidocolaptes angustirostris
chiflón (Whislting Heron) Syrigma sibilatrix
chaja (Crested aka Southern Screamer) Chauna torquata
carpintero de cardon (White-fronted Woodpecker) Melanerpes cactorum
cardenal comun (Red-crested Cardinal) Paroaria coronata
caracolero (Snail [or Everglade] Kite) Rosthramus sociabilis
tordo musico (Bay-winged Cowbird) Agelaioides badius
becasina (South American Snipe) Gallinago paraguaiae
bigua (Neotropic aka Olivaceous Cormorant) Phalacrocorax brasilianus
cachilo ceja amarilla (Grassland Sparrow) Ammodramus humeralis
calandria grande (Chalk-browed Mockingbird) Mimus saturninus
atajacaminos tijera (Scissor-tailed Nightjar) Hydropsalis torquata
[young] aguilucho colorado (Savanna Hawk) Buteogallus meridionalis
suirirí común (Suiriri suiriri) Suiriri Flycatcher
suirirí amarillo (Yellow-browed Tyrant) Satrapa icterophrys
Great collection for a day in Ceibas
HI Martin! I’m glad you enjoyed the day, which was also very pleasant and productive for me!