{"id":1836,"date":"2015-12-15T08:27:39","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T11:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/?p=1836"},"modified":"2015-12-15T23:32:48","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T02:32:48","slug":"trip-to-alumine-rucachoroi-and-villa-pehuenia-5-7-october-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/archives\/1836","title":{"rendered":"Trip to Alumin\u00e9, Rucachoroi and Villa Pehuenia – 5-7 October, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a whim I drove up through Jun\u00edn de los Andes to Alumin\u00e9 (passing through Pilol\u00edl) and, \u00a0after a side trip over to Lake Rucachoroi drove on to Villa Pehuenia and from there\u00a0to Zapala, passing through Laguna\u00a0Blanca on the way home to San Mart\u00edn de los Andes.<\/p>\n

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Route of circuit San Mart\u00edn – Jun\u00edn – Alumin\u00e9 – La Pehuenia – Zapala – San Mart\u00edn<\/p><\/div>\n

I experienced all kinds of weather, from heavy snow in Villa Pehuenia, heavy rain in Moquehu\u00e9 to scorching sun at Laguna Blanca.I was away three nights\u00a0and I took my camera, although birding was not my primary aim on this trip.<\/p>\n

Leaving home, I saw the usual suspects: bandurrias (Black-faced Ibis<\/strong>), chimangos (Chimango Caracara<\/strong>), jotes (cabeza negra) \u00a0(black<\/strong>[headed<\/strong>] vultures<\/strong>), chingolos \u00a0(Rufous-collared Sparrow<\/strong>), etc. I didn’t really pay too much attention at this stage but I did snap a couple of chimangos and a zorzal patag\u00f3nico\u00a0(Austral Thrush<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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A couple of chimangos in the trees, Jun\u00edn de los Andes<\/p><\/div>\n

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Zorzal Patag\u00f3nico on a post, Jun\u00edn de los Andes<\/p><\/div>\n

A couple of kilometres north of Jun\u00edn I took the road to Lake Tromen and the Chilean frontier, branching off towards Alumin\u00e9 as I crossed the Malleo river [thinking how nice a few hours fishing would be, but it was still a few weeks until the season opened]. Half an hour or so along the road, which winds through the Alumin\u00e9 valley, I took a sharp turn to the left up a steep and twisty track, not for the faint-hearted, up to Pilol\u00edl, a neolithic\u00a0meeting point with ancient wall paintings.<\/p>\n

I had been here before<\/a> with my friend Scarlet, where we had seen condors at very close quarters, curious about us and our picnic lunch. We had also (briefly) seen a peregrine and made a note of its nest so I went off in search. I never found the nest with certainty; one dark crack in the rock face can look like any other. But I did find the peregrine [or perhaps a relative of his]! Not a great picture, but he was very high!<\/p>\n

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Peregrine falcon at Pilolil, with the rocky crag where he was nesting in the background.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The same peregrine falcon, this time soaring high above Pilolil.<\/p><\/div>\n

After recovering from the vertigo that the ascent to Pilol\u00edl always gives me I drove on to Alumin\u00e9 where I had a late lunch at La Posta del Rey<\/em>. I have been there several times and each time ordered the house speciality: today was no exception. Tasty pasta washed down with an earthy red, a leisurely coffee and I was ready to continue on my way.<\/p>\n

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Lunch at La Posta del Rey: five kinds of home made pasta with a wild mushroom sauce.<\/p><\/div>\n

From Alumin\u00e9 I made a second \u00a0side trip, this time to Rucachoroi. There are lagoons along this road and you never quite know\u00a0just what might be around. Not much this time, as it happened: plenty of geese (mainly ashy-headed geese<\/strong>),\u00a0Andean Flamingo<\/strong>\u00a0and Coots<\/strong>\u00a0of various kinds but no exotics. Here are a\u00a0couple of photos taken along the road to Rucachoroi.<\/p>\n

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The gallareta ligas rojas (Red-gartered Coot), Fulica armillata.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A pair of cauquen real (Ashy-headed Goose), Chloephaga poliocephala, one performing a delicate balancing act.<\/p><\/div>\n

And of course, where there is water, you expect to find the the\u00a0remolinera com\u00fan (Bar-winged <\/strong>or Buff-winged\u00a0<\/strong>Cinclodes<\/b>). Here’s one I saw at the lake in Rucachoroi.<\/p>\n

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Remolinera comun (Bar-winged or Buff-winged Cinclodes), Cinclodes fuscus.<\/p><\/div>\n

Villa Pehuenia and the surrounding area were lovely; tourist country and it’s not hard to see why. It snowed hard most of the time I was there, but there was a large bird table which was well attended by comesebos (Sierra Finches<\/strong>), chimangos (Chimango Caracara<\/strong>), tordos renegridos (Shiny Cowbirds<\/strong>), tordos patag\u00f3nicos (Austral Blackbirds<\/strong>), and many others, including the odd gull.<\/p>\n

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Tordo renegrido (Shiny Cowbird), Molothrus bonariensis.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tordo patagonico (Austral Blackbird), Curaeus curaeus.<\/p><\/div>\n

Whilst at\u00a0Villa Pehuenia\u00a0I took a side trip to Moquehue, a small lakeside town with an airstrip in the middle of the town (go figure). Here I was entertained\u00a0by the antics of three llamas who grazed in the main street and by a pretty diuc\u00f3n (Fire-eyed Diucon<\/strong>) who seemed to follow me around, perhaps hoping for scraps. It’s easy to see how the diuc\u00f3n got its English name.<\/p>\n

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Diuc\u00f3n (Fire-eyed Diucon), Xolmis pyrope.<\/p><\/div>\n

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One of three llamas I saw grazing on the roadside at Moquehu\u00e9.<\/p><\/div>\n

In Moquehu\u00e9 I also saw a few\u00a0patos de anteojos aka<\/em> patos alas bronceadas (Spectacled <\/strong>or Bronze-winged Duck<\/strong>). These are more usually seen on fast-running currents, but apparently can\u00a0also be seen on quieter water<\/p>\n

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Pato de anteojos (Spectacled aka Bronze-winged Duck,) Specuzanas specularis.<\/p><\/div>\n

I had an early breakfast on the third day and was bemused as a large gull took over the bird table, scattering all other occupants, including the chimangos. Probably a gaviota cocinera\u00a0(Kelp Gull<\/strong>) – but I didn’t have a guide handy at the time and the photo doesn’t really help me to see if the underbill has a red spot or not. But I’m not sure what else he could be in this part of the world!<\/p>\n

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My breakfast companion<\/p><\/div>\n

And then I got into my car and drove to Zapala, with the aim of visiting nearby Laguna Blanca. But that’s another post.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a whim I drove up through Jun\u00edn de los Andes to Alumin\u00e9 (passing through Pilol\u00edl) and, \u00a0after a side trip over to Lake Rucachoroi drove on to Villa Pehuenia and from there\u00a0to Zapala, passing through Laguna\u00a0Blanca on the way … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1836"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1870,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions\/1870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}