Chile - Birding Chile

Depart USA

Arrivals in Santiago. Check into hotel. Take the afternoon to rest and explore on your own. Welcome dinner and orientation.

Breakfast. Birding at Lampa and Batuco marshes, north of the Airport. Targets include South American Painted Snipe, Rosy-billed Pochard, White-cheeked Pintail and Cocoi Heron. After lunch visit one of the oldest wineries in Chile: Viña Concha y Toro, located in the Maipo Valley. Famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenare. One of their most famous wines, is Casillero del Diablo or Devil's Cellar. It is named for an underground cellar where the landlord used to hide his best wines, telling his employees that the Devil himself dwelled in this dark and mysterious place. Return to the hotel for bird checklist and dinner.

Spend the day exploring the area around El Yeso reservoir in the Andean foothills. Target birds include: endemic Crag Chilia, Andean Condors, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Black-winged Ground Dove, Grey-flanked Cinclodes, Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant and Yellow-rumped Siskin. Possibly the Diademed Sandpiper-Plover. Lunch will be served at San Jose de Maipo. Return to hotel for bird checklist and dinner.

After breakfast, head to the coast. On the way, visit Sanctuary El Peral Nature Reserve we will look for Stripe-backed Bittern, the Black-headed Duck, and the Many-colored Rush Tyrant. The elusive Ticking Doradito will also be a target at this location. Lunch at Chez Gerald Restaurant, then we'll check into our seaside hotel. Walk along the rocky coast to look for the endemic Chilean Seaside Cinclodes and a variety of Humboldt Current seabird specialties before returning to the hotel for the evening bird checklist meeting and dinner.

Pelagic trip on the Humboldt Current. Targets include: tubenoses such as Black-browed and Salvin's Albatrosses. Also possible are Buller's, Chatham, Wandering (Antipodean) and both Northern and Southern Royal albatrosses. We should also find Southern and Northern Giant Petrels, Pintado, Masatierra, Juan Fernandez, White-chinned and Westland Petrels, Pink-footed, Buller's and Sooty Shearwaters, Wilson's Storm Petrel, and Peruvian Diving Petrel. Other seabirds we may encounter include Red (Grey) Phalarope, Sabine's Gull and Chilean Skua. Marine mammals may include: Orca, Sperm Whale and Dusky and Southern Right-Whale Dolphins. South American Sea Lion are abundant here. Is lunch available on the boat? During the afternoon explore the coastal areas, visiting a protected breeding colony of Humboldt Penguin; with possible sightings of Southern Sea Otter. Before ending the day we'll stop at a coastal marsh to see a variety of waterfowl including Red Shoveler, Yellow-billed Pintail, Speckled Teal and Chiloe Wigeon, all three lowland coot species, Spot-flanked Gallinule and Plumbeous Rail, which surprisingly for a rail is quite easy to spot as it often walks in the open. Bird Checklist and dinner at hotel.

Early breakfast and then visit La Campana National Park, dominated by Chilean Palm-tree groves and dry forest. Mount La Campana, after which the park is named, is one of the most prominent peaks of the whole Coastal Range, and was also one of the many interesting places that young Charles Darwin explored during his long stay in Chile in the 1830s. Targets include several endemic passerines, including Chilean Mockingbird, Dusky-tailed Canastero, Moustached Turca, Dusky Tapaculo and White-throated Tapaculo. Chilean Pigeon, Striped Woodpecker, Austral Pygmy Owl, Giant Hummingbird and Green-backed Firecrown are also seen here. We will also look for the endemic Chilean Tinamou. Check out and drive to Santiago, visit a winery on the way back to Santiago. Check into Hotel Pullman Santiago Vitagra Hotel and enjoy dinner at the hotel restaurant.

After breakfast, transfer to airport for flight to Punta Arenas. Have a quick look of this traditional Patagonian city and then begin the transfer to Torres del Paine with boxed lunch and while admiring Patagonia's breathtaking vistas, snow peaked mountains and rolling plains dotted with guanacos along the way. Arrive the hotel situated along the southern border of the Torres del Paine National Park and check in. Bird checklist, dinner and orientation to this beautiful place.

This morning drive across Torres del Paine National Park with views of Paine Grande and its snowy peaks as well as Los Cuernos, the famous mountain with black granite, horn-like spires. Bird along the shores of stunning Lake Pehoe and visit the furious Salto Grande Falls which pour the waters of Lake Nordenskjold into Pehoe. Continue over the gentle Nordenskjold Trail until reaching its picture-perfect lookout point. After returning to the vehicle back at Lake Pehoe, drive south to a beach along the shores of glacial Lake Grey to have a boxed lunch. Continue birding around Lake Grey in search of Magellanic Woodpeckers and get a better view of the glacier. Return to hotel. Bird checklist and dinner.

After breakfast explore the scenery along the route to Laguna Azul, situated on the northeastern side of the park. Admire the local flora and fauna and the picturesque landscapes including the beautiful Paine Waterfall. Upon arrival at Laguna Azul, hike to a lookout point for a breathtaking view of the lagoon and the granite towers that give the park its name. Continue along the eastern side of Lago Sarmiento to the calcium formations on the shores where guanacos are seen. Return to the hotel. Bird checklist and dinner.

Say farewell to Torres del Paine during a final breakfast at the camp and then transfer to Puerto Natales with lunch and a visit a massive prehistoric cave where remains of a giant ground sloth were discovered in the 1890s. The site is located in a transition zone, where forests and arid plains meet, and is home to a large number of bird species. Continue to Puerto Natales and this afternoon fly to Santiago in time for your international flight home.

Arrive in US.