Punta Loyola, 9/21/23

I missed the Beagle Channel tour while I was in Ushuaia so I didn't see one of my most wanted birds, the Snowy Sheathbill, along with penguins and giant petrels.  Punta Loyola near the mouth of the Rio Gallegos on the south Atlantic might give me another opportunity at these species.  I found my way over to this lonely port which has served as a site for unloading coal for over a century and started looking for Magellanic Plovers which had been reported in the area.  The mudflats below held shorebirds and gave me hope.

But stepping out of the car I was immediately distracted by an unknown passerine in the company of  a common Rufous-collared Sparrow.  I fired a few shots and after returning home I discovered it was my lifer Gray-hooded Sierra-Finch.

I trudged along the edge of the flats and got a little closer but without a scope it was difficult.  I made out peeps which down here would be Baird's Sandpiper.  If I was younger and braver I might have tried crossing the flats but I decided against it.  I also saw what I thought were Two-banded Plovers but they were too distant to call.

Back in the car I drove past the dock and around the point.

A passerine flushed into a bush.  It was another Scale-throated Earthcreeper.

I made my way down to the sea shore which consisted of pebbles rather than sand.  In the distance I could see Kelp Gulls and a flock of oystercatchers.

I was able to get pretty close to the oystercatchers which were mostly the black backed Magellanic Oystercatchers.  But there were also a few brown backed birds with a white arc at the base of the wing.  These were the more familiar American Oystercatchers.  I think the ragged border between the black breast and white belly indicated juvenile birds.

While photographing the oystercatchers I noticed some white dove shaped birds about the size of a small chicken feeding along the shoreline with the Kelp Gulls.  They kept coming closer to me and I could not believe my luck.  I had found Snowy Sheathbills.  They are a member of the shorebird order and the only nesting bird on Antarctica without webbed feet.  They nest in penguin colonies where they eat about anything including eggs and young penguins.  They winter on south Atlantic islands and the south coast of Argentina.  They also do a lot of scavaging which might explain the bare skin around the face.  These rather unattactive birds seemed to be feeding on seaweed and came quite close.

Well that was cool.  Next up for the morning was the Marjory Glen.  While studying Youtube videos of Rio Gallegos I came across this wrecked ship which is just down the coast from Punta Loyola.  The Marjory Glen was a three masted metal hulled sailing ship buit in Scotland in 1892.  A Norwegian company bought the ship in 1911 and she caught fire hauling coal just off the coast near Rio Gallegos.  The ship was condemed and towed to Punta Loyola in 1915.  Apparently the Argentinian Airforce used it for target parctise in 1982 as they prepared to fight the Bristish over the Islas Malvinas (Falklands). 

The only seabirds passing by were flocks of Imperial Cormorants.

Now it was time for the long drive back to El Calafate where I had reserved another Air B&B.  Once again I flushed shorebirds as I drove on Ruta 40 and once again I back tracked.  This time it was a couple of Tawny-throated Dotterals.  What a magnificent shorebird!

As I drove across the snowy plateau one more time I noticed tracks in the snow the seemed to go from one large rock to the next.  Then I dound who was leaving the foot prints.  This is a South American Gray Fox.  It's in a completely different genus than our Gray Fox in North America.

Back in El Clafate my new Air B&B overlooked the mudflats of Lago Argentina.  It was a pretty specacular view.

I was able to pick up my lifer Two-banded Plover but not much of a photo.

Tomorrow more fun at Reserva Laguna Nimez.