Bird Watching
Estancia Los Potreros is a top location for bird watching.
Year-round the bird life is interesting. The location of the farm on the edge of various microclimates...on the boundary of the pampas and the start of the high country leading to the Andes, between the arid north and the lush south, as well as being on the tree line, make Estancia Los Potreros a top location for bird watching.
From a letter to his family by Paul MacDermot.
One of my jobs was to help in compiling a bird list and, one by one, more species were added to it. A couple of condors were briefly seen, and roosting in the bushes near the house one day were a pair of absurdly tame horned owls about 6 inches long. Other wildlife spotted were some Cuis (guinea pig) and a wild pig with a baby, which is a rare sight.
Maurice Rumboll, an ornithologist who has co-authored the Collins Illustrated Checklist of the birds of Southern South America, visited with his family one day. Robin decided to pull his leg by claiming an ability to call down the local Black Vultures. He whistled a bit then took us round the corner of the house to show us two of them sitting in a tree just above the kitchen (where, of course, they'd been sitting all the time). Maurice called his bluff in a remarkable display. He went off whistling tu.tu.tu.tu.tu.tu. tu. on the note of C. Soon there came an identical reply getting closer and closer, and in came a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl looking to see off his rival. My later attempts to emulate this feat were all unsuccessful.
Dear Robin,
I hope the following might be of some use. It covers some of the more commonly seen and obvious birds, though I'm aware that there are probably some glaring omissions, like hummingbirds and doves, for instance. My two short visits have only provided a brief glimpse of whats there in the winter and at the end of summer.
There is a good variety of birds in the Cordoba area, with the different habitats favouring their own particular species. On the farm we have woodland and low bushes of varying density, giving way to open grassland of coarse tussocky Paja Brava. The valleys have their crystal clear streams, often lined with willows and here and there open areas of short green grass.
Out riding many kinds of birds are easily seen. A keen bird man will always see more than the rest of us, but there are a number of species which by virtue of their size, noise or colour will soon make their presence obvious. The prize for noisiness must go to the Monk Parakeets. Bright green and fast in flight they cackle and screech as they fly about, or argue over their big twiggy nests in the trees. By the streams and pools the Great Kiskadee with its black mask and yellow belly shouts out 'ben-te-veo'(Spanish for ' I see you well '), and inevitably this is its local name all over the continent.
In the sky it is the vultures which catch the eye. Black vultures, identified by their black heads and white underwing patch are present throughout the year. They have a favourite roost in a tree above the kitchen at Potrero de Niz. Turkey vultures, red headed, with flapless soaring flight are absent during the winter. More purposeful and flapping in its flight is another scavenger, the Carancho, or Crested Caracara. In the air its wings show a large white spot both above and below, and it has more of a head and tail than the vultures when seen in flight. Where there is a carcase, a calf killed by a puma perhaps, Caranchos and Vultures gather in large numbers and pick the bones clean.
It is worth checking out distant specks soaring high through a pair of binoculars.... they may not be ordinary vultures. Condors, wth their 3 metre wing span, are increasing seen in the area. They show very deeply emarginated primaries or 'fingers' when soaring, and the upper surfaces of the wings have large patches of white which can be seen as they turn.Tinamou, or Partridge, are regularly flushed, exploding from the cover of the grass with whirring wings. Towards the southern end of the farm near the Chiviquin the land is less undulating and very open. Here lives a slightly rabbit-like rodent called the Viscacha whose holes provide homes for pairs of Burrowing Owls which stare alertly as you ride by. Here too Southern Lapwings, or Spur-winged plovers keep watch, flying up noisily when disturbed crying 'tay, tay,tay-oh,tay-row' and dive-bombing intruders who get too close to the nest.Their call gives them the widespread local name of Tero.
In lonely places the shy and solitary White Monjita can be seen perched briefly on a fence or bush. This sparrow-sized bird does not permit a close approach which is annoying as it is startlingly attractive, a dazzling white with black eye, wings and tail tip. It is nearly always seen on its own and its name, most appropriately, means White Nun.
Near cover and where the grass is short Green Barred Woodpeckers may be seen poking around for ants, but they are well camouflaged and are easily overlooked. If you are lucky you may see the huge (45cm) Ringed Kingfisher perched in the willows beside the stream. This is a striking bird of blue-grey,white and rusty red.
These are just some of the more obvious birds which can be seen regularly out in the open.There are many others which lurk in the bushes, hop across the lawns or flit about in the shrubbery, and these may require more dedicated persuit than is feasible on horseback.
This is a list of birds often seen. The columns correspond to English names/ Latin names/ Argentine names/ and the plate and bird number as found in Martin R de la Pena and Maurice Rumboll's 'Collins Illustrated Checklist , Birds of Southern South America'.