BIRDING TOURS
BIRDING TOURS
Urban Reserves
Great start for Argentina birding
Within town and in the nearby outskirts, you can get good diversity of birds, being a great introduction for Argentine birdlife. Visiting 2 spots: public university grounds (named Ciudad Universitaria) and Vicente López Reserve. Urban Reserves frequently seen birds: herons, coots (up to 3 species), teals and ducks, rails (Plumbeous, Rufous-sided Crake, Gray-necked Wood Rail). Raptors (two Caracaras, Roadside and Bay winged Hawk), doves and pigeons, parrots and parakeets (several species from northern Argentina naturalized in town).
Guira Cuckoo, Golden Breasted and Checkered Woodpecker. Glittering Bellied Hummingbird, Narrow-billed Woodcreeper, “park” birds (Monk parakeet, Rufous-bellied and Creamy-bellied Thrush, Rufous Hornero, Chalk Browed Mockingbird, Great Kiskadee, Cattle Tyrant), Masked Gnatcatcher, cowbirds and blackbirds (Shiny, Baywinged and Screaming Cowbirds, Eapulet or Variable Oriole, Solitary Black Cacique), Red Crested Cardinal, etc.
Extension to Ribera Norte Reserve: On short notice can be offered an optional 2 hours extension to visit this nice spot with a marsh and a patch of thick forest. Not available in advance as the reserve is closed to public very frequently because of muddy trails (after rains or high tides).
HABITAT
Parks, vegetated ponds, riverside humid forest.
LOCATION
15 km (10 miles) away from downtown Buenos Aires.
DURATION
5 hours.
Costanera Sur
Great birding in the big city
HABITAT
Water bodies, and a mix of forest, scrub and thick grassland.
LOCATION
15 blocks (1 mile) away from downtown Buenos Aires.
DURATION
4 hours.
Otamendi
Open grassland 1 hour away
Main habitat of this area belonging to the National Parks system, is a grassland, seasonally flooded in part. Grassland can be both short or tall (in this case huge Pampas Grass), and wet parts vegetation includes thick grasses, reeds and cattail. There is little open water in ditches alongside the road. Patches of native forest add plant diversity attractive to a variety of songbirds. Most of the birding here is along a 5 km long public, dirt road. Expect scattered traffic. Birding the road itself takes 3 hours average. A typical destination to look for the scarce Straight billed Reedhaunter, it’s well worth even without it.
Raptors (Long winged Harrier, Chimango and Southern Caracaras, Roadside Hawk), Giant Wood Rail, Picazuro Pigeon, Picui Ground Dove, White faced and Bare Faced Ibis, Southern Screamer (normally distant), Southern Lapwing, Common Snipe, Whistling Heron, Bronze tailed Hummingbird, Golden Breasted and Checkered Woodpecker, furnariids like Freckle breasted Thornbird, Curve Billed Reedhaunter and Sulphur bearded Spinetail, Rufous Capped Antshrike, Spectacled Tyrant, Sooty Tyrannulet, Black-and-Rufous Warbling Finch, Great Pampas Finch, Long tailed Reed Finch, Diademed Tanager (easier in winter), Small-billed Elaenia, Brown and Yellow Marshbird, Yellow-winged and Scarlet-headed Blackbird, etc.
Connections: Otamendi can be combined with Urban Reserves, Costanera Sur and Southern Entre Ríos outings..
HABITAT
Short and thick grassland flooded in part, brushland, ditches, forest.
LOCATION
70 km (45 miles) away from downtown Buenos Aires.
DURATION
6 hours.
Ceibas Road
The birdy savanna
Raptors, herons and storks, woodpeckers and many species of passerines, like furnariids, tyrants, finches and blackbirds among a lot more birds. Whistling Heron, Savanna Hawk, Snail Kite, Maguari Stork, Southern Screamer, Yellow Billed, Ringed and Brazilian Teal, White Fronted Woodpecker, Scimitar Billed Woodcreeper, Brown Cacholote, Small Billed Canastero, Tufted Tit Spinetail, Chotoy Spinteail , White Monjita, Yellow Browed Tyrant, Suiriri Flycatcher, White Crested Tyrannulet, Grassland Yellow Finch, Golden Billed Saltator, Red Crested Cardinal, Sayaca Tanager, etc.
Shorter option: 9 hours, Southern Entre Rios get the most of this great area travelling a bit less.
2 days option: the relaxed way to do it, with overnight at a cozy farm lodge in Gualeguaychú, adding stops at Perdices and other locations. Distance from downtown Buenos Aires: 220 km (140 miles) North.
HABITAT
Scattered grassland and thorny forest (= savanna), reedbeds, riverside humid forest.
LOCATION
160 km (100 miles) away from downtown Buenos Aires.
DURATION
11-12 hours.
Samborombón Bay
Pampa's taste
Heading south along the Río de la Plata, you get to flat country with a mix of native grassland, mudflats and marshes which has suffered littlte change despite the widespread agricultural development of the pampas.
There are good chances for pampas typical birds like Spotted Nothura, Great Pampas Finch, Field Flicker, Brown and Yellow Blackbirds, Grassland Yellow Finch and also possibly the scarce grassland specialities Hudson’s Canastero, Bay capped Wren Spinetail, Gras Wren and the rare South American Painted Snipe.
Mudflats offer habitat for waders (Hudsonian Godwit, White Rumped and Pectoral Sandpiper, Two Banded Plover), Snowy Crowned and Gull Billed terns, Black Hooded and Gray Headed Gulls. With marked changes in numbers, mostly related to rainfalls, waterfowl can be very diverse in ducks and teals, swans, coots, grebes, herons, ibises, spoonbilds, storks, etc.
HABITAT
Agricultural fields, native grassland and forest, marshes, and some mudflats.
LOCATION
160 km (100 miles) away from downtown Buenos Aires.
DURATION
11-12 hours.
Punta Rasa
Where the river meets the ocean.
HABITAT
Brackish water mudflats, extensive marshes and grassland.
LOCATION
350 km (220 miles) away from downtown Buenos Aires.
DURATION
2/3 days.
