Tierra del Fuego birding was barely on our radar when planning our Nov/Dec 2023 vacation. The headline event was 23 days of expedition cruising to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands/Malvinas. Anything else would be a bonus.

We traveled as directly as possible from Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. It took 3 days:

• Day 1 fly Calgary to Montreal, embark Montreal to Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Day 2 arrive Sao Paulo, continuing to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, for an overnight stay
• Day 3 fly Buenos Aires to Ushuaia (approx. 4 hrs)

All of which set us up for 3 nights in Ushuaia before embarking our cruise. We opted to spend those 3 nights in Ushuaia instead of Buenos Aires to minimize our pre-cruise exposure to COVID-19, since at the time of booking, the cruise terms and conditions required a negative COVID-19 PCR test prior to boarding. NOTE – this requirement was dropped in the final terms and conditions we were sent a couple of weeks prior to embarkation, but by then we had our flights and hotels all booked.

We initially planned to self-guide our time in Ushuaia, including a bus trip into Tierra del Fuego National Park. But during our short time in Buenos Aires, we decided to looking into guided birding in Tierra del Fuego NP and reached out to a highly-reviewed birding guide via Tours by Locals. So, our second morning in Ushuaia, Gaston picked us up from our hotel and we set out on what would be a 60 km, 5 hour guided birding adventure!

Highlights

Being new to birding in South America, we had no wishlist for our Tierra del Fuego birding experience. I think this made for a more enjoyable and relaxed day, as there was no pressure on any of us to see a particular kind of bird. Since returning to Calgary, we’ve learned enough to know that we saw pretty much all of the wishlist species in the national park.

Austral Thrush

Although we spotted a few geese and sparrows at an earlier stop, I think I was too excited over the prospects for the day. My first photos were rubbish!

But at our second stop, I came away happy with photos of Austral Thrush (the Tierra del Fuego birding equivalent of our local American Robins).

Chimango Caracara

Also at this stop, we observed a Chimango Caracara glide in to land on a post. These are fairly large birds, similar in size to local Ravens.

Upland Goose

At our first lake stop, we saw Upland Geese, Kelp Gulls, a Magellanic Oystercatcher, Neotropic Cormorants, Flying Steamer-Ducks and a Magellanic Shag. Mr GeoK’s longer telephoto lens was the better option for photographing these distant water birds, so check out his Relive video recap for all but the Upland Geese.

House Wren

At our extended next stop, we spotted a wide range of birds. These ranged from the tiny House Wren…

Chilean Swallow

…to the colorful Chilean Swallow…

Magellanic Woodpecker

…to an immature Magellanic Woodpecker. We spent a good 10 minutes in the company of this photogenic feathered fellow. Magellanic woodpeckers are about the same size as our local Pileated woodpeckers.

Austral Pygmy Owl

Gaston is one of two guides permitted to call birds in the national park. He used this technique to locate an Austral Pygmy Owl. Even after narrowing our search area to a small cluster of evergreen trees, it took careful searching before we spotted the Austral Pygmy Owl almost hidden by tree top branches.

Black-chinned Sisken

Moving on, we saw one of the more colorful songbirds spotted during our tour, the Black-chinned Sisken.

Patagonian Sierra Finch

And shortly thereafter, another yellow songbird, the Patagonian Sierra Finch.

Rufous-collared Sparrow

We spotted one bird at almost every stop – the Rufous-collared Sparrow. We have a good variety of sparrows in and around Calgary/Canmore (included the introduced House Sparrow), but none have quite the same collar effect as this one.

Fire-eyed Diucon

We’ve learned since our trip that the Fire-eyed Diucon is a “lifer” for many Tierra del Fuego birding visitors. It’s a distinctive, gray flycatcher found in open, shrubby areas. And we saw them at three stops during our outing.

Chilean Hawk

At one stop, we encountered another group of birders. Gaston had a bit of a chat with their guide. Back at the parking area, we all hung out for a bit while watching a Chilean Hawk glide overhead. Even Gaston was enthusiastic about this one, as they are not as commonly seen here as some of the other headline birds.

Black-faced Ibis

The largest bird we encountered was the Black-faced Ibis. More than a dozen were in a field frequented by wild horses. They took off when we got a bit too close. Oops! I always try not to disturb birds or other animals we’re lucky enough to see in the wild.

Thorn-tailed Rayadito

One of the smallest birds we saw was the Thorn-tailed Rayadito. The few we spotted were busy, hopping from branch to branch, pausing barely long enough to get a decent photograph.

Tufted-tit Tyrant

Tufted-tit Tyrants also flit from branch to branch, making them difficult to photograph. But we persisted, wanting to come home with at least one decent photograph of this songbird with its distinctive feather tuft.

Final Thoughts

Parts of Tierra del Fuego were very busy – particularly the Post Office at the End of the World. Because we’d booked a private half-day with Gaston, he accommodated my wish to stop and join the queue long enough to buy a few postcards and have them stamped with the PO at the End of the World postal mark. He also did a great job of keeping us away from the crowds, elsewhere.

In some ways, this part of Tierra del Fuego National Park reminded us of the area around Banff townsite in Banff National Park. It suffers from the same tension between overtourism and protecting the natural environment. This leads to an on-going debate between building more infrastructure to support the tourists, or leaving things rustic to discourage tourism. The same discussion is on-going in Canada’s Rocky Mountain National Parks.

Tierra del Fuego park rangers fight ongoing battles with the wild horses (not native to the region), but seem to have successfully eradicated beavers (also introduced). There are lots of areas where standing dead trees are evidence of former beaver lodge surroundings.

This was our first time booking a guide through Tours by Locals. It was a great introduction to the site. Our Tierra del Fuego birding experience was much richer (and more successful) than it would have been had we done a self-guided trip using local buses and walking. The fact that Gaston knew a lot about all of the region’s flora and fauna was a bonus, and set us up for a more enjoyable self-guided hike later in the week.