Chile Day 4 – 16 December 2015 – Tierra del Fuego
Today we were being guided again by Rodrigo Silva from Albatross Birding Tours who is a great guide with perfect English.
Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
This morning we had a lie-in, meeting for breakfast at 7 am. We then drove south to a King Penguin reserve. King Penguins are huge at almost 1 metre and it was unbelievable to see 130 birds in this 10 year old colony. I’ve seen two species of penguins before but these were something else. It was an awesome experience to see such massive and beautiful penguins in such a large group.
King Penguin, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
King Penguin, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at a King Penguin colony, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
We carried on birding our way back to Porvenir, seeing some new birds on the steppe on the way back. One stop had an official car park and was full of litter. So we found a big sack and filled it with all the plastic and cans we could find. That was a good deed done if only a small one.
Chilean Flamingo, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Rodrigo Silva, Albatross Birding Tours
Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig, looking for Refous-chested Dotterel, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
Back in Porvenir, we bumped into Fernando Diaz, our guide for the last section of our trip, who was with a Canadian couple who Rodrigo had guided before us. It’s always nice to meet a guide beforehand.
Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Rodrigo Silva and Fernando Diaz both of Albatross Birding, Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego, Chile
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Best birds of the day:
Ashy-headed Duck
King Penguin
Rufous-chested Dotterel
White-bridled Finch
Fire-eyed Duicon
About The Author
Hi, I’m Dr. Mya-Rose Craig. I am a 19-year-old prominent British-Bangladeshi ornithologist, environmentalist, diversity activist as well as an author, speaker and broadcaster. At age 11 I started the popular blog Birdgirl, and at age 17 I became the youngest person to see half of the birds in the world.
Lyrical, poignant and insightful.’ - Margaret Atwood
This is my story; a journey defined by my love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies.
Lyrical, poignant and insightful.’ - Margaret Atwood
This is my story; a journey defined by my love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies.