THE HEART & SOLE OF CHILE
Easter Island Extension

$4375 (2008 fee). 15 days plus extension
Limit: 14
Good accommodations, great food (and fantastic wines!); easy to moderate terrain; cool to warm climate; moderate elevation (2 days). Our staff travel agents can book your air travel for this tour. Contact us at (800) 728-4953 for more information.

Chile is a country larger than it appears on a map; the thin ribbon of land on the west side of South America is

A Male Long-tailed Meadowlark, a colorful and common inhabitant of the heart of Chile. by guide Alvaro Jaramillo

from tip to tip the same distance as from San Francisco to New York.  This tour will concentrate on the central region, allowing for a shorter tour with multiple night stays at most of the hotels we visit.  It also allows us to visit the most characteristically Chilean habitats and avifauna, from the dry Matorral of the central zone to the wetter temperate rainforests of Nothofagus or “Southern Beech” of the Lake District.  In addition, we’ll visit montane habitats for highland species such as several sierra-finches, ground-tyrants, Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, Andean Condor, Mountain Caracara, Crag Chilia, and of course the handsome Diademed Sandpiper-Plover.

The heart of Chile is the land of wine, the land of the Mapuche or “Araucano” natives who were never conquered by the Spanish and still live in the Lake District region. The heart is the land which inspired the Nobel prize-winning poetry of Pablo Neruda, a man who understood that the Chucao Tapaculo, Chilean Tinamou, Magellanic Woodpecker, Slender-billed Parakeet, Green-backed Firecrown, White-throated Tapaculo, and Chilean Pigeon—all of which he wrote about—were special birds. 

With a backdrop of symmetrical volcanoes and cool waterfalls, the ancient forests of Chile—where most of the tree species have no close relatives in South America, but share a history with plants in New Zealand and other areas where Gondwanaland still survives—make for great birding.  Imagine days in the idyllic countryside of smooth rolling hills and awe-inspiring Andes where we start our morning with Torrent Ducks, where Creamy-rumped Miners may be dessert after a great field lunch, and a Chilean Mockingbird greets us as we come down slope to the hotel.  How about finding an Ochre-flanked Tapaculo, flocks of noisy Black-faced Ibis, Austral thrushes and blackbirds, and perhaps a Magellanic Woodpecker (as close to seeing an Ivory-billed as many of us can hope for) in old growth giant trees, dripping with moss—a forest so old that it could be considered a living fossil.  This is the heart of birding in Chile.

A Salvin's Albatross, a bird which makes the entire south Pacific its home. It breeds on subantarctic islands in New Zealand and spends the non-breeding season in the soul of Chile, the Humboldt Current. by guide Alvaro Jaramillo

Though the sole is a fish, it represents what is the soul of this nation, the Pacific Ocean.  Perhaps no other country is so closely defined by natural borders, the Andes on one side and the ocean on the other.  Historically, the Pacific has connected Chile to the world, and it still does—to the avian world, that is.  Nowhere is there such an incredible biomass of seabirds as in the Humboldt Current, and we’ll go out into the southern end where the pelagic birding is second to none.  We may see thousands of birds, from the huge Northern Royal Albatross to the diminutive Wilson’s Storm-Petrel and Red Phalarope.  Here, seabirds breeding in Chile mix with antarctic, subantarctic, and boreal breeders.  Sooty and Pink-footed shearwaters are abundant, while the albatross show, which includes Black-browed, Buller’s, Salvin’s, and perhaps Chatham and Royal, is not only diverse but intimate, with birds coming in just a few feet from the boat.  Southern Sea Lions snap up our chum, taking it away from Westland and Cape petrels and Inca Terns, while hungry Peruvian Pelicans try to muscle out all but the aggressive Chilean Skua.  Humboldt Penguins may swim through for a bite, while a Masatierra or Juan Fernandez petrel may pop in for a quick look…seabirding at its best.

Further south we’ll take a short but birdy ferry ride to the island of Chiloe, where Common and Magellanic diving-petrels are possibilities, along with Imperial and the gorgeous Red-legged cormorants.  The cold and sheltered waters of Chiloe may provide us with views of both Flying and Flightless steamer-ducks, and maybe playful Peale’s Dolphins jumping out of the water as we watch.  The Soul of Chile is the ocean, and on this trip we shall have a great opportunity to see the seabirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl that inhabit this rich part of the world.

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