SLICE OF THE ANDES FOR THE BIRDS: 18º S, Arica to Lauca National Park, ends Arica or Iquique

3 to 5 days
Arica, Putre, Parque Nacional Lauca, extension to Ramsar Site Salar de Surire, Atacama Desert to Iquique. Available all year, also can be adjusted to begin and end tour in Arica.   Habitats include near-shore marine, rocky and sandy beaches, small estuary, native and agricultural vegetation of the transverse valleys, precordillera cactus scrub, high Andes lakes and cushion bogs, salt flats, and Polylepis.

Day 1:  Start Arica:  Beach birding for our only geo-political endemic, the Chilean Seaside-cinclodes, ("the most maritime of all passerine birds") and for oystercatchers, Inca Terns, turnstones, Surfbirds, etc.  optional boat trip to Humboldt Penguin colony or marine environs of Arica.   Instead of boat trip, choose more time for observing or photographing hummingbirds, in a garden especially dedicated to hummer flowers.   

Afternoon visit to tiny estuary for herons, shorebirds, ducks, coots, and shorebirds.  Then up to Putre stopping along the way to look for Peruvian Thick-knee, Bran-colored Flycatcher, Peruvian Pygmy-Owl, and the new genera and species that begin with the ascent up the foothills of the Andes.  Overnight in Putre, at 3,550 meters.              photos of Putre 

Day 2:  Morning in Parque Nacional Lauca,  introduction to cushion bogs and tola-grassland habitat. Afternoon birding in cactus-scrub and Polylepis habitats in the gorges near Putre.  Diademed Sandpiper-plover, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, Black-throated Flowerpiercer, White-fronted, Rufous-napped, Puna and Ochre-naped ground-tyrants, White-winged Cinclodes, Ornate Tinamou, White-throated Sierra-Finch, White-throated Earthcreeper, Mountain Parakeet, D’Orbigny’s and White-browed chat-tyrants, Magellanic Horned Owl, Straight-billed Earthcreeper, Aplomado Falcon, Golden-billed Saltator, other ground tyrants, earthcreepers, tit-tyrants, canasteros, sierra finches, seedeaters and hummingbirds.  Possible Giant Conebill, Thick-billed Siskin, Rufous-webbed Tyrant.  

Day 3:  Parque Nacional Lauca, wetland assemblages at Lago Chungará and Parinacota bofedal, tola grassland and riparian habitats.  National Monument Parinacota Village for an optional stop to see the lovely frescoes on the church walls.  Chilean, Andean, James’ flamingos, Puna Tinamou, White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant, Puna Rhea, Puna Teal, Giant and Andean coots,  Variable Hawk, Puna Ibis, Mt. Caracara, Black Siskin, Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch, Puna Plover, Puna Snipe, Andean Flicker, avocets, lapwings, ducks, grebes, canasteros, tit-spinetails.  

Day 4: A day for the Atacama Desert visiting Tamarugo mesquite (Prosopis), and the transverse valleys that provide corridors for altitudinal migration.  Tamarugo Conebill, Pied-crested Tit-Tyrant, Andean Swift, Scale-throated Earthcreeper, Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail, Slender-billed Finch, Chestnut-Throated Seedeater, Oasis Hummingbird, Chilean Woodstar, Croaking Ground-Dove and other arid-land birds.  End tour in Iquique.

Includes food, bottled water, use of spotting scope(s), bird lists, mammal lists, emergency oxygen for Lauca, transportation, thermos jugs, etc.  Price for tour depends on group size, please inquire. This itinerary available all year.  This tour can also include wildflowers of the Atacama, which are found along the route in certain seasons.  Accommodations not included but we can help with recommendations on where to stay.  

Ramsar Site Salar de Surire extension, 4WD:  1 or 2 days,  starts and ends in Putre
Surire is the best place for flamingo photography, thermal baths, and for seeing Puna Rheas. The Surire trip can include a night in the refugio at 4,300 meters above sea level. Or we can leave early from Putre and make the round trip in a full day.  Surire is wonderful, magical, isolated, an excellent example of an altiplano salar and an important breeding locality for Andean, Chilean, and a few James' flamingos.  Nearby Polylepis tarapacana copses may yield some surprises, and there's a chance for Rufous-webbed Tyrant, Puna Yellow-Finch, Red-backed Sierra-Finch, Puna Snipe, Gray-bellied Shrike-Tyrant, Thick-billed Siskin, Tawny-throated Dotterel, the black subspecies of the Mourning Sierra-Finch.  At the Salar we like to look for armadillos and cuys, and to observe the (seasonal) colonies of nesting flamingos, albeit from afar.  Although Surire is a Natural Monument and Ramsar Site, extensive borax mining occurs there and some parts of the year there are a lot of trucks that produce dust.  But then the miners maintain the road; we wouldn't be able to visit the site without that crucial road maintenance.  

Day tour from Arica (all low elevation) 
This 1 day tour with BK concentrates on habitat around Arica and nearby valleys.  Sandy and rocky beaches, watered valleys, estuary, hummingbird areas, olive and banana plantations, introduction to native vegetation of the Atacama Desert.   Includes optional harbor and boat trip or beach walks to seabird roosts and historic guano collection sites.  Good option for those who have only 1 day to spend in Arica, or for those who prefer not to ascend to higher elevations. Great for cruise ship travelers who are tired of the same old "city tour" and would prefer to have a private nature tour.   

hummers!  

photos and text © 2009       Alto Andino Nature Tours           Putre, Chile                   contact