Majestic Central Chile

Diademed Sandpiper-Plover © Andrew Whittaker

This brand-new tour explores the captivating avifauna and arresting landscapes of beautiful central Chile. From snow-capped Andes to inter-mountain Valleys to the Pacific coast, we’ll expect a marvelous array of regional specialty birds, widespread resident species, and range-restricted endemics.

Chile is among the world’s most spectacular countries, renowned—and beloved—for its vivid landscapes, varied culture, and amazing wildlife. From the Atacama Desert in the far north to the steppes of Patagonia in the far south, Chile offers limitless opportunities for discovery and exploration.

This new tour to beautiful Chile showcases the marvelous avian diversity and spellbinding scenery of the country’s middle section, from the soaring Andes to the rich Pacific coast. From Santiago, we’ll travel into the mountains above the city, seeking our first Andean Condors among an array of shrike-tyrants, canasteros, and finches. We’ll journey south through the fertile Central Valley to Altos de Lircay National Reserve, home to glorious beech forests, shimmering lakes, and snow peaks. Magellanic Woodpeckers are common; Torrent Ducks, Burrowing Parakeets, and White-throated Hawks can be seen; and Green-backed Firecrowns abound at lodge feeders.

The breathtaking valley known as El Yeso is home to a number of Chile’s endemic birds, including Crag Chilia and Moustached Turca. One of the most beautiful of all shorebirds, the Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, breeds along high-elevation streams. We will also be looking for singing Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, White-sided Hillstar, and Rufous-tailed Plantcutter.

The shores of the Pacific Ocean offer equal doses of fine scenery and birding. We’ll seek such remarkable birds as Humboldt Penguin, Peruvian Pelican, Inca Tern, and Peruvian Booby. Among the landbirds are several endemics, including Seaside Cinclodes, Chilean Mockingbird, and Dusky-tailed Canastero. In the rich Maipo Estuary and Laguna Cartagena Marshes, we may encounter Stripe-backed Bittern, Ticking Dorodito, Many-colored Rush Tyrant, and the rare Black-headed Duck.

A major highlight of our time on the coast will be a pleasant half-day boat trip out to the famous Humboldt Current. The seas here simply teem with life, featuring a stellar mix of seabirds and marine mammals unique to the southern Pacific. As many as five species of albatrosses are possible, including the silvery Salvin’s, Black-browed, Northern Royal, Buller’s, and even the rare Chatham Albatross. Peruvian Diving-Petrel, an assortment of neat shearwaters and storm-petrels, and Westland, Juan Fernandez, and Masatierra petrels are also possible on this comfortable pelagic excursion. We have good opportunities for Marine Otters and South American Sea Lions, while other possibilities include Sperm Whale and Dusky and Chilean dolphins.

Our tour also includes a short visit to the house of Pablo Neruda, the beloved “national poet” of Chile, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971.

Good to excellent accommodations and food; easy birding throughout; tour moderately paced with light physical demands that include easy walking on varied terrain but mostly on roadsides and flat trails; spring weather conditions mostly sunny and pleasant; if the spring is late, cold temperatures and mountain snowfall are possible.

Rufous-tailed Plantcutter © Andrew Whittaker