Santiago Highlights Extension: Andes, Wetlands & Albatross Galore!

Diademed Sandpiper-Plover © Andrew Whittaker

This optional extension to our Wild Patagonia & Central Chile tour explores the wonderful avifauna of the majestic Andes and rich central Pacific coast. From beautiful El Yeso Valley to rich coastal marshes and estuaries, and a fantastic half-day pelagic trip in the Humboldt Current, we’ll seek range-restricted coastal species and regional endemics, visit a colony of Humboldt Penguins, and enjoy some of the world’s finest seabirding featuring many species of albatrosses.

This exciting opportunity will appeal to those who want to see more of Chile beyond what is offered on the main tour, and to those who seek a shorter, stand-alone trip.

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—and for our first Andean Condors, one of the largest flying birds in the world.

The shores of the Pacific Ocean and the nutrient-rich Humboldt Current offer equal doses of exceptional scenery and birding. From the city to the coast, this part of Chile abounds in range-restricted birds. We’ll seek such remarkable birds as Humboldt Penguin, Peruvian Pelican, Inca Tern, and Peruvian Booby. Among these are several endemics, including Dusky Tapaculo, Seaside Cinclodes, Chilean Mockingbird, and Dusky-tailed Canastero. In the rich Maipo Estuary and Laguna Cartagena Marshes, we may encounter Stripe-backed Bittern, the recently split Ticking Dorodito, Many-colored Rush Tyrant, Seaside Cinclodes, or the rare Black-headed Duck.

The highlight of our extension will be a pleasant half-day boat trip out to the famous Humboldt Current. The seas here—usually calm at this season—are simply teeming with life, including a stellar mix of seabirds 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’s Albatross. Peruvian Diving-Petrel, an assortment of neat shearwaters and storm-petrels, and Westland, Juan Fernandez, and Masatierra petrels, though uncommon, are also possible on this comfortable pelagic excursion.

Most of our tours yield views of Marine Otters and South American Sea Lions, while other possibilities include Sperm Whale and Dusky and Chilean dolphins.

Our tour 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.

Excellent accommodations; great meals, especially fresh seafood; lengthy roundtrip drive to El Yeso Valley, otherwise short drives through scenic coastal landscapes; easy walking and birding conditions; exceptional half-day pelagic trip; pleasant, sunny spring weather expected, but cool temperatures and precipitation possible.

Buller's Albatross between two Salvin's Albatross © Andrew Whittaker