Condor liberation in Patagonia

Condors are the iconic bird of South America, worshipped as sacred since the times of the Incas.  Ignorant as to the important role they play in the natural balance of the wild, Condors have been hunted mercilessly for several hundred years, almost to the point of extinction. Argentina has a Condor re-introduction programme spearheaded from Buenos Aires Zoo and since 2001 Condors have been released and monitored in northern Patagonia.  We were fortunate to be invited to this year’s release.

Two Andean Condors first flight

 

 

What makes the Argentinian Condor release programme so unique is that like the massive bird itself , the programme has two wings, one scientific and the other cultural.

Sacred Condor feathers together with cultural artifacts.

 

This year four Condors were released. One bird had been raised from an egg at Buenos Aires Zoo, fed by surrogate puppets that look like an adult bird. The other three were injured individuals from various parts of the country and cared for by the Zoo.

Prior to release the birds are kept in a huge enclosure high up on the top of a deserted meseta , where they are fed and monitored for several months. They never are allowed to see humans.

 

The Condor release cage.

 

The day of the release is hugely anticipated, several hundred people turn up. Schoolchildren from all over Rio Negro arrive, it is a very important day in the local community.  After much ceremony the birds are released and to everyone’s relief they all managed to fly, even the one raised from an egg, this bird was called ‘Rayman’ which in the Mapuche language means ‘Flower bird’.  It was wonderful to see the biggest bird in the world take its first tentative flight over the endless Patagonian landscape.

 

Schoolchildren attending the 2014 Condor liberation.

 

Once released the work really starts for a small group of dedicated researchers who monitor the birds with radio trackers every day for the next four months.  Such young birds need help, they occasionally tumble down cliffs or get stuck in thorny vegetation.

 

Scientists with wing tags.  Together with a radio trasmitter the

Returning to Argentina

It has been a beautiful English summer, with lots of BBQs and time with friends.

The photographs we brought back from our first trip were great and one of the end products has been what I am calling a bio-montage. This is a compilation of ‘white background’ images as well as a panorama, more about this in another blog.

 

 

Southern Yungas biomontage

 

 

We are really longing to get back to South America and Argentina in particular, to see friends and continue with our ‘Search for Species’ in the Andes. This expedition will be longer and will stretch through the southern summer into 2015.

We will find some amazing wildlife and meet equally amazing people, so log into our blog periodically and now we have a Facebook group as well –  Proyecto de Animales Andinos

 

Burrowing parrots 2

 

 

Paula and I are off any day now,  winging our way towards Argentina.

 

 

 

 

Photography in the wild

The purpose of our project is simple, produce inspirational  images of Andean wildlife.

Paula sometimes uses a slider to give movement to an otherwise static video shot.

 

Paula with slider

 

Some of the techniques we use are unconventional. Photographing a fish needed to be done quickly so as not to distress the animal, so this meant working till late one the evening.  With one light behind the aquarium and the other to one side and a lot of patience I was successful.

 

 

photographing fish

 

As I worked I wondered if anyone had ever taken a photograph of this species before  ?

 

 

Fish

 

Along the way we meet other photographers, this is Valeria Cannata from Tucuman a member of the Concepcion Foto club.

 

photographer

Andes Ecoregions

The Andean Wildlife Project is to make a photographic record of  ecoregions within the Andes.  An ecoregion is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a distinct assembly of plant species and animals which give it a unifying character. The scale of an ecoregion is highly suitable for consideration for global conservation planning as it encompasses biogeographically related communities, not otherwise found at site level.

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On this our first expedition into the Andes we visited two ecoregions.

The first was the moist and humid temperate Southern Yugas rainforests ( no 4 on the above map) our chosen site was the Alisos National Park near Concepcion.

The two groups of animals that were most conspicuous during our time their were the Parrots and the butterflies.  These are Red-mitred Parrots, there was a flock of about 300 of these birds in the valley where we camped.  The whole  group foraged together, noisily moving from one part of the valley to another.  Once settled in a suitable group of trees they quietened down for an hour or so and fed.

Alisos parrots 2

The weather that brings these rains to the forests comes off the South Atlantic in the summer. The clouds speed across the hot Chaco flatlands until they reach the foothills of the Andes, there they stop and it rains and rains and rains.

The Yungas forests cloth the eastern slopes of the Andes from north western Argentina through Bolivia and way up into Peru.

Below is a Helicoius butterfly, probably H melpomene,, the Postman butterfly a common mimicking species in the forests of Alisos.

Alisos butterfly

The second ecoregion we visited was the high Puna  (no 5 on the above map), specifically the Laguna Blanca National Park in Catamarca province at an elevation of about 3,500m.

 

Laguna Blanca in May

The animal that frequents these raw mountain plateaus were Vicunas.  These were mercilessly hunted several decades ago but protected areas have now brought this beautiful animal back from the brink of extinction.

Vicuna

Top Predator of the Andes

One of the aims of ‘Proyecto des Animales Andinos’ is to seek out conservation programmes and those ordinary people who are passionate about saving and protecting South America’s wildlife.  A chance stop at a petrol station started a chain of events that led to us discovering one such programme and one amazing person.

 

 Campsite at Londres

 

Carlos  is the lead  person of a local conservation programme in Catamarca called Coelobe  (Commission Ecological of Londres & Belen).  Condor protection is their main love and they do a great job.  We stayed with Carlos at his finca where the group have constructed several Condor rehabilitation cages.

 

 Feeding time

During the time we spent with him there were no Condors, instead he was looking after two rescued Puma cubs, with advice from Buenos Aires zoo.   Their mother had been killed by poachers and the two cubs were ready for selling to the highest bidder.  The Puma has the largest range of any terrestrial mammal in the Americas, it is a top predator and is essential to the balance of nature throughout its range.

 Male Puma cub

Carlos and his team are doing a great job in rehabilitating these superb and beautiful animals.  Eventually they will be released back into the wild at an appropriate location. These two cubs, brother and sister are the lucky ones.  Every morning they are fed on fresh red meat, then they rest and become more active in the evening when they play with each other.

 

Puma cubs snarl

 

 

Surprised by snow

We turned off route 40 at Hualfin, we were aiming to reach Laguna Blanca on the high Puna.  The weather had been poor with a fine drizzle and as we filled with fuel at Hualfin we noticed a wisp or two of sleet. At Villa Vil the road surface changed to gravel , a narrow winding road  hugging the hillsides and as we drove higher the sleet turned to light snow.  To begin with everything looked pretty ,the temperature reading in the wagon read zero.  Gravel turned to mud and the passenger side windscreen wiper iced up , the temperature dropped to -4 ! so we decided to turn back.  We returned to route 40 and camped  behind a petrol station, the snow continued to fall. It was a very cold night.

 

snow 5

 

 The following morning we cleared 3 inches of snow off the car and set off again, the road was clear and dry and a blue sky set the scene for a winter wonderland.  The distant mountains were white and snow covered the cacti and trees. Back through Villa Vil and onto the gravel road, but the Gendarmeria turned us back, the road was too dangerous but by tomorrow it would be clear, a great opportunity to spend the day taking photographs.

 

Grey Fox

Grey Fox

 

 There are two native foxes in Argentina, this is the grey fox an omnivorous fox, beautifully coloured. Normally crepuscular,  we found this one searching for food in the early morning.

 

Mountain migrants

The Andes are massive in every sense of the word.  Their sheer size makes them a haven for biodiversity.  A fine example of this is the beautiful, black and white Andean Goose.

 

geese

Most geese species are large, rather ungainly birds. To help them overcome these traits they are very social, nesting in loose colonies, favouring wide open spaces where they can easily watch for predators.  For these reasons they often nest in isolated cold temperate zones but have to migrate thousands of miles to find a warmer place to spend the winter.

 

geese in flight

In the central parts of the Andes the high Puna ecoregion is 3,300m in height, it is isolated and cold, an ideal habitat for the Andean Goose. But the clever Andean Goose doesn’t have far to go for the winter, they just migrate or move  down the spectacular Andes to lower ground.  In the province of Tucuman in the far north of Argentina  we found the birds in the Tafi del Valle area, around the picturesque embalse (reservoir) of El Mollar, which is around 2,000m high.

We camped on the shoreline of the embalse and counted up to 250 Andean Geese in one flock.

 

Toyota at camp 1 Taffi del Valli

In the evening they tended to roost together on the shoreline, but during the day distributed themselves across the rich green alluvial marsh in smaller groups, often in pairs.  Sometimes we observed that one member of a pair was noticeably smaller than its partner and we suspect that the birds kept together in breeding pairs.

 

Andean Geese in flight

Friends and contacts

We are about to embark on a great challenge, to photograph the animals of the Andes.  To do this we aim to visit every eco-region of this great mountain chain. The Andes harbour the greatest biodiversity on the planet, a third of all the World’s bird species live in South America, 55% of all the Amphibians, a third of all the plant species as well.  The Andes are critically important to the people of South America as the fresh water flowing from its high peaks and down through its verdant ravines and forests supply tens of millions with their water.

Over the next few years we will be speaking to as many people as we can about the importance of the Andes and the need to care for and protect its forests and wildlife, as these are the key to providing a constant supply of clean water. We will be documenting by film and photographs the wildlife of the Andes.  Our aim is to hold national and international  exhibitions and talks about the importance of the Andes, ready for the next UNEP Global environmental summit in 2020.

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We cannot do this alone, we need help and support, contacts and friends and so far we have had lots of amazing people prepared to support us . The group above shows Paula together with professional scientists at the Fundacion  Miguel Lillo in Tucuman, www.lillo.org.ar

One evening we also did several presentations to students in Tucuman, at the VIP English Institute.

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The Hilux has landed

The long awaited time has come to see if our ‘Proyecto de Animales Andinos’ vehicle has arrived safely in Montevideo. The wonderful person of Virginia Vizgago working for Repremar ensured its passage through customs was easy and without any problems.

 

With the paperwork complete and all the necessary formalities done we went to the warehouse and found the Hilux in perfect condition.

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Now we are almost ready for the expedition to start.