Critters de Chile – Primera Parte
Continuing my narrative of 2013 Chilean adventures, this blog will be split into several parts. The sheer numbers of critters I came across in Torres del Paine and my ocean travels warrant their own essays.
Birds of Chile (Aves de Chile)
The vast majority of critters you’ll encounter in Chile are various varieties of birds. Other than in the park close to Puerto Natales in the far south, I saw very few land animals.
Andean Condor (Cóndor Andino)
The Condor is the national bird of Chile and an important symbol used in their Armada (Navy). Below is the Condor figurehead from Buque Escuela Esmeralda. Every Armada officer’s ceremonial sword has the carved head of a condor. They get a little touchy if you tease them about it looking like a chicken.
Saw a flock of these digging for worms in a pasture.
Cute little sea birds with moustaches.
Seagulls (Gaviota Gris)
Saw plenty of seagulls up and down Chile in my travels. Here’s a couple of carvings I found at the Talcahuano Naval Base.
Black Vulture (Jote Cabeza Negra)
As is normal in Chile, everything becomes slang. The bird itself is somewhat annoying, hangs about and is a nuisance. Jote is also slang for a man who acts like a playboy. This poor fellow was hanging out with a couple of friends and flew straight into a transformer in front of me. Zap! Stinky birds since they feed on carrion plus it barfed from being electrocuted.
Cormorants & Ducks (Patos)
Since I didn’t have a fancy camera, I would take a poor picture and sketch the bird I saw. The Cormorants had a funny little tuft of hair on their heads. The ducks flew around my ship like little kamikaze pilots.
Southern Giant Petrel (Petrel Gigante Antartico)
Further to the south in the Magellan Straits and around Patagonia, I saw several species of Petrel. They are large sea birds similar to an albatross. My ship had a Nature book with all the species of petrel found in Chile.
When I was still up in Puerto Montt, I saw a few robins but I observed that their red breasts were lighter in colour compared to their Canadian cousins. The further south I went, I started to notice that black and white were the predominant colours.
Next Critters of Chile Blog: Toninas y Pinguinos
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.