Had a couple of killer condor encounters recently and thought I’d share.
The first happened on a recent excursion to the Argentine border east of our lodge. Though the trip as a whole was ultimately unsuccessful, not far from the border, somewhere in the middle of a giant sheep estancia, I happened upon two condors soaring not very far overhead. They were more or less as low as condors get, so I stopped and took a couple of pictures and just basically checked them out for a little while.
After about five minutes back in the truck, I crested a small hill and watched about twenty caranchos (eagle type birds) and two condors flush out of the fied right off the road. Sheep estancias are big draws for condors due to their propensity towards having dead sheep, but it is still pretty rare to get the chance to actually see one up close and on the ground. This pair flushed right in front of me, but not wanting to leave their food, landed again only a little ways out. I was able to hang and watch them for a bit and get a couple of photos as they bounced around the field.
Then, just yesterday, Rex and Tonio, and I had the opportunity to visit a large estancia outside of Coyhaique that is known to have some phenomenal condor viewing. The best condor viewing is at day break and it didn’t work out that we were able to camp out there. So, we headed up in the afternoon just to check the place out.
We hung out amongst the pastoral ranch houses as we waited for the owner.
Then, we drove way out into the estancia and hiked out onto these cliffs that over look an area called the Valley othe Moon. It looks a little like North Dakota.
Like I said, daybreak is kind of the best time to be there if you want a chance at seeing the condors actually hanging out in the cliffs but we were still treated to a group of five or so that circled not far overhead for quite awhile. It was mellow. We just lounged on the rocks and watched the condors fly.
chao.
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