Bird Watching in Chile

With it's wide range of geography and ecosystems, Chile is home to many different species of birds. A new field guide and photographs on the internet help us enjoy them.

A new field guide to the birds of Chile was published in 2003, including 473 species known to live in the country or visit there (Birds of Chile: Princeton Field Guides. Alvaro Jaramillo. Princeton University Press, 2003).

One reason that Chile is home to so many bird species is its wide variety of habitats: sea coasts, offshore islands, mountains, desert, forest etc. There is not just a wide range in elevation in Chilean environments; the long thin shape of the country means a wide range in latitude as well. It means hundreds of different bird species suited to many different ecosystems—cotingas in the north, pelicans along the coast, and albatrosses offshore.

I’ll be visiting some of these ecosystems and I hope to see a lot of birds I never seen before. You can see some of the possibilities in another birder’s photoset. Check out the collection of silhouettes of a Giant Hummingbird. Hummingbirds are one of the things you have to visit South America to really see: a few species migrate into North America each summer, and although these are much appreciated, the vast majority of beautiful hummingbird species remain in the south throughout the year.

Another fascinating South American species is the Burrowing Parrot, seen in another photoset by the same birder. These birds, once extremely numerous in Patagonia are becoming increasingly rare and may be threatened with extinction if population decreases continue.

Here’s to seeing lots of Chilean birds. Enjoy the Birds page on Suite101 while I’m away.