Today we had our first full day in the Chaco, which is a dry thick impenetrable scrubland that hosts a whole new set of birds not encountered on this trip so far. The problem is that as with many habitats around the world huge areas are being cleared for intensive agriculture. Site information we had which was about 20 years old, indicated that good Chaco habitat existed along a gravel road just 20km outside the town of Joaquin V Gonzalez however a check on google maps showed this area to be covered by massive agricultural fields and we infact had to travel more than 60km to reach good habitat.
We set off a few hours before dawn to try and reach the best habitat for first light and all was going to plan until we encountered a puncture on the rough dusty road. We changed the wheel ok but we were a little on edge after this in case we got another puncture. On top of this birding was very challenging with a few heavy cattle lorries thundering past covering us in a cloud of dust, the annoying flies were still with us and then as it warmed up the strong wind started to blow. Despite all this we did manage to see quite a few of the Chaco specialties.
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| Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper |
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| Buff-necked Ibis |
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| Maguri Stork |
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| Unfortunately the woodcreeper had selected an area covered in rubbish that had been dumped on the side of the road in which to feed, the way of the world |
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