Saturday 23 April 2016

Stormy Weather and Laguna Blanca tick!!

The last couple of days have been stormy and this always raises the chances of a rarity on the reserve. A flock Neotropical Cormorant were forced to consider the lagoon as a temporary haven prior to the storm action on Thurs 21st.

Friday 22nd was Earth Day and the plan was to visit two schools as part of Para La Tierra’s Community Outreach programme to engage with local children by playing games that teach them about the importance of protecting their environment.

Unfortunately the weather took its toll with most children not making it to school due to hazardous roads so the event was re-arranged for another day!

Once the rain had stopped I took a walk around the tourist area, lagoon and Seasonal Pond (which is not very seasonal anymore!!) in the hope of connecting with unexpected visitors. The journey to the seasonal pond was pretty uneventful but the return was more productive!

As I walked towards the beach I thought I had stumbled onto an airfield with lines of nightjar like birds all sat in formation along the edge of the lagoon. A closer look revealed eighteen Nacunda Nighthawk that were subsequently disturbed by a drone that came hurtling towards me!

What an amazing sight the disruption turned out to be as the birds wheeled round over the reeds showing their black tipped wings with white panels. I am glad to say the birds settled again on the lagoon edge. I put the camera to work and passed on the news to the other housemates.


I continued to chip away at the Laguna Blanca all time list which currently stands at 321 having spied a group of Maroon-bellied Parakeets in the trees in the tourist area. My Laguna Blanca life list now stands at 216!

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