Friday 16 September 2016

Laguna Blanca - Double migration woo hoo!!

The children from Hunab Mexico arrived yesterday evening for a five day stay at Laguna Blanca where they would take part in Para La Tierra outreach programme engaging with the local children during Eco cine and the Eco Club activities. Pablo a group member is a keen ornithologist and naturalist with an incredible mind for information. Paul Smith and his son Sean arrived for a holiday on the reserve. With spring migration entering a key period there was plenty of opportunity to connect with passing migrants or birds just taking advantage of the conditions to move to more favourable feeding grounds.

A group of Grey-breasted Martins were hawking insects from the roof of the boathouse. Snowy and Great White Egret were also present on the lagoon. They were to be joined later by more of each species a small indication that there was movement in the area.

At 0735hrs a flock of birds appeared from the S heading directly N over the lagoon. My first thought was these aren’t cormorants OMG Ibis!! I fired off a few pictures to secure the moment also realizing that the legs of the bird did not extend beyond the tail and there was a small patch of red behind the bill. 

A look at the pictures later with Paul confirmed Bare faced Ibis a first record for the reserve!! Five birds were seen later in the morning by Paul.

There was time for a quick celebration and breakfast with our new arrivals, then out again for a walk around the lagoon. A Plumbeous Kite was seen thermalling over the S corner of the lagoon.

The group was making its way towards the Seasonal Pond so I went on ahead to set up my telescope so that the children could have a good view of the birds on the pond. As I was setting up I saw an Anhinga in the corner of my eye flying across the pond. This bird was the second record for the reserve.


The Masked Duck were still present along with Least Grebe, Common Gallinule and Brazilian Teal. The next couple of weeks will be interesting!! Woo Hoo!

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