Day 5
This morning, we get the closest we have to a flock of shorebirds, finding 2 groups of Godwits/Knots feeding at the shoreline. Again, there are about 2,000 birds total, with the vast majority Godwits. Compared with the 10’s of thousands we expected to see, this is a disappointment. Last year teams saw a total of almost 10,000 Red knots at several locations either on foot or by aerial survey and in previous years, numbers were much higher than that.
After our morning survey, we drive to the ferry station to walk the shoreline there in search of knots but don’t find any there either. We do encounter a very large flock of Black faced Ibis as well as quite a few Magellanic oystercatchers and a rock cormorant nesting on the cliffs. Our evening walk to the shoreline near camp yields about the same size flock of ~2,000 shorebirds that we have been seeing the past few surveys. While we are out on the mudflats, we see several Guanacos racing along the shoreline which seems like a very odd sight. Back to camp where we hope to get to sleep before midnight for a change.