Day 6
We sleep in a little today (till 7:30) because the high tide is later then get in the truck to catch a ferry to the north shore of the bay. This is the location where the aerial surveys found about 7,000 red knots last year. We drive along the shore for quite a distance but no red knots at all! We do have our first sight of Red-gartered coots, Whimbrels, *Chiloe wigeons and Greater yellowlegs. We also see Chilean flamingos off in the distance, Rhea, *Southern lapwings and quite a few Southern caracaras. No Red knots is a disappointment but otherwise a good birding day. We head back to camp for a late lunch (it is already 4:00) and a short break before heading out for an evening survey near camp along the shore of Bahia Lomas.
High tide is around 9:30 tonight so we head out about 9:00pm and see our largest group of shorebirds yet; about 400 Red knots and about 3300 Hudsonian godwits. This is still far short of historical accounts but more than we have seen so far. Sunset is about 10:00pm so we head back once we lose the light and cannot tell a godwit from a knot any longer.