Birds from the End of the World Part Two.

The dolphin gull with the red bill was the first bird that I shot as soon as I got out of the plane in Ushuaia, the most uncooperative one, he was sitting on a rock in the shore line and as I turned around to get a profile of him, he will turn too.

In the previous blog, I mentioned the kelp goose, this is the male one, all beautiful white; maybe great camouflage for the snow but why is he white all year round? There also some all white seagulls that looked as pidgeons, I was not able to get a
decent image of them to post.

The Southern Lapwing is the most beautiful bird that I was able to photograph in Ushuaia. Some were some congregated in small groups along the shoreline or just by themselves resting with one leg under a wing. Since it was the beginning of the winter there, I assume that they were starting to migrate up north. Here in the northern hemisphere we refer to the birds going south; as the seasons are reversed, the patterns of migration are also reversed.
This is an image of the same species of plover but this one was in the field picking up insects among the grass. Both were very nervous of my presence and watched all my movements.







Moving a bit north and closer to Buenos Aires the birds begin to look more like those in the south of the United States. This a croaking ground dove and is very abundant and always in pairs. I did not hear them calling.

And the story again repeats itself, no doubt it looks like one of our mockingbirds and their behavior is similar and very common in urban areas. It also reminds me of the mockingbirds in the Galapagos Islands. There these birds are so tame that will come and sit on your hat or camera tripod.

This monk parakeet I photographed in one of the numerous parks in the city of Buenos Aires. I assumed that this species was introduced just as the house sparrows and starlings were here in the United Statesbut they are endemic do Argentina. They are numerous and fly in large flocks when they decide to move from an area with a loud cacophony of calls. They were really very entertaining and will feed on anything they can get.

These plush-crested jays are related to our blue jays and exhibit very similar behavior been aggressive and very vocal. Very tame and unafraid of humans an if you have some bread or nuts will eat out of your hands. They hang around in large groups. They seem to come out of nowhere and disappear again in unison.