Hopeless Wish List of Birds I Want to See but Almost Certainly Will Not See

Brown back. Black primary feathers. Gray downy head. Fingered wings. Broad tail. It was an Andean Condor for sure. It swooped along the steep hillside and cliffs. It was a small Andean Condor, immature, but still a huge bird. Its wingspan was approximately eight feet, which means it has two more feet of wingspan to grow before it reaches adult size. A typical adult has a ten foot wingspan, and sometimes they are as big as twelve feet. To say nothing of the condor, the landscape was stunning, beautiful, and harsh. The calmer waters of the fjords and the steep, mossy hillsides both ended abruptly against cliffs or dense forests. Waterfalls, streams, and granite domes all pierced the mountainous landscape.

Half way up one of the smaller ridges, the five of us stood on a granite outcropping, dunking our heads in a cold stream- a much needed rinse. It was here that we also watched the immature Andean Condor hunt for a meal and dry its wings in the uncommon sunshine. Twenty meters off the hillside, it zig-zagged at our eye-level. It passed us more than ten times then flew off and landed about two hundred meters away, where we could still easily see it.

I know that I say this in almost all my blog posts, and I mean it even more than usual: this was one of, if not the most, amazing experiences in my life. It may be my highlight of Chile so far. To start with, It is awesome enough to be in Patagonia half way up a steep ridge with no sign of the existence of humans other than Sila and her crew. Also, Andean Condors would be extremely rare even if they were not endangered, which they are. When people are looking for the Andean Condor, they are usually seen from a mile off and almost never closer. This bird was on my Hopeless Wish List of Birds I Want to See but Almost Certainly Will Not See. As a matter of fact, the Andean Condor was the only bird on that list. It makes me wonder what other rare birds and animals are waiting for us farther south. - Porter

editor's note: We are posting to the blog via satellite phone because there is, joyfully, no wifi or cell service in this remote part of Chile. This means we can only post text. Once we get to Puerto Williams or Ushuaia in late December, we will certainly do our best to post many photos from these experiences. And we will also be able to respond to comments then. We hope you are enjoying the blog- we are certainly having fun collecting the experiences that inspire us to write. All is well as we approach the intersection of Canal Baker and Canal Messier, near 48°S 74.5°W