CHACA VALLEY & LIST 
CHILE

CALETA VITOR (near), ZONE 1 (Compass)

 Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl 
Protected/registered status 
Best Time for visit (11th February, 2006)

 

Birding Site Guide

This is one of the best sites to see the localized Tamarugo Conebill. It is within easy reach of Arica. Catch a bus towards Iquique from the main terminal. Buses leave at 8 and 8:30. Earlier too but it's still dark then. Do not buy a ticket, just pay directly to the driver and ask to get off at the 'cruce' (junction) for Caleta Vitor. This is 45km from Arica and takes about 40 minutes on a good road. From the junction, Caleta Vitor is 20km away but the Tamarugo Conebill can be seen after just 2km. Walk down the road and just before the 2km marker, the first trees appear on the right. It can be seen here. There are trees and other vegetation along the river a bit further down. Here a slaty-blue coloured bird I saw briefly may have been a Slender-billed Finch. I saw 10 species including 1 lifers. 


Species seen 

  • Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
  • American Kestrel Falco sparverius
  • Pacific Dove Zenaida meloda
  • White-crested Elaenia Elaenia albiceps
  • Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
  • Blue-and-white Swallow Pygochelidon cyanoleuca
  • Cinereous Conebill Conirostrum cinereum Possibly seen
  • Tamarugo Conebill Conirostrum tamarugense Vulnerable Photographed
  • Slender-billed Finch Xenospingus concolor Vulnerable Possibly seen
  • Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis


Other Fauna 
A total of -- species of mammals. 

There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles. 

Flora 

Author: Charles Hesse

 

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