LAUCO NATIONAL PARK & LIST
CHILE
REGION 1 (Compass)
Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl
Protected/registered status
Best Time for visit (2nd-5th February, 2006)
Birding Site Guide
Lauca National Park can be reached from Bolivia, Arica or Putre. I got dropped off by the bus from La Paz at the turnoff for the small town of Parinacota (4392m altitude) 4km away. There are a couple of families with beds. I paid 2,500 pesos for a bed in a shared room with kitchen privileges. I was told there were no shops selling food so brought my own but that was not quite true. There is a man with a very small shop on the plaza with some drinks and snacks. His wife (Albertina) will also sell a few vegetables. The lady I stayed with can also provide dinners. Daytimes were pleasant but nights very cold. I recommend a sleeping bag as well as the blankets provided.
The area around the village had many good birds. Just across from the weather station and football pitch are a couple of small streams through cushion-plant bogs where Diademed Sandpiper-Plover was seen many years ago. I saw Puna Snipe here. I saw Andean Hillstar on rocks behind the Conaf office. There are a few small lakes near the town with Giant Coots and Crested Ducks are common. There is a trail leading from the Conaf office that takes you up to a few lakes called Lagunas Cotacotani (4,500m) where I saw Chilean Flamingo, Andean Avocet and Wilson's Phalarope. Also White-throated Sierra-Finch and Streaked Tit-Spinetail on the way up. There are 2 roads back out to the highway, upper (left) and lower (right). The lower is better. About 1km along there is a house below which was Grey-breasted Seedsnipe and after which on the boulders was White-tailed Shrike Tyrant. I also saw Red-backed and Puna Hawk along this road. The area below the town of Chucuyo had a large lake with many water birds and marshy areas with Puna Plover, American Golden Plover, Andean Lapwing and Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch. A little further down on salty ponds were a few Andean Flamingos. Lago Chungara towards the Bolivian Border was full of waterbirds but is a little more difficult to get to. I saw 52 species including 14 lifers.
Species seen
- Silvery Grebe Podiceps occipitalis photo'd
- Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus photo'd
- Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax photo'd
- Puna Ibis Plegadis ridgwayi photo'd
- Chilean Flamingo Phoenicopterus chilensis NT photo'd
- Andean Flamingo Phoenicopterus andinus Vulnerable photo'd
- Andean Goose Chloephaga melanoptera photo'd
- Speckled Teal Anas flavirostris photo'd
- Crested Duck Anas specularioides photo'd
- Puna Teal Anas puna
- Andean Duck Oxyura ferruginea Seen on Lago Chungara
- Variable Hawk Buteo polyosoma photo'd
- (Puna Hawk) Buteo polyosoma photo'd
- Mountain Caracara Phalcoboenus megalopterus
- Slate-colored Coot Fulica ardesiaca Seen on Lago Chungara
- Giant Coot Fulica gigantea photo'd
- Andean Avocet Recurvirostra andina photo'd
- Andean Lapwing Vanellus resplendens
- American Golden-Plover Pluvialis dominica
- Puna Plover Charadrius alticola
- Puna Snipe Gallinago andina photo'd
- Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca photo'd
- Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes Possibly seen
- Baird's Sandpiper Calidris bairdii photo'd
- Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
- Gray-breasted Seedsnipe Thinocorus orbignyianus photo'd
- Andean Gull Larus serranus photo'd
- Andean Hillstar Oreotrochilus estella
- Andean Flicker Colaptes rupicola photo'd
- Puna Miner Geositta punensis photo'd
- Plain-breasted Earthcreeper Upucerthia jelskii photo'd
- Bar-winged Cinclodes Cinclodes fuscus photo'd
- White-winged Cinclodes Cinclodes atacamensis photo'd
- Streaked Tit-Spinetail Leptasthenura striata photo'd
- Cordilleran Canastero Asthenes modesta photo'd
- White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant Agriornis andicola Vulnerable photo'd
- Rufous-naped Ground-Tyrant Muscisaxicola rufivertex photo'd
- Puna Ground-Tyrant Muscisaxicola juninensis Possibly seen
- Cinereous Ground-Tyrant Muscisaxicola cinerea Possibly seen
- White-fronted Ground-Tyrant Muscisaxicola albifrons photo'd
- Ochre-naped Ground-Tyrant Muscisaxicola flavinucha photo'd
- Andean Negrito Lessonia oreas photo'd
- Blue-and-white Swallow Pygochelidon cyanoleuca
- Andean Swallow Stelgidopteryx andecola
- Black-hooded Sierra-Finch Phrygilus atriceps photo'd
- Plumbeous Sierra-Finch Phrygilus unicolor photo'd
- White-throated Sierra-Finch Phrygilus erythronotus photo'd
- Ash-breasted Sierra-Finch Phrygilus plebejus photo'd
- White-winged Diuca-Finch Diuca speculifera photo'd
- Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch Sicalis uropygialis photo'd
- Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis photo'd
- Black Siskin Carduelis atrata photo'd
Other Fauna
A total of -- species of mammals.
There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles.
Flora
Author: Charles Hesse
www.birdingsiteguide.com
