After returning from Tierra del Fuego I am often asked the question is it a beautiful place? It’s not an easy question to answer; my response, at least in my head, is to ask what makes a place beautiful? I wonder: must a place have obviously awe-inspiring […]

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Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/20/07
 
Our Friday morning started by saying goodbye to Sergio and Gabriella, the veterinary students from University of Santo Thomas. Their major professor is Carmen Espoz. Carmen left the night before. We were sorry to see them go; they are hard working intelligent people […]

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Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/18/07
 
Guy Morrison and Ken Ross carried out their recount but found no more knots than on their first aerial count of the bay. They plan to fly a third time to confirm the count but already it seems certain that the red knot population in Bahia Lomas has […]

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Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/14/07
Humphrey and I left Punta Arenas early to survey the area along the Strait of Magellan at high tide. We left our comfortable digs at the Hotel Noriega at 7.00 am, leaving the rest of the team to pull together all we would need for […]

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Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/12/07
 
Our seventh expedition to Tierra del Fuego began with an early evening arrival at Punta Arenas Airport. This small city has either grown more attractive over the last 7 years or we have gradually awakened to its often subtle qualities. Chile has grown more integrated […]

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Ghost Crab holes, and the sandy remains of excavation, on 80 Mile Beach

Our first catch at 80 Mile Beach, in the late afternoon, gave all of us a real sense of accomplishment. After two days of experimenting with small-mesh nets (setting one high and one low), the team leaders, Clive, Roz and Chris […]

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Red knot flight feathers. Primary flight feathers (or “primaries”) are at the outer wing, secondary flight feathers (or “secondaries”) are at the inner wing. The 10 primaries point more toward the wing tip while the secondaries point more toward the body (you can see this difference below the bend of the wing).
If dealing with the […]

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Oriental Plovers (foreground) and Grey-tailed Tattlers on 80 Mile Beach
We left Broome, successful to the extent that we had caught over a 1,000 birds, with sufficient samples of a number of species and few mortalities. It was a remarkable feat considering the heat. Clive, Chris and Roz along with Pru and Maureen helped the team […]

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