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February 2026
Friday 6th of February 2026 and I am at the entrance a couple of minutes before 6 o'clock and my Guide arrives exact at 06:00. We are soon on our way through Santiago. Early morning, dark and no traffic so we are soon on our way up the mountains. We are driving past an area that had suffered a mud slide a couple of days ago. No damages to any houses, but it was a lot of work to clean up after the mud slide.  Sun is coming up over The Andes
First stop is to check out one Austral Blackbird that my Guide heard. It is still too dark for any photos, but I recorded the bird. And there was also one White-crested Elaenia and one Austral Thrush that I got on the recording. I make one recording and I get two birds out of the recording. We can see the bird but it is way too dark to even try to get any pictures of the birds. Listen to the White-crested Elaenia
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
Listen to the Austral Blackbird
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
 I am soon starting my eBird app again. We spot one Black-winged Ground Dove sitting on the road, still dark but I try to get a picture. We are soon stopping again, we spot one Moustached Turca on the road, my second “LIFER” for me today. I get a picture, good enough for ID purpose on my eBird checklist. But I will not bother to put the picture here. We continue towards the small village Mirador Lomas del Viento and we spot 3 House Sparrows when we take off the road. Now it is only the Feral Pigeon missing.  Black-winged Ground Dove
 Black-winged Ground Dove
 House Sparrow
 Rufous-banded Miner
 Black-chinned Siskin
 Austral Thrush
Listen to the Black-chinned Siskin
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
 Today's track at eBird Hotspot: Camino a Farellones--Mirador Lomas del Viento
Leaving Mirador Lomas del Viento behind continuing up the mountains to our destination, Valle Nevado. We are hoping to see the Andan Condor at Valle Nevado.
We are soon stopping again because of birds next to the road and I take a few pictures before we continue.  Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant
 Grey-hooded Sierra Finch
 Driving up the Andes towards Valle Nevado
 Driving up the Andes towards Valle Nevado
 Driving up the Andes towards Valle Nevado
It had been a fantastic morning, pitch dark when we started to get up the mountain. And what a gorgeous sight it was to see the sun rising over the Andes. We are approaching Valle Nevado and we pass one Grassland Yellow-Finch sitting on a rock next to the road. I open the window and I try to make a recording. There is also one Rufous-banded Miner that we can hear on the recording. We arrive to Valle Nevado 15 minutes after I have stopped the recording Listen to the Grassland Yellow-Finch
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
Listen to the Rufous-banded Miner
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
 Reaching Valle Nevado
 Reaching Valle Nevado
I was very surprised, huge condos and hotels. How on earth have they managed to get all this stuff up here? It was hard enough o get up here with our car, imagine the number of trucks that have been used to get everything up here. Not one single Condor was sighted, and the spirit was low. My Guide asked one of the securities and he informed us that the Condors usually shoed up around 10 o'clock. We had to wait and see, we also had a back-up plan. We could spot a few other birds while waiting for the condors.  Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant
 Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant
 Rufous-banded Miner
My Guide come to call me about 20 minutes before 10 o'clock. One Condor have arrived and we are very happy. The second Condor is soon arriving, now we have one male and one female. The third Condor arriving is a juvenile. The babies stay with their parents for two years. 6 months to learn how to fly and then they need to learn how to find food and they stay with the parents We count to 7 Condors in total. And just as they arrive, we have two Mountain Caracaras landing on one of the houses.  Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Mountain Caracara
 Mountain Caracara
 Mountain Caracara
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Mountain Caracara
 Mountain Caracara
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
 Andean Condor
What a birding final! I got to see the Andean Condor, a must if you come to Chile. I will leave Chile tomorrow morning and I can make my eBird Trip Report. No more bird watching in Chile until I come back from The Falkland Islands. But this will be in the south of Chile, Punta Arenas. But I have 27 “LIFERS” from these two days. 23 of the “LIFERS” with pictures and 5 with a recording.
We are in good mood getting in the car leaving Valle Nevado. As I told my Guide, imagine how quiet it would have been in the car going back if we had not seen the Condors. I was getting very hungry drooling in the back seat just thinking about steak and avocado at La Cabrera when I am back in Santiago. I am munching on a nut mix that my Guide had brought for our picnic. Going back to Hyatt Place Santiago/Vitacura and now we have a very good view over the mountains in the sunshine. And now I can also see that we are driving along the edge to a steep slope. The road is winding up the mountain and it is a very narrow road, and in poor condition. I ask my Guide if they ever had any accidents here and she told me that there had been no accidents. The only accidents that have happened is at the bottom of the mountains where there is a lot of traffic. But then they are already down from the mountain.  Going back down the mountains
 Going back down the mountains
 Going back down the mountains
 Going back down the mountains
 Going back down the mountains
 Going back down the mountains
We were back at Hyatt Place Santiago/Vitacura at 11 thirty and I went to my room to leave my stuff. I have planned to go for a steak at La Cabrera, but I will wait until after 1 o'clock to avoid the lunch hour. I looked for a shop to buy VOOPOO and I found a shop on internet. I booked an UBER just to discover that there was no shop. DARN! I booked a new UBER and I stepped in to La Cabrera just after 1 o'clock. I had one of the best steaks ever, perfect avocados and the meat and avocado was just melting in my mouth. I will miss La Cabrera when I leave tomorrow.  The best steak ever
Back in my room and I pre-book an UBER car to come pick me up tomorrow morning at 04:30. My LATAM flight LH895 to Falkland Islands leaves at 06:47. And I am pretty excited to get to Falkland Islands and the penguins. Click HERE to find out if I make it to Falkland Islands via Punta Arenas. 
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
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Species lifer: First time that someone observes a species in their life
Photo lifer: First time that someone photographs a species in their life
Audio lifer: First time that someone audio records a species in their life
Naturalized: Exotic population is self-sustaining, breeding in the wild, persisting for many years, and not maintained through ongoing releases (including vagrants from Naturalized populations). These count in official eBird totals and, where applicable, have been accepted by regional bird records committee(s).
Provisional: Either: 1) member of exotic population that is breeding in the wild, self-propagating, and has persisted for multiple years, but not yet Naturalized; 2) rarity of uncertain provenance, with natural vagrancy or captive provenance both considered plausible.
Escapee: Exotic species known or suspected to be escaped or released, including those that have
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