Enjoying VCP

 A park and walking/biking path runs along the southeast shore of Lago San Roque. It's a fabulous place for exercise, nature watching, and relaxing while enjoying the view. We saw many families or couples enjoying picnics and others biking or rollerblading. There are restaurants and shops along the way. We enjoyed getting ice cream on our walks.

We bought Asher a telescoping fishing pole in Cordoba, and he was so happy. He only got to use it here and Valparaiso before airport security confiscated it in Bogota, which was just a connecting flight. Oh, so sad!!!

Fishing along the lake shore.

The kids entertained themselves while I did some birding. This is an excellent park for seeing a variety of birds. Here I was able to watch a Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper dig up grubs for dinner.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher (above)

White-fronted Woodpecker and Blue-crowned Parakeet

Southern Lapwing

Grebes are known for elaborate synchronized mating dances in water. Here I had the pleasure of watching a couple of Great Grebes doing their dance. So fun to watch!

When I first saw these, I thought it was a lifer, but it's a subspecies (White-backed) of Black-necked Stilt. Really attractive bird! It has a lot more white on its head than the ones we see in the USA.

A raft of Neotropic Cormorants.

Burrowing Owls have burrows in the park. We saw two on the ground before they were chased into a tree by a loose dog. It's hard being a ground nesting bird in a park.

Hiking with Giants {Los Gigantes}

Los Gigantes, which translates to "The Giants", are mountains in central Argentina's Sierras Grandes range. From Villa Carlos Paz, it was a scenic hour and a half drive to the trailhead at La Rotonda.

Before we even arrived, I was spotting some cool birds along the road and farms. Here's a Campo Flicker and a gorgeous Long-tailed Meadowlark!

At La Rotonda there is a charge for entrance and parking. The guy was kind enough to let us borrow rain jackets, thankfully we didn't need them. I saw an Andean Condor as soon as I stepped out of the car!

This photo of La Rotonda, taken as we were leaving, is evidence of our perfect timing. On our descent, the clouds rolled in covering the mountains.

I saw some good birds like this Peregrine Falcon.

When we stopped at the top for lunch, I realized I hadn't needed to carefully track the birds for a photo. Obviously they were used to getting fed by hikers, as they came right to us. Journey held out something and a bird took it right from her hand!

Now taking their photos was easy. Here's a Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant.

A Rufous-collared Sparrow (above)  A Chiguanco Thrush (below)

A very friendly and plump Plumbeous Sierra Finch was one of the most curious birds.

At the top, there's a path behind a large rock which takes you down to this really cool watery canyon type environment. It was fun to explore.

A pair of Andean Condors flew over and perched on the rock right above us!

Rufous-naped Ground-Tyrant

This was a really gorgeous hike we all really enjoyed!

On our way out we got to see some Long-tailed Meadowlarks again in the Pampas Grass!