Saturday, October 16, 2010

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY

14 - 15 October 2010
Howdy, Birders,

After some 40 hours of travel, my friend Don Doolittle and I arrived at the sparkling, new Montevideo airport. Very efficiently, we cleared immigration and customs to find our rental car agency waiting with a sign with our name on it, in the main lobby. We resisted changing money at the first cambio in the customs area. Good thing, too. The rental car folks, MultiCar, told us that the airport has a very poor exchange rate. While getting set up with our car, some familiar South American birds were in the lot— CHALK-BROWED MOCKINGBIRD, RUFOUS HORNERO, PICAZURO PIGEON, and of course, RUFOUS-COLLARED SPARROWS. MONK PARAKEETS were calling and flying overhead. Per my standard routine, I photographed our car. We headed to a nearby lake and saw RINGED KINGFISHER, GREAT GREBE, GREAT KISKADEE, and ANHINGA. Poking around the wetlands and nearby houses, we stopped to watch two very beautiful WHISTLING HERONS plucking worms from the ground, much like American Robins.

Off for new adventures, tomorrow.

Gauchos forever,

Debi Shearwater,
Montevideo, Uruguay



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