Chile 2023: Puma, Mountains and much more….

[TonyQ]

We walked down and saw a distant Puma

Cropped

 400mm uncropped.

 

I have now idea how Marcial saw this! They blend in so well. It settled down and would probably not move for a few hours

 

So we headed off

 

Some flowers – an advantage of being here in spring

 

A Least Seedsnipe

 

 

And back towards the National Park and the hotel.

We passed Guanaco close to the road – they are very relaxed around vehicles.

 

 

Time for a good lunch and a rest before our afternoon outing. We had really enjoyed the morning. One of the advantages of getting such good sightings yesterday was that we were pretty relaxed about what we would see. So althought the morning sightings were not as spectacular, they were fascinating and enjoyable.

 

Edited January 7 by TonyQ

[Galana]

More amazing sightings. I would settle for those 'cave' ones if I had to.  Lovely scenery and flowers too.,

[pedro maia]

It´s obvious that you had a great trip, the pelagic and the penguin colony were top but this part with the landscape and the pumas is just amazing, and great photos by the way.

[Kitsafari]

A puma a day keeps my blues away. 

 

Beautiful scenery, gorgeous pumas, handsome guanacos. Ahhhh you are really fuelling my wish for a puma trip.  

[Miss Biscuit]

Your puma photos are gorgeous! What an amazing experience. I loved Torres del Paine but puma tracking wasn't on my radar at that time. We went to hike. Last year I watched the documentary series "Predators" on Netflix and one episode was on pumas in TDP. That and your photos make me wish to go back for that! 

[TonyQ]

@Kitsafari@Miss Biscuitthank you! A few more Puma will be coming up for you soon

But first, after lunch and a rest we went to visit a nearby waterfall before we went looking for Puma

 

While we were enjoying the falls, we were excited to see A family of Torrent Duck at the base of the waterfall

 

 

Male standing next to chick

Astonishingly, the chick leaps into the water (but in the previous picture, the female was downstream of it

 

Chick swims against the flow

The family together

We loved this sighting. We were worried the chick would get washed away, but they seemed to know what they were doing

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

We then continued towards the Estancia. We soon had a sighting of a Puma

 

But is seemed very full and very relaxed. It seemed likely that it would stay like this for a long time, so after a few minutes we decided to move on. Susanne was in conversation with Marcial on the radio and we headed in the direction he suggested.

 

Susanne is from Switzerland originally but has lived in Chile for about 6 years. She speaks perfect English. Appears to speak perfect Spanish. And speaks Swiss-German (native language) and German. She may well speak other languages that I can't remember.  We didn't ask for a bird guide because we wanted to concentrate on Puma. She freely admits she is not a bird guide - but she does have good eye-sight! She was very good at guide us around the Estancia and was interesting and fun to be with. We were very happy to have her as our guide.

 

[TonyQ]

We headed to the area Marcial suggested

We soon saw a Puma running across the landscape (these are cropped a bit from the orignal 400mm)

 

 

 

And into a more rocky area

 

They move really quickly over a short distance!

 

[TonyQ]

In the rock area, the Puma stopped and looked around

 

It looks up the hill

and appears to snarl

it turns round and heads down through the rocks

And then we see why...

A grey looking Puma comes down from the rocks (possible the one we saw this morning?)

 

and checks out where the first Puma went

 

[TonyQ]

Marcial said we should go round the back of the rocky area. A combination of walking, driving and then walking some more

A fairly distant Puma (cropped)

A broader view

 

It headed towards the rock "wall" at the lowest point. We would follow. This would involve some fairly steep uphill walking

[TonyQ]

When we got to the top, a bit out of breath we were taken to have a quick look

 

Marcial asked us to move back a bit while he assessed the situation. He thought this Puma would be comfortable with us closer, so we followed him

It did wake up!

and began to yawn (400mm virtually no cropping)

 

 

 

and eventually lay down again, relaxed and went to sleep (188mm not cropped). So we left it.

 

We were elated. A series of really enjoyable sightings - some more distant, some very close but all showing fascinating behaviour. A longish walk back to the car - but it was downhill and we were buzzing!

[Atravelynn]

Astounding pumas!  Precious Torrent Duck sequence. A handsome family.

[Galana]

An overworked word but Epic springs to mind with the Puma sequence. You had me guessing what she snarled at and 'knew' there would be another cat and hoped for cubs but what you saw was really worth while.

Loved the Torrent Duckling. Confident little beggar that will do well.

[Kitsafari]

I would really be buzzing as well with that memorable experience!

[madaboutcheetah]

@TonyQ- My Goodness !! Stunning ...... Pumas are deffo on my list now !! 

[Zim Girl]

Love the Torrent ducks, but what a fabulous encounter with that Puma!

[michael-ibk]

Can only repeat but the others said - what a wonderful Puma time you had. Great photos!

[Zubbie15]

Just caught up on your list batch, what a great sighting and well captured for sure! My wife is balking a bit about my plan to go to India next February, maybe Chile is an interesting alternative! 

[TonyQ]

Thank you @Atravelynn@Galana@Kitsafari@madaboutcheetah@Zim Girl@michael-ibk@Zubbie15

 

So we move into our last day of Puma tracking. I will post the morning.

 

The usual early start

 

We brgin with some Guanaco

 

Also showing the beautiful landscapes.

No sign of Puma yet, but we see some interesting birds circling

An Andean Condor flies past the mountains

Two Southern Caracara circle

A number of Caracara are on the remains of a Guanaco - a surprising amount of it left (presumably killed by a Puma)

A condor also comes in to get some food

 

Our car in the distance

After this, and a stop for our breakfast we drove some more and some more Guanaco.

 

 

On the left is a very young baby - the first (and in fact only) one we saw

 

 

[TonyQ]

We got a message from Marcial to come and join him in a particular area.

There were Pumas well hidden in long grass

Relaxing

Marcial went closer, and then came back to take us to a spot with a clearer view. (He also wanted the PUma to see him so it would not be surprised by us)

 

This is a different one. It raised its head to look at us

 

Cropped portrait

And then it started doing what cats do

Once it had seen us, it was very relaxed

 

Very slightly more alert

and back to sleep

We waited quite a while longer, but it was clear that the Pumas had their morning planned. So not much action from them, but it is encouraging that having seen us, they are relaxed enough to go to sleep. They did not seem threatened by our presence.

 

Eventually we decided to leave them and head back to the hotel for a rest and some food. One more afternoon tracking session to go!

 

Edited January 16 by TonyQ

[TonyQ]

And so to the final afternoon of Puma tracking

We went back to the area where we saw the Puma in the morning

Marcial out tracking

 

He found the Pumas lying in the grass

Two are obvious - but there is a third to the left

Cropped to show Puma number three

They are a mother and two youngsters - getting close to independence age - but not quite yet. The youngsters are probably over a year old.

 

Will we see some action?

Probably not!

 

 

[TonyQ]

Well  maybe a little bit of action!

 

 

This shows wide view of where the Puma were lying in the grass. You can just about see part of two of them.

The fence is the boundary between the National Park (on the far side) and the Estancia. Puma and Guanaco can cross the fence with ease. It is there to stop people, and in the past, sheep.

Here is phone view showing the wider landscape

[TonyQ]

 

A little nap is coming...

 

And for mother

 

We sat for quite a while, hoping they might decide to move. Bu they were happy where they were. We were sitting on the ground and it was beginning to get very cold.

We decided to call it a day and return to the hotel.

[TonyQ]

Next morning we could stay in bed a little later. We had an excellent breakfast and then it was time to head back, through the National Park and towards Punta Arenas.

Susanne had been told by Marcial that there was a car rally in Puerto Natales that day, and that the road would be closed for a while from 12.00 . He recommended that we should  get through before that time. (He lives in Puerto Natales when not tracking Puma.)

 

We headed out through the Park on a route we had not visited before. It was very beautiful

Leaving the hotel

 

 

 

[TonyQ]

 

Going past some grassland we saw this Oystercatcher

 

And this lovely flowering bush

 

We stopped in Puerto Natales to pick up some fuel and a quick coffee. We headed on further and stopped at a small village for lunch.

This Swallow waited for us on the wire outside the restaurant

 

We continued as the landscape changed - largely flat and dry. A little is used for cattle, more of it for sheep.

Rhea on flat plain with lots of heat haze

We stopped at a small wetland by the side of the road

 

and headed into Punta Arenas