Birdwatching in Lihué Calel National Park

Information

This park is ideal for bird watching, as it has different environments due to its mountain chains in the middle of a steppe territory. The trails it has are of great help for this activity.

For those who are visiting the park for the first time or who know few birds in the region, a good idea is to start at the camping site and the Namuncurá trail (which joins the camping site with the base of the Cerro de la Sociedad Científica). There you can find species such as the Southern martin (Progne elegans) and the blue-crowned parakeet (Psittacara acuticaudatus) high up in the trees, the elegant crested tinamou (Eudromia elegans) on the ground, and the white-tipped plantcutter (Phytotoma rutila) and the crested gallito (Rhinocrypta lanceolata) in the bushes.

At the base of the Cerro de la Sociedad Científica Argentina, the tufted tit-tyrant (Anairetes parulus) and the band-tailed seedeater (Catamenia analis) are frequent.

Other birds of interest are the Chaco earthcreeper (Tarphonomus certhioides), the greater wagtail-tyrant (Stigmatura budytoides), the mourning sierra-finch (Rhopospina fruticeti) and the carbon sierra-finch (Corydospiza carbonaria, endemic to Argentina). The greater rhea (Rhea americana) coexists there with its smaller similar, the lesser rhea (Rhea pennata).