Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 22: Parque Nacional Lanin - Lago Lacar and the Condor Roost: Condor Roost

Again, not wanting to spend extra time at the hotel, we decided that we would try and check out the condor roost mentioned in the guidebook. From Junin, the RP-234 heads east and after about 20 km it passes a condor roost on the left-hand side. All the Andean Condors that forage in the surroundings come here to pass the night on a high cliff, the white guano stains on the rocks revealing their favoured roosting places. The condors leave in the early morning and begin to arrive in late afternoon, with the number present depending on the number feeding that day in the local area. As many as thirty may roost here on some evenings. As it was beginning to slowly get dark, it was a great time to spot condors coming to the roost for the night, but not a great time for photographing them as the lighting was dim and the cliff was a fair distance away from the observation platform.

Here is some information from some of the interpretive signs at the observation platform:

Apu Kuntur, the Lord of the Andes

"It is truly wonderful and beautiful to see so great a bird, hour after hour, without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and river" (Charles Darwin, Patagonia, April 27, 1834)

The name "condor" derives from the Quechua word "kuntur". The old ones used to call it Apu Kunut: Lord or God Condor. It is called Mallku in Aymara language and Manque in Mapuche. Its scientific name is Vultur gryphus.

Typical weight: 11.5 kg
Length: 1.4 m
Wingspan: 3 m or more

Order Faconiformes, Family Cathartidae
Condors can live 50 years or more and form very stable pairs. A condor reaches maturity at 8-10 years old and breeds every second or third year. Its nest is a simple depression in a rock and it lays one egg at a time. The incubation takes approx. 60 days and both sexes incubate. The young stays in the nest 6 to 8 months and both parents bring the food. Its relatives in Patagonia are the turkey vulture and black vulture.

The condor feeds almost exclusively on dead animals. Their legs are not adapted for grasping (as in the case of eagles) and they are not able to lift up things (so it is not true that they fly away with lambs or other animals). The condor is the largest flying bird in the world but you can rarely see them flapping. They are superb gliders and with a just few flaps for the takeoff, they can soar for hours using the warm air currents to lift them as they fly in circles.

We tried to read some of the information to the kids and played a game of condor tag with the kids to get them to understand why this place was so interesting. But in the end it was the discovery of a super highway of ants (actually several superhighways that all led to a giant ant colony) that was the highlight of the condor roost for the kids!

Driving back along the dirt road to RP-48... Rubby was gripping the wheel pretty tightly to stay on course.

Rubby is actually getting blisters on his hands from driving and gripping the wheel so tight!

A couple of balck vultures.

Jote de cabeza negra (Coragyps atratus) (Black Vulture)

As we head back through town we almost came into a riot... guess the soccer game didn't turn out like expected. ;-)

"Dear Christopher I would like to come over for a play date." (-Samantha)

The patagonian steppe - Hostile factors, such as the poor soil conditions and the harsh climate, have forced plants to adapt, forming a steppe of grasses and low shrubs. The neneo (typical rounded shrub) and the coirones (hard and sharp grasses) help to avoid soil erosion and give the Patagonian steppe its characteristic look.

A lot of the geology in the area (including the condor roost cliff which is made of basalt columns)
indicate volcanic activity in the past.

As we approach we can see the cliffs that make up the condor roost.

There were interpretive signs to explain a little bit about the geology and also about "Apu Kuntur",
the Lord of the Andes (aka the condors).

Unfortunately the lighting was getting bad as it was getting late and we couldn't get very close to the cliff but we did see some condors fly in to settle for the night.

As many as thirty may roost here on some evenings.

The kids couldn't see much of the birds so we ended up playing a game of mommy and baby condors.
Here Christopher is a baby condor hiding from mommy condor.

"From the quantity of dung on the rocks, they must have long frequented this cliff for roosting and breeding..." said Charles Darwin in 1834, when he became acquainted with Patagonian condors. The same could be said here!

You can barely make out in the picture where several condors are perched along the cliff.

These roosts are commonly called "condoreras" or "buitreras". Condors come back daily to these rocks for a quiet digestion, resting, and spending the night. They don't build true nests but rather place their sole egg every 2nd or 3rd year in cavities of these rocks.