Birding Jujuy: Ecoregions

Northwestern Argentina's ecological regions

The North West of Argentina comprises five provinces: Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Catamarca, Salta, and Jujuy (being the latter the northernmost of all in the country). The main geographical feature that defines the region is the presence of the Andes, the massive mountain range that runs all along the west of South America, and involves the highlands of the west side of the region (over 3.000 meter above sea level), playing the role of international border with Chile and Bolivia. On the other end, the eastearn part of the region is dominated by the vast Chaco flatlands, that barely exceed a few hundreds meters above sea level. In the middle of both extremes, there is a complex topography that includes pre-Andean hills, steep Cordillera slopes, deep gorges, and the Puna plateau, all key landmarks for the development of a variety of climates, vegetation physiognomy and composition, as well as a wide range of ecological regions, thus five ecoregions are present in the Argentina’s North West: the High Andes, the Puna, the Monte, the Yungas, and the dry Chaco. So in less than 2% of the country area, nearly 60% of its total bird diversity can be found.

High Andes & Puna

In Argentina's Northwest, the higher part of the Cordillera comprises amazing ecosystems such as the High Andes and Puna regions. Particularly above the 3,000 meters above sea level, the climatic conditions are extremely tough, with a very dry and cold climate, and strong sun radiation. The upper part of it is called the High Andes (or Altoandino), mostly looks like a bare-rock desert interspersed with some tussock grass-steppes, and since it lays close to the highest mountains and extinct volcanoes, the melting waters coming from the snowy-peaks form flourishing habitats like ponds and bogs, and where very well-adapted birds, such as the cryptic Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, the Red-backed Sierra-Finch, the rare Puna Tinamou, and the iconic Diademed Sandpiper Plover, occur. Lower, in the middle of the Andes range, the vast Puna (or Altiplano) develops as a huge, mostly flat, shrubby steppe, where flocks of the vicuna, the most popular of the South American wild-camelids, can be usually found. Typical birds of this environment include the scarce Lesser Rhea, the Mountain Caracara, the Least Seedsnipe, the Cordilleran Canastero, and the Puna Miner. As well as the Andean Flicker, the Buff-breasted Earthcreeper, the Streak-fronted Thornbird, the Puna Yellow-Finch, and the Black Siskin. But an unparalleled spectacle is offered by the inner Puna lakes, where the James’ and Andean Flamingos gather in awesome colonies, surrounded by incredible settings. In these water bodies other amazing waterbirds, like the Andean Silvery Grebe, the Puna Plover, the Andean Avocet, the Andean Goose, the Crested Duck, the Puna Teal, the Giant and Horned Coots, the Andean Gull, can be also found.

Couple of horned coots with fledglings © Birding Jujuy

Towards the east of the Puna region, some very narrow and deep gorges which were carved through millions of years of erosion, act as natural passes connecting the western highlands with the eastern lowlands.This transition zone mostly is a dry-valley ecosystem that involves shrubby steppes mixed with some columnar-cacti clad. Birding this landscape can produce very interesting birds like, the White-tipped Plantcutter, the Gray-hooded Parakeet, the Bare-faced Ground-Dove, the Wedge-tailed Hillstar, the Giant Hummingbird, the Red-tailed Comet, the Brown-backed Mockingbird, the Creamy-breasted Canastero, the Yellow-billed Tit-Tyrant, the Citron-headed Yellow-Finch, always in breathtaking settings of bare-rock, colorful mountains.

Yungas

The eastern slope of the Eastern Cordillera is hit by the wet winds coming from the Atlantic, and above the timberline a very narrow but particular ecosystem occurs. This zone that involves high, moist grasslands, with some scrublands and scattered patches of forest (like the Polylepis tree ones), is home to many restricted range birds like the Huayco Tinamous, the White-sided Hillstar, the Rufous-bellied Mountain-Tanager, the Rufous-webbed Bush-Tyrant, the Scribble-tailed Canastero, the Rock Earthcreeper, the Maquis Canastero, the Puna Canastero, the Brown-capped Tit-Spinetail, the Tawny Tit-Spinetail, the Zimmer's Tapaculo, the Short-tailed Finch, as well as the Argentina's endemics, Bare-eyed Ground-Dove and Tucuman Mountain-Finch. This also is a good area for spotting the majestic Andean Condor, soaring high.

Going beyond, towards the lower valleys, the landscape rapidly plunges into thick montane forests, where other birds such as the Black-and-chestnut Eagle, the Red-faced Guan; the Tucuman Parrot; the Slender-tailed Woodstar, the Dot-fronted Woodpecker, the Cream-backed Woodpecker; the White-throated Antpitta, the Streak-fronted Thornbird; the Andean Tyrant, the Fulvous-headed Brush-Finch; the Moss-backed Sparrow; the Buff-banded Tyrannulet, the Pale-legged Warbler, the Rust-and-yellow Tanager, or even the Argentina endemic Yellow-stripe Brush-Finch, may be seen.

Fulvous-headed Brush Finch © Birding Jujuy

Particular attention at this point deserves the rushing streams coming from the mountain, where two iconic birds occur, the Torrent Duck and the Rufous-throated Dipper (see the video). At sunset, some specialties like the Lyre-tailed Nightjar, the Montane Forest Screech-Owl, or the Yungas Pygmy Owl, can be expected as well.

Further down the mountain slopes become steeper at first and gentler as it gets to the foothill where the pre-montane forest develops. Here, the climate turns warmer and wetter and the cloud forest lush, with tall trees forming a dense canopy full of climbers, ferns, epiphytes and a well-developed understory. This environment is proper habitat to birds like the King Vulture, the Solitary Eagle, the Dusky-legged Guan, the Yungas Dove, the Green-cheeked Parakeet, the Mitred Parakeet, the Yellow-collared Macaw, the Rothschild's Swift, the Blue-crowned Trogon, the Amazonian Motmot, the Ochre-cheeked Spinetail, the Toco Toucan, the Black-capped Antwren, the Giant Antshrike, the Yungas Manakin, and the Rusty-browed Warbling-Finch, among many others.

Blue-crowned Trogon © Birding Jujuy

Dry chaco

Some gentle-slope and dry lands next to the pre-Andean hills are dominated by the Sierran Chaco. And due to the mild climate conditions, this area has historically been populated by humans, so that much of the original forests around were unfortunately degraded or cleared for human activities and settlements, while several water reservoirs were developed for irrigating plantations. But even here, interesting waterfowl can be found in the water bodies, such as the Comb Duck, the Coscoroba Swan, the Limpkin, the Giant Wood Rail, or the Southern Screamer. And the remnants of forests around still shelter birds like the Great Rufous Woodcreeper, the Yungas Sparrow, or even the unmistakable Red-legged Seriema strolling around.

Further east, where all vestiges of the Andes range disappeared already, the vast and flat Dry Chaco region unfolds. Unfortunately, the original, mainly thorny, low and xeric woodlands are being rapidly replaced by farmlands (esp. for soybeans crops). However, the yet standing forests still produce the key birds species of the region like the Greater Rhea, the Brushland Tinamou, the Chaco Chachalaca, the Black-legged Seriema, the Blue-fronted Parrot, the Spot-backed Puffbird, the Black-bodied Woodpecker, the Crested Gallito, the Stripe-backed Antbird, the White-bellied Tyrannulet, the Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper, the Chaco Earthcreeper, the Many-coloured Chaco-Finch, the Black-crested Finch, the Red-crested Cardinal, the Brown Cacholote, the Rufous Hornero -Argentina's National Bird-, as well as the Crested Hornero, the Firewood Gatherer, the Lark-like Brushrunner, and the Olive-crowned Crescentchest, among others.

Monte

On the south of Argentina’s North West there is still another very interesting ecosystem, the Monte desert. This environment encompases wide, middle altitude valleys that develop in a rain shadow region, where the soil is quite poor and sandy and the dominant vegetation involves heath-like scrubs mixed with columnar-cacti forests. Birding this zone may produce several Argentina endemic birds like the White-throated Cacholote, the Steinbach's Canastero, the Sandy Gallito, and the Monte Yellow-Finch. However, there are many other specialties such as the Elegant-crested Tinamou, the Burrowing Parrot, the Ringed Warbling-Finch, the Tufted Tit-Tyrant, the Black-crowned Monjita, and the Greater Wagtail-Tyrant to be seen as well, in a birding and nature tour by this amazing corner of Argentina.