Birding Jujuy: Nature reserves

Calilegua National Park

With over 350 bird species recorded, the Calilegua National Park is probably the most popular birding place in the North West of Argentina (see the eBird hotspots like: Mesada, Aguas Negras, Lagunita, Monolito, among others). This beautiful park lies on the eastern slopes of pre-Andean hills, protecting an important patch of the subtropical mountain forest (or Yungas) which is the ecosystem with the second highest biodiversity in the country, at altitudes from 400 to over 1,700 meters above sea level. By its importance in terms of biodiversity, Calilegua National Park was declared one of the BirdLife's Important Bird Areas (IBA Calilegua), integrates the Yungas Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO), and is considered one of the last shelters for the Jaguar in Argentina, declared Natural Monument as well.

Calilegua National Park © Birding Jujuy

Yala Porvincial Park

Yala Provincial Park was originally created to preserve an important watershed on the Eastern Cordillera slopes which includes a system of five small mountain lakes, whilst protecting a patch of montane forests above 1,500 meters above sea level. It counts over 250 bird species (see PPP de Yala, Lagunas de Yala, Río Yala, Yala eBird hotspots) including some very interesting restricted range specialties, reason for it was mentioned as an Important Bird Area, the Yala IBA (BirdLife). This reserve also integrates the Yungas Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO), and the upper grasslands are home to a beautiful national Natural Monument, the Northern Huemul (a native Andean deer).

Potrero de Yala Provincial Park © Birding Jujuy

Quebrada de Humahuaca World Heritage

Quebrada de Humahuaca is a long and deep gorge in the Eastern Cordillera with an incredible geological history of millions of years, that played a connective role between the human populations of the highlands with those of the lowlands. Among the main features of Quebrada de Humahuaca stand out the colorful bare-rock mountains mixed with shrubby-steppes that include cactus forests. There are several very interesting and even endemic birds to be found there as well. But the Andean culture spotlights as the main tourist attraction and the main reason for it was declared World Heritage by UNESCO (2003).

Quebrada de Humahuaca © Birding Jujuy

Laguna de Pozuelos Natural Monument & Ramsar Site

Laguna de los Pozuelos Natural Monument is a magnificent high-altitude waterbody in the middle of the Puna region. Laguna de Pozuelos is also the center of the inner-drainage watershed that was declared Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, and plays a crucial role for many Nearctic migrants, because it was also declared a Ramsar Site and IBA (BirdLife's Important Bird Area). The fact is that Laguna de Pozuelos is one of the top migratory bird hotspots in Argentina. And since it is a very dry ecosystem most the year long, it gathers dozens of thousands of waterbirds, in an amazing spectacle that involves dozens of thousands of three species of flamingos. There, seventy species of waterbirds and eighty species of landbirds around the lake, have been recorded (Laguna de Pozuelos eBird’s hotspot).

Laguna de Pozuelos Natural Monument © Birding Jujuy

Las Lancitas & Eco-Portal de Piedra Nature Reserves

Las Lancitas Provincial Reserve & EcoPortal de Piedra Private Reserve lie on the Santa Bárbara and the Centinela pre-Anden hills, a transition area between the wet Yungas cloud forests and the Dry Chaco woodlands. This is the land for some restricted range bird species that only occurs in this part of Argentina's NorthWest. The eBird hotspots of Reserva Provincial Las Lancitas and Reserva Privada EcoPortal de Piedra count over 270 bird species.

EcoPortal de Piedra Private Reserve © Birding Jujuy

Yavi area

Yavi is an old and beautiful town founded in colonial times, placed in a green oasis of the Puna region. As it is also very close to the border with Bolivia, there are a few bird species that can only be found there within Argentina. Yavi is another of the long list of the BirdLife’s Important Bird Areas (Yavi & Yavi Chico IBA), and should be a must in any serious birding tour by the region (see Yavi eBird hotspot).

Qhapaq Ñan World Heritage (Inca road system)

The Qhapaq Ñan is the ancient Inca road system that once connected each corner of the Inca Empire with its capital Cuzco, in Perú. Jujuy province hosts several spans of that old path, and a short part of it was declared World Heritage by UNESCO. Beyond the archaeological and historical relevance of this place, the Qhapac Ñan runs through astonishing landscapes of high biodiversity importance, including places like Polylepis-tree groves where some restricted range bird species still occur. So a visit to this incredible cultural relict may produce a list of very interesting birds. And, since the route to get to this remote area by car was recently opened in 2019, very few birding visits were concretized already. But considering this corridor links the Humahuaca gorge with the Calilegua National Park, it is expected that it rapidly turns into a birding hotspot of this region.

Chinchilla Nature Reserve & Vilama Ramsar Site

In the middle of the Andes, at 4,500 meters above sea level, a system of several salt lakes are placed in incredible settings of extinct volcanoes, being all the area encompassed by the Chinchillas Provincial Nature Reserve (1992). This altitude ecosystem provides habitat for a very rich aquatic bird life, all well adapted to the extreme climate conditions of the altitude ecosystems. During the Austral summer the lakes play an important role as a habitat for thousands of Nearctic migrants, one of the reasons they were declared Ramsar Site. The reserve was originally created (1992) for protecting the Short-tailed Chinchilla, the emblematic High Andes rodent, which was hunted for their luxurious fur in the past. Chinchilla reserve (Argentina) borders two other incredible ones, the Eduardo Abaroa Fauna National Reserve (Bolivia), and the Los Flamencos National Reserve (Chile), forming part of an international agreement for the conservation of the central High Andes biodiversity.