After two full-time puma-hunting days, we spent our last complete day in Patagonia just walking in the Torres del Paine National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with rich bird and plant life, not just pumas. My goal in this post is to give you a flavor of this stunning place.
We stayed in the Hostería Pehoé, a simple lodge on a tiny island in the middle of Lake Pehoé, reached only by a footbridge.
This was the view from my room.
On the island an Austral Thrush had caught lunch:
Palomita, the Dog Orchid, Codonorchis lessonii, punctuated the undergrowth, with two dark eyes on its hood:
and an enticing entrance to the innermost sanctum underneath:
Streaked Maiden lilies, Olsynium biflorum, almost but not quite over..
The island is exposed:
and the perfectly named Darwin’s Slippers, Calceolaria uniflora, sheltered from the strong winds:
Rather unusually, this 4″ tall plant is pollinated by a bird, the Least Seedsnipe. It eats the conspicuous white lower lip of the flower, which is high in sugars. As it does so, the stigma and anthers of the flower tap its head and back, and that pollen is then transferred to the next flower it visits.
Moss hung in the small trees:
After breakfast we walked a short and easy trail further south in the Park. We wandered through the scrubby vegetation:
The low trees were a type of beech relative, called Nothofagus antarctica, festooned with Southern South American mistletoe, Misodendrum punctulatum.
In the long grass a Magellanic Snipe, Gallinago magellanica* , was busily poking around:
We then climbed gently to yet another great view:
All along the way there were orchids:
Torres del Paine has nine species of orchid. The yellow one below is a Yellow Orchid (!), Gavilea littoralis:
The greenish white one is a Porcelain Orchid, Chloraea Magellanica, with a spectacular tongue to entice in the pollinators:
On the way back, we saw the snipe again, posing on a rock:
After a delicious lunch at Hotel Lago Grey we walked to get a proper look at Grey Glacier, dwarfing the quite large boat in the foreground:
It is 3om high at its leading edge. I took these photos 15 years ago, from a boat:
On the way back we were observed by a Dark-bellied Cinclodes:
and a few more wildflowers…
PS * Top tip: if you are searching for the name of an unfamiliar bird down in this part of the world, try choosing an appropriate familiar one from home (thrush, snipe, finch, woodpecker…) and add one of three adjectives: Patagonian, Magellanic, or Austral. Works a treat.
Eyes on the Wild 