Northwest Argentina: The High Andes, Yungas, and Monte Desert
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Overview
Highlights
- From dry lowland forest to flamingo-studded lakes high in the Andes, you will experience a fascinating variety of habitats and birds.
- You will find Dusky-legged Guan, Spot-breasted Thornbird, Rusty-browed Warbling-Finch, Fulvous-headed and White-browed Brush-Finches, Plush-crested Jay, Red-tailed Comet, Plumbeous Black-Tyrant in the Yungas forests.
- In Monte Desert you will see the White-throated Cacholote, as well as the handsome Ringed Warling-Finch and White-fronted Woodpecker.
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Itinerary
On arrival in Salta, you will be transferred to great hotel in a wooded suburb of the city. If you arrive in time, we can do some easy birding near the hotel for species like White-bellied Hummingbird, Golden-billed Saltator, Scaly-headed Parrot, Plush-crested Jay, White-barred Piculet, and Cream-backed Woodpecker.
Leaving Salta, we’ll drive north stopping along a scenic highway through the mountains. Lakes here have a good variety of waterbirds such as Brazilian Teal, Yellow-billed and White-cheeked Pintails, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, White-winged Coot, White-tufted Grebe, Black-...
We’ll have another morning in the Yala area, looking for more Yungas specialties such as Slender-tailed Woodstar, Large-tailed Dove, and Yungas Pygmy-Owl along with more common species like Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner, Rufous-capped Antshrike, and Rust-and-yellow Tana...
An early start and packed breakfast and lunch are necessary today as we drive a long way on rough roads to the remote Laguna de los Pozuelos. This huge lake is also a magnet for flamingos as well as high Andean waterfowl, Puna Plovers, and wintering shorebirds. The dr...
We’ll need another early start as we drive east to a 14,700 ft (4500 m) pass, the highest elevation we reach on the tour. The scenery here is nothing short of spectacular, and while species numbers are low, what we do see is quite different. The smartly-dressed Red-ba...
We’ll spend the morning targeting anything else we still need in this area before driving back to Salta, where we spend another two nights in the same hotel. In the afternoon, we’ll look for foothill species such as Saffron-billed Sparrow, Giant Antshrike, Green-cheeked Parakeet, and Stripe-capped Sparrow.
Today we leave early and drive down into the dry foothills east of Salta. Some superb birds can be found here along an easy dirt road, such as Many-colored Chaco Finch, Spot-backed Puffbird, Ultramarine Grosbeak, Stripe-backed Antbird, Black-capped Warbling-Finch, Che...
After the late night of owling, we’ll have a fairly relaxed start. After breakfast, we’ll drive south of Salta, and then turn west into the mountains. The road snakes up a steep valley known as the Cuesta del Obispo, where roadside scrub and woodland hold some extreme...
We’ll return to the desert after an early breakfast, looking for anything we missed the previous day. Later in the afternoon, we’ll drive south through one of the most scenic areas on the continent with rock formations reminiscent of the American west. En route we’ll ...
South of the Cafayate we return to the Monte Desert, looking for White-throated Cacholote if we haven’t seen it yet, as well as the handsome Ringed Warling-Finch and White-fronted Woodpecker. As we head up into the mountains, we’ll target the rare endemic Steinbach’s ...
We’ll bird this high mountain pass at dawn for Buff-breasted Earthcreeper, Tucuman Mountain-Finch, Andean Tinamou, White-browed Tapaculo, and Hellmayr’s Pipit. Flower patches lower down the valley could have Andean and White-sided Hillstars, Giant Hummingbird, or Spar...
We’ll drive about 2 hours to the city of Tucumán, where the tour ends. We plan to arrive in time for mid-day flights to Buenos Aires, allowing for plenty of time to transfer to the international airport of onward connections.
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Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with Tropical Birding.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
Tropical Birding Reviews & Ratings
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Great Birding - and Great Support when problems arise
My fourth trip to Ecuador with Tropical Birding was going fabulously! Guide José was finding birds that I had missed on my prior visit to the eastern Andes and even...
High Andes to vast Amazon commencing 23/2/20
Exceeded all my expectations. Simply an amazing experience. Our guide Jose is undoubtedly the best bird guide I have ever been with. Everything worked perfectly and ...
Tour Operator
We’re Not Your Average Tour Company
A level of expertise is not needed to join our trips, but enthusiasm is
Our goal is to have as many people getting as much joy out of birding as possible. Although our guides can hold their own anywhere in the world, you will never feel intimidated by our guides or other clients. They all understand that the trip is about seeing birds and having a great time, not by showing how great we are to others.
Most of our trips are in the tropics
The world is filled with incredible birding destinations, so we have decided to concentrate on those areas that can be tricky for most people to visit alone. The tropics support 80% of the world’s bird species, and the diversity and numbers of birds can at times be overwhelming. Birding can be tough with many similar species in the same flock, and with others so secretive that they can only be located by voice. We have built up a storehouse of knowledge on where to find some of the world’s rarest birds, and our tours offer the finest birding on the planet. You will finish your trip not only with plenty of birds, but also with a real understanding for the areas you have visited. We also do many trips to other areas outside the tropics, but all these sites are ones where we think that we can really add value to your birding experience.
We are the company that actively supports bird conservation
We do not just give lip-service to protecting the threatened birds our livelihoods depend on; we are active in all aspects of bird conservation. This not only involves generation of funds for purchase of endangered habitats, but also includes consulting for conservation organizations, training guides, and establishing the avitourism industry in developing nations. One project that some of our staff members are near fanatical about is getting more people into casual birding. There are no short term payoffs to our guides for this, but we believe to our very core that getting more people into birding is the ultimate way to get more people to preserve these creatures.
We offer the best value birding tours on the market
We have managed to strike a balance by providing world-class tours without charging outrageous prices. While this is not the means by which we differentiate ourselves from the other operators, it is a pleasant side-effect of being the most efficient operator in our target destinations. A quick comparison with other companies will show that while we still stay at the best lodges and have top guides, we retain our more competitive prices.
Birding Tours
Tropical Birding has been operating birding tours since our inception in 2001, and we offer a wide range of trips to destinations all over the globe. Our trips are led by expert guides who are themselves passionate birders and naturalists. Some of our tours are fast-paced trips that target every possible endemic, whereas others are more relaxed-pace trips with a stronger focus on other types of wildlife or cultural activities.
Custom Tours
Please contact us, and we will be happy to design an itinerary to suit your needs. If you can get a few friends or family members to come with you, you might be surprised at how inexpensive these tours are, and they offer you the flexibility of choosing when, where and with whom you travel.
Photography Tours
Tropical Birding offers a series of Photo Journeys to the best destinations on the planet for bird and wildlife photography. On these trips we get you to where the animals are, and we do whatever we can to get the animals to you. The objective of these trips is not to instruct on how to use a camera, and much of the photography is opportunistic. We’ll always be out at the best times of day for photography, but will not necessarily stop shooting just because conditions are not optimal.
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Logistics
Accommodation
Climate:
Mostly pleasant temperatures; it can get down to near freezing early in the morning at the high elevation, but usually warms up quickly. This tour is entirely in the Andes, so it usually does not get super hot.
Difficulty:
Fairly easy. Nearly all birding is from roadsides. Three days are spent at high elevation above 3400 m (11,500 ft).
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