POTRERILLOS DE SANTA TERESA NATIONAL PARK 
URUGUAY

Region (Compass)

00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl 
Protected/registered status 
Best Time for visit (25-26th May, 2005)

 

Birding Site Guide

This National Park (Km mark 302) is located near the town of La Coronilla (Km mark 314). There are several places to stay in town although most are located almost 2km away on the coast. We stayed at a hotel (500 pesos for a double room with great breakfast) to the right of another hotel called Castello del Mare (800 pesos). The area around the hotel had some good birds, including Rufous-capped Antshrike, Chicli Spinetail, Epaulet Oriole and Whistling Herons in a damp field on the way to town. A walk along the beach turned up Grey-hood Gull, Yellow-billed & Snowy-crowned Terns. The national park was reached by bus which left at 9:45. On the left is the national park and on the right a road to Laguna Negra 2-3 km away. In the park is a bird hide over the small Laguna Peña where there was Giant Wood-Rail, Southern Screamer, Brazilian Teal plus Capybaras. From the highway to Laguna Negra is 3-4km but most of the area by the lake has been grazed. Areas of long grass and marsh are in the Bañados de Santa Teresa visible from the road to to the lake but not accessible. The best areas of the park are apparently accessed by boat where Black-and-white Monjitas and Saffron-cowled Blackbird occur. I saw neither. I saw Greater Rhea on the bus ride to from Montevideo to La Coronilla west of Santa Teresa. I saw 70 species including lifers.

 
Species seen

  • Greater Rhea Rhea americana Near-threatened near La Coronilla
  • Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
  • Whistling Heron Syrigma sibilatrix
  • Great Egret Ardea alba
  • Snowy Egret Egretta thula
  • Plumbeous Ibis Theristicus caerulescens
  • White-faced Ibis Plegadis chihi
  • Southern Screamer Chauna torquata
  • Brazilian Teal Amazonetta brasiliensis
  • Speckled Teal Anas flavirostris
  • Yellow-billed Pintail Anas georgica near La Coronilla
  • Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
  • Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes burrovianus
  • Long-winged Harrier Circus buffoni
  • Cinereous Harrier Circus cinereus
  • Roadside Hawk Buteo magnirostris
  • Southern Caracara Caracara plancus
  • Yellow-headed Caracara Milvago chimachima
  • Chimango Caracara Milvago chimango
  • American Kestrel Falco sparverius
  • Giant Wood-Rail Aramides ypecaha
  • Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
  • Wattled Jacana Jacana jacana
  • American Oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus
  • White-backed Stilt Himantopus melanurus
  • Southern Lapwing Vanellus chilensis
  • Collared Plover Charadrius collaris
  • Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
  • Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus
  • Gray-headed Gull Larus cirrocephalus
  • Brown-hooded Gull Larus maculipennis
  • Snowy-crowned Tern Sterna trudeaui
  • Yellow-billed Tern Sterna superciliaris
  • Picazuro Pigeon Patagioenas picazuro
  • Spot-winged Pigeon Patagioenas maculosa
  • Eared Dove Zenaida auriculata
  • White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi
  • Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta monachus near La Coronilla
  • Guira Cuckoo Guira guira
  • White-throated Hummingbird Leucochloris albicollis
  • Green-barred Woodpecker Colaptes melanochloros
  • Campo Flicker Colaptes campestris
  • Rufous Hornero Furnarius rufus
  • Chicli Spinetail Synallaxis spixi
  • Freckle-breasted Thornbird Phacellodomus striaticollis
  • Firewood-gatherer Anumbius annumbi
  • Rufous-capped Antshrike Thamnophilus ruficapillus
  • White Monjita Xolmis irupero
  • Austral Negrito Lessonia rufa
  • Spectacled Tyrant ? Hymenops perspicillatus
  • Cattle Tyrant Machetornis rixosus
  • Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
  • Blue-and-white Swallow Pygochelidon cyanoleuca
  • House Wren Troglodytes aedon
  • Chalk-browed Mockingbird Mimus saturninus
  • Rufous-bellied Thrush Turdus rufiventris
  • Creamy-bellied Thrush Turdus amaurochalinus
  • Masked Gnatcatcher Polioptila dumicola
  • Blue-and-yellow Tanager Thraupis bonariensis
  • Diademed Tanager Stephanophorus diadematus
  • Long-tailed Reed-Finch Donacospiza albifrons
  • Black-and-rufous Warbling-Finch Poospiza nigrorufa
  • Saffron Finch Sicalis flaveola
  • Great Pampa-Finch Embernagra platensis
  • Rufous-collared Sparrow Zonotrichia capensis
  • Shiny Cowbird Molothrus bonariensis
  • Epaulet Oriole Icterus cayanensis
  • Brown-and-yellow Marshbird Pseudoleistes virescens
  • Hooded Siskin Carduelis magellanica
  • House Sparrow Passer domesticus Introduced species


Other Fauna 
A total of -- species of mammals. 

There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles. 

Flora 

Author: Charles Hesse

 

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