Hello folks,
I am writing from my home in Isla Negra, Chile which is just a fifteen minute bike ride down a dirt road from the small town of Punta de Tralca. Punta de Tralca, which is a ghost town most of the year sits on a high bluff just north of the world famous poet and Chilean national hero Pablo Neruda's nature sanctuary and also has a barrio which sits at sea level on the coast.
Here, Neruda used to sit in a small three story house writing his poetry while overlooking the Pacific Ocean where the rocky shore is blasted with deep blue water swelling up along the deep Chilean Pacific Trench.
Down the hill from there is the Santuario de Aves(Sanctuary of Birds) which sits right next to Punta de Tralca which is what this post is really about.
 |
Curuos(Spalacopus cyanus) a species of rodent in the family Octodontidae I spotted several entry holes for the Cururos(Spalacopus cyanus) dugouts but I have yet to spy one peeking out. This mammal is a large dark rodent native of Chile. They live alongside birds and lizards as well as a lot of delicate plant life and all together they struggle to survive yet one more summer of tourists mobs and new summer housing(Inmobilalarias) being built practically on top of them. |
Cururos dugouts(Spalacopus cyanus)
 |
Chilean Sea Fig(Carpobrotus chilensis) or Ice plant as we call it in the USA or "Doka" as the locals here call it covers much of the area and the birds use it to make nests on top of and beneath. |
The area runs right into the Punta de Tralca which is a rocky outcrop that sits next to a half moon bay where there is a beach that people can swim at.
Búhos pequeños(Athene cunicularia) or Little Burrowing owl in English are here hanging on in pairs where they live underground.
 |
 | ||
For me, the owls are really special. I do not know how they can keep living and breeding here with all the development going on just a stone's throw away.
|
 |
| Harris Hawks(Parabuteo unicinctus) |
In reality though, there is no Sanctuary here only some hand made warning signs that were placed by local activists that have been battling the local municipidad(county) of El Quisco and the town council in Punta de Tralca, who for some reason thought it wise to let a developer build a large multi house development that literally paved over a large area where beautiful multicolored birds like the búhos pequeños(Athene cunicularia) a 25cm burrowing owl.
Harris Hawks(Parabuteo unicinctus)
Harris Hawks(Parabuteo unicinctus)
Harris Hawks(Parabuteo unicinctus)
Most of the year, this area is a cold wind swept place that is pretty abscent of humans. However, when the warm weather returns so do the masses of what I call, "City Slickers", who like giant lemmings descend upon the swimming beach area adjacent to the Sanctuario. The large number of tourists bring make miles long traffic jams, leave piles of garbage all over the area which in turn is carried in the wind spreading all over the flora. Along with the usual packs of localyl abandoned dogs and cats, tourist allow their dogs to run through the area off of leash and terrorize the birds in their nests and attempt to dig out their burrows and stomp all over the plant life while their owners look the other way. With all that going on, I really have got not much faith that this area can keep supporting this fragile ecosystem especially after they finish building the dozens of new summer houses just a stone's throw away from the Sanctuary. They already have a large road cut into the hillside which circles all the way down to the wildlife and the hill overlooking the Sancutary has helicopters landing and going dozens of times per hour when they are hauling water out of the ocean to the fires that constantly pop up in the forests that surround the area. The birds are terrorized by this noise and duck up and down as the copters come and go. Along with the helicopters bussing overhead, the tourists that flock to the coast where they can swim in the freezing cold water of the large half moon bay which gives shelter for a nice swimming beach adds to the problem for these birds and mammals. These people are escaping the brutal summer heat back in their towns and cities and come to lay in the sand or maybe ride the large rubber boats shaped like giant hot dogs that hold dozens of young people who scream with joy while hanging on for dear life as the loud jet skis, leaking oil and gasoline into the ocean, tow the 25' foot long rubber hot dogs in giant circles a hundred or so yards off the beach. Just five yards just over the man-made cement seawall from this beach is the Santuario de Aves. Not too many of these tourists bother to walk any further from the beach so their impact is rather limited but they recently have carved out another parking lot into the sanctuary so they can park there as well.
This sign is one of many that local activists have made in their attempt to protect the wildlife from the onslaught of tourists and developers. Several of bird species nest atop the Chilean Sea Fig(Carpobruotus chilensis) mixed in with verities of seaweed.
And, the owls and the cururos burrow underneath all of this for a safe place to live.
Southern Lapwings(Vanellus chilensis)
 |
| Flocks of Cormorants lounge and dive off the rocks into the cold heavy surf along Sanctuario de Punta de Tralca. |
 |
| Jesus statue made of hemp, rocks and wood sits on the beach. |
|
| Harris Hawks(Parabuteo unicinctus) |
 |
| Quisco Cactus(Echinopsis chiloensis) |
 |
| Bull Thistle(Cirsium vulgare) |
 |
| The Bull Thistle at the end of the summer tends to dry up. |
