Argentina - Birds & Butterflys
This set of winged images are from Argentina, the 8th largest country (land area) on Earth. The majority are taken from within the national parks and many provincial parks and nature reserves throughout my around 18,000 mi. (22,530 km) journey encompassing all 23 provinces of Argentina during late winter, spring, and early summer. Geographically from the fertile plains of the Pampas situated central and easterly, the swamp lands and rain forests of the Mesopotamia to the northeast, the scrubland and subtropical forests of the Chaco in the north-central, the elevated altitude of inland drainage basins with active volcanoes of the Altiplano in the far northwest, the flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia situated southerly, and the rugged Andes Mountains stretching along the entire western border with the country of Chile. Yes, all 6 geographical regions of Argentina, but also all 18 of the eco-regions within these regions, and all 12 climate regions as well. During this journey I was fortunate to experience 164 species throughout this massive and ever so ecologically diverse natural landscape scattered with > 1000 Aves species.
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Long-tailed Meadowlark (Sturnella loyca) - known locally as "Loica Común". Indigenous to Argentina and Chile. The male is mostly dark brown with blackish streaking, with a bright red breast and throat. The bold supercilium (a plumage feature found on the head of birds, which runs from the base of the beak above the eye and finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head) is white behind the eye and red in front of it. Females are paler, and display a white throat bordered by 2 black lines. This specimen upon a lichen covered granite rock in the Quebrada de Condorito National Park - Cordoba (province).
