My first whole month in Argentina was full of challenges but still offered goodies. Magellanic woodpecker, tapaculos, canasteros and owls obliged in Patagonia, but a trip to the coastal pampas was the cherry on top.

Coastal Buenos Aires Province produced several endemics and thousands of waders over a short trip marked by terrible weather: Hudson’s canastero, sulphur-bearded reedhaunter, Olrog’s gull and more.

Buenos Aires serves as a hub for travelling through Argentina, and also as a great location to connect with local specialties. Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur brings Paraná Delta avifauna into the city center.

A short visit to the cloud forests surrounding Salta offered my first-ever hummingbirds and guans, represented by attractive endemics. Yungas specialist Tucuman amazon, yungas sparrow and brushfinches followed.

August has been a month of changes. My last days in Spain involved beach terns and waders. Moving to Argentina, both visiting the yungas and living in Patagonia brought a whole new set of birds.

A montane creek within the yungas cloud forest north of Salta is home to the mega rufous-throated dipper, which provided great views. Torrent ducks, Andean condors and endemic brushfinches also obliged.

My first time birding in the Neotropics involved a couple of hours walking the grasslands around Viru Viru Airport in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, featuring grasping looks at nothuras, tinamous and rheas.

Mythical locations around The Cape delivered memorable encounters with Cape rockjumpers, sugarbirds and griffons, Verreaux’s eagles, sunbirds and rock thrushes surrounded by flowering proteas and ericas.

Cape Town arguably offers some of the world’s most interesting urban birdwatching experiences. Within few kms, the city area harbors pelicans, penguins, albatrosses and a set of smart endemics.

A whole month exploring different landscapes across South Africa delivered memorable encounters with rockjumpers, sugarbirds, bustards, secretarybirds, finfoot, albatrosses, penguins and more.

Waters around Cape Town gather some of the best seabird densities worldwide. We connected with hundreds of albatrosses, thousands of petrels including several spectacled petrels and Antarctic prions.

Lions, warthogs, meerkats, giraffes, blesboks, bat-eared foxes, aardwolf, secretarybirds, sandgrouse, bustards, owls, falcons, eagles, hornbills and a variety of weavers and finches awaited us in the Kalahari desert.

The shrublands and grasslands of the karoo offered an array of habitat endemics including numerous bustards, warblers, chats and larks as we drove north of Cape Town for some days.

Although busy, June provided some time to catch up with local summer specialties including Eleonora’s falcon, common rock thrush or western olivaceous warbler, plus a welcome variety of waders in El Hondo.

June combined typical local breeders with excursions chasing summer targets. Outings this month featured marshland waders, mountain specialties, some late coastal seabirds and nocturnal encounters.