Encounters with Darwin

Darwin passed through Uruguay on his famous travels and there lingers some evidence of his presence. Sapito de Darwin (Darwin´s toad) Melanophyniscus montevidensis is a local endemic with a dwindleing population due to urbanization and land use conversion. Because we arrived in Uruguay in the rainy spring weather we were delighted by their songs and plentiful numbers in the dune pools of Cabo Polonio where we spent a few days on the coast.

I made another interesting connection to Darwin in while in Uruguay. I sat on the knee of someone who sat on the knee of someone who sat on the knee of someone who sat on the knee of Darwin! Vance has been try to sit on me ever since but I so far have refused. I just don´t like the idea of the chain being perpetuated through his lap.

Two local biologists Joaquín and Paulo from Aves Uruguay took me bird watching at Laguna La Roche an impressive brackish water lagoon that empties into the Atlantic. The area is rich in bird and other wildlife as a number of ecosystems intersect here including a huge dune system, wetlands, shrublands, fresh water lagoon, native grasslands in addition to the brackish lagoon, ocean and sea coast. We walked the grasslands which are the most important known wintering habitat of the Buff-Breasted Sandpiper a species that breeds in the Canadian Arctic and migrates to this very spot each year. Unfortunatley we did not see any that day. However, we were excited to spot a couple of juvenile Red Knots. The Red Knot also breeds in the Canadian Arctic and has been experiencing a stunning decline in the last decade. Aves Uruguay will begin monitoring the Red Knot in this location beginning next year with the help of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). I will meet Joaquín again next month in Tierra del Fuego where we will work with an international team surveying and monitoring the Red Knot on it´s wintering grounds.