Video by Lillian Schroeder, University of Vermont

Text by Olivia Drukker, University of Puget Sound

Studying Megafauna in Patagonia National Park from Round River Conservation Studies on Vimeo.

We just returned from our final research expedition for the semester, a wildlife study in the Chacabuco Valley and Parque Patagonia. Contrary to the ever-present rain our group is used to – after having spent over a month in the fjords region – the Chacabuco greeted us with desert-like sunny skies and gusty winds. The Chacabuco is an ecologically important area within Chile because it is one of the only East-West running valleys within the entire Andes range. Therefore, this valley formation is critical for animal migration passages and corridors, allowing wildlife to move from the Nothofagus spp. forests in the west to the dry Argentine steppe in the east. For this reason, the Chacabuco serves as a major biodiversity spot in Patagonia. Parque Patagonia was first founded as a private park by the Tompkins family and their NGO Conservación Patagónica, and will now be handed over to the government of Chile as a new National Park. It was a special experience to be in the park during this transition, witnessing the success of a longstanding conservation project. This park holds special significance because the first Round River group in Patagonia stayed and did naturalist research in Parque Patagonia through an invitation from Conservación Patagónica in the early stages of the park’s life.

The first goal of our trip was to conduct a ñandu (Rhea pennata) census in the Eastern part of the valley. This annual census provides crucial monitoring for the area’s small population of 20-40 individuals. We teamed up with biologists from Conservación Patagónica to sweep an area called the Predio Ñandú. Whenever we saw a ñandú, we would write down the number of adult and young ñandu, compass direction, distance from the observer, GPS waypoints, and the ñandú’s behavior. In total, we saw around 16 ñandú that day – a count that was lower than last year’s, but likely explained by the cold weather and drizzly rain that accompanied us that morning.

Our second goal was to conduct a guanaco census. The methods for this census was a little different from the ñandú surveys, in that instead of walking in transects, we drove along the main park road and counted guanaco from the car. We documented the number of adult and young guanaco, as well as the distance from the car, compass direction, and GPS waypoint. After two days of guanaco censuses, we documented more than 800 guanaco. Round River scientists will later use these counts to spatially model and estimate the total population of guanaco in the valley, using a methodology called distance sampling. From these annual guanaco surveys, we estimate that there are over 3,000 guanaco in the park.

Overall, we had an amazing time in the Chacabuco. Our time taking guanaco and ñandu censuses was a culmination of all the field methods we’ve learned over the past semester. It’s crazy to think we only have one week left of the program…there’s definitely a bittersweet feeling in the group about heading out on our final backpacking trip in the next few days.