I'd like to preface may daily account by apologizing for the irregularity of my posts. Internet service requires a 45 minute drive to Cerra Sombrero and since my last post it's been impossible to find time to get to there. Also, I apologize for the lack of photos on this post. I have some great shots of the birds and the team at work, but the internet service is slow and uploading photos is just not practical. Look for future posts and edits that will include pictures from the trip.
January 14
I'm writing this chapter after an pulling an all-nighter, banding all-nighter, that is. When I left off last the team (11 of us) was just off to set up mist nets on the mud flats at Bahia Lomas. At the catching site we meet up with a team of biologists from Chile's Department of Agriculture and Livestock (SAG in Chilean) and US Department of Agriculture who are here to collect fecal and saliva samples to check for avian influenza.
The mud flat we are working on is criss-crossed by several ditches (small creeks) which makes walking a bit hazardous. The mud is sticky but so is not too tricky to walk on. By about 10 PM, we had twelve, 12 meter nets were set, extended nearly the length of two football fields. High tide was about 1:00 AM and so we set about to get ready for the night's catch. After about an hour we went on our first net check. Larry, Humphrey and I go out with a couple of our colleagues from Chile's SAG and USDA. 
The walk out to the nets was a real challenge as we have to do it without lights, which could scare birds that might otherwise be foraging near the nets. Extracting birds from the nets also had to be done without the aid of lights. Good thing there is plenty of starlight and horizon glow. Sunset was at 10:30 and at 54° south latitude, twilight is relatively long and bright during the austral summer.
The first run isn't bad. We get five Two-banded Plovers, breeders in Tierra del Fuego during austral summer, and two White-rumped Sandpipers. Often, success on the first net check is an omen of good things to come. Unfortunately, this was not the case tonight. Only three more birds (2-Two-band Plovers, 1-White-rumped Sandpiper) the rest of the night and no Red Knots. At 3:00 AM we decide to pack it in. Although we didn't catch a lot, it was a great chance for me to study Two-banded Plover in the hand and it also was great working with a group of international biologists half a world away from home. Hopefully, we'll have better luck tomorrow. Wait a minute. It is already tomorrow.
January 14 (reprise)
After five hours of sleep (my body is screaming) we're up and getting ready for another trapping session, but this time the method of choice is cannon nets. This method uses small custom built cannons to propel a small-mesh net, usually about 50' long by 30' wide, over groups of roosting shorebirds. Its use requires a considerable amount of experience and the team (sans me) have the requisite skills as this is their method of choice in Delaware Bay. The NJAS Research team typically uses mist nets and a bungee cord-powered device called a "whoosh" net.
We're running late and it takes us awhile to get to the site where we hope to catch. It's a gravel beach along the shoreline of Bahia Lomas. On the way out we see guanacos, 
the southernmost of the three New World camels (alpaca and llamas are the other two). These animals are very well adapted to the almost desert-like conditions of Tierra del Fuego shrub-steppe. As
yet, I haven't really had a chance to appreciate the vastness of this landscape. Low rolling hills of dun-colored grass with scattered shrubs. Wide, unbroken vistas and big skies that are never cloudless. 
The
hilly steppe meets the bay which is vast in its own right. The beaches are long, narrow and comprised mostly of small cobblestone, shingle and coarse dark sand. Finally, you can't talk about the Fuegian landscape without talking about the wind. It's maybe the most prominent feature and is a force to be reckoned with. Twenty mph is considered a light breeze and on the beaches, 30 mph and gusty is the norm. But in the austral summer it's not that cold, usually in the mid fifties during the day and low forties at night.
After winding through acres and acres of pastureland, used mostly by sheep, we arrive at our trapping destination. We're excited to find 2500 Red Knots, 1000 Hudsonian Godwits, 1000 Magellanic Oystercatcher (lifer!!) 
And roosting on the beach. However, the tide is near cresting and we don't have much time to set up and catch. Following much debate and strategizing, Larry and Humphrey decide it's better not to attempt a catch. Instead we'll survey some other sites to see where we might be successful.
Punta Espora is our next stop. It's a beachhead right on the Straits of Magellan and the wind is howling. Interestingly, we find 1000 Red Knots roosting on a small shellrake peninsula. 
They're
packed in tight so resighting birds marked with our coded flags is
tough and none are seen. We think it's a pretty good site to trap and I'm sure we'll be back before the campaign is over. I see a couple of new birds on the site: Black-faced Ibis, 
Crested Duck and Austral Negrito (a small passerine).
Tonight we decide not to try mist netting so we can get plenty of rest and be ready to set nets tomorrow morning atg the Bahia Lomas site before the birds come in to roost. However, we do go over to the SAG/USDA camp and help them set up some mist nets for their night's effort.
January 15
We're up early and on the beach by 10:00 AM. Getting the cannon net set up wasn't too bad given the conditions. Pounding stakes into a rocky beach is always a challenge, but things are usually easier when you have a lot of hands on deck. We had six from our team and about 12 from the SAG/USDA team. 
Everyone takes their positions and then the waiting begins. The tide crests today at about 2:00 PM so we'll be hanging around for about 2.5 hours. Not too bad.
Larry, Humphrey and I, along with Claudio Moraga from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) walk out to take our positions beyond the north end of the catching area. As we walk, birds start to arrive the roost site, relatively near the net. They are mostly Hudsonian Godwits, Red Knots and White-rumped Sandpipers. There are also Magellanic Oystercatchers nearby. The incoming tide should push them into the catch area near the time it crests. All of a sudden, without any warning, the whole flock gets up and flies about 3 kilometers south along the beach. The team is down but not out. Riccardo and several SAG and USDA folks head out on ATVs and four wheel drives to see if the birds can be located and moved back to the original roost site.
Soon after this disheartening turn of events, some of the birds return – about 100 each of Hudsonian Godwit and Red Knot. Everyone resumes their positions and are called to the ready by Larry. The tide is coming in fast now and the birds are moving into the catch area. But now there is some water in the area which could mean a wet catch. The word is circulated that the birds will need to be extracted from the net quickly. With Mandy on the firing box and Larry on the countdown we hear 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . fire on the radios and the explosion of the cannon nets. It's always a sight to see 20 people running in unison, hell bent to arrive at the net first. Upon arrival it's clear that is was in fact a wet catch, but the team works quickly to remove the birds and get them into the holding pens. Now the fun begins.
All the birds caught are fitted with numbered metal bands that are there own personal ID. Each bird also gets a plastic leg flag inscribed with a unique, three-character alpha-numeric code so that they can be identified in the field by observers without being recaptured. We make various measurements and weigh each bird which helps us to determine overall size, age and sometimes gender. 
Carmen collects feathers for her diet study and the SAG/USDA team collect the samples for avian influenza assays. The final tally for the catch is 36 Red Knots, 45 White-rumped Sandpipers and 5 Hudsonian Godwits. 
Not bad for our first 
cannon net catch. Amazingly, only three hours transpired between catch and completing processing.
January 16
What a difference a day makes. This morning we wake up to incredible winds. I know I said that the winds were a major feature of the landscape but today they are off the charts. At the ferry terminal the recorded winds are 70 mph. This is near-hurricane strength and probably not the kind of conditions that are conducive for catching birds. Nonetheless, we prepare to make a catch just in case conditions improve. In this business we adhere to the Boy Scouts credo – always be prepared. Our target for today is Punta Espora, a site with extensive mussel beds and a place we saw ~1000 Red Knots roosting two days ago. We ferry all the equipment out to the site, but when we get there the birds were not anywhere to be seen. I guess they knew better. The winds were howling and no one, including us should have been out there.
We spend a few minutes commiserating about what to do next and then we're off back to the Twin Hills-Mine Field site on Bahia Lomas, where we caught yesterday. Our intent is to see what if any birds are around – not to try to make a catch but just to see if the birds returned to the site. It's also pretty quiet except for a large roosting flock of Magellanic Oystercatchers. Soon several flocks of Red Knots and Hudsonian Godwits fly by and Riccardo takes the ATV south along the beach to check and see where they went. Upon returning, he reports that about 4000 Red Knots and 1000 Hudsonia Godwits are roosting in the midst of a large Salicornia bed (Salicornia is a type of plant that lives in intertidal on the mud flats about 4 km south of Twin Hills. Salicornia is a type of plant that lives in intertidal mudflats. This may be a chance to make a good catch, but not today. We've run out of time.
January 17
Steve and I are on our way to Punta Arenas to pick up materials we ordered to construct a new keeping cage for Hudsonian Godwits. The one we have is likely to short for this tall, leggy shorebird. While we're driving the team is getting ready to make a catch at the Twin Hill site.
On our way out we see Cinereous Harrier, which looks very similar to our Northern Harrier. 
In town we see a small flock of 
Austral Parakeets. Pretty good!
Our plan when we get to town is to quickly pick up the keeping cage materials, make a quick run to the supermarket and back to the catch site before the cannon is fired. Well . . . you know the saying about the best laid plans. We arrive at the hardware store at 11:00 AM to find that they don't have all the supplies we requested, but will have them ready at 12:45 PM. We make quick work at the market and return to the hardware store. It takes us another 30 minutes to wrap up our business and then we're off. There's still hope that we can make it back in time for the catch
Along the way we see two large soaring birds in the distance. We continue to follow them along the road and eventually are close enough to get some good looks at what turn out to be two Andean Condors, an adult and an immature. Fantastic!!
After watching them disappear we're back on the road to Punta Arenas – or so we think. Our turn off for the highway that takes us to ferry is about 30 miles north of Punta Arenas, but we must have missed it because soon the road we're on takes us into some low hill country and we start to see trees. At this point we knew something was wrong. We turn around and it's 25 miles back to the ferry turn off. Now it's really going to be tough to make it back in time for th catch. round but it's clear that we'll probably be back after the team makes the catch.
We arrive at the catch site at 5:00 and although their vehicles are there, we don't see any of the team. We try radioing them but no one answers. We're reluctant to get out on the beach because they may still be trying to make a catch and we don't want to flush any birds. Steve climbs a hill and sees them on the beach close by. They are busying processing birds when we get to them and it looks like they made a catch of Magellanic Oystercatchers. These are magnificent birds with a unique high-pitched call that is diagnostic. 
Steve and I sit down to help and Larry recounts the details of the catch. The team set the net in the same area as we set it two days earlier when we caught a mixed flock of knots, godwits and small sandpipers. Several flocks landed near the catch area and it looked like a good catch was imminent. However, just as Larry was going to countdown for firing the net, all the birds flew off. Instead of giving up, however, Humphrey started to twinkle (a term British bander use to slowly herd birds toward a desired location) a large group of Magellanic Oystercatchers 
that 
remained on the beach when the other birds left. This group appears to roost on the beach regularly. Humphrey was successful getting the birds in position for a catch and the result was a catch of 85 oystercatchers and 10 White-rumped Sandpipers. Out from the ashes rises the phoenix. We're done by 8:00 PM and spirits are high. Tomorrow . . . Red Knots.