Santa Fe

Santa Fe is one of the twenty-three provinces of Argentina, and is located in the centre-east of the country. It is landlocked by the province of Chaco to the north, Corrientes to the northeast, Entre Ríos to the southeast, Buenos Aires to the south, Córdoba to the southwest, and Santiago del Estero to the northwest. It covers an area of 133,007 km² (51,354 square miles) and has a population of around 3,600,000 people. Santa Fe’s largest city is Rosario (with a population of nearly a million), but the capital is Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz with a metropolitan population of about 650,000.

Most of the province consists of green flatlands, part of the humid Pampas, bordering the Gran Chaco region to the north. There are low sierras to the west. The north has higher temperatures, with an annual average of 21 °C and precipitations of up to 1,100 mm in the east, decreasing towards the west, where there is a distinctive dry season during the winter. The south presents lower temperatures, and slightly less precipitations.  This humid, temperate climate explains why Central and Southern Santa Fe are among the nation’s richest agricultural regions, with crops such as maize and soybeans popular, and a very well-developed dairy industry and 20% of the nation’s cattle.

Rio Carcarañá – ©Turkmenistan, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The main river, and connection to open sea through the Río de la Plata is the Paraná River. There are also other tributaries to the Paraná including the Salado del Norte, the Carcarañá and the Arroyo del Medio. The plains, including the major cities, tend to be flooded after heavy rains due to the swelling of the waters of the Paraná and Salado rivers.

Birding Santa Fe

Birding in Santa Fe Province, Argentina offers rich viewing across the humid Pampas grasslands, its wetlands, and the area of lower Gran Chaco habitat. The Paraná River’s extensive wetlands are good for wildfowl and waders as well as storks, rails and screamers such as Maguari Stork Ciconia maguari and Southern Screamer Chauna torquata as is the RAMSAR site incorporating Melincué Lake. The pampas and agricultural areas such as at Esperanza holds lots of passerines such as tinamous and various tyrants. As well as a number of owl species.

Melincué Lake – ©Yilku1 CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Areas of Chaco are always worth checking such as the department of General Obligado in the northeastern corner of the province, which is home to typical Chaco species such as woodcreepers, piculets, and parulas.

Strange-tailed Tyrant Alectrurus risora – ©Dubi Shapiro

Iconic species found in Santa Fe province include Yellow-billed Cardinal Paroaria capitata, Rufous Hornero Furnarius rufus (Argentina’s national bird) and Glittering-bellied Emerald Chlorostilbon lucidus.