La Rioja

Birding La Rioja

La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca, Córdoba, San Luis and San Juan.

Located in the Argentine Northwest area, its landscape is arid to semi-arid, and the dry climate receives annually 200 mm of precipitations, has short winters and very hot summers.From the Andes at the west, with peaks of up to 6,795 meters (Monte Pissis), the relief’s height descents towards the sierras of the neighbouring dry Pampas zone.The Talampaya National Park is a dry red-soil canyon of the ancient extinguished Talampaya river, which contains many walls and rock formations that make it an interesting tourist destination.

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Agriculture is mostly limited by La Rioja’s dry, mountainous terrain and, like its cities, lays on the shore of the few permanents rivers and oasis that allow irrigation, with only 190 square kilometres of cultivated land. Vineyards, nuts and olive plantations are the most common, followed by cotton. The province’s main crop is the grape, and its associated wine production, specially around the Chilecito area, with a production of 8 million litres per year. Cattle (250,000 heads) and goats (150,000 heads) are secondary activities, particularly for skin and leather. Clay represents the main mining activity, and uranium is also extracted near El Colorado.