An Exclusive Interview with Sharon Chester – Author of a Wildlife Guide to Chile

Sharon Chester’s new Wildlife Guide to Chile is the first field guide to this diverse country’s flora and fauna. Sharon is a naturalist, wildlife photographer, illustrator, and author of several natural history guides, including Birds of Chile/Aves de Chile, Antarctic Birds and Seals, and South to Antarctica. We interviewed Sharon for The Hoopoe to celebrate the publication.

When did you first visit Chile and what first drew you there?

I made my first trip to Chile in December 1983. I was chasing birds – the sheathbill, in particular. I had spent several years trying to see all the bird families of the world and Chionididae, the sheathbill family, was one missing from my list. December and January were the only months I could get away, and at that time of year most self-respecting sheathbills are in Antarctica. So, my husband and I decided to travel a bit through southern Chile before embarking on a cruise from Punta Arenas, Chile, to the Antarctic Peninsula and then on to the Ross Sea and New Zealand.

I vividly remember landing in Santiago for the first time. Our Lan Chile jet made its approach over the Andes into Santiago on one of those glorious, clear, Sunday summer mornings when the snow-capped mountains and the Pacific Ocean simply danced with light. That unforgettable sight certainly captured my heart, only to be augmented by the gracious hospitality of the Chilean people and the fine cuisine and wine offered in even the most humble setting.

Other memories stand out from that first visit. I will never forget the morning I was waiting for an elevator on the top floor of the Cabo de Hornos Hotel in Punta Arenas. I casually glanced out the seaside window and out there, over the windblown waves of the Strait of Magellan, were a dozen or more black-browed albatrosses soaring and banking in the gale.

That incident ranks second only to the occasion of my first landing in Antarctica. We landed by zodiac on Nelson Island, which is located in the South Shetlands near the Chilean naval base, Captain Arturo Prat. It was evening and the penguin colony was in full swing. Weddell seals were thick on the beach, penguins newly returned from foraging at sea were preening on the shore, penguin chicks were peeping for food, and snowy sheathbills (the original objects of my quest) were nonchalantly picking their way through the colony. As the sun dipped to the horizon, the clouds turned fiery, and a lone Adelie penguin jumped onto a rocky ledge, distancing himself from the mob and guano below. He arched his back, threw back his head and flippers, and let out a joyous, raucous bray of ecstasy. That moment and sound are etched in my memory forever.

How did you happen to return to Chile so many times?

My first two visits to Chile in 1983 and 1984 were for tourism and birdwatching. From 1985 to 1996, I worked as a naturalist on various expedition cruise ships, including the M/V World Discoverer and the M/S Explorer. Both of those ships are no longer in existence. The Discoverer ran up on a reef in the Solomons in 2002, and was beached after passengers were disembarked onto rescue vessels; the ship was completely gutted by locals before salvage crews  could arrive. All the wonderful memorabilia, paintings, and furnishings – even the toilets – disappeared into the forest, never to be seen again. The Explorer, as you probably know, hit a large piece of submerged sea ice off the South Shetlands in 2007 and sank within a few hours. Fortunately, there were no injuries or loss of life in either incident.

But back to your question. In 1985, my husband and I were invited to join the team of naturalists and lecturers on expedition cruise ships operating in Antarctica, South America, and the South Pacific. This was a great privilege and, more importantly, a wonderful opportunity to learn from specialists in fields outside my expertise in ornithology. The lecture staff usually included an historian, a botanist, a geologist, and an expert in marine mammals. We were a close-knit group dedicated to the giving and sharing of knowledge. The shore landings offered unlimited opportunities to observe the flora and fauna first hand. Because we travelled by ship, we were able to observe a continuum of wildlife — how it ebbed and flowed, changed and differed from place to place. And so, for about thirteen austral summers, I was able to immerse myself in Chile, gleaning every bit of information from her great rainforests, deserts, seas and far-flung sovereignties.

What inspired you to write A Wildlife Guide to Chile?

There was an urgent need for a comprehensive and portable field guide to the wildlife of Chile. English language field guides — except for those covering the birds of Chile – even today are virtually non-existent, and Spanish language guides to the flora and fauna are generally unavailable in North America and Europe.

From the start, I envisioned a guide that would serve the needs of international visitors as well as Chilean readers. I felt it was important to introduce the Chilean names of species so the book could be used locally, both in schools and by native guides, and to include German and French species names for the benefit of European travellers. I also wanted the guide to be portable so as to fit in a back pack, and yet cover the common flora and fauna of mainland Chile and Chilean Antarctica, the Juan Fernandez Archipelago, Easter Island, and Islas San Felix y San Ambrosio. Good maps were also hard to obtain, so I spent the better part of a summer hand drawing the regional maps from old, and sometimes inaccurate, relief and political maps collected during my travels.

Chile’s wildlife is less-documented than some other regions. Which was the most difficult taxonomic group to cover?

Probably the most difficult were the reptiles, amphibians and butterflies — none of which were marked for inclusion when I began the book. As I mentioned in the preface, only birds and mammals were to be covered. As the work developed, I felt that a brief chapter on the floral communities of Chile should be included. Like Topsy, the book just grew. The international community of scientists and colleagues were incredibly generous with their time and advice. I couldn’t have completed the book without their help.

How did you produce the illustrations?

My illustrations are based mainly on slides that I shot in Chile. Some images of species I had not seen or photographed were generously loaned to me by colleagues. I would select two or three pictures of each species, scan them into Adobe Photoshop, and then draw a composite from them on a touch-screen monitor. Later, I’d group the individual images together on a plate as dictated by the text. The last step would be to lay out the chapter, including text and plates, in Adobe InDesign. Needless to say, there were innumerable revisions over the five to six years it took to produce the guide.

You mention in your introduction that the work sprang partly from your field notebooks. Natural history is a subject that has always been closely associated with the travelling naturalist’s field notes – but this seems less common than it used to with people relying more on photos. Have you always been an avid note taker? What tips would you give to those needing a bit of inspiration to be more disciplined with their notebook?

I’m not a born note taker, but one could say that I was conscripted into the role. As junior member of the ship’s lecture team, I was usually assigned the task of keeping the bird list current and writing the expedition log. The latter was a document prepared for distribution to passengers at the end of the voyage. It was basically a daily compilation of the staff’s and lecture team’s notes and observations. In the end, I came to regard writing the log as a marvelous opportunity to organize my thoughts and solidify the day’s experiences in my mind. Many of the observations presented in “A Wildlife Guide to Chile” were taken from the expedition log books I prepared.

As for keeping a daily account of events, I feel the written log and photo journal are of equal value. In the case of a written log, it is more important to provide pithy rather than trite comments. For example, one can write, “ Nice day today! We had a great time and saw a lot of birds.” Or the entry could read, “Morning showers followed by light breezes, blue skies and sunshine. Our trip to the bayland marsh yielded views of 28 bird species, including a great blue heron attempting to swallow a big rat it had drowned in water of the incoming tide.”

If one is keeping a photo journal, one should faithfully record the date and place where the image was taken. In the case of photos of plants and animals, the English and scientific name of the subject should also be duly recorded. Photos should be culled to include only the best shots and placed in an album where captions can be written down adjacent to the images. You might also ask a friend to take a photo of yourself in situ as a remembrance of the day.

What is being done regarding conservation and sustainable management in Chile?

Several private and governmental organizations, both international and national, have been established to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature, and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. A lot of conservation funding and efforts come from organizations such the World Wildlife Fund and Nature Conservancy. There are also numerous individuals and philanthropists from Chile and abroad who have privately purchased large tracts of land, which they intend to eventually turn over to the Chilean government for use as national parks or nature reserves.

In addition, the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) has a strong presence in Chile, providing scientists and experts to help prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. The IUCN  works closely with the Chilean National Forestry Service, CONAF (Corporación Nacional Forestal), which manages the national parks, reserves and monuments. Other Chilean conservation organizations that actively support and work toward sustainable land use include the CEA (Centro de Estudios Agrarios y Ambientales); CODEFF (Comite Nacional pro Defensa de la Fauna y Flora); Fondo de las Americas, Chile; TERRAM (Fundación para la Promocion del Desarrollo Sustentable); and ONG Terra Australis para la Conservación de la Naturaleza.

What is your favourite place in Chile and why?

I find it difficult to name a single place as my favourite. Certainly Lauca National Park in the High Andes of northern Chile and Torres del Paine National Park in the south rank in the Top Ten. These parks harbor vast reservoirs of rare and endangered plants, birds, and mammals that live amidst incomparable scenic beauty.

Other personal favourites include the Salar de Atacama, the island of Chiloe, the Lake District in Los Lagos, the incredibly rich pelagic zone of the Humboldt Current, Easter Island, the Beagle Channel, Cape Horn, and the icy reaches of Antarctica. Each of these places has a distinct personality engendered by latitude, altitude, climate, and biological diversity.

If I were planning a two week trip to try and see the most possible wildlife in two weeks, what would be the best time of year to visit?

Austral summer (November to February) is the optimal period for nature enthusiasts to visit Chile. There are some exceptions, however. The High Andes of northern Chile, including Lauca National Park, experience the “Altiplano Winter” in December and January, and snow or freezing rain are common on many days in this time period. The Flowering Desert is in maximum bloom from September to early October – and then only in years when rain falls on the parched earth.

You really have to pick the time with an eye toward your interest. If you want to visit the penguin colonies in Chilean Antarctica, it is useful to know that most penguin chicks are hatched in late December. Check out the itineraries offered by travel companies that specialize in birding, botanical or general wildlife tours. Reliable ecotour operators can arrange guided tours for independent travelers and will advise you on the best times to travel.

Any tips for getting the best from Chile’s wildlife?

Travel with a knowledgeable guide and follow their recommendations. Ecotour companies that specialize in wildlife travel and photography normally provide excellent international experts and local guides for their groups. Local guides can also be found at most Chilean lodges and national parks.

Carry along a small pair of binoculars and a good field guide. Consider leaving the book behind as a gift for a local school or local guide who has shown interest and provided insight.

Buen viaje!

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