MV Hondius Passengers May Have Been Looking for These Birds Before the Hantavirus Outbreak

For birders visiting Tierra del Fuego, one of the best places to spot sought-after Patagonian raptors isn’t a remote cliffside or coastline. It’s a landfill outside Ushuaia, Argentina.

The reason? The landfill offers reliable sightings of scavenging birds such as the White-throated Caracara, which has become a draw for birders visiting the southern tip of South America.

Ushuaia, often described as the world’s southernmost city, is framed by the icy Beagle Channel and the peaks of Tierra del Fuego. The city serves as a gateway to Antarctica and attracts travelers hoping to see whales, penguins, seabirds, and wildlife.

In recent weeks, investigators examining the hantavirus outbreak aboard the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius have focused attention on the landfill after authorities said at least one Dutch passenger may have visited the site shortly before boarding the vessel.

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What Birds Were MV Hondius Passengers Hoping to See?

The White-throated Caracara is the bird most closely tied to the landfill. According to eBird data, White-throated Caracaras appear at the Ushuaia landfill roughly 14 times more frequently than the regional average.

Also known as Darwin’s caracara (because Charles Darwin collected the first specimen of the bird), it feeds on carrion, rodents, insects, and scraps left behind by humans. According to The Peregrine Fund, the species regularly scavenges at garbage dumps and livestock slaughter sites, helping explain why the landfill outside Ushuaia has become such a reliable place for birders to spot it.

The raptor has a white throat and breast that contrast with its dark wings and back, along with reddish-orange skin around the face. The species is considered shy and wary around people.

The landfill also attracts Black-chested Buzzard-Eagles, one of South America’s largest birds of prey. According to The Peregrine Fund, the birds spend much of their time soaring in wide circles, either alone or in pairs, and rarely perch in trees. Some individuals can approach a wingspan of nearly seven feet. Researchers have documented the raptors feeding on everything from mammals and reptiles to carrion, raiding nests for chicks, and even chasing flying ants through the air.

Another sought-after species is the Striated Caracara, a near-threatened scavenger found mainly on remote islands near Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn. According to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, the birds often behave more like “supercharged ravens” than typical falcons, scavenging around seabird colonies and investigating unfamiliar objects. Charles Darwin once described them as “mischievous and inquisitive.”

Other scavengers commonly seen around the area include Crested Caracaras, Turkey Vultures, Dolphin Gulls, and Kelp Gulls, all species adapted to feeding in coastal environments shaped by both wildlife and human activity.

Why Birders Visit a Landfill Outside Ushuaia

Birders visit landfills because they function almost like artificial feeding grounds, drawing gulls, rodents, scavengers, and eventually larger birds of prey into the same area.

According to Audubon Magazine, some birds have become so dependent on landfills that their migration patterns have started to shift. In Europe, for example, White Storks increasingly remain near dumps year-round instead of migrating long distances.

For birders traveling through remote places like Tierra del Fuego, that concentration of wildlife can make a landfill one of the most reliable places to spot several species in a single stop.

The same landfill ecosystem that attracts birds alongside large rodent populations has also fueled debate over whether the site played any role in the MV Hondius outbreak. Local officials and birding guides have pushed back on suggestions that the landfill was definitively linked to the infections and suggest it may have occurred elsewhere.

Read More: Everything You Need to Know About Hantaviruses

Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:

• This article references information from eBird: Ushuaia--relleno sanitario
• This article references information from The Peregrine Fund: White-throated Caracara
• This article references information from The Peregrine Fund: Black-chested Buzzard-eagle
• This article references information from Hawk Mountain: Striated Caracaras
• This article references information from Audubon: Birdist Rule #44: Learn to Love Landfills and Sewage Treatment Plants