Cerro Sombrero (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "Hat Hill") is a village ( es, aldea) in southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. It is located in the Primavera commune in the

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region ( es, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second lea ...

, in the northern part of

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

, about 125 km from Porvenir. According to the 2002 census, it had 687 inhabitants. The village is located near a small hill from which it received its name. It was founded in 1958 as a residential and services centre for the national Petroleum Company ( ENAP) in Tierra del Fuego, with over 150 dwellings, a gym, swimming pool, bowling alley, botanical garden, movie theatre, church, hospital, warehouses, supermarket, restaurant, lodgings and gas station, in addition to the ENAP offices. This settlement is a natural entry point to the Chilean-Argentine Tierra del Fuego area. Nearby is Bahía Lomas, a place of biotic importance within the region with nesting places for a wide variety of shorebird species, both resident and migratory. Nearby Río del Oro, in the middle of the Tierra del Fuego

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...

, is a popular fishing area for a variety of trout. The town is served by

Franco Bianco Airport Franco Bianco Airport is an airport northwest of Cerro Sombrero, a petroleum production town in the Magallanes Region of Chile. Cerro Sombrero is near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Magellan. The Cerro Sombrero non-directional beacon (Id ...

Weather

Cerro Sombrero has the typical " cold steppe climate" of

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

with low annual rainfall, fluctuating between a minimum of 250 mm, increasingly slightly near the south west coast (Felipe Bay), and reaching 400 mm on the east coast, near the Atlantic.

Flora and fauna

Numerous species of birds can be observed in the area, including two kinds of sheldgoose, the ''cauquén colorado'' ( ruddy-headed goose) and ''piuquén'' (also known as the ''ganso cordillerano'' or

Andean goose The Andean goose (''Chloephaga melanoptera'') is a species of waterfowl in tribe Tadornini of subfamily Anserinae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bird ...

), the ''pato juarjual'',Pato Juarjual
www.avesdechile.cl, retrieved December 13, 2013 a kind of crested duck, the

Chilean pintail The Chilean pintail (''Anas georgica spinicauda''), also known as the golden peck duck or brown pintail, is a subspecies of the yellow-billed pintail (''Anas georgica''), a duck in the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae. Its local names are ''pato ...

, the

coscoroba swan The coscoroba swan (''Coscoroba coscoroba'') is a species of waterfowl in subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bi ...

, the black-necked swan, and the

Chilean flamingo The Chilean flamingo (''Phoenicopterus chilensis'') is a species of large flamingo at closely related to the American flamingo and the greater flamingo, with which it was sometimes considered conspecific. The species is listed as near threatened ...

. Migratory species also nest in the area, including the ''bandurria'' (

black-faced ibis The black-faced ibis (''Theristicus melanopis'') is a species of bird in the family Threskiornithidae. It is found in grassland and fields in southern and western South America. It has been included as a subspecies of the similar buff-necked i ...

) and the ''queltehue'' ( southern lapwing). Some come only in the summer, including the ''chorlo'' (

rufous-chested plover The rufous-chested plover (''Charadrius modestus'') or rufous-chested dotterel, is a species of bird in subfamily Charadriinae of family Charadriidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife Interna ...

), the ''playero'' (

dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus ''Erolia''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brow ...

) and the ''falaropo picofino'' (

red-necked phalarope The red-necked phalarope (''Phalaropus lobatus''), also known as the northern phalarope and hyperborean phalarope, is a small wader. This phalarope breeds in the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia. It is migratory, and, unusually for a ...

). The region has no woodland and is dominated by plains of native flora, typical of the Patagonian steppe. It predominantly consists of coarse grasses that grow in dense patches, perennial shrubs with deep roots and foliage resistant to the weather conditions and drought, and a variety of perennial herbaceous plants, often with small, thin, wavy-edged or tooth-edged leaves. The main species are Coirón (

Festuca gracillima ''Festuca gracillima'' is a species of grass in the family Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos a ...

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

as, Romerillo ( Lomatia ferruginea), two kinds of Patagonian berries, Calafate ( Berberis microphylla) and Murtilla ( Ugni molinae), Vegas, coastal scrub, some species of Limonium and marshes.

References

External links

*
Municipality of Primavera
* erro Sombrero - Atlas vivo* ww.avesdechile.cl Birds of Chile {{coord, 52, 46, 26, S, 69, 17, 16, W, type:city, display=title Populated places established in 1958 Cities and towns in Tierra del Fuego Populated places in Tierra del Fuego Province, Chile 1958 establishments in Chile