Friday, March 19, 2010

Osorno Volcano - Chile

A new volcano in my collection. This one is from Chile and the card was sent by Francisca.


"Its figure ideally synthesizes what a volcano is. Its unique colors, as well as its slopes and a summit that remains covered with white, unspoilt snow almost 365 days a year.
Standing almost 60 kilometers to the Northwest of Puerto Varas, it reaches a height of 2,661 meters above sea level. Its great height makes it visible from every point in the district of Osorno, even in some places on Chiloé Island. Therefore, it represents an impressive and typical postcard of the region. With its classical blackish dark green color and ornamented with arms of eternal snow, its presence attracts the thousands of tourists who visit it every year.
The forest that protects its slopes lodges a wide range of remarkable species and it benefits from the plentiful rainfalls recorded all through the year. The first stretch of the circuit (located between two hundred and one thousand meters above sea level) is dwelled by coihues and lengas. Above the eight hundred meters, the most ancient species in the forest can be found: the Andean birch. It is between 4,000 and 5,000 years old and today is protected by regulations on endangered species, though sometimes they are not fully respected.
As for the fauna, the pudú, the chingue (Patagonian skunk), the culpeo (Patagonian fox), the quique (a kind of ferret) and the puma may be observed. The long-muzzled weasel, the huet-huet, the hummingbird, the kestrel, the tit-tyrant and woodpeckers of all sizes and multiple varieties take shelter in the humid forests." - in:
http://www.interpatagonia.com/paseos/volcanosorno/index_i.html

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