The recording of this program from 3 February 2026
is now available online.

Birding the Southern Oceans and Antarctica, with Alvaro Jaramillo.

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There is no greater wilderness than the Southern Ocean! If you take the globe and look at it from the south pole, there is a huge amount of water there encircling Antarctica, between it and the southern points of the continents and major islands. Seabirds, whales, fish, seals, move through these waters, some like the Wandering Albatross unimpeded by land. The albatross may circle the globe at these latitudes many times in their life. There are islands with hundreds of thousand of penguins, millions of prions (a small seabird) and astounding numbers of fur seals, elephant seals and whales. It is just spellbinding, and these areas are too far away for large cities to have sprung up, at the most some of these islands have a small town or perhaps no one at all on them. The distance you have to travel to get there, the lack of “civilization” and the incredible numbers of birds and other animals is what makes the Southern Ocean so enticing for the naturalist.

Alvaro will talk about some of the wonderful birds and wildlife of the subantarctic islands of New Zealand, as well as South America. Places like South Georgia, the Chatham Islands, Macquarie and of course the Antarctic Peninsula. Some of the places and wildlife you see here are life changing, and he hopes to convey the wonder and beauty that the far south has for you to see.

Alvaro Jaramillo, owner of international birding tour company Alvaro’s Adventures, was born in Chile but began birding in Toronto, where he lived as a youth. He was trained in ecology and evolution with a particular interest in bird behavior. Research forays and backpacking trips introduced Alvaro to the riches of the Neotropics, where he has traveled extensively. He is the author of the Birds of Chile, an authoritative yet portable field guide to Chile’s birds. For some time, Alvaro wrote the Identify Yourself column in Bird Watcher’s Digest. He is author of a major New World sparrow chapter for the Handbook of Birds of the World (now Birds of the World), and the new ABA Field Guide to Birds of California. He was granted the Eisenmann Medal by the Linnaean Society of New York, which is awarded occasionally for excellence in ornithology and encouragement of the amateur. He organizes and leads international birding tours, as well as a full schedule of pelagic trips in central California. Alvaro lives with his family in Half Moon Bay, California.

Alvaro’s Podcast

Along with his birding compatriots-in-binoculars George Armistead and Mollee Brown, Alvaro also hosts the podcast Life List, which they describe as: Birdy. Proudly nerdy. Detailed. Not-so-subtly obsessive. We delve into all things birding and birding culture. Join us for light-hearted conversations on birds, conservation, travel, and more. Available on the link just above, or – as they say – wherever you get your podcasts.

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