PROFESSIONAL BIRDING GUIDE IN ARGENTINA

Disclaimer: I am not the person in the photo, I'm just the photographer who took this photo Yes, after many years (all my life?), I finally decided to go on, buy me a decent camera gear, and start with wildlife photography . In fact, the reason why I started guiding, more than 15 years ago, was to save money to buy me a camera with which I could start a career on professional wildlife photography... or that's what I thought at the time. It didn't take long until I realized that becoming a professional birding guide was indeed what I wanted to do, and I used the money that I earned while guiding, to buy newer and better birding gear, better binoculars, my first spotting scope, then even better binoculars, plus my second and third (and fourth, and it kept going) spotting scopes... Until the idea of getting into serious photography became more of a "retirement hobby". Something it was not going to happen any time soon. And then came September 2025 . Together with a ...

  Ever since I had my first spotting scope (a very compact and entry level Celestron) I started trying this technique and have perfected a handheld way to do so, with remarkably good results, especially as I improved the quality of my spotting scopes. The advantage of not using an adapter is that I can do digiscoping without having to modify the scope settings while I'm guiding, and that I can just use any cellphone, hence having the possibility of doing it with my clients phones if they wish so (most of the times they do, and they get a more than decent souvenier of their sightings). I currently own spotting scopes from Leica (an old but still great Televid 77), Vortex (Razor 65 and 85) and Swarovski (ATS 65 HD), being this last one the one I currently use the most during my guiding tours, and most videos in this entry were made with it. I prefer recording videos rather than taking photographs because I normally get better quality results. Here are some of my favourite ones (pleas...

Orca in north east Patagonia (Argentina) Mammal Watching in Argentina (& Southern South America) Mammals are naturally harder to see in the wild than birds, but for that reason many times there is little effort involved in trying to see them on purpose. In the end this works like a self-accomplished prophecy, because little effort leads to poor results. I have always liked watching mammals (together with birds and fish, they are my "favorite" groups of vertebrates) but only recently started thinking of them as targets during a trip rather than incidental sightings while birding. And in 2022 I checked my notebooks and found out that my total lifelist of mammals seen in Argentina (alive and in wild conditions, not counting domestic species such as Llama and Water Buffalo) was 101 species, which was not bad considering the total number recorded in this country (about 400). Living in Patagonia and working for a marine biology institute on board fishing vessels I was able to w...

  In the year 2020, the long awaited Mark Pearman's (with the addition of Nacho Areta as coauthor) field guide to the birds of Argentina and the South-west Atlantic finally saw the light and settled as the "go to" choice for international travelers visiting the region. It includes comprehensive information about 1075 species of birds (at the time they missed at least one species, which was first recorded in the country after the book was sent to print: the Andean Ibis - Theristicus branickii - which showed up in North-west Argentina) and some outstanding illustrations from four different artists, including two of the best Argentines: Aldo Chiappe and Jorge Rodríguez Mata. In my opinion, the quality of these two artists contrast a little bit with the plates made by the other ones, particularly with the pelagic and marine species (especially terns, which are shown with unrealistic colors, and most likely misguided by the text, such as in the bright-orange bills of the ...

About me   (Last update: July 2024) I started birding when I was 10 years old (I'm now 40), when I got my first field guide and binoculars. And I've been a nature lover since I have memory. Growing up in a small town of Buenos Aires province helped me develop my birding skills in the field. I have always loved identifying species (not only birds), and I have worked doing so in an institute of marine biology in Patagonia for several years. I wrote a field guide and identification key to the sharks and skates of the largest patagonian gulf, as well as an unpublished list of the fish of that area. I have also worked identifying mollusks and crustaceans of the same area, and worked as a biological catch sampler in fishing vessels of the Argentine Hake fishery. That was also a good training for pelagic birds, which I got to know well in those years. Years later I moved to Buenos Aires city and started working as a tour guide at the Argentine Museum of Nat...

Why Argentina? Need more reasons to decide making a birding tour to Argentina? Watch this advertising spot I helped to make, and find out what's in store for you in this extraordinary South American country!