Affiliated Senior Biologist Alvaro Jaramillo is an internationally known ornithologist and expert. He has a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Toronto, and also conducted research at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. An expert on the birds of California and North America, he wrote the American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of California and New World Blackbirds (check out the Birdy Hour talk he presented for us on blackbirds). He is also an authority on the birds of Chile, authoring Birds of Chile (2003), collaborating on Chile’s Important Bird Areas program, and helping to identify a new bird species there, Oceanites pincoyae (Pincoya Storm-Petrel).

An author and contributor to numerous field guides and popular publications, Alvaro’s passion is not only to understand the biology and natural history of birds, but to enrich other’s enjoyment of birds and further avian conservation, so he leads birding trips throughout the world with his company, Alvaro’s Adventures. He is also a recipient of the Eisenmann Medal of the Linnean Society of New York, which honors people who excel in ornithology and encourage the amateur. 

Alvaro’s workshops incorporate ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, and natural history to complement bird identification information. Past workshop topics include shorebirds, raptors, waterfowl, bird sound, migration, and more. 

As of 2020, Alvaro’s workshops will be administered online over Zoom, and we are not requiring workshop participants to be SFBBO members. These workshops are recommended for students (high school and up) and adults. As part of our commitment to racial justice, we are offering scholarships to students from underrepresented backgrounds. Scholarships will be awarded on a first-come first-served basis, and recipients will be contacted if a scholarship becomes available. Thank you the The Friends of Marcia Ruotolo and to all of our donors who contribute to our scholarship fund.