Alvaro is the owner of the international birding tour company, Alvaro’s Adventures. He 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 also 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 Birds of California.

Alvaro was granted the Eisenmann Medal by the Linnaean Society of New York; awarded occasionally for excellence in ornithology and the encouragement of amateur bird watchers. He organizes and leads international birding tours as well as a full schedule of pelagic trips in central California.

Recently, he started Birding Your Best Life (birdingyourbestlife.com) a membership community relating to birding and enjoying birds. Alvaro lives with his family in Half Moon Bay, California.

Studying the behavior of birds