Tour Aves Pelágicas

The Tour Aves Pelágicas is Uruguay's only confirmed offshore pelagic birding trip — an annual boat-based excursion led by guide Gonzalo Millacet of Birding Tours Uruguay, departing from Puerto Punta del Este into the South Atlantic approximately 16 kilometres south of the Punta del Este peninsula. The trip targets the Patagonian shelf waters at the dedicated offshore eBird hotspot "Zona Pelágica--Punta del Este" (L4720491), which sits in open ocean well beyond the coastal and estuarine zone. eBird records confirm annual departures in July (austral winter), the peak season for offshore tubenose concentrations in southern South American waters, with 17–35 participants per trip on traveling-protocol sessions of approximately two hours at sea.

Uruguay's Atlantic coastline occupies the northern edge of the Patagonian Shelf, one of the most productive marine zones in the South Atlantic and the primary feeding ground for millions of seabirds that breed from Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands north into Brazilian waters. The shelf break off Punta del Este sits at the convergence of the warm Brazil Current pushing south and the cold Malvinas (Falkland) Current flowing north — a frontal zone that concentrates zooplankton, fish, and the tubenoses that feed on them. This oceanographic position makes Uruguay's offshore waters an important mid-point on the Atlantic flyway between Patagonian breeding grounds and the South Atlantic subtropical wintering zones.

eBird checklists at L4720491 (118 checklists, 33 species) confirm a representative Patagonian shelf pelagic assemblage. Black-browed Albatross is the most numerous species, recorded in groups of 3–35 individuals per trip; the July 2024 checklist alone recorded 35 birds. White-chinned Petrel (4–32 birds), the most abundant procellarid of the South Atlantic, reliably accompanies vessels offshore. Northern Giant Petrel is recorded consistently (3–4 per trip), and Sooty Albatross has been logged (2–3 birds) — an elegant long-winged albatross of subantarctic origin. Yellow-nosed Albatross (Atlantic race) appears as a smaller companion to Black-browed flocks. Sooty Shearwater and Manx Shearwater both appear, the former a long-distance migrant from New Zealand, the latter from North Atlantic breeding colonies that winter in the South Atlantic. Magellanic Penguin — the classic offshore penguin of the Patagonian shelf — has been recorded in these waters, and Sub-Antarctic Skua rounds out the checklist as a powerful kleptoparasite that follows offshore vessels.

Birding Tours Uruguay operates from Barra de Maldonado and is led by guide Gonzalo Millacet. The July annual pelagic is run as a publicly bookable group event and is the only structured offshore pelagic tour departing from Uruguayan waters identified in the Pelagic Directory's investigation. Contact the operator directly at [email protected] or via WhatsApp (+598) 97 741 660 for registration, current pricing, and any additional departure dates; follow @birdingtoursuruguay on Instagram for trip announcements.