Augustine Told Me About: Olrog

When we arrived for our meetings at the Obispo Colombres research center in Tucumán City, our hosts told us that at the end of the day our group would visit a wildlife preserve near the city - Daniel and Jorge had remembered my interest in birds during my last visit and had

Rufous Hornero on its nest

followed through with a promise from 11 months before that if I were to visit again, they would see to it that I have an opportunity to see the birds. It was during the visit to the center the year before that I was introduced to my first Hornero (Oven Bird) and its mud nest in a tree that was pointed out to me by my host. The first night in Buenos Aires this trip I picked up a copy of Guia de Campo Collins' Aves de Sudamerica at a bookstore near the restaurant where I ate Sunday evening. The paper back complements the weighs-like-a-brick Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America, The Passerines by Tidgely and Tudor that I brought along in my luggage - last and this trip. Aves de Sudamerica with the subtitle No Passerifores Desde nandues a carpinteros (Google Translator doesn't help with this one) covers the rest of the birds not found in Tidgely and Tudor. Regardless of the preparations I made to be ready to catch glimpses of new birds and then the hope of identifying them later when back in my hotel room, it turned out that one of the young scientists at the center is an avid wildlife enthusiast and so was my guide as we walked about.

Augustine rattled off the names of each bird that appeared on the grounds of the research center as well as at the refuge. But just as with wider discussions in the meetings throughout the week, and the descriptions in my new field guide, the new information wasn't all that accessible because everything is in Spanish - a translation required. I find that in many of the places I visit, the folks there know my language far better than I know theirs' - I often apologize at the beginning of my presentations - through the interpreter of course. While we walked about the refuge, Augustine mentioned a helpful field guide for birds in the region, and I had him write down the title. He said that all of the illustrations of birds were drawing (I presumed rather than photographs), but then, that is the way most field guides are published. When I was back at my hotel room, I looked on line for the book by its author - Olrog. As it turned out, a famous ornithologist in the Spanish-speaking world - a Roger Tory Peterson in his own right (click here, and then click on the "listen" pronunciation icon).
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Swedish ornithologist Claes Christian Olrog (1912-1985) emigrated to Argentina. He can be defined as a pioneer of tropical ornithology. His formal career began at biological universities in Uppsala and Stockholm (1935-1945). As a youth he joined the Museum of Natural History in Stockholm and conducted expeditions in Scandinavia,

Claes Christian Olrog

Lapland, the Danube Delta in Iceland, and Greenland. During his doctoral thesis in Stockholm, he began gaining he  knowledge of South America during a second expedition to Tierra del Fuego (1939-1941). Between 1946-1947, he conducted ornithological expeditions to central and northern Paraguay, the land of the ox-cart and train. In 1948 he accepted an academic position at the Instituto Miguel Lillo and Universidad Nacional de Tucumán in northwestern Argentina. There he began his long ornithology career for the entire South American continent. Throughout his life he maintained an active association with individuals and institutions outside of South America, and contributed to many international conferences and congresses.

His field research program activities were carried out under difficult conditions, including wildlife areas not well known in Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. He devoted much energy, even in the last years of his life, encouraging students to field work.

He published over 100 articles and books in six languages, in general biology, morphology, biogeography, ecology, and systematics of birds, mammals and reptiles.

His first 1959 field guide Las Aves Argentinas was for many years the only paperback identification guide on the continent. Like many of his works, this book was one of many efforts produced under limited resources conditions so paid for out of his own pocket. His 1984 New Guide was published by the National Parks Administration of Argentina.

Other notable works are the list of species of Aves Argentinas (1963, 1979) and A Guide to Mammals of Argentina (1981).

He left the unfinished manuscript for the book of birds of Bolivia, South America, and a 2-volume work on the birds of the continent.

He described numerous species and subspecies. (1) New species have been named after him including the Olrog's Four-eyed Opossum (Philander olrogi),  Olrog's Gull (Larus atlanticus), and Olrog's Chaco Mouse (Andalgalomys olrogi).
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(1) Translated with Google Translator from the Wikipedia biography in Spanish of Claes Christian Olrog.