Nature reserve Punta del Marqués, Nature reserve near Rada Tilly, Argentina.

Punta del Marqués Natural Reserve covers 1,200 hectares at the eastern tip of Punta del Marqués and along its coastline, about 7 km south of Rada Tilly. Its terrain is Patagonian steppe meeting the Argentine Sea, with a cliff-top breeding colony of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) that shifts seasonally between the point and Bajada de los Palitos beach.

The reserve was formally created on 1 February 1986 after Dr. Agustín Padrós donated the land to protect the South American sea lion breeding colony. A 1984 municipal ordinance had first established the protected area, and provincial law XXIII No. 14 of 1985 gave it the name Reserva Natural Turística Punta Marqués. In 2000 it joined Chubut's provincial protected areas system, and in December 2022 provincial law No. 76 expanded it from a 500-metre radius to almost 1,200 hectares.

The name Punta del Marqués honours the Spanish sailor Francisco Javier Everando-Tilly y García de Paredes, Marqués de Casa Tilly, though he never sailed Patagonian waters. A 1794 Spanish charting expedition led by Juan Gutiérrez de la Concha named the cape after him. Nearby Rada Tilly and its bay keep the Tilly name.

Reaching the reserve involves driving on a gravel road that passes through Rada Tilly from the direction of Comodoro Rivadavia. Elevated observation platforms positioned along the way allow you to view the landscape and wildlife safely from above.

The reserve is a strategic point for watching sei whales: counts found between 2,200 and 2,700 individuals entering the Golfo San Jorge to feed, with no other population of the species recorded so close to the coast anywhere in the world.