Born Free USA Global Field Projects
Parrot Conservation in Nicaragua: Looking for Loros
—Driver Myer watches the sunsetwhile waiting for team to
come up ravine after last climb.
(Click to see larger version.)
Dr. LoraKim Joyner of Lafeber Conservation and Wildlife blogs:
Have you ever gone looking for something really precious that you know should be where you put it, and when you cannot discover its location, you succumb to a feeling of senseless loss and frustration? If so, then you can well imagine being with me and my cohorts this past week in Nicaragua as we went in search of parrots. I traveled with Kim Williams-Guillén and Martin Lezama López of Paso Pacifico, and Tom White of the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Project.
Exploring the Possibilities in Nicaragua
Click on image to see larger version.One cannot fully protect scarlet macaws without making it a regional effort among Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
One Earth Conservation is embarking on a project in Nicaragua in 2013 just south of the Honduran border that is the same bioregion — the Bosawás region of Nicaragua. The Bosawás Biosphere Reserve is a hilly tropical forest and encompasses about 15 percent of the nation’s total land area, which makes it the second-largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere (after the Amazon in Brazil). Bosawás is largely unexplored, and is extremely rich in biodiversity.
December 2011 Update
The scarlet macaw project in Honduras has been a resounding success. A critical component to having a successful research station is ensuring birds are protected even when the scientists are not there. With support from Born Free USA and others, the communities of Rus Rus and Mabita organized parrot patrols to combat poaching.
Search for Nests Reveals Evidence of Poaching
Dr. LoraKim Joyner of Lafeber Conservation and Wildlife blogs:
I have just come back from the field in the region known as La Moskitia in Honduras and am currently in Puerto Lempira. Out in the area surrounding the indigenous communities of Rus Rus and Mabita, we climbed Scarlet Macaw nest trees for nine days. We found that out of 20 nests, 18 have hatchet entrances made by humans illegally poaching the birds. In fact, the room in which I now write houses two wild macaw chicks who occasionally mutter from a cardboard box.
Project's Leader Thanks Born Free USA and You
Dr. LoraKim Joyner of Lafeber Conservation and Wildlife sent this e-mail to Born Free USA Senior Program Associate Monica Engebretson.
Dear Monica:
I wanted to let you know that I will be going to Honduras in two days and how wonderful the funds have been that Born Free offered. We could not be doing all that we are going to do without this contribution.
Massacre in El Petén Impacts Conservation
Dr. LoraKim Joyner of Lafeber Conservation and Wildlife blogs:
I read in this morning’s paper that yesterday a terrible tragedy came to the people of El Petén, a northern Deparment of Guatemala. Twenty seven people had been massacred near La Libertad, which is less than an hour’s drive south of Flores where Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is headquartered and where I had been stationed. The victims include two women, two children and three teenagers.
Macaws in the Blood
Dr. LoraKim Joyner of Lafeber Conservation and Wildlife blogs:
In the past three weeks I have been working with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Guatemala to see what’s in the blood of the wild Scarlet Macaws. Specifically we collected blood samples from the chicks in the nests so we could conduct blood parasite, genetic, serum biochemistry, and hematology exams. The purpose of this work was to see what diseases might be present in the birds, such as parasites and malnutrition, and also to understand more about the genetic viability and relatedness in this population of about 250 birds.
A Head Start with Nutri-Start
Dr. LoraKim Joyner of Lafeber Conservation and Wildlife blogs:
Often with wild scarlet macaws even though three chicks may hatch in the nest, it is uncommon for all three chicks to fledge successfully. Frequently the third chick has a slower growth rate than the older two siblings, fails to thrive, and dies. Conservationists are working hard to figure out why this happens and if there is anything they can do to improve the chances of the third chick’s survivability. If this chick could fledge, that would be one more individual bird in the wild which might just make the difference that keeps this macaw species from altogether disappearing within their natural habitat.
