This year, Lafeber Conservation and Wildlife gave grants for parrot conservation work in Nicaragua (scarlet and great green macaws), Honduras (scarlet macaws), and Guatemala (scarlet macaws and yellow-naped amazons).  Some of the support for these conservation projects occurs throughout the year, and the majority happens when I am personally present during field research and conservation.  I was to spend over 2 months in the field from April – June 2012.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get in the field at all this year due to a knee surgery with delayed healing.  Because I could not travel, some of the project work had to be put off until next year, but not all of it!  Here’s what’s happening in Guatemala.

Although I won’t be supporting and teaching how to collect and process field laboratory samples as was planned, the project goes on. The Wildlife Conservation Society has more wild chicks than ever before, with new nests too!  Sixteen chicks have been temporarily removed from nests.

Macaw chick in temporary home (photo by Merlina Barnes)

These are fed and cared for at the biological station deep in the La Tigre National Forest.  When the chicks are old enough, they will be fostered back into wild nests (their original nests or another); effectively saving 16 birds that would have died otherwise.

Feeding young macaw chicks

Our work this year with yellow-naped amazons was to continue to survey roost sites, offer training during a weekend workshop, and investigate “hot spots” where parrots could be protected and viewed for ecotourists.  The roost counts continue showing still very low numbers of parrots compared to the 1990s.

Biologist Fernando Aldana and family counting at roost site

The good news about this work is that the data we collected helped change the IUCN status of the parrot from “least vulnerable” to “vulnerable,” which places it at a higher priority for conservation efforts.  We are also in the second stage of review for a possible National Geographic grant that would support this work on a national level.  The workshop and hot spot development for ecotourism will happen later in the year.